18 Feb 04
Originally posted by Iron13It would be good. But I need to cap the number of games available to non-subscribers. And that means it would not be practical to repeatedly allow tournament entry and clan membership.
It would be really great if non subscribers could join clans. I think it's not fair that just subscribers can join them. There are lots of good players who in some reasons can't pay the subscribtion payment... And what about some more starless tournaments?
Why do I need to do cap games? Because running a site cost money. This site wasn't started with a crazy amount of capital from the dot com boom, it grew with the number of users, slowly and steadily, and it still grows now. And growth requires funds.
Without any subscriptions, there would be no clans or tournaments for you to join. Or any site at all, come to think of it.
-Russ
18 Feb 04
4 edits
Originally posted by Iron13To remove the administrative overhead of approving every photo that someone uploads, we only allow subscribers to do this. Why?
One more thing: I can't place my picture? WEIRD!!!
Well, it would only take 10 minutes before someone would think it was funny to upload an 'unsuitable' image. Subscribers are trusted, they are highly unlikely to link to anything too offensive or even illegal. (Which would lose this site users quicker than switching the site's focus from Chess to Checkers.)
-Russ
18 Feb 04
Originally posted by Iron13If the perks that go along with paying for membership go away, and get included in free registering, what would there be to convince people to pay for a subscription?
It would be really great if non subscribers could join clans. I think it's not fair that just subscribers can join them. There are lots of good players who in some reasons can't pay the subscribtion payment... And what about some more starless tournaments?
As Russ said, it takes money to run a site, so while it would be nice to get things and access to features for free, that's not realistic thinking because it is not free for those who provide it. And consider those that aren't very wealthy but have still managed to pay the membership - wouldn't it be unfair to them if the features they had payed for suddenly became free?
Also, since non-subscribers are limited to 6 concurrent games, even if they were allowed into clans, I doubt that many clan leaders would accept non-subscribers because of that game limit. Most of the time a non-subscriber clan member would be unavailable for new clan games.
-Jarno
18 Feb 04
I see the free registration as a great giveaway, but, like shareware, it's just fine to have some limitations. The free accounts give folks an opportunity to try out the site, play some games, see how easy it is to find opponents, and generally be impressed.😀
Once the new people have tried it, they really ought to register and pay if they want to dive in more actively. It's a great site. If you play here a lot, you ought to support it.
My two cents.
Paul
18 Feb 04
1 edit
There are exceptions but in the main non-subscribers are not committed to the site and liable to vanish as quickly as they appear. As a clan leader I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting members that I can rely on to complete their games and not leave me with a time-out nightmare. Clan involvement should stay as an inducement for people to buy a star 😀
Andrew
19 Feb 04
Originally posted by prnI think that it's fair. People in USA has a saying, "vote with your wallet", and I thing that is the right thing to do. if you think the service is worth the money, then pay for it, give the people that maintain it a big thanks and the means they need to keep the good working.
Once the new people have tried it, they really ought to register and pay if they want to dive in more actively. It's a great site. If you play here a lot, you ought to support it.
Playing with a paying member, you can be sure he/she will be here for the next move...
I think it's worth, but just now I'm having some money troubles, and don't have the money to spare or the international credit card to use, but it is in my list of things I want to do this year. For now, I can only tanks for the excellent service.
- Cesar