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Pastimes : Discuss Go2Net's acquisition of our beloved SI -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mod who wrote (16)	4/23/1998 11:10:00 AM
From: Bald Eagle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 446

<<As a GNET stockholder and SI member>> Me too ( GNET, since today and SI since way back when it was free ). SI is the best free deal I ever got, but I'm all for your ideas of charging yearly subscriptions. That keeps the money flow coming in. The ONLY reason I bought GNET was because they had the sense and foresight to buy SI. So, I'm assuming they have some smart management and good technical knowledge. I didn't do my usual DD, I hope I'm not making a mistake. Please tell me I'm not.

To: mod who wrote (16)	4/23/1998 11:42:00 AM
From: Scott Pedigo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 446

1) Switch to a yearly subscription fee (for new members only), and ditch the lifetime fee immediately. I'd suggest $49.95 year to start. I'm all for the new members only part. But $49.95 per year is more than I'd be willing to pay if I didn't already subscribe. There are a LOT of on-line services competing for subscriptions, from the Wall Street Journal to innumerable small investment newsletters. In fact, it was the one-time-only payment which lured me into paying for SI more than anything else. I'd suggest keeping it AND offering a yearly subscription option. Most organizations I belong to (U.S. Chess Federation, U.S. Parachute Assn., Purdue Alumni Assn.) offer BOTH, with the lifetime membership costing about 10x the annual subscription. A lifetime membership DOES offer a steady revenue stream if it is invested and the interest is used as the revenue in place of the annual fees. 2) Restrict some content to members only. One way to do this is to allow only members to view the last 24 hours of postings. Non-members will have a delay of 24 hours in reading postings. That should convert a lot of lurking non-members to members in a hurry. I don't think this would convert anybody who is not already willing to pay. Anybody so caught up in a thread that they have to follow it like a soap-opera (and enough are...) will surely have not been able to resist getting their own 2 cents in and will have subscribed. There already ARE some things restricted to members only. The non-subscribers should have to endure a moderate number of banner ads, if anything, while the subscribers should be totally free of them. Now THAT is something that would (and DID) get me to subscribe.

To: mod who wrote (16)	4/23/1998 7:24:00 PM
From: MENSO	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 446

>>> Non-members will have a delay of 24 hours in reading postings. That should convert a lot of lurking non-members to members in a hurry <<< Great idea! As for the annual fee, as a GNET shareholder it sounds good to me too. Heck, make it a monthly fee! But as an SI member, well, did you have to suggest it? <ggggg> : )

To: mod who wrote (16)	4/24/1998 1:25:00 PM
From: The Devil Dog	Respond to of 446

I would say that those are 2 very good recommendations! Good luck SI ! As I said in my email to Jill yesterday, SI is my #1 site of choice, and you people do an excellent job!!! Best Regards Wayne Balkwill

To: mod who wrote (16)	4/24/1998 6:44:00 PM
From: Chris	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 446

Dennis, RE: SI Suggestions 1) Switch to a yearly subscription fee (for new members only), and ditch the lifetime fee immediately. I'd suggest $49.95 year to start. To get non-posting lurkers to pay this fee, see number 2. 2) Restrict some content to members only. One way to do this is to allow only members to view the last 24 hours of postings. Non-members will have a delay of 24 hours in reading postings. That should convert a lot of lurking non-members to members in a hurry. I thinks both of these are great ideas. I've been trying to get a number of my friends and associates to stop lurking on SI and become members. They just say that there is no reason to be a member when they can read everything. Great idea on the 24hour delay. I look forward to SI growing. I'm neither long nor short, just a member. chris