SNOWEST FORUMS: Premium Memberships now available.

[AKSNOWRIDER]

As the guy who is tasked with managing this site on a daily basis for it's owners, I can assure you that the PAID PREMIUM MEMBERS will play a role in the future of the forums.

If "YOU" would like to be part of that, then I offer an invitation to you to join and become part of the group that will lead rather than follow.

How does the old saying go.

Lead
Follow
Or get the heck out of the way.

He has chosen to be in the Lead position on the dog sled.

"If your not the lead dog, the view never changes"

Tell you what christopher..you put it in writing..on a new thread for all to see..that as paid premium members we will be able to have a major impact and effect on decisions pertaining to snowest forums by majority vote of the paid members and I will pay my membership today..as will many others I am sure...Got HONOR?

 

[christopher]

Tell you what christopher..you put it in writing..on a new thread for all to see..that as paid premium members we will be able to have a major impact and effect on decisions pertaining to snowest forums by majority vote of the paid members and I will pay my membership today..as will many others I am sure...Got HONOR?

This is not a democracy.
This is a private corporate enterprise.

At the end of the day Harris Publishing alone makes the final decision on what does or does not happen on their forums.

Having said that, those members that choose to become PAID PREMIUM MEMBERS will be afforded more input and more voice than the free members. But that does not mean these forums will be allowed to turn into a Mobocracy where whoever shouts and screams the loudest is allowed to get his way.

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

This is not a democracy.
This is a private corporate enterprise.

At the end of the day Harris Publishing alone makes the final decision on what does or does not happen on their forums.

Having said that, those members that choose to become PAID PREMIUM MEMBERS will be afforded more input and more voice than the free members. But that does not mean these forums will be allowed to turn into a Mobocracy where whoever shouts and screams the loudest is allowed to get his way.

Thanks for clarifying that christopher....

 

[KSH]

This is not a democracy.
This is a private corporate enterprise.

At the end of the day Harris Publishing alone makes the final decision on what does or does not happen on their forums.

Having said that, those members that choose to become PAID PREMIUM MEMBERS will be afforded more input and more voice than the free members. But that does not mean these forums will be allowed to turn into a Mobocracy where whoever shouts and screams the loudest is allowed to get his way.

You mean the whining will have to stop.

I know I lied, now I will leave the thread.

 

[buck50]

You mean the whining will have to stop.

I know I lied, now I will leave the thread.

the whining, or the whining about the whining....................i'm confused!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[christopher]

You mean the whining will have to stop..

Not at all.
Notice that we are having an honest discussion in this thread that is NOT being filled with venomous attacks.

Thus it IS possible to have SIGNIFICANT disagreements and still be civil in the discussion. The problem in the past is that these discussions have always degenerated into little more than a Bash-Fest against Harris, SnoWest or any of the Mods on the site. And that always results in the threads getting nuked, and all the members yelling and screaming even louder.

 

[McGuyver]

when does the contest thread go up for 21 premium memberships?
post sled related pics! (or vid)
top 5, get 3 year
6-10, get 2 year
11-20 get 1 year

run it now till Feb 22. Close thread for posting, vote, give winners premium effective march 1st.
and 1 membership for me

 

[KSH]

Not at all.
Notice that we are having an honest discussion in this thread that is NOT being filled with venomous attacks.

Thus it IS possible to have SIGNIFICANT disagreements and still be civil in the discussion. The problem in the past is that these discussions have always degenerated into little more than a Bash-Fest against Harris, SnoWest or any of the Mods on the site. And that always results in the threads getting nuked, and all the members yelling and screaming even louder.

Sorry,I meant after the conversion.

And yes we need more questions like AK's.

And yes to you Buck50, the whining about the whining will be done to.

 

[MARV1]

There was nothing wrong with snowest a year ago, even 6months ago. Then useless stuff were installed that slowed it down. . . Oh well, life goes on and it will never be the same!

 

[buck50]

Sorry,I meant after the conversion.

And yes we need more questions like AK's.

And yes to you Buck50, the whining about the whining will be done to.

fair.................

 

[caper11]

Well I know of another forum will welcome the new members and it's just as helpful, If the Mods here would of said my membership money will be donated to a club of my choice to help keep riding areas open than I 'd sign up in a heart beat.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[CatWoman]

when does the contest thread go up for 21 premium memberships?
post sled related pics! (or vid)
top 5, get 3 year
6-10, get 2 year
11-20 get 1 year

run it now till Feb 22. Close thread for posting, vote, give winners premium effective march 1st.
and 1 membership for me

We are having discussion about this. It will be announced what, and how we are doing it soon.

 

[diamonddave]

Christopher, if I may ask a question?

Let's say a member decides to pay for a membership and then after 2-3 months into that maybe 6 months for what ever reason doesn't wish to use it anymore, would there be any way for a pro-rated reimbursement?

Before the supporters of the pay system call me cheap, I base this question on the fact that some of our members may have to go oversee's (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.) , may have to go commercial fishing (me) and be gone for a couple months maybe four. Or if somebody just isn't happy with where the site is going and has say in 4 months, wants to and decides to leave.

I honestly believe if you put something like this together almost say a guarantee so to speak, you could definately get more members to buy in. This would definately calm the nerves and fears I think of alot of the members who might be on the fence. By doing something like this, it would allow somebody to see if all the extras to the site are what they really want.


I think something like this would be win win for everybody

 

[CatWoman]

Well I know of another forum will welcome the new members and it's just as helpful, If the Mods here would of said my membership money will be donated to a club of my choice to help keep riding areas open than I 'd sign up in a heart beat.
Just my 2 cents.

With a paid membership, there are 6 choices for a portion of the membership fee to be donated to. 3 in the US, and 3 in Canada....that breaks down to one Avy Center in US and one in Canada, and then 2 groups/clubs in each.

 

[christopher]

Christopher, if I may ask a question?

Let's say a member decides to pay for a membership and then after 2-3 months into that maybe 6 months for what ever reason doesn't wish to use it anymore, would there be any way for a pro-rated reimbursement?

Before the supporters of the pay system call me cheap, I base this question on the fact that some of our members may have to go oversee's (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.) , may have to go commercial fishing (me) and be gone for a couple months maybe four. Or if somebody just isn't happy with where the site is going and has say in 4 months, wants to and decides to leave.

I honestly believe if you put something like this together almost say a guarantee so to speak, you could definately get more members to buy in. This would definately calm the nerves and fears I think of alot of the members who might be on the fence. By doing something like this, it would allow somebody to see if all the extras to the site are what they really want.


I think something like this would be win win for everybody

As of right now there is no provision for a refund of membership fees should someone decide they want to quit the forums.

 

[Ford428CJ]

ITS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY.

Its about snowest keeping unpaid members from participating. unpaid members contribute greatly to this website.

ITS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY.

Its about snow west preventing unpaid members from even viewing their previous contributions.

ITS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY.

See my sig line. I paid because Christopher said that a paid member might have more voice. I hope he was being honest.

ITS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY.

For BGREEN "THAT IS SOOOOO WRONG"! LOL I was planing on posting on "How to build your own tunnel" for a mod sled! And a few other trick little things as well. I will be posting that on sledspace.com and not here now! I have posted BIG PROJECTS on other forums over the years and have contributed a lot of good useful info! I'll be more then happy to post the links to the other forums I have been on and posted great info.

Guess what...... ALL THE FORUMS WHERE FREE!!!! and I did donated money to those sites without being force too.

Brook, they arnt hearing you..I have noticed for the most part(not all for sure) the guys who think us complainers, not wanting to pay members, are just whining, are the guys who dont contribute much to the tech side of things..they are the guys who need the tech threads....so in their eyes 30 bucks for all this info is a bargain...

I agree with you!!!

 

[Flakey]

Maybe Im getting yours. I havent paid for it in 2 years and I still get one every month.

 

[bgreen776]

I think that Cristopher and S.W./H.P are trying to get a handle on what they perceive to be a major problem with the forum of years past. (I agree, it is a problem) A few people can ruin a forum by talking trash and effectively running off many valuable members who don't want to put up with that kind of abuse. I've recieved dozens of emails proving this over the years, and it breaks my heart to hear from a potentially valuable member that refuses to join our community because they are unwilling to put up with the drama caused by ignorant trolls.

Its not the money for me, and I really doubt that its the money for them (SW/HP) either. Having people pay means that they have an investment. People don't want to loose their investment, so when a mod tells them that they are walking a fine line, they are much more likely to take a good hard look at their behavior if they have paid.

If this is truely the case, I understand the logic behind it. I just don't agree with it, and I believe it is harmful to the community. I've spent many, many, sleepless nights thinking about how to handle this very situation on my own forum, and I believe what S.W. is doing is wrong. It will get rid of the trash, but it will kill the forum and turn the community against Snowest. I considered the exact same thing for my forums not 6 months ago, but I was going to charge $100, but I couldn't do it. The community needs a common place to gather, willing to pay, or not. We have strength in our numbers, dispersing us among a dozen other websites will reduce our effectiveness, be it tech, riding conditions, snow reports, land use, or any other topic.

The key, IMO, is ruthless moderation. If the goal is to get rid of the trash, then treat trash like trash. Issue it out with the rest of the garbage, without regard. It takes only a few mouse clicks to ban a member. It takes dozens of clicks to re-register, a new email account, and maybe even a new proxy to get past an IP ban. 99.999% of the trolls will go away after the first couple attempts, and the rest... well, just keep banning them. Its that easy. The people that want to stay will either modify their behavior, or they will be banned.

 

[diamonddave]

You're correct. It was previously stated in a round about way that the bottom feeders will go away by charging.

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

You're correct. It was previously stated in a round about way that the bottom feeders will go away by charging.

oh and I was stuck with that lead follow or get out thingy....