DSXchange

Greg,

this forum remains free as well; and hopefully most of it will remain so in the future (I hope). Also, the IBM/Ascential site remains open as well, so I'm not sure what the added value of a new site will be - who are you looking for as your target participation audience?

I think we need some clarification from the Editor; I don't think that all of my posts are going to be invisible to those who haven't got a premium membership - if that were the case I'd have to revisit my participation (since few people like to do free work and see someone else get "paid" for it). I think the idea is to separate normal from "premium" posts/questions.
It's just that I feel that opening up a new forum when this one already has in excess of 10,000 registered members might be something of a knee-jerk reaction.

gmorey wrote:If it is free, why do I have to pay to read your posts?

Premium answers from the Inner Circle and the ETL Experts Panel. Other posters answers are still FREE.

Not to mention we'll be giving summaries in the top 3 lines, providing detail behind the button. So, if you're needing in-depth, time-consuming answers, consider the effort on our part.

Click 'Continue Trial' under the freakishly large green button.

gmorey wrote:see, your last post looks like this:

I think we need some clarification from the Editor; I don't think that all of my posts are going to be invisible to those who haven't got a premium membership - if that were the case I'd have to revis ...

PREMIUM CONTENT (button)
What's this? | Continue Trial

Notice that short and concise answers are not premium content hidden. But if you look at the history of the forum, with long lengthy posts, you see the value there. Notice this post continues under the Premium answer because I'm windbagging.

As far as going forward, we're constantly getting the same questions because new folks are too lazy to use Search, they seem to think typing in a question, having us clarify it 3 or 4 times before getting the right info, is more expedient than searching. We need to do something to keep Ray from having to post 400 replies a day to repeating questions.

Not to mention that when a posters knowledge becomes as potent as Rays or Craigs or Arnds, their answers are not Premium content. You have a competing free resource. But, do you think they are spending the same effort to answer?

You neglected to post that to see the forum and poll you need to (a) get a Yahoo! id, (b) read the Yahoo adverts and (c) sign up to see the forum contents. Why not post your poll here as well?

Dunno what gmoery is upto. But DSExchange is definitely going to remain my homepage

gateleys

gateleys - I understand gmorey's point of view and actions, but this new system needs some time to be understood correctly before it is condemned. Getting a qualified answer is certainly worth $50 - just compute your hourly wage and see how many minutes of your work that works out to. I think it will be easy to see that just one or perhaps two answers and the membership will have paid for itself. And the $50 will last a whole year...

I think my answer-to-question ratio is pretty high but I can think back to a couple of questions that I asked and received excellent advice that saved me (and my client) many hours of consulting time; so normally I would not think twice about joining as a premium member. My only reservation with the new system is that those whose posts can fall under the shroud of being "Premium" aren't being offered recompense. But I am confident that this will get sorted out and explained.

It has become clear that the DSXChange staff can no longer justify the costs involved in keeping the forum up and running and this solution was discussed, "poll"ed and announced a long time ago. I doubt that the profits from charging are going to put the DSXchange team into a luxury suite in Vegas.

Is it pure coincidence the the premium content button is shaped and colored like a greenback?

Getting peoples answers chopped off after three lines is extremely annoying. It's right up there with rental DVDs that freeze up and receiving a mobile phone call whilst on the toilet.

Just think - if you had the phone with you, you could add sound effects to your answers. "I have your letter in front of me. Now it is behind me. (sound of flushing)"

gmorey wrote:I've created a poll about the new Premium Content here.

*Admin edit link removed*

Hmmm......

Curiouser and Curiouser.....

ArndW wrote:gateleys - I understand gmorey's point of view and actions, but this new system needs some time to be understood correctly before it is condemned. Getting a qualified answer is certainly worth $50 - just compute your hourly wage and see how many minutes of your work that works out to. I think it will be easy to see that just one or perhaps two answers and the membership will have paid for itself. And the $50 will last a whole year...

I think my answer-to-question ratio is pretty high but I can think back to a couple of questions that I asked and received excellent advice that saved me (and my client) many hours of consulting time; so normally I would not think twice about joining as a premium member. My only reservation with the new system is that those whose posts can fall under the shroud of being "Premium" aren't being offered recompense. But I am confident that this will get sorted out and explained.

It has become clear that the DSXChange staff can no longer justify the costs involved in keeping the forum up and running and this solution was discussed, "poll"ed and announced a long time ago. I doubt that the profits from charging are going to put the DSXchange team into a luxury suite in Vegas.

Looks like this works.......

How long till it gets editted?