# is paid membership worth it?



## bigtwinky (Jan 2, 2010)

i was looking over what you get as a paid member and the only mildly enticing thing is the member only area.  However, I'd like to know if that member area gets any traffic?

Maybe that is the solution to avoiding all the same old questions over and over and actually have photography discussions instead of just "what lens should I get" style discussions


----------



## kundalini (Jan 2, 2010)

I've let my subscription slide.  The only benefit I saw was more space in the In Box numbers.  Of course, you can get to the "subscribers Only" type forums, but they are essentially HELLO, Hello, hello...... ghost towns.  Not like back in the day.


----------



## Chiller (Jan 2, 2010)

I didnt renew my subscription either.  Not worth one penny really.  I took my money elsewhere.


----------



## jbylake (Jan 2, 2010)

bigtwinky said:


> i was looking over what you get as a paid member and the only mildly enticing thing is the member only area. However, I'd like to know if that member area gets any traffic?
> 
> Maybe that is the solution to avoiding all the same old questions over and over and actually have photography discussions instead of just "what lens should I get" style discussions


 
The members only area is DEAD....I posted there a couple of months ago, and then again today.  The only posts in that amount of time.
But I contribute a little for a different reason.  I glean ALOT of info from this site.  I can get just about any answer to any question about any camera, or composure, or....well you get it.  I don't do a lot of C&C, unsless it's composure or something of the sort, and because I shoot strictly film, my input for digital questions are almost non-existant, unless it's a "cross over" question.

So by contributing, it's my way of giving back a little, and not just taking.

But as far as "extra's and goodies" ....well there's not much there.

Don't know if this helps....

J.:mrgreen:


----------



## Dmitri (Jan 2, 2010)

jbylake said:


> bigtwinky said:
> 
> 
> > i was looking over what you get as a paid member and the only mildly enticing thing is the member only area. However, I'd like to know if that member area gets any traffic?
> ...



Not to be a cold log in winter, but the people you are giving your money to have nothing to do with what you like about the site. They know absolutely nothing about photography (and have openly admitted it). They just bought the forum from the guy who started it hoping to make an easy dollar and, as you can see by others posts, have done more to hurt the forum that help it.

In my opinion.


----------



## jbylake (Jan 2, 2010)

Dmitri said:


> jbylake said:
> 
> 
> > bigtwinky said:
> ...


 I see your point Dmitri, but without sponsorship, or funding the site _could_ just go away, thereby eliminating everything we all like about the site.

I lease servers and have maintenance costs for my own (for profit) business site(s).  A large part of my ROI, is consumed by administration costs.  It's not cheap, like hosting a personal web page.  So, if the folks that run this site's only motive is to make a buck, well, at least this site keeps going.

J.:mrgreen:


----------



## sinjans (Jan 2, 2010)

Well to be honest i did it just to be supportive. I creeped on this site for about 6 months and then threw a few bucks its way one night with a glass of dark rum. do i miss the money? no. will i support again? probably not.


----------



## usayit (Jan 3, 2010)

I do it just to be supportive as well.. it doesn't cost that much and I do have a good understanding of the costs involved keeping and maintaining a site.  

It also lets me attach images directly without having to upload to another host.  Just a tiny little bit more convenient.


----------



## lostprophet (Jan 3, 2010)

bigtwinky said:


> is paid membership worth it?




here is a thread I made way way way way back in march http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/feedback-suggestions/160934-new-tpf-owners.html note the thread title and note all the replies from the owners :er: 

but on the plus side there is #_shock horror_# a reply from a Mod, if you can really call that a reply


----------



## Corry (Jan 3, 2010)

No.


----------



## Hertz van Rental (Jan 3, 2010)

I've let my subscription go as well.
I didn't mind paying when Chase was the owner because it was fun and we all spent a lot of time on here. But now?
The subscribers forum was never very busy at the best of times and as for all the advertising...
The only advantage to subscription is to be able to upload pictures here, but as there are so many free sites for that now it's not much of an advantage.
And there are other sites that have specific crit forums with terrific mods and feedback :mrgreen:



What's this in my hands? A trumpet? And it's mine? Well, I never! :lmao:


----------



## mishele (Jan 3, 2010)

Waste of money!!! I will not renew. And for those of you that think that you are being nice by supporting the forum.......look around they have advertisements everywhere.......save your money!! I looks like they are making plenty.


----------



## CW Jones (Jan 3, 2010)

I was thinking about it... but reading over this thread has really made me think otherwise now....


----------



## Overread (Jan 3, 2010)

I'm still waiting for those new ideas/upgrades to the subscribers perks 


its along wait


----------



## Hooker771 (Jan 3, 2010)

I did it because I thought I was supporting a member on here with associated fees and I felt bad b/c I thought I was only taking from the site being a noob with nothing really to contribute.  It was my way of saying thanks.  After reading this, ill find other ways to say thanks in the future


----------



## jbylake (Jan 3, 2010)

mishele said:


> Waste of money!!! I will not renew. And for those of you that think that you are being nice by supporting the forum.......look around they have advertisements everywhere.......save your money!! I looks like they are making plenty.


mishele, whether you contirbute financially, or not, well, I have no opinion one way or the other. However, your statement ....."look around they have advertisements..." tells me that you really don't have a good grasp on.
A. How much it costs to administer a forum or website of this magnitude and the costs for bandwidth.

B. The rest of the "business" end of it. Also, if you think they are getting the same money for their ad's, as say a cable TV network, or a famous athlete, you really don't have a grasp on the reality of it.

I thought of selling ad space on my commercial websites, until I calculated the amount of money coming in, vs. the annoyance factor to my customers. Although the advertisement dollars would offset some of the costs, and would be directly related to the products we sell, it just wasn't worth it.

These ad's are almost allways "trickle down dollars", if you're not sure what that means, you'll just have to ask someone, to long to explain here.

I'm not saying that it's not profitable, it must be somewhat, but if it's not, or becomes that way, contributions such as tech info, C&C, equipment reviews or whatever, will not maintain it, and it will just get sucked into that big black digital hole of the www.

I've seen this happen before, but to a friend. He owned/administered a forum, much like this one, but related to other interests, and over a period of about 5 -6 years, it became outrageously popular. Problem was, that it was costing him his a$$, to maintain it. So he went the the "contributor route". He was called everything in the books, especially from the older, and the very newb crowd. So he decided to call it quits. Then horror of all horror's, a great number wanted membership to keep it running. He actually laid out a PDF of a spreadsheet, outlining costs, and the "volunteer" mod's were bailing left and right, due to the increasing amount of their time it was consuming. Finally he sold out, and the site is still there, and still growing, but it looks like a zoo there with all the commercial advert's, and pop-up's.

Completely killed my plans for starting a Harley-Davidson niche forum. Will have friends and fans as long as I provide it for free. When I no longer want to pay the price for providing someone else a "niche" forum, they will go away looking for someone else to do it.

Anyway, not trying to make excuses for this forum, or for contributing vs. not, and since contributing is not mandatory here, and it doesn't matter anyway, I thought you might want to know a little about how these things work, before assuming all of those excess advert dollars coming in.

J.:mrgreen:


----------



## mishele (Jan 3, 2010)

*jbylake* ..........thanks for trying to educate me.......

"It looks like they are making plenty. " .........to run the site. I dont think they are getting rich.


----------



## bigtwinky (Jan 3, 2010)

so i guess my contributions of time on this site is more valuable to the actual community here than putting in some actual money, which will go to the owners who are non existant and non interested in photography.


----------



## Corry (Jan 3, 2010)

jbylake said:


> mishele said:
> 
> 
> > Waste of money!!! I will not renew. And for those of you that think that you are being nice by supporting the forum.......look around they have advertisements everywhere.......save your money!! I looks like they are making plenty.
> ...




. . . coming from someone who has actually spent the weekend (with other TPFers) at the founding owner's house, the site does just fine financially.


----------



## DennyCrane (Jan 3, 2010)

I make it a point to click on the Google ads. The site gets click-through revenues on these things. If everyone did that, there would never be a problem financially maintaining a site. I doubt I'd pay for a "membership" that really doesn't have any perks.


----------



## jbylake (Jan 3, 2010)

Corry said:


> jbylake said:
> 
> 
> > mishele said:
> ...


....not caring who actually spent the weekend with anyone...I never implied it didn't....I've just seen these things go south quickly...as they grow.  The site that I previously mentioned does very well also, as it is one of the most popular in it's niche, but it also sucks....now.

J.


----------



## jbylake (Jan 3, 2010)

bigtwinky said:


> so i guess my contributions of time on this site is more valuable to the actual community here than putting in some actual money, which will go to the owners who are non existant and non interested in photography.


 
I tend to agree with you there BT, but my contributions are pretty sparse.  Especially in the "digital realm".

J. :mrgreen:


----------



## JohnSw (Nov 26, 2015)

Being that I live in a very rural area, the lack of brick and mortar photography shops really emphasizes the need for online forums such as this one. In a world where it costs almost $50.00 to go to the movies, for a couple of hours, a small donation helps sustain this site for everyone.  Do I care that anyone gives or not, no it's a personal decision. To me the returns far out weigh the small investment.


----------



## gsgary (Nov 26, 2015)

I won't be a paid member, I could get banned most days


----------



## The_Traveler (Nov 26, 2015)

zombie file


----------

