Quote from: Mustermark on April 05, 2012, 02:50:53 AM
Hi Scotsoft.  This is an interesting poll.   I will be watching how it goes. :computersmile:

I liked Chinahand's idea that you could get nearly everything for free but a few things would be a benefit of full (paid) membership.   But sadly that isn't one of the voting options either!!!

But what would the extras be on here?  Selling items maybe?  The media gallery perhaps (I know that is an expensive feature).  Anything else?

Hmm, now to decide which button to push...

Thank you for your comments 

The option closest to Chinahands suggestion, as it stands, is the "Would not pay but only have non member access".

I set this to run for 28 days so after it closes this may provide information for further discussion.
I was well aware there will be different viewpoints and I hope these are posted.

My point of setting this up was to stimulate discussion to see if we could improve what is already excellent forum where everyone is warmly welcomed and no question is ever thought of as being stupid.  In fact, I have noticed that when a question is asked there is usually a few different suggestions put forward so the member posting the question can choose the option best suited for them.

Lets see what unfolds as the days pass 

Nice one, John Thanks for putting this 'out there'.
For certain, the  has created a great atmosphere that we all feel relaxed in, which is borne out just lately by some new members stating their liking for what they have seen before registering.
We are, indeed, A Band of Brothers (and Sisters)

Quote from: EtchedPixels on April 04, 2012, 09:06:11 PM
Making it charged for changes the whole thing. All of a sudden its taking free contributions from one person and charging someone else for the privilege of reading them.

For me this is the crucial point.  We all give and take freely.

I completely accept that the owner of the site has a cost to bear in terms of hosting and asking for things to be free does not help with that, though hopefully donations and/or paid adverts could take that strain.

It is still an interesting exercise and I will be interested in the outcome.

Cheers, Mike

I was very interested to see this topic and poll appear. It certainly highlights the fact that this forum does bear a financial cost, something that can be forgotten or overlooked.

I will certainly be following this with much interest, and look forward to seeing the results. I have voted myself and i would like to see many other members points of view.

Good idea for starting this topic John

Great idea for a poll John, forums of this standard do cost quite a bit of money to keep going, OK there are free forums out there but they never come up to this standard.

I have been involved in forums for about 20 years and this is the only one I know of that has been open to forum members to contribute ideas to make it even better by including more sections, its things like that that have made it as good as it is.

I have voted and look forward to seeing the results over the next 3 or 4 weeks.

I like the way the forum runs at the moment, I would like to think that those who feel they are getting something out of it will make a voluntary contribution, I certainly intend to chip in annually and I hope that if others do the same there will not be a problem.

Quote from: MinZaPint on April 06, 2012, 05:10:36 PM
I like the way the forum runs at the moment, I would like to think that those who feel they are getting something out of it will make a voluntary contribution, I certainly intend to chip in annually and I hope that if others do the same there will not be a problem.

My thoughts exactly. Also if there is an unexpected emergency I would be happy to punt in a few extra pounds as required.

I tend to agree with the view above. I would be concerned that the whole dynamic of this forum would change, quite possibly not for the better, with a mandatory subscription.

Thanks for this great poll Scotsoft.  I am always grateful for the support of the advertisers on the forum, and of course I'm extremely grateful to the people who donate.  The last few weeks have been good for donations, but so far this year I have received £65 in donations. 

I've always wanted this forum to remain free, although I have talked with Lawrence and the Moderating team about possibly introducing a paid membership for certain parts of the forum.  This is because despite our efforts, we can't get more advertisers on board.  Modelling shops and small businesses are always interested, but they just don't commit.  I had hoped that we might get a couple of new advertisers on board from our last NGF Raffle, but it didn't happen sadly.  Even introducing the sale of mugs and t-shirts has only given the forum about £25 in profit in over a year.

There are projects which I'd love to start for the forum, like enamel badges, or custom wagons for sale (thanks to HellsGuardian for that idea).  These of course are costly to set up, but I think they would appeal to members.  These won't happen of course with not enough money coming in.

Anyway, the forum will remain free for now for everyone, but long term we NEED more advertisers on board.

I will admit that if this site had been a pay site I would have vanished last time my 'subs' were due.
No fault of the site but with extra expenses looming from my sons house purchase on an irregular bassis every penny has needed to be watched this end.
I didnt answer this pole till now because I wanted to see if my situation had eased enough for me to make a donation.
Well it has so long overdue but a donation is winging itself (2nd class e- postage stamp) along to swell the boards coffers.
Point being....... its not always the obvious as to why people leave rather than pay membership fees so please keep things as they are for as long as possible 

Hi Tank

Had some funds in my Paypal account from some ebay sales, so have sent a Tenner to contribute to keeping things ticking over.

Cheers

Roy

Thanks ever so much guys.  I hate to think I'm asking for money, but I appreciate everyone who has helped.

I haven't voted as, like others have said, I don't think there's enough options.
Good topic though. 
As a free forum that is scale specific it throws a lifeline to us skint financially challenged members.
If there was any separate subscription it would depend on what you'd get for it as to how well it would be received.
I think keep it as is for now, get more sponsors (perhaps the NGS would be interested?) and have the odd donation.
Obviously things like the raffle help.
The custom wagon idea is great, very scale specific! 
Perhaps a cheaper way of doing that would be exclusive decals to add to wagons?
These could even be done 'in house' by members. Just a thought.

Believe me, myself and Lawrence have had many discussions with the top brass of the NGS.  They seemed VERY keen, but then nothing happened. 

A couple of things:

1) By keeping it free it encourages more people to join and share their knowledge.
2) I offer my knowledge (as sparse as it is) for free. If the forum is going to gain from my contributions then why shouldn't I, as a contributor, be paid royalties?

Other forums I frequent have a graphic bar at the top of every page showing target contributions and current contributions for that month. These forums invariably make the target in the last few days when members realise it is falling short. I would suggest something similar for this corner of the Internet. If members could see NGF might go off air I think we would all be more inclined to donate...