bwarbiany Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Hey, just a suggestion based on another [homebrew] forum I'm a member of: Making the Guru Classifieds supporting member only -- to post new topics -- is one way of helping to differentiate a supporting member from a non-supporting member and add value to the membership. However, not allowing free members to read this forum and potentially comment on threads SEVERELY limits the market that supporting members have for what they're selling. And my experience from the homebrew world is that supporting members are typically more experienced and non-supporting members are typically more novice, and the novices are a RICH market for people selling goods because many of the experienced folks already have everything they need. Changing the access rights so that free members can read and comment -- but aren't allowed to post new threads or advertise items for sale -- would help the gurus trying to sell items find buyers. Just my $0.02... Jesse, HaagenDazs, TKOBBQ and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Setzler Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Considered and possibly considering that option for all the member only forums. Decision has not been made yet... prowe, rich_l and rwalters 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwalters Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I think this is a GREAT idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertyb Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Or.... Open it again to all members but charge non-supporting members a dollar or so to list an item if they want to sell something and allow free listings to supporting members. That way you get your buyers back into the marketplace again. Take a look at this site as that is exactly what they do. http://www.gon.com/marketplace/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwarbiany Posted July 1, 2016 Author Share Posted July 1, 2016 Considered and possibly considering that option for all the member only forums. Decision has not been made yet... To be honest, for the other member forums, I would make them read-only for non-payers. Allow people to see what goes into those forums so they understand what value they'd obtain from the additional forums, but if non-payers can post on existing threads in those forums, it kinda takes away the incentive. It's only the classifieds that I'd suggest this, as that helps the buyers communicate with the sellers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddyjbbq Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Am I mistaken or would the next 'for sale' thread be the first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Setzler Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Still considering it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Setzler Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 This modification has been made. prowe and CeramicChef 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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