Sythe Premium / VIP

In all honesty, I don't think we should be looking to get extra fun-ranks that are used to scam (SVU is a great example of this), instead why don't we focus on extra donation perks? All the suggestions above could be implemented as a donation perk. Plus, donation rank is exactly what it says, you've donated X amount of money, not like "Sythe Verified User" which caused confusion.

 

thats why I said $50 is too much too, atleast in my opinion

 

All of this is why I don't support the idea of VIP. Adding a new section of users without any real benefit to it is just an arbitrary move, in my opinion, despite the fact of the site needing its money to operate. So the turnaround suggestion would be for the donor system perks to be beefed up to make people want to donate to the site to make their experience better.

 

Me when I saw this thread


Don't do this stupid VIP/premium bullshit. Figure out another way to make money without making people have the ability to simply pay and be granted a special status.

Make your own bumping script and sell it as a Sythe official auto bumper for $20. Everything else sounds terrible. Don't turn this forum into shit please.

 

I dont think advertising URLs without donation should be allowed, on all other forums it's allowed upon being sponsor or having stickied threads (where they can be bought)

 

Agree with this. Don't want a repeat of the svu. If the rewards for donating were improved then I'm sure more would donate. Imo for those who've donated 1k plus they should be allowed a fun rank of there choosing.

 

Add a dicing system to the forum itself and charge 5% commision. Boom, more traffic + money.

 

Vouch

 

I disagree, this is what makes Sythe work well because it's free and open to all. I personally signed up and had threads which made me money and after seeing how much I liked the website I went ahead and donated some back. Making things a requirement and charging people to post or pay for shorter bump times only works well for the large sellers who can easily pay $50/month and not even think twice about it..... however for new people without reputation set up or small sellers they would be forced to dish out lot's of money to even get started.

I personally think the VIP idea could be sort of a cool supporter rank with a few perks here but when you start selling things like "sticked posts" "shorter bump times" "access to exclusive VIP chat groups" It just seems to take away from something great that was already set up. People should donate because they like the community and want to give back not because it has become the only way to establish a reputation and make a sale.

 

I don't think this is a good idea. I understand it may cost a lot but surely you pick it up on donations and ad revenue? the reason i use this forum is because there is no "pay for premium" i mean sure you can donate but theres nothing pushing you. I would have zero respect for a premium VIP area and i certainly wouldn't pay for it, i donated because i felt like giving back but i don't feel like buying a certain level of trust for the sake of more bumps etc etc

 

I think adding an extra fun rank is a horrible idea. Take the ideas you have come up with (all great ideas) and add them to donor perks. VIP is something other forums do and it makes it so users without the VIP rank are considered untouchables in a way and those with it reap every benefit the site offers.

 

Im strongly against this.

 

No.

Definitely not.

No Fb chat. If I wanted to chat via FB, I would go on FB.

I was thinking about the bump button suggestion (for CDT related awareness) and it being on the DNS list, was curious whether that whole stance is different when it comes to Xen. That's a whole different subject though.

But uhm, auto-bumper? at 6hours, would be 4 bumps a day.. compared to 3, If it was 7, it wouldn't make much of a difference and as other people have said it would confuse the people who don't have that perk. New users or non-VIP users would sit there reporting people thinking they are abusing the 8 hour rule etc.

VIP rank? No, that's just seems to be an idea to overcome what SVU was? Clearly SVU the rank itself was giving people the wrong idea of trust etc. So now you'd like people to look at Very.Important. Person, and you don't assume people would think they have some worth of trust as well?

Are you thinking of a one time payment, or as others are suggesting a subscription payment? I don't really like the whole idea of VIP at all, a subscription payment for something so minimalist is absurd.

On top of that big businesses would clearly be able to afford it, if it was a pricey one time thing, smaller businesses etc wouldn't be able to venture into the market as easily, thus the idea of its a Free Market is thrown out the window.

V.I.P lounge, people have already said the whole concept of donor lounge and already having this type of area, and it would be unnecessary. That idea just reminds me of Upper Spam.. ..you should know what that means.

I can totally understand that you've been trying to bring in revenue recently, and understand that Xen seems to be more cost worthy, there has got to be a better way to get investments. Like most have said beef up the donor perks. And majority of what is on offer for this suggestion, for the VIP perks, could easily be added in with the donor perks.

 

This all over the place. At most youd have all the majority large goldsellers taking VIP.

 

All who've opposed the idea on this thread have yet to give a substantive reason for why it shouldn't exist. The strong disapproval of this stems from many not being able to attain/sustain the rank. Rather selfish.. Not unexpected.

VIP/Donor rank are interchangeable. Any rank would be comparable to SVU if we're talking about how the average user would interpret it's value, it's natural. The problem with SVU was the misleading label, use of fake information, and ease of access.

Extra donation perks will not have the same impact, nor significance as a subscription package. Why? A majority of the community are already $200+ donors. Unless we're making these perks for $700+ donors, then the impact isn't there. Even speaking from a long term perspective, the current perks and addition of new perks won't have much contrast in incentive. Also, VIP would be exclusive, so donating regularly wouldn't be out of the equation.

The way you're talking makes it seem like this is being forced on you. It would be optional, not mandatory. It would be another way to support the site. You want him to make money without having users pay for something? That's wishful thinking, especially since advertisements/donations are the backbone for the sites revenue.

 

Why did people get so angry when Jagex added pay to win options in Runescape? You can't say it's selfish if people use this site because paying doesn't give you an inherent advantage in the market. If this VIP thing was purely cosmetic, then sure, go ahead and implement it. Selfish definitely isn't the correct word.

 

the bump every 7 hours would be good instead of 8

 

Faulty comparison. Sythe isn't a game that was brought up by not paying for perks, it's quite the opposite actually. You're giving the rank a false projection.

Say the bump timer was reduced to 7 hours, the maximum amount you can bump in 24 hours is still 3. Make it 6 and it's 4. Hardly a significant difference.

How is it not selfish? If it was easier to acquire/sustain, I assure you the replies to this thread would be much different.

 

I like the idea you're putting forth, though only if the VIP like you suggest would be obtained after donating a substantial amount ,

I'd like to add on that only a thread that has been created by the person that won the drawing would be allowed to sticky a post though, otherwise it's basically a bought banner

 

Reasons to oppose:
-We have a Donor lounge no need for a VIP "Only" section? Why donate for "donor lounge" if you can get VIP "only" or vice versa

-Shorter Bump times? - Cool I suppose but doesn't that just increase spam.... Saying "He can spam more often because we were paid" doesn't seem reasonable for a "free" and open market even at 7 hours wouldn't be that bad but it starts there and gives a bad message.

-Auto Bump Timer - Everyone seems to agree this would be a nice feature, maybe sell it on it's own or give to a higher donor perk... either way no reason to have to be labeled as "VIP" to get it

-Title - SVU was gotten rid of because "verified user" added a level of trust to people and was a false one that lead to scammers taking advantage. Having "Very important person" does just that as well. Even if you say "oh well at least people aren't abusing phone numbers to get it" Then that just means the title of "VERY IMPORTANT PERSON" is just a copy of donor titles and another way of stating you donate and it's just on a monthly basis.

- As for Monthly cost- You say it's because people are "selfish" they oppose this because they feel entitled to perks for their previous donations and wouldn't want to pay more. It's not even that for most it's the fact you are taking a market that has been known and loved for being FREE to use and starting to turn it into a PAID only service. People should have some benefits for supporting a place that makes them money but it shouldn't turn into a paid only service.

As I said before it's optional to show support and no one is forced to donate/buy VIP ever but to start giving people things like "shorter bump times" or "special market titles". Might as well start selling "sticky post for top" or color thread titles... It just seems to take away from something great that was already set up. If you really wanted you could charge people to make a listing on the selling market threads. People should donate because they like the community and want to give back not because it has become the only way to establish a reputation and make a sale.