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danny

TMCing Since 2006
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Aug 15, 2006
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We decided it was a bit more space efficient to use the badge.

It could be my eyes, but there seems to be very little contrast between the "S" and the rest of the badge. Like I have to get really close to my monitor and squint to see it. Can that be tweaked somehow? Maybe make the "S" a little heavier?

Few other things:

On the Account Upgrades page are several benefits at the blue and red levels of higher limits (e.g. number of groups one can join increased). I wasn't even aware that some of these limits existed, is there a list of "important" limits documented anywhere? (Maybe including those that aren't affected by membership levels too?)

There's mention of a "Supporting Members" page but there's no link to it and I can't seem to find it on the site. Am I just doing a PEBKAC?

I think it'd be good to mention upfront (I didn't see it, but I'm admittedly a little sleep-deprived right now, so forgive me if I just missed it) that once enabled, payments are automatic and recurring, at least with PayPal. That's perhaps obvious with the monthly plans, but maybe not so much with the yearly plans (which I signed up for).

Thanks,

Bruce.
 
It could be my eyes, but there seems to be very little contrast between the "S" and the rest of the badge. Like I have to get really close to my monitor and squint to see it. Can that be tweaked somehow? Maybe make the "S" a little heavier?
Yeah I realized that as well, and already have a version with a brighter red. We'll try get it uploaded today.

s there a list of "important" limits documented anywhere?
We don't have this, though it's not a bad idea, but also would require a bit of work to maintain. We have other documentation that we need to work on first I think.

There's mention of a "Supporting Members" page but there's no link to it and I can't seem to find it on the site.
We'll try get this up soon. It will probably be a tab in the "Member's" section.

I think it'd be good to mention upfront (I didn't see it, but I'm admittedly a little sleep-deprived right now, so forgive me if I just missed it) that once enabled, payments are automatic and recurring, at least with PayPal.
I'll try and figure out where we can mention it more explicitly. To be clear, the recurring payments can be cancelled at any time and are primarily there for your convenience.
 
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.... As a thankyou for your contribution, you'll get nearly no ads....

Why any ads at all? A big part of contribution for me is to be relieved of ALL ads.

And about this nag banner:

"TMC is an independent, primarily volunteer organization that relies on ad revenue to cover its operating costs. Please consider whitelisting TMC on your ad blocker or making a Paypal contribution here: paypal.me/SupportTMC"

It is not stated correctly since making a Paypal contribution still requires whitelisting TMC to avoid the nag banner. After seeing that contributors will still get some ads, it appears that ad blocking will still be necessary.

Are you really getting that much revenue from continuing ads to contributors that you can afford to lose the few that have an issue with it?
 
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Are you really getting that much revenue from continuing ads to contributors that you can afford to lose the few that have an issue with it?
Contributors should not be seeing ads, so I am not sure what you are referring to.

Regarding the "nag banner" as you call it, that shows for people who have ad blocker enabled. If you are a contributor, then you can whitelist us on your adblocker to get rid of the "nag banner". You then should also not be seeing no top and bottom banner ads as we have them turned off for contributors.
 
Contributors should not be seeing ads, so I am not sure what you are referring to..

If this is true, please explain this statement about contributors benefits:

Supporting Member (monthly)
  • -Almost no ads (in Discussion and Groups sections)
That "Almost no ads" comment is carried for every level of contributors.

As I understand it, "Almost no ads" means some ads will be seen by contributors. Am I wrong?
 
The issue is it depends what you consider an ad. As a forum we have very few ads to begin with. We basically have two traditional banner ads, one near the top of the page and one near the bottom (that you probably hardly notice). We also restrict the type of ads that can be shown in order to keep things tasteful. We strive to balance the desire to have minimal and low-impact ads with the need to keep things sustainable. Supporting Members get those already minimal ads turned off.

However, there are other things of which some might consider an ad. For example, vendor posts are supposed to be relevant and informative but some consider a forum post from any vendor to be an advertisement. We also let members know about events such as our TMC Connect conference through forum posts and notices on the website. Some might consider those to be ads. The "almost no" or "nearly no" language is meant to cover such situations.
 
The issue is it depends what you consider an ad. As a forum we have very few ads to begin with. We basically have two traditional banner ads, one near the top of the page and one near the bottom (that you probably hardly notice). We also restrict the type of ads that can be shown in order to keep things tasteful. We strive to balance the desire to have minimal and low-impact ads with the need to keep things sustainable. Supporting Members get those already minimal ads turned off.

However, there are other things of which some might consider an ad. For example, vendor posts are supposed to be relevant and informative but some consider a forum post from any vendor to be an advertisement. We also let members know about events such as our TMC Connect conference through forum posts and notices on the website. Some might consider those to be ads. The "almost no" or "nearly no" language is meant to cover such situations.

Thanks, Doug. That was very clearly stated. The embedded notices within a post is a far cry from the annoying banner ads but I appreciate your desire to cover all bases.

I still feel that a contributor should not have to whitelist TMC to get rid of the banner asking for a donation.
 
Paypal said:
You need a PayPal account for this purchase.
Umm.why? I've long ago purged Paypal from my life (they are not easy to shake off, BTW) and won't join the collective again. Happy to send a check as I've done in the past, but curious as to why you'd force members to do that? Paypal has (or used to have) the "you don't have to join us, just use a credit card" option, why not use that?
 
Paypal has (or used to have) the "you don't have to join us, just use a credit card" option, why not use that?
PayPal appears to have this option on the first page they take you to, but then it still tries to make you create an account. It's not a matter of us wanting to force anything, it just happens to be the payment method built into our system. I'll contact you directly about other methods. Thank you.
 
Additional perks are available depending on the level of contribution. Please visit the Account Upgrades page for more details.

I have donated in the past, and in response to this post several days ago, chose to donate again at the annual Blue level.

Looking at the "additional perks" I am wondering if a minor tweak may be a good idea, both because it will add a little more value for those of us at the Blue level, and because it may result in more Blue level supporters.

Here is the breakdown of benefits for annual Blue and annual Red supporters:

Supporting Member - Blue (yearly)
  • -Almost no ads (in Discussion and Groups sections)
  • -Supporting Member badge
  • -Honorable mention on Supporting Members page
  • -Access to keyword notifications feature
  • -Extra time to edit first post in thread
  • -Can join extra Groups (6 instead of 4)
  • -Can own/manage 2 Groups (instead of 1)

Supporting Member - Red (yearly)
  • -Almost no ads (in Discussion and Groups sections)
  • -Supporting Member badge
  • -Honorable mention on Supporting Members page
  • -Access to keyword notifications feature
  • -Extra time to edit all posts in threads (infinite for 1st post in thread, 12 hours for other posts)
  • -Can join extra Groups (6 instead of 4)
  • -Can own/mange 3 Groups (instead of 1)
  • -Extra signature links and characters (3 links instead of 1 link, 350 characters instead of 256 characters, 4 lines instead of 3
  • -Increased gallery storage quota and upload limit (1gb instead of 50mb and 10 item upload instead of 5)
  • -10% discount on one TMC Connect event (requires the yearly subscription)


I don't know about the majority of members, but the stuff about groups, managing groups, etc. doesn't mean much to me.

Having some extra time to edit the first post in a thread is of some benefit, but it would be really nice to, like the Red supporting members, have at least some extra time to edit --ALL-- posts. (In my case I sometimes see a typo after the editing window has closed, and hate that I can't fix it.) Unless I am mistaken, the editing window is also significantly shorter since the site redesign.

I understand the need to maintain a difference between Red and Blue supporting members, but that wouldn't preclude you from allowing Blue members the ability to edit all posts for somewhat longer than we can now. As an example, you could allow Red supporting members to edit all posts for 24 hours, and Blue supporting members could get 12 hours. Or you could leave the 12 hours the Red supporters get now, and increase the editing time for Blue members to 6 hours.

I think doing either of the above would be a nice little bonus for your Blue supporting members, and it very well may also increase the number of Blue supporting members. I honestly don't think doing something like that would result in some who would have been Red supporters opting for Blue. And even if that happens a little bit, I think it would be more than made up for in Blue supporters that otherwise would have donated less or not at all.

Thanks for considering this suggestion!
 
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Imho, time allowed to edit a post is an odd thing to grant because of a donation. I think everyone should be able to edit their posts, as long as it provides a log (footer) that an edit was made.

I didn't donate for any of the benefits with the exception of removing the ads; but primarily to support the site, Danny, and Doug.
 
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