ELIMINATE FREE MEMBERSHIP NOW!

[MtnDoo]

It's clear that SW is deaf to it's users.
Nobody came here for the "Features" - we come here to communicate.
If you don't get that, you have no business admin'ing a site.
We will not pay you to speak with each other; members are going elsewhere.

The whittling away of basic functions of what is now deemed "Free Basic Membership" is not an enticement to become a Paid Premium Member.

It is simply PISSING people off.

Today, my PM Box became "100% Full" without a single inbound PM.
Yaaay! (best Special Ed voice) Does that make me want to pay you? NO.

WHY DON'T YOU SIMPLY SHUT FREE MEMBERSHIP OFF????

I see a conversion of about 15% of people logged on as paid.
Are you going to have to kill this place completely to open your eyes??

Nice Jorb!

 

[skibreeze]

This pisses me off more than the fricken moron in the White House, both don't have a damn clue!

 

[buck50]

it would also shut all the trolling whiners up!!!!!

 

[POLARIS600cc]

I didn't care about all the other crap they are taking away from us "free members" but limiting pm's is bull**** F snowest, harris publishing, and whatever company christopher works for.

 

[SW Admin]

As posted on NOVEMBER 17th, 2009.
(more than 3 months ago now)

Letter to all Members

SnoWest will have 3 categories of members in 2010.

Guest:
* Will have the ability to see all the forums and read a portion of all the threads
* Will be able to READ SwapMeet Forum
* Will be able to READ the SnowSafety Forum
* Will be able to READ the SnowMembers Forum


Basic Free Member:
This level will be completely free.
Members here will have all of the privileges of a guest, but will also get:
* Full posting ability in the SwapMeet forum, the SnowSafety forum, and the SnowMembers forum
* Limited posting ability in the other forums
* Limited ability to read other topics and forums
* Limited Private Message Capabilities


Premium Member:
All of the above privileges, plus:
* Unlimited viewing and posting privileges across the forums
* Unrestricted private-message capability
* Unrestricted access to all of the new features (chat rooms, treadmill, live-topic, etc.)
* Instant-Messenger
* Personal Blog
* Photo Albums
* "My Garage"
* Polls
* Enhanced Search Engine
* Social Groups
* Invitations to meetups and group rides

 

[Yamadoo04]

You freaking admins just dont get it do you. How many complaints have you gotten on this? If you were actually here for the memebers you wouldn't keep going back to what you said back in november. Why dont you just shut down the entire suggestions and feedback forum because YOU ARENT LISTENING TO ANYBODY ANYWAY!!!!

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

As posted on NOVEMBER 17th, 2009.
(more than 3 months ago now)

Letter to all Members

SnoWest will have 3 categories of members in 2010.

Guest:
* Will have the ability to see all the forums and read a portion of all the threads
* Will be able to READ SwapMeet Forum
* Will be able to READ the SnowSafety Forum
* Will be able to READ the SnowMembers Forum


Basic Free Member:
This level will be completely free.
Members here will have all of the privileges of a guest, but will also get:
* Full posting ability in the SwapMeet forum, the SnowSafety forum, and the SnowMembers forum
* Limited posting ability in the other forums
* Limited ability to read other topics and forums
* Limited Private Message Capabilities


Premium Member:
All of the above privileges, plus:
* Unlimited viewing and posting privileges across the forums
* Unrestricted private-message capability
* Unrestricted access to all of the new features (chat rooms, treadmill, live-topic, etc.)
* Instant-Messenger
* Personal Blog
* Photo Albums
* "My Garage"
* Polls
* Enhanced Search Engine
* Social Groups
* Invitations to meetups and group rides

Admin,Just a simple question?..I dont see anything in what you copied to here nor do I remember seeing anything in the original post back in november about having no signature or avatar for free members?..did I just miss reading that way back when or is this something new? thanks for the info...maybe as a suggestion it might help admin if you decide on everything your going to change and just do it...that way one way or the other this will all be gotten thru as fast as possible...

 

[diamonddave]

My rep power went to zero. Is that in there?

Edit..ABSOLUTELY NOT STIRRING A POT!!!!!

 

[buck50]

My rep power went to zero. Is that in there?

Edit..ABSOLUTELY NOT STIRRING A POT!!!!!

it's just because we are apparently not WORTHY of being able to determine if someone is worthy of receiving rep, good or bad!

 

[KilrPilr]

well im not paying to read a website. Sorry to see it go this way. The whole reason this site is as good as it is is because of the input from every person. Limit it and you lose content. Lose content and lose subscriptions. Lose subscriptions and good bye website. Too bad the greedy higher ups cant see this.

 

[MtnDoo]

First off: I make my comments having read your letter months ago.

So, SW Admin - if Free Basic Membership is not working as recruiting tool, and just pissing off existing members - why no just DROP FREE MEMBERSHIP ALTOGETHER???


It's not like someone shows up, you piss them off and they pay...

Dream on.

 

[aksledneck]

Drop free membership "AND" subtract those numbers from the so called member statistics that admin seems to love to tout! This is what happens when an idiot tries to take over and tell everyone what they should want in a snowmachine site, then charge for said site. Everyone of the brainwashed followers here keep saying that SW has the best info on the the web, this was true but the fact that they seem to block from there little minds is " where did this info come from"? It certainly did not come from their leader or Harris. This site is nothing more now than a storage device that can divulge dated info that was stolen from contributors that were cast away and ignored in the name of greed. This dated info can now be accessed for a fee in which only the ignorant will agree to. Mr. Parret claims to be a man of faith, just read his posts on his beloved AVOW site. He prayed on peoples faith in the interest of greed, just as many televangelists have in the past and now he is preying on our passion for our sport and this site. The one thing that he has over looked is the fact that most on here have strong wills and do not like to be told "what they need" by an outsider to our sport and to our site. We are not sheep like your AVOW subscribers and do not act favorably to your tactics. As has been said, "it is not our site" and so I refuse to pay him to help or be helped by my fellow sledders. I hope you are proud of yourself Chris, you and your gestapo have destroyed the once best sled sight on the net. All of the peeps that have been banned from here and those that asked to have their accounts deleted are still counted as members. Why Chris? if you were a standup guy as you proclaim to be you answer this for everyone to see. You like to create this false sense that the membership is growing when in fact it is declining and you know it!! I now will go home to wander with my brother rebels in the back country. Next season when the lemmings here thirst for new info, they will know where to find it and I guarantee it wont be here! I am sure this will be promptly deleted anyway. Wouldn't want anyone to voice there opinion.

 

[mmaxcarver]

Yeah I have really seen a drop in people posting here, I have enjoyed posting my "Friday" Ears ride report every Friday night let's the weekend riders know what they can look forward to, since I can't post pictures anymore I guess I'll move over to sledmods.com, seeya over there... Later, Greg

 

[00buck]

lmao you can say sledmods.com but............

 

[Leaf27]

February New Member Special: Get a 12-month Membership for just $29.95 (that's 33% off!!) LMAO

Have you guys read the propaganda on that site, scare tactics galore. to funny. Give me your money and you will be saved........

 

[skibreeze]

lmao you can say sledmods.com but............

Or Totallyyamaha.com or Dootalk.com or Hardcoresledder.com or snowmobilefanatics.com, or ultimatesnowmobiler.com, or snowmobileworld.com, or snowandmud.com but god forbid you mention the rebels, fordguy will strike you down like the dog you are. Talk about a clear double standard! Now you see why people are pissed off about the principle, not the $$. Too bad admin can't see or seem to care about that.

 

[Boston Racing]

I have come to a simple conclusion. This is about expanding the circulation of the magazine. All the Paying members now recieve the magazine...which in turn mean the advertisers reach more people allowing Harris to charge more. It really cant be about the 87 cents a month. To me it was worth the 87 cents for the magazine but If the content goes away, so will I. This is why I feel that paying members are not afforded the ability to turn off ads. Ads are the reason for the pay site. Why doesn't Harris just give the magazine adn forums away for free then the advertising hits a much larger market and therfore they can charge more.

I paid because I was hoping everybody would see it the same way as me. You dont go into Hooters and take up a table talking all night without paying something to the house. In this case SW is the house. I am not thrilled about all this but is 30 dollars for 3 years really worth all this? How about we get back to talking about snowmobiling and stop

If Harris has made up their minds, let them deal with the ramifications. Rubbing their noses in it all day, every day isnt helping anything.

 

[rxlrider]

With 22 members viewing this post, you would think someone would have something to chime in with. Where are all the comments?

 

[EagleRiverDee]

Or Totallyyamaha.com or Dootalk.com or Hardcoresledder.com or snowmobilefanatics.com, or ultimatesnowmobiler.com, or snowmobileworld.com, or snowandmud.com but god forbid you mention the rebels, fordguy will strike you down like the dog you are. Talk about a clear double standard! Now you see why people are pissed off about the principle, not the $$. Too bad admin can't see or seem to care about that.

I asked about this issue specifically in the private section, because I also thought there was a double standard. The answer is more complex than what you are implying and you might consider directly querying the moderators on why one site was selected for blacklisting if you aren't sure. The fact that so many other sledding sites are not redirecting should tell you that it's a specific issue with the Rebels site. If you participate there, you probably can already guess what the issue is.

 

[Yamadoo04]

Well the Free Baisc Member is has not been eliminated but the words "Free" and "Paid" have been. I guess thats a start. But still I am not going to pay $30 to have my name in bold.