This is my question for Christopher and staff, IF I pony up the cash for the three year subscription and the forum fails in the first year, what happens to my subscription? Am I to be refunded the remaining two years with interest? Do I forfeit my cash to Harris Publishing? If so, it wouldn't be the first time, kind of like my magazine subscription that was paid for and was never delivered, although I made numerous phone calls and did not move at any time during the subscription.
I think it would be wise to look longer and harder at the failures in converting to a pay forum than in looking at the successes. If a large number fail, why? What have those that failed done that angered their users, was it the mere mention of paying, the manner it was approached or the users coming to the conclusion that the site needed them more than they needed the site for success?
In the case of snowest, nothing is offered here that can not be obtained elsewhere, albeit at a slower pace. The 18,000 active members ARE the product YOU offer, if they don't show up, what is it again that your selling?(not just to users, think advertisers) Have you consulted your current revenue base (advertisers) about how they feel about charging people for access to see the adds they pay to put up? I think the advertisers currently on the site will be more fickle than the users, a significant drop in page views and traffic may cause them to rethink their support of the snowest forum and where they choose to spend their marketing dollars, which in turn removes a valuable tool in the "Self Supporting Plan" in the form of advertisers revenue.
Many of the Old guys I used to look to for advice are gone, and I suspect many more will no longer visit the site with the new direction things are going, and sad to say I can see many Niche market companies shifting their sometimes limited marketing budgets to forums that have more users. The AMsnow reference a few pages back was spot on.
