New Membership Options

I receive a lot of feedback in the solution thread and truly appreciate all of those that contributed. I will have to attack these issues piecemeal, so please bear with me as we work through some possible solutions.

Some of the suggestions, and actually a lot of the feedback from this thread relate to something that has been on my mind for some time. There seems to be some serious flaws in the way that this site gets supported financially. I have stated many times that this is a labor of love for me, and although I'm not going broke, I am barely breaking even after I pay myself for my time. A lot of this is due to the expanding membership here, and the need for more hardware and software to keep the site running. Moreover, I hope to continue to add features to the site to enhance the user experience, but like most things in life, its going to take time and money.

The current system is supported purely by Gold Members. The only difference between a Gold Member and a normal member is that a Gold Member can view full size photos and videos in the gallery. This makes sense in part because the gallery consumes the majority of the bandwidth (both CPU and otherwise) that is necessary to run the site. However, the textual forums and private message system can also use a lot of resources. In particular, the private message system is quickly becoming overloaded to the point of becoming unusable. Therefore, the stored messages limit for the average user is going to have to get scaled back quite a bit.

I believe that those that contribute to the threads and post photos and videos in the gallery are making a significant contribution to the site, and I believe there should be a method by which those folks can get some equity through increased benefits. So, I am proposing the following member leve scheme. This is only a preliminary draft, and by no means should anyone make decisions based on this proposal. I would really like some feedback before going forward.

Free Membership
- Unlimited access to all forums except the Silver/Gold forum.
- Limited technical support, name changes, etc.
- Up to 20 private messages stored.
- Avatar up to 100x100.

Silver Membership (Automatic after 500 posts)

Cost: $4.95 for 1 month, $12.49 for 3 months, $19.95 for 6 months, $29.95 for 12 months.

- Access to private Silver/Gold forum.
- Priority support, name changes, etc.
- Up to 1,000 private messages stored.
- Avatar size increased to 150x150.
- Can have signature.

Gold Membership (Automatic after 1,000 posts)

Cost: $9.95 for 1 month, $24.95 for 3 months, $39.95 for 6 months, $59.95 for 12 months.

- All of Silver beneifits, plus
- Can set custom title under username.
- Unlimited private messages stored.
- Unlimited gallery access.

*** Replacement for Photo Verified promotion:
I also want to reward those that contribute to the gallery, but perhaps don't make as much of a contribution to the forum itself. I was think that it might be fun to create a Verified Sexy forum where members could add a photo or video to their gallery that contains a written sign with LPSG.ORG and their username on it. Other members could then post whether or not the photo was "Verified Sexy" and once the OP received at least 5 votes, the OP would be moved to Gold Membership as long as they kept the verified photo/video up. This could later be replaced with a photo rating system.

I like it, especially the chance to verify someone's sexiness!

(Over ten thousand posts should we get a plantinum membership?)

Can I just ask a few questions - not passing judgement yet, I just want to clarify.
This Silver Membership is pretty much what free mambership entails right now, is that correct?
Also, if Silver Membership is automatic after 500 posts how can it be charged - or vice versa - or am I just missing something?

I think I like the more graded options - I'm just not sure people are going to want to pay for what they get for free right now. (Surprise, surprise)

I like it.

The creation of the Silver Membership is for those that would like to support the site, but aren't that interested in the gallery. The benefits to free members would be reduced somewhat, that's true, but the price is also half of a Gold Membership.

Once someone reached 500 posts, they would automatically get Silver Membership for free, the same with Gold at 1,000. Those that already meet those levels of posts would upgrade immediately.

Sounds good to me. A mixture of "the more you contribute to the site the more benefits you get" plus for those that want the benefits without contributing so much they can if they pay for it. I think I've understood it all.

Those post requirements seem awfully low to me.

But everything mentioned in the OP seems a good idea to me, it's just the fine tuning that needs to be sorted.

I have one comment, after the verified sexy goes away I do not think that a rating system is appropriate. I majority of the rating are 10s (if someone rates a photo, typically it gets a 10). I am thinking everyone would score high.

Sounds good to me. I'm a free member now for quite a while. I would definitely post verified photos & I love the sexiness scoring card. I wouldn't mind the new restrictions on the free service though. I think that it's great to have any membership offered for free. I have told quite a few people about this site & they join 'cause it's free.I guess I'm hooked now & I would pay if it was the only way to participate.
Thanks, Rod

The "Verified Sexy" rating would be more for fun than anything else. It would be a limited thing, that could be withdrawn later. However, my hope would be to keep it around if possible.

Thanks for clarifying that, Rob.

I agree with No_Strings - I think you'll be doing yourself out of $$$ if you are giving away Silver and Gold for as little as 500 and 1000 posts.

Maybe 5,000 and 10,000? Or somewhere inbetween... but 500 can arrive pretty damned quick, and 1000 is no slouch either.

Very good!

Would I be correct in assuming that our existing posts are counted?

This sounds like a pretty good setup to me. I'm getting by for free right now but would be willing to pay $30 to keep my privledges.

Are our post counts getting wiped out?
The numbers are far too low.. do they include gallery comments?
I'm thinking like... 3,000 and 5,000. If you want to make money.
I like it otherwise.