Sythe Premium / VIP

We already have donor lounge, what purpose would a VIP lounge serve? Another way for scammers to 'feel' important.

As for the facebook chat feature, sure, seems like a good idea, make sure the chat is also stored in history form to be used in disputes, and make a chat downloadable as a pdf, or at least allow moderators to CTRL + F them as well.

Auto bump would also be a nice feature, although it would be detrimental to those on Sythe who have sold their own personal auto bumping scripts.

As for the rank, please, no rank for this purpose, whatsoever. A rank like this only serves one purpose, to help scammers scam more easily.

 

I like the idea honestly. All of your features listed sounded good to me. I think $50 is a reasonable price for the perks given.

 

VIP rank, auto bump every 7 hours, and facebook-wise chat yes, definitely. Just make sure you can have group chats if done.

VIP Lounge I feel like it wouldn't be necessary as most people who were SVU were also donors, so they had the donor lounge anyways - which makes me feel like VIP lounge wouldn't be used little to not at all.

Also, another perk I believe of having VIP (assuming its a monthly payment) is for the ability to send in your own mini rank after approval that only you can use / can't trade away. No clue the limitations on Xenforo or if this would have even been possible in Vbulletin either.

 

If it would sort of "replace" SVU maybe there should be some kind of security feature along with it?

 

Yes, people are going to scam and maybe they'll try to use the VIP to their advantage to scam, but you got to flip sides and realize it would also help those who are trying to establish themselves as legitimate as well. There isn't just a small group of 20 individuals fighting for customers on here, but hundreds who want customers to themselves so they'll gladly be willing to pay the extra price to seem more legitimate than their competitors because even though people who've been on Sythe for a very long time know donor means nothing to them, new people typically go by thread replies and how legitimate you seem (which VIP makes it sound like).

Personally, even though I said yes to VIP rank, I'm more neutral on it and don't care if it happens or doesn't. Regardless, I just hope there is some bomb ass features to it when I buy .

 

All except the VIP Lounge i agree with. -Donor lounge seems to be active enough from what I've experienced thus far and has more than enough threads that relate to anything donor based. would be intrested to hear more about the idea though.

 

I think this idea could be better molded into the donor System as it stands. There is no need for "Donors" AND "VIP" users... Just incorporate those perks into the system you already have. SVU was something that seemed great at the time but failed.. VIP would more than likely suffer the same fate.

At the end of the day, Sythe has ALWAYS been free. Adding VIP gives a sense of "Freemium" to Sythe which could snowball into something a lot worse down the road.

TL;DR I do not support this idea.

 

The one huge factor that differentiates Sythe from other market/trading forums, is its presence as a free-market forum, meaning, donating and perks associated with donating are all cosmetic. These perks don't directly allow you to be leaps and bounds ahead of other new traders/regular traders/whatnot. It's the idea that the little guy can make it big. This one factor alone is a huge tool that pulls users in, and allows them to build their business up without feeling oppressed due to market giants buying their way to the top.

Sure, donating allows you command more trust, allows you a user title (thus allowing you to advertise and whatnot), more forum notability, etc. However, certain forums allow you to purchase permanent stickied spots, colourful titles, infinite bumps, etc. I wouldn't personally be a fan of doing this. Ultimately, we need to try and please everyone, so it's quite tricky.

- Anyway, this isn't what you're saying, but I just wanted to clarify that.

In regards to what you did ask, I don't think another 'verified/VIP' type rank is anything different than SVU. The 7 hour bump is something I like, as it's not too over-bearing. However, I think that should be a far higher donor perk, not something to replace SVU.

@Sythe, are you asking what to replace SVU with, or what new perks you think would be good in general?

 

A monthly premium fee would be the most profitable and would probably attract more premium users.
Shorter post times, bigger avatars/signatures, shorter bump times and the facebook-style chat would be great features.

 

But this is not a good idea. Let us not turn Sythe into a freemium website. Started free, always free. Even though this website is a business venture let;s try not to look at what is most profitable

 

Bigger ava's is already a part of the donor perk" though, shorter post times/auto bumps would be pretty cool and save alot of people i know 30mins+ bumping multiple threads etc. (opinion of a newb)

 

Facebook-like chat: Don't like it, seen it on different forums but will barely be used - might also have negative impact on PM's.

Autobump your threads every 7 hours: Will only cause confusion I think, regular users might start believing they can bump in 7 hours aswell.

VIP rank: Might a cool idea, but how would you gain one?

VIP lounge: As said above we already have the donor lounge, I'm not sure if another lounge would be necessary.

I'm actually confused by this thread because I had the feeling with such a big amount of donations Sythe would even have money left to spend on - is the server really that much expensive?

 

I agree with Sellerman, the rank wouldn't be much different than SVU in terms of how it's depicted. If this is a plan that is likely to go through to upkeep server costs, then hopefully the rank isn't cheap. It would be hard to make the rank enticing while still have the perks only be superficial.

My ideas:

- Upon acquisition/renewal a prizebox is given
- Earlier bump times 6-7 hours rather than 8
- Access to donor legacy ranks (must have donation credit to match)
- VIP Rank
- Bold usergroup (makes the username bold)

A fair price would be $50/month. Donor perks are exclusive, so VIP users wouldn't receive any.

 

again, all of these things could be implemented into the donor sytem. theres no need for some VIP membership

 

Read the original post of this thread.

 

Oh trust me I did, Kiro. I fully understand that server costs are on the rise, however, all of these perk, if included into the donor system, could increase revenue by further enticing members to donate.. At least, that is the way I see it.Think about it... A VIP "rank" means nothing compared to a "50$ Donator" rank if youre a new member looking for "trust" as some may call it.. I would be more inclined to trade with a 50$ Donor than a VIP if I were a new member.

 

Donating regularly is a one time cost. A VIP rank wouldn't be a one time cost, nor would it be permanent. It's basically a subscription.

 

This but give users without UT's a coloured name.

 

Colored names are reserved for staff. I don't see that changing.