What would you pay per-month for an Ad-Free ATS?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I would like to be on your gift list

I don't adblock so no monthly $$ here.

a reply to: ReadLeader

You have enough flags that you probably do not get ads but I will send you the ubiquitous holiday fruitcake as a parting gift.

So we're now throttling the speed of members based
on their ability to give you money or not?
I rather deal with the ads than give this site
my credit card information.
I'll survive.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Excuse me but I do not see "Ads" and never have? I think the new movement is to pay for the services you like and I do for certain radio shows, so why not ATS? I would hope it may just weed out a few undesirables....

I use adblock on this website because some of your adverts in the past have contained viruses or otherwise been flagged up by my virus checker as being dodgy.

What I don't approve of is the material you've added for people using adblock, particularly the huge space at the top of every page.

If you didn't want people to use adblockers here, y'all probably shouldn't have had adverts that tried to deliver viral payloads.

I would probably pay five bucks a month for ATS. Maybe even ten bucks. But ten is more than I pay for Netflix. So I would have to figure out some way to justify it to myself.

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha
a reply to: SkepticOverlord

For a monthly fee can we get back a few things.. perhaps a spiffy, new chat room?

Wish I could star your post, I miss the good ole chat em up days!

If I pay, how will you be the overlord ? How can mods poo-poo on the posts of paying members ? How will the cliques gang up on members who mention the verboten subjects ?
It will not work for ATS and might open you up to litigation.

I checked my settings after seeing the 1st thread on ad-blocking.

I tinkered with the settings, I'm not expert on computers ... so.

I open avast and allow ads for ATS but then I refresh and instead of the 2 companies attempting to track it jumped to 13.

So YES I'd definitely pay to not have 13 companies track me while using your site.

I think the $10 would cover the $5000 as long as 500 users jumped onboard.

I voted five bucks. I would gladly pay that... but I'm not so sure my hubby would be so happy about it! I mention it only because it might be a consideration for others as well.

Definitely yes on the gift subscriptions! Perhaps even offer the option of paying an extra buck towards gift subscriptions granted at ATS' discretion -- or just your whim

originally posted by: stargatetravels
Hopefully all the bigots and racists and homophobes don't pay up and at least they go elsewhere.

You touch on an excellent point, though perhaps it wasn't the one that you were making.

Once you start having a paying customer base you have to become more responsive to that customer base.

I'd put good money on the fact that, if you were to name 20 "bigots and racists and homophobes" on ATS, the list would simply be "people who didn't agree with me about x,y, or z". But wha tif they introduce subscriptions? Suddenly, as a paid member, your opinion becomes more important to the site than non paying members.

Mods would now have a financial incentive to drive off those people you (incorrectly, let's be honest, I bet none of them were actually bigots/racists/whatever) label as "bad", because the site wants to keep your subscription. The membership gradually gets whittled down to those folks that support the prevailing opinion. Denying ignorance becomes a thing of the past and is replaced with "group think"; any dissent risks upsetting the cashcow subscribers, so dissenting members get the banhammer in the blink of an eye.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Dangerous road to go down, I feel.

In theory, I'd be quite happy to pay £5 a month, but I don't see too many ads as it is.

What worries me is this becoming widespread. Can you imagine how restricted the internet would become if everyone started to charge. If it was £5 a month for every site, how many a month would you use? 5, 10, 15???

I know you're talking about a subscription service which would be "cleaner" for paying users but I'm really against the idea of being priced out of using the net in general.
Not a reflection on how I'd value ATS above others, just a fear of creeping fees growing.
Cheers

Oh, and yes, I'd send a subscription. I often tell people about ATS but I'm not sure they ever look. A gift would make them much more likely to take a look and maybe sign themselves up.

Two additional questions. Would it mean that nonsubscribers would have to endure even more ads?
Also, if it was monthly, you may get an initial surge and come to rely on the fees and struggle to cope if there's a decline or the odd dry month. How would you guarantee a sustainable level of membership? Sometimes I get short and I'd skip a payment and tolerate the ads. Thanks

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

You know while I have your eye, I never contributed to the forum because of the names of the levels, I did not want to be a junior contributor and feel inferior... for some that level means so much financially, while to others who could truly afford it don't.

WE are all tightening our belt buckles these days, I wouldn't put too much pressure on members to fork out much and if you do, it needs to be dignified and not showy.

i wouldn't pay anything for this tbh. i mean really its just a blog site with a lot of traffic. BTW your silly messages about using adblocks are easily blocked with adblock lol.... just right click that hideous thing at the top and click block.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Wow, this one made me sign in after several years of just lurking.

I am using two browser plugins to block invasive third party trackers and ads. The adverts on ATS were one of the main reasons why I began using these applications to begin with. I always found that they made the site very laggy and seven third party trackers on a page seems a little high and maybe a bit invasive for my liking.

If the ads were less invasive, I would be happy to whitelist the site.

I do not agree that implementing any kind of paywall here is a good idea though and kind of goes against the foundations of net neutrality IMHO. Additionally, I do not really like the aspersions that using an ad blocker is like stealing bandwidth, especially when we are dealing user generated content.

You should bring back the ATS store to generate extra revenue streams, I still have an ATS hoodie somewhere and would gladly pay for a niceley made book of ATS conspiracies, ancient civilization, aircraft projects etc..

a reply to: SkepticOverlord
Count me in for a subscription. I can see the content here being worth a monthly subscription of between 5 and 8 bucks a month. Especially to keep my account ad-free, and accelerated to boot.

One request though. Can we have our old emoticons back? Damn, I miss those. Even a non-gif version of them would be better than what we have now. Had to ask, S.O.


ETA: There is a market for subscription based sites like this. I have belonged to another subscription site(not a forum) for years, along with some others I know. So I think it's a viable option for you. Especially if you also keep the ad-based side.

# that, we've already donated money, and not to mention the aussie dollar..... god knows how the hell Australia only get 67 cents in the American inflated dollar.

For those who cannot afford the subscription maybe a list of members who would like to get a Scholarship? In order to qualify they would have to show that they are exemplary in following the heart and soul of ATS ie the T@Cs for one thing. To be a regular contributing member in good standing and then to place their name in the Scholarship thread with something that will attract Stars to their post. Every month the top 1-10 will receive 6 months to 1 free year.

I wouldn't pay a subscription and it worries me that you are considering a two tier ATS.