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The forum was down for quite some time earlier today.

Oh, the pain! The withdrawals!

Thank goodness it's back up again.

(But it seems my Mac avatar has gone missing.)

I think I only tried to log in a dozen or so times while it was down. Maybe two :-)

I was so frustrated and bored I actually practiced!

Congratulations Frank with updated forum engine and/or new design elements !

That's hilarious!

+1!

Here's the changelog:

https://www.ubbwiki.com/wiki/view/112/ubb-threads-v7-6-1-changelog.html

Cheers,
James
x

You've put on the last suit you'll ever wear.
Now you're simply...M.

For those who haven't seen the notice about this, there are some changes coming...

I was wondering when the news was going to hit the DP forum.

This change likely won't affect my own use of the forums, or other frequent posters'. But I'm afraid it's going to have a detrimental impact on new users. Who's going to shell out $$ to join a forum they haven't had a chance to develop a vested interest in? The random newbies who pop in with questions will all but disappear, and with them the "hook" of these new users becoming returning regulars. And I bet site activity will drop significantly too (fewer new members, not every regular will opt to pay). The pessimistic view is that this will be putting the site on life support and be detrimental to the long term viability of the board.

Personally, I think Frank should consider a 20-50 post threshold before participation payment is required. Or maybe have annual "pledge drives" events as opposed to a strict subscription model.

I'm kind of glad this will happen. And I don't intend on paying the subscription which I hope will prevent me from posting and ultimately lead to overcoming the withdrawal syndrome and find some other way of spending my time, such as... surprise, surprise... playing the piano! I think I waste a lot of time here and it's turning into a dependency already and I'm already stuck, I don't have a lot to say already, to help, or even to learn. I guess it would be better if I just took a rest and so that's a perfect opportunity

Agreed

I think Frank is of traditional retirement age and if he's just looking for a boost in his financial subsidy before he dies, then subscriptions will probably help in the short-term. However, if he wants to keep PW going strong for the next generation, then I would imagine subscriptions will ensure that doesn't happen.

God Bless,
David

Wow, you don't pull any punches, do you David?

I'm unimpressed by this change.

And it was a really terrible, very low-profile way of announcing it too. Sneaky one might almost say.

I've thought about it and frankly, I think PianoWorld should be paying me. When I think about the amount of time I've spent here in the past, passing on information about the pianos I've owned and my experience of a (depressingly) vast number of digital pianos in order to try and benefit other users of this website, I think PW owes me, not the other way around!

I will have to think long and hard about whether I will stick around. Now that I have a decent acoustic piano my interest in digitals has significantly declined anyway.

Will non-paying users still be able to 'private message' one another I wonder?

Hmmm . . .I've been on this forum some time; it's been a lot of fun and thanks to you lot, cost me a lot o' cash. Having said that, I don't recall taking anyone's advice (who'd actually recommend either the DGX600 series, or the FP50? But it got me into playing some serious music (ABF) which I'd ha never touched on otherwise.
Thank you, all for the music!
Now, I've been around the internet (twice) and I think I can live without it. Maybe more and more folk will realise that could be a blessing . . . . .things are changing fast, guys! This forum will too.

I will gladly fork over $29 a year for this. If that's what it takes to keep it running I'm fine with that. It's chump change.

@CG: I can understand that your potential exit is a way to overcome PW addiction.
But I wish you'd find another way. Yours in the one addiction to which I have no objection.

@Gombessa: You bring up a good point about a new user's reluctance to pay.
I originally came here just to ask some questions. I didn't expect to stay for a decade, so a paywall would have deterred me.
There ought to be a free period (free posts for the first month or something similar).

@EssBrace: I don't see any rationale for PW paying you ... or me or anyone else.
The site costs money to operate. And you have to pay to play. Simple commerce.

Web ad revenue is a problem for many web sites. My wife manages one, and it has been teetering on the brink on and off for a decade.
Those web ads don't bring in much ... and the loss of a sponsor and the subsequent search for a replacement is nerve wracking.

I wonder how much more income Frank needs to support this site?

I looked at the all-time top 1000 posters ... which I "presume" will include people who might be most willing to stay and pay.
I removed those who have not posted in the past 90 days.
I don't have the numbers on hand right now, but it was somewhere around 300 people.
Perhaps a dozen of those are already paid subscribers ... so no new revenue from them.

But of the rest ... if we all put up $3/month at the "bronze" level that would bring in close to $900/month. Or at $29/year, around $700 a month.
If some members opted for one of the higher levels, those figures could double.

But how much is enough?

Mac, I was hoping you'd pull out some membership analytics. I earlier spitballed a number of 500 paying "regulars" out of thin air, which came out to around $15k/year for bronze. From Frank's post, it costs $10k/year to operate PW, so this is roughly the number he would need to cover the cost and them some. Add to that continued ad revenue, potential impact from reduced participation, etc., and it's pretty hard to extrapolate any more.

It's too bad the stats are so limiting.

We know member names, date joined, and date "last seen" (whatever that means).
We also have every post a user has made (including date and time).
But we don't know how many posts a user reads. Lurking is invisible, even for logged in members.

I guess we'll find out whether this new model works ... when it happens.

But when Frank lowers the race flag I'll be there with my credit card.

I can understand wanting to make money off a site, but that can often become the kiss of death if paywalls are implemented.

Maybe paying for extras like an avatar or unlimited posting would be a good compromise. The newbies and cheapskates could be limited to a post a day or maybe some character limit.

On the forums, we use our experience, knowledge, skill to act as the authors of the information provided.