Premium Content? (I know its been done to death, but...)
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:14 am
People join this web because it is free and is an incredible resource. It has proven invaluable on a number of occasions. By that incredibly simple logic, I shouldn't complain about $50. But keep in mind that this is the cost for the first year. After the first year the price doubles. Who knows where newbies will be in a year. Who knows if they'll still be using Datastage in a year. They are the ones who will benefit the most from premium content, but they don't want to shell out the 50 bucks for something that they might not need a couple of months down the road.
The number of total registered users of DSXchange (as of aug 9th 2006) is 13281. If everyone was a premuim memeber this websites income would be $664,050 (not including costs) in the first year and $1,328,100 (not including costs) per year after that. Obviously not everyone will partake in this deal. Of course there are hardware, software and other assorted bills associated with maintaining this site, but can the costs be that high to warrant the high cost of membership? I know there are only a few people that have paid for the premium content, and right now they are the ones paying to maintain the site. I think cutting the cost of membership to one that would encourage the newbie to enroll would benefit this membership program.
As I stated earlier, most users are on here becasue they are not familiar with datastage and can get free help. Sure they can still get free assistance but it is limited. Occasionally (in technical topics) people will reference something that's blocked in an earlier post. And very often a premium content member will begin their post with a reason why the previous post won't work. When they do get to a suggestion or idea, it's blocked.
I personally think that yes we should help maintain a forum that has grown this large, BUT because it was started as a FREE forum, the cost of membership should just cover the cost of maintaining the site. I think cutting the cost of membership would help, in the short and long term, would help encourage people to pay up. In addition, The five "super" posters are the people that have helped me the most. Thank you. I think if we're going to have to pay for your help, you should get a cut of it.
So what would you pay for membership?
The number of total registered users of DSXchange (as of aug 9th 2006) is 13281. If everyone was a premuim memeber this websites income would be $664,050 (not including costs) in the first year and $1,328,100 (not including costs) per year after that. Obviously not everyone will partake in this deal. Of course there are hardware, software and other assorted bills associated with maintaining this site, but can the costs be that high to warrant the high cost of membership? I know there are only a few people that have paid for the premium content, and right now they are the ones paying to maintain the site. I think cutting the cost of membership to one that would encourage the newbie to enroll would benefit this membership program.
As I stated earlier, most users are on here becasue they are not familiar with datastage and can get free help. Sure they can still get free assistance but it is limited. Occasionally (in technical topics) people will reference something that's blocked in an earlier post. And very often a premium content member will begin their post with a reason why the previous post won't work. When they do get to a suggestion or idea, it's blocked.
I personally think that yes we should help maintain a forum that has grown this large, BUT because it was started as a FREE forum, the cost of membership should just cover the cost of maintaining the site. I think cutting the cost of membership would help, in the short and long term, would help encourage people to pay up. In addition, The five "super" posters are the people that have helped me the most. Thank you. I think if we're going to have to pay for your help, you should get a cut of it.
So what would you pay for membership?