Open Discussion Discussion of donations in exchange for perks like a name change

bennyZA

Bluelighter
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Has BL ever considered changing usernames in exchange for a donation? If everyone and their mama wants to change their name, BL would be rich! Maybe just do it for one day, or whenever BL needs money. People obviously want to change their names and BL could always use more $$$.

Btw, I have no desire to change my AWESOME username. It was just a brilliant idea I had.
 
Price would need to be set based on supply and demand. If the price is too low you might get too many requests that BL couldn't handle. You might make a lot of money if it was low, just from sheer volume, but it would significantly disrupt the flow of the forum. If it is too expensive you simply wont make enough money. I would start at $10 and see where it goes. I honestly think that's reasonable. I also think that some people want to change their name a lot, and that's annoying. So for that, $10 the first time, $15 the 2nd time, and $25 for each one after that, up to 5. Or, you can buy 5 name changes, to be used whenever, for $50. If you want to have multiple accounts, $25 per extra account. If people want to change their name, only want one account, but want their post count and join date reset (so they look like a new user) maybe $15. To incentive is without costing BL anything, you could try to figure out other perks too. If you want to have sig at the bottom of every post $1. Perhaps, if you donate X amount of money, you get access to certain things involving MAPS. Something like that.

Remember though, you are not charging people for anything. It doesn't cost $10 to change your name, you need to donate $10 and you get a name change.

It's late right now. I'll post more ideas as they come to me.
 
^ I understand most of what you've suggested, just wondering, why would someone want to pay to have alternate account(s)? This portion I see being highly unlikely to happen anyway, but just am not sure what utility you feel it would serve.

Not trying to be critical, just wanting to understand what leads you to believe it's something people would / should be able to get as a donating member?
 
we do not allow multiple accounts so offering it for a donation is a non-starter.
I would start at $10 and see where it goes.
thanks.
Remember though, you are not charging people for anything. It doesn't cost $10 to change your name, you need to donate $10 and you get a name change.
what's the difference?
I'll post more ideas as they come to me.
please. thanks.

alasdair
 
^ I understand most of what you've suggested, just wondering, why would someone want to pay to have alternate account(s)? This portion I see being highly unlikely to happen anyway, but just am not sure what utility you feel it would serve.

Not trying to be critical, just wanting to understand what leads you to believe it's something people would / should be able to get as a donating member?
When thinking about this kinda stuff, I like to put every single idea out there. Who knows, an idea I thought of and didn't put down, cause I didn't think it was good, might seem to you to be fantastic. I didn't take it as you being critical, not at all!

what's the difference?
The reason I say it should be a donation is because offering extra features you can pay for starts a slippery slope. Soon there would be premium accounts you can buy for all sorts of extra features. Although it may not seem like a difference, I think bluelight would lose a little bit of credibility if there is a market place to upgrade your account. I know it is semantics, but it would make bluelight seem like less of a tight knit community for the free exchange of ideas and more of premium service for richer drug users to get access to info poorer drug users can't get, even if it isn't. If bluelight starts to make more money than it needs by offering these extra features, why stop? Money is addicting. Even if you can still sign up for free, it would be off putting for a lot of people. Soon premium memberships would be so prized that free members would look like freeloaders. People with free accounts would feel inferior. Bluelight would seem more like a business instead of a close community.

This is obviously a worse case scenario, it's possible that no part will ever come true, but why risk it. It's just classier to just offer "gifts" for those who donate.

I'm going to put more ideas out there as I think of them, the more ideas the better, right? Even if they seem stupid I might as well put them down.

Oh yea, and donating is tax deductible.
 
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^i get what you are saying about semantics.

it is one thing to say "for a $10 donation, we will give you a one time name change". that is putting the control of the transaction with the person donating. they can chose whether or not they'd like to donate, and if they do, they get said perk. i agree that saying something like "a name change requires a $10 donation" turns it more into a business transaction where BL is the one in control.

(i also hope you don't mind that i split this discussion off from the "we don't change names" thread. i think it is interestings and i would like to hear input from other BLers as well)
 
A perk like (donator) under the title or something would be a good idea.

However, giving someone an alternate account, is pretty much sending the message "Pay us ten bucks (or whatever it is) and you can troll here scott-free!"
 
I agree with the wording of the "donation - name change".

I think I've mentioned the semantics of the wording before, however.

It's an offering. People donate and they are "offered" a name change. it's not mandatory! It's saying "thank you! If you think of a different username, just let us know".

I donated $50 to a website I frequent every morning and was surprised to see a cute little notebook in my mailbox as a thank you the following week.
 
i think a vip status should be possible, alot of other forums do this removing ads and such. But it would be nice to have something under the name knowing and showing to people youre just not a leecher. Youre someone who cares about the site and how helpful it has been to some if not most.
 
^ This is a future possibility. But what I can tell you with certainty is that contributions to the forum in answering questions to help others out does not go unnoticed. People will remember you much more for quality content you post than a title under your name.
 
i think a vip status should be possible, alot of other forums do this removing ads and such. But it would be nice to have something under the name knowing and showing to people youre just not a leecher. Youre someone who cares about the site and how helpful it has been to some if not most.

We are always open for suggestions, and we have recently began focusing more on donations so we are all ears if you would like to suggest the kinds of upgrades a member would get for donating, and what a fair amount to donate would be.
 
Name change upon donation sounds good but I wouldnt go overboard with the VIP stuff. Im all for perks for members of our community who support finanically through donation, but Im weary of a class "distinction" that tends to come to some forums when you have a paying and non paying population. My favorite website went $5 monthly for all the goodies and a shiny badge next to your name. Those who pay developed an arrogance or air of condescendence, and an us versus them mentality for the "commoners" who arent willing to drop $60 a year on a discussion site.

All I could think of. Not a bad way to make the site a little money OP
 
Name change upon donation sounds good but I wouldnt go overboard with the VIP stuff. Im all for perks for members of our community who support finanically through donation, but Im weary of a class "distinction" that tends to come to some forums when you have a paying and non paying population. My favorite website went $5 monthly for all the goodies and a shiny badge next to your name. Those who pay developed an arrogance or air of condescendence, and an us versus them mentality for the "commoners" who arent willing to drop $60 a year on a discussion site.

All I could think of. Not a bad way to make the site a little money OP

Yeah I agree that it could end up causing problems if done that way. All the status bickering and vip stuff could end up taking the focus away from the real purpose of the site, and that is harm reduction.
 
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