Supporting Membership

David Kaczorowski · #1 03-08-2005, 09:32 AM

Needing to be a supporting member in order to post a for sale ad is really BS.

James Hart · #2 03-08-2005, 11:33 AM

or maybe it's BS to complain about coughing up a whopping $20 a year to be able to unload all the gear you want here for free

NJL · #3 03-08-2005, 01:02 PM

if you don't want to pay a simple $20 to sell, go somewhere else

AMJBASS · #4 03-08-2005, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJL

if you don't want to pay a simple $20 to sell, go somewhere else

And not only that, but that $20 goes to support one of the biggest and most valuable archives of information regarding the bass and playing it there is!

Ed Fuqua · #5 03-08-2005, 03:22 PM

And CRACKHOUSEKEY, for the longest time (and 2 years BEFORE you lot came aboard), WAS one of those cats contributing to the " big and most valuable archive".
Chill.

Monte · #6 03-08-2005, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Kaczorowski

Needing to be a supporting member in order to post a for sale ad is really BS.

I agree totally. I WANT to see more stuff for sale, not limit it to supporting members.

For example, I've helped out a friend by posting a for sale thing for him elsewhere, because he doesn't have a computer. For him, $20 would be useless.

I was a supporting member and would love to join again as I have gear for sale, but nearly 9 months of unemployment will change your priorities.

Nadav · #7 03-08-2005, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monte

I was a supporting member and would love to join again as I have gear for sale, but nearly 9 months of unemployment will change your priorities.

I don't doubt that at all, but I can see the reason for the restriction on FS ads - just another thing to help convince people to support the site. I was happy to help TB because it's a great site, and I highly doubt I'll have any gear to sell any time soon.

Monte · #8 03-08-2005, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nadav

I don't doubt that at all, but I can see the reason for the restriction on FS ads - just another thing to help convince people to support the site. I was happy to help TB because it's a great site, and I highly doubt I'll have any gear to sell any time soon.

I agree with supporting TB, but this is the wrong way to do it.

I would bet that the majority of users want to see more FS ads, not less, and any way you slice it, this reduces them.

It probably doesn't mean as much to the slab side, but the Doublebass side sees way less things posted, and it is a specialized enough market that it is not a good thing. It is not like you are going to find used gut strings for sale just anywhere.

Monte

David Kaczorowski · #9 03-08-2005, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nadav

I don't doubt that at all, but I can see the reason for the restriction on FS ads - just another thing to help convince people to support the site. I was happy to help TB because it's a great site, and I highly doubt I'll have any gear to sell any time soon.

I could count on one or two hands the number of cats who really support or supported this site, and it has nothing to do with whether they paid $20.

Futhermore, while the policy is annoying to me, it also does a huge disservice to everyone else who might sort of always be casually looking for some gear or another instrument or whatever.

anonymous0726 · #10 03-08-2005, 04:26 PM

Disservice? You're (and I am) using someone else's time, hard work and resources for FREE. I get (and give) a lot here at TB and I am (and I should be!) grateful that this entire thing exists. And the fact that non-paid memberships are only short on some features and not completely non-existent or time-limited is a gift beyond measure.

This forum is a privelage, not a right.

Nadav · #11 03-08-2005, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Parker

This forum is a privelage, not a right.

+1
I was JUST about to post those words.

jazzbo · #12 03-08-2005, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nadav

I was JUST about to post those words.

I was just about to post the words:

tree
blue
frog
obfuscate
all
pineapple
jar
serendipity

Nadav · #13 03-08-2005, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazzbo

I was just about to post the words:

tree
blue
frog
obfuscate
all
pineapple
jar
serendipity

Hey, cool, how'd you know?

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #14 03-08-2005, 05:34 PM

Sam and I argued to keep this policy on the slab side, where most of the abuse was taking place. However, Paul decided the only fair thing to do was to institute the policy site-wite so the slabbers wouldn't keep saying, "well, they're doing it over in DB!". It's a drag for us, but I totally see his point - the abuses going on over in SLABVILLE were pretty ridiculous, and he addressed them. Sam and I just have to deal with the rules as they is. And since it's Paul's site....

5stringDNA · #15 03-08-2005, 05:54 PM

I agree with the policy. I don't support in order to sell gear, although I have done a sale or two in the last few years. If you looka t teh alternatives hwoever, $20 is not a whole lot of cash to pay for a listing. The local paper in most areas charges about $30-$40. After litings adn commission fees, eBay will easily hit over $20 for a DB. TB gives you a concentrated market- youa re not wasting your money advertising to anyone except bass players. Complaining about this is like whining to parents about them only buying you an old Honda instead of a Benz.

Paul Warburton · #16 03-08-2005, 05:59 PM

My God....talk about some entertainment value for your $$....
I'm speechless that anyone could Possibly complain!!!

Zirc · #17 03-08-2005, 08:21 PM

I don't think I would buy anything from a non-supporting member across the country. I don't think there's any ebay-type protection.

Chasarms · #18 03-08-2005, 09:03 PM

http://www.bassgear.com/
http://www.harmony-central.com/Services/#cla

I've had good luck with both, and they are both free.

It would be much better if Paul would consider a separate section of the site that used a different asp or .Net app to drive the classified. That way, the responses would happen outside TB bandwidth and they could expire to save space.

Using the regular forum was fine when the site was smaller, but at this point, we need a dedicated web app for the classifieds.

There is at least one really good one out there that could be easily modified to match the TB skin. My tech development team used it as part of our company's intranet. It runs on the .Net platform and is fairly capable and CHEAP!

I would also say that anything older than 90 days in the classifieds ought to get trashed. Some dude just posted a response on a two-year-old ad.

anonymous0726 · #19 03-09-2005, 01:47 AM

Why don't you get the server, the connection and the software and set it up and maintain it for him. I bet he'd be happy to give you a link for free. He might even throw in a full membership for you.

Chasarms · #20 03-09-2005, 05:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Parker

Why don't you get the server, the connection and the software and set it up and maintain it for him. I bet he'd be happy to give you a link for free. He might even throw in a full membership for you.

Well, one issue is that I don't really know enough about website admin. to do it myself. I just boss people around all day who do.

I know enough to be dangerous, not look too stupid in meetings and have some sense of if I'm being dooped when they ask for $75,000 worth of software.

That being said, my point was that TB gets so much traffic in the forums these days, splitting off the classifieds using a different app. may actually reduce overhead on his server(s).

Please, being a part of TB is the real beauty of it. It would be secured and authenticate through your TB login. If it was simply a link to another site, what makes it any better than bassgear or HC?

All that being said, I do understand that the driving force behind the whole thing was less-than-scrupulous types trying to push commercially on the classifieds. Which is a different animal altogether. So, I guess this is mute.