Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Forum becoming subscription only

The post is confusing. It starts as an answer to a post that someone asked recently somewhere, and then has this idea almost as a by-the-way afterthought in a place that is unlikely to be read by anyone who isn't one of the present subscribers curious about that question. Folks in the forum are up in the air, in an atmosphere of uncertainty. Many who contribute probably have their bags standing by the door already. It might be good for Frank to clarify things a bit. It is indeed sad, by the way

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Yes.

Very new people may ask questions, but should the knowledgeable people who volunteer their time (teachers, musicians, advanced students, technicians), pay to answer those questions?

I don't think that there actually will be many very new people asking questions as very new people will need to pay to ask even one question. There are other places like PianoStreet's forum or Reddit's r/piano to ask piano-related questions for free. Those may be worse for one reason or another today, but after PW starts its subscription regime, then those alternatives will suddenly look better for question-askers. Those venues will pick up more questions.

Wow, this is some news! I thought it was a misunderstanding, but no, it's true! I really think Frank should have posted the announcement in a specific thread with a clear title, and should have allowed comments in it.

I know from FB that he is going through some changes in his life, I guess this might be somewhat related to that if he really can't afford to continue with a free forum like before.

I don't like the change but I think I will subscribe, as I owe so much to PW, and especially the ABF forum. I don't think I would be where I am in my piano journey without it. That said, I don't really need to participate right now, most of the times I just read here and there - and obviously after 7 years there's not a lot of useful new information that I can find here, I just like to see what's going on. There's already so much information in these forums, that I think nobody should feel compelled to subscribe just to get ideas on how to start, how to practice, etc. You can still read about all that. Maybe the search option will be used more often before deciding to start a new thread on the same old topics

At the present time, all new memberships on PisnoStreet are paid memberships. They are hoping to reactivate the free membership sometime this year. Personally, I don’t find that either compare to PW. I have no issue with paying; this site has asked for voluntary donations and subscriptions, but I assume voluntary did not generate enough income. .

IMO, When the forum becomes a subscription , everyone should pay. Otherwise, there would need to be some criteria to judge the quality of the answer and whether the responder should qualify for free or not. Just because somebody answers the question doesn’t mean they were qualified or that the answer was valuable to others. Everyone on this forum gains at one time or another regardless of their skill level or the frequency they ask questions.

Make everyone the same. Really. $3 per month is not huge.

I think that Frank isn't expecting very many to stay.

There are currently 93,770 members - and at $3.00 per month, if we all stayed - that'd net $3,375,720.00.

My guess is that he's expecting less than 1% to stay around as members.

PianoWorld's ABF has been invaluable to me (without it I wonder whether I'd still be continuing my piano journey) so for some years I've been providing financial support as a way of saying 'thanks'.

A monthly subscription is a small price to pay to help keep this wonderful site viable; I hope the vast majority of members feel the same way.

And how does one go about subscribing? I just did a quick search and couldn't find it.

On my cellphone, the subscription option is at the very bottom ... underneath the ads

Agree with this sentiment. Sad, indeed!

I agree with the sentiments above - I would not be where I am today without this forum. It is well worth the fee to me. I hope many of you who I consider my online friends continue. Some of us may be willing or able to sponsor others if the need arises. Maybe that can help.

I saw someone posted that Frank is going through changes, as per Facebook. I hope that’s not a health issue. If so, is there a backup plan to keep this forum running? I don’t have the technical expertise or the time to pitch in in this way, but others may be able to help if that is the issue.

What if the benefit of higher levels of subscription were increased edit time?!

I agree too. Very sad. While there are probably some exceptions, forums that go the subscription route usually wither and die. Been there, done that.

No, nothing like that! He's perfectly healthy as far as I know.

I am a sporadic reader and occasionally make a posting or submit answers and comments , and I make sporadic donations. I cannot imagine my life without browsing through the different threads when I feel the need for a little support or encouragement or just association with other piano players, since I my life I am the only one.
I only came across this idea of subscription by happenstance scrolling by things I don’t usually follow just for a change.
What would I do if it all became subscription and I missed it.....
Is it all getting out of hand? Is admin now chaotic? Will we all have to turn to a Face Book Group?
I think I would try subscribing and see how it goes. If it just withers away then so be it - that would be very sad......

I don't think that this is being discussed anywhere other than ABF,although the original post saying the site will become subscription only is posted elsewhere, and it's quite a serious issue in my opinion. I'm not keen on the idea really, and I guess whether or not I stay is going to depend on how things pan out. It's really the membership that makes this a great place to 'hang out' and it is unclear how many people will actually stay.
Can I afford it? Well, I suppose so, although being retired on a fixed income I'm not exactly rich and I have resisted paid membership of other forums and survived quite happily. Would miss PW no doubt, but it's the members I would miss and many may just move on anyway, so probably better to make a clean break.
Lack of new members who arrive with a question and then stay may, as has been mentioned, become a problem. A 'guest posting' thread may be useful - a way of kind of hauling people in, but I'm not sure how it would / could be managed.
I have no problem, incidentally, that Frank is doing this, and hope all goes well for him. I see no reason why he should subsidize something for us to enjoy - it's just a shame that things have come to this.

It is a shame we have come to subscriptions but Frank has been asking for donations as well as membership for a long time. Evidently there was not enough monetary response and it will need to become mandatory.

I find the free forums, other than this one, not to be useful and/or disorganized. If the ABF is ‘moved’ to Reddit, I will not be following as the ABF is not the only forum I follow here. I hope others will consider the value of what they get from PW.

I have been willing and able to donate the last few years. PW has given me hours upon hours of informative discussions, some not so informative discussions, of encouragement, of entertainment. The site relies on people willing to start new threads, to answer questions, to post an opinion on a topic. My gut feeling is that a paid subscription to post will be a short-term financial boost for Frank that will shrink considerably when the current batch of frequent posters fades away.

This place needs the occasional posters and the new posters to keep it alive and busy enough to sustain interest. Putting the roadblock of a subscription in the way will reduce traffic to a trickle. I hope Frank will reconsider and if he does and gives voluntary donations another chance, more people will go that route and maybe even consider larger donations.

I would think that when subscriptions to PW become mandatory and details are made clear, Frank will let us all know by a well-publicized announcement rather than through a passing mention buried in another thread.

In the meantime, let's keep speculation to a minimum and patiently wait and see what transpires and when.

Regards,