Free versus paid account creation

[Myrtonos]

Is anyone here registered on the Something Awful forums? Over there, a one time fee is charged per account to cover the (high) hosting costs and is also effective at keeping out trolls. SA has been doing since 2001 but even today, nearly every other site has free account creation and commercial ones tend to make money only off advertising.
If you want to make money off a site that hosts user content and most of your target users are adequately wealthy, you might want to consider copying something awful and charging a one time fee per account.

Consider YouTube, an interresting experiment that didn't work. Many of us know that YouTube comments are often posted to low standards, but YouTube is also treated as a dumping ground, with lots of worthless videos some of which violate copyright. But did any of you know that YouTube costs more to run than it earns? And what it earns, as far as I know, is earned off advertising. If the founders had copied something awful and charged a one time fee per account and additional channel, then content to noise ratio would be much higher, especially be conservative standards, and they would earn a higher percentage of their running costs.
Futhermore, subscription to all YouTube channels is also free. Even if you monetise off your videos, you earn money from advertising displayed alongside your videos, not from subscription fees. If one has to pay to subscribe to offline radio and television stations, why should subscription to a YouTube channel still be free if the maintainer of the channel monetises off it?
Another benefit is that fewer ads would be displayed to logged in users.

 

[LittleKill]

I agree, let those fools be away from the thinking-men of the world, they have no place in our lands, they must be severely punished for their tomfoolery, dang people who ruin up the internet for all us, it's like pure hate going around here... just the way I am one way or another, although maybe an small fee would be taken kindly.

 

[toothless]

the problem is not everyone will have access to paying for a one off account,am unable to have access to things like paypal or a bank card because am under a power of attorney,it means having to go to dads and sweet talk him into lending his account.
its better to give people the option of a free but limited account and a paid account.

making forums paid only doesnt always work,it didnt for a horse riding forum was on,the arrogant a-holes still stayed on it,it got rid of the minor trolls but the real irritants managed to get around the rules,admins dont want to ban as it means they end up getting charge back and the money dragged out of the account.

 

[Kuribo]

In my opinion, paid accounts for forums are a terrible idea. As Toothless said, not everyone has access to online banking, so having paid accounts prevents anyone under the age of consent, or with something like a mental health section from signing up. A lot of people are just (understandably) apprehensive about the concept of online banking too. Paid registration unnecessarily excludes a huge number of people from the community.

Personally, I would never register with a forum if payment were necessary. I try out a lot of forums, and before I decide whether or not I'm going to visit regularly, I need to have a good idea of what the entire experience will be like; from the usability of the software to how well I'd get on with the membership (something which cannot be determined through observation alone).

making forums paid only doesnt always work,it didnt for a horse riding forum was on,the arrogant a-holes still stayed on it,it got rid of the minor trolls but the real irritants managed to get around the rules,admins dont want to ban as it means they end up getting charge back and the money dragged out of the account.

This is also a valid point. On an Aspie forum which recently closed down, one particularly nasty troll even became a favorite of the staff because he donated a substantial amount of money to the forum. If it can happen on a donation-based forum, I dread to think of the corruption that could occur on a forum with paid accounts.

 

[Myrtonos]

In my opinion, paid accounts for forums are a terrible idea. As Toothless said, not everyone has access to online banking, so having paid accounts prevents anyone under the age of consent, or with something like a mental health section from signing up. A lot of people are just (understandably) apprehensive about the concept of online banking too. Paid registration unnecessarily excludes a huge number of people from the community.

But maybe a site owner doesn't want underage posters. The fact is that paid account creation not only helps pay for the hosting but also filters out posters who aren't serious about, in particular, observing laws on the internet. People are more likely to fear the consequences of an unlawful act if getting banned makes them feel they have wasted money.

Also, on the something awful forum, one can buy a gift certificate and send it to someone else so they can create an account without access to online banking, see their account creation page.

 

[Kuribo]

But maybe a site owner doesn't want underage posters.

The only justifiable reasons for this would be if one were running a site related to issues specific to adulthood (in which case, an underage person likely wouldn't be interested in registration) or one in which graphic sexual content were posted frequently. On sites of a sexual nature, paid accounts would offer increased legal protection to site owners, so I understand why they'd be beneficial in this case.

The fact is that paid account creation not only helps pay for the hosting but also filters out posters who aren't serious about, in particular, observing laws on the internet. People are more likely to fear the consequences of an unlawful act if getting banned makes them feel they have wasted money.

True, but that doesn't change the fact that a large number of potentially valuable posters would still be excluded from joining the forum. It's all a matter of whether or not the site owner feels that the sacrifice is worth the benefits offered by this business model. Personally, I don't, although I can understand why paid registration would be beneficial for certain kinds of sites (see above).

I'm curious to know whether Something Awful has always required payment upon registration. I can understand how paid registration would work for an established forum, but I highly doubt that a new forum would get very far.

Also, on the something awful forum, one can buy a gift certificate and send it to someone else so they can create an account without access to online banking, see their account creation page.

This is a good idea, but it requires that the new poster knows someone from the forum, and as previously stated - I need to ascertain whether or not the whole experience would be work well for me before I decide to stay, so I certainly wouldn't feel very good knowing that someone has wasted their money to allow my entry to a forum I've decided against using.

To be clear Myrtonos, are you just interested in the benefits of paid registration as a business model, or would you like to see it become standard practice?

 

[Myrtonos]

I'm curious to know whether Something Awful has always required payment upon registration. I can understand how paid registration would work for an established forum, but I highly doubt that a new forum would get very far.

SA was founded in 1999 and began charging an activation fee in 2001, before YouTube even existed. Yet the founders of YouTube did not copy SA, and are now paying for that decision, with high noise to content ratio (especially by conservative standards) and high running costs with consequent failure to turn a profit.

This is a good idea, but it requires that the new poster knows someone from the forum...

Again, this could be a good thing as some sites are invitation only. I don't believe you need to login to the SA forums to buy a gift certificate.

To be clear Myrtonos, are you just interested in the benefits of paid registration as a business model, or would you like to see it become standard practice?

Only recommended for those who are serious about making money from their sites, and only if fewer, if any commercial are presented to logged in users.