The purpose of this thread is pretty simple: to solicit feedback on what SL&ENT users would think about providing a paid subscription service to help out fund the website.
The most obvious question that some of you might have is, "why ask about this now?" Simply put, a lot has to do with the fact that (as mentioned in the Life and Stuff thread) I am in the midst of a job-hunt after some layoffs (there's much more to that story, but those details will be revealed much later after things clear up). With that being said, much like I do all the time by ruminating about what I want to accomplish in my life, the ideas and thoughts that have always come to mind are about finding ways not to just grow SL&ENT long-term, but also make it profitable and sustainable as its own entity. Currently, as things stand, ads aren't quite a viable solution (thanks Google, ya jerks) simply because we don't generate enough traffic to meet some of the insane thresholds that non-Google ad providers insist upon to be able to put ads on the website. And truth be told, I don't think ads are the end-all-be-all solution to generate money -- just ask any media publisher ever.
SL&ENT has always been a passion project, one that's been done in crazy off-hours and on long weekends where any semblance of other life activities tend to get thrown out of the window to keep it a viable project. It's also one that I am obviously committed to long-term, but without any sort of revenue generating mechanism, it's one that's always been a self-funded money-sink (with financial support of the other admins) as well. Eventhough we're small, it still costs a few hundred bucks a month to keep running and it only gets more expensive if we look to grow traffic. It's pretty easy to support while making a San Francisco's engineer salary, but when you are unexpectedly between jobs? Well, paying San Francisco rent becomes a bigger priority. Don't worry, SL&ENT isn't going anywhere despite all of this.
In an ideal world, I would love to work on SL&ENT full-time by growing the experience (both in feature set and user activity), but that's difficult to do without being completely financially secure (some day though, right everyone?).
After much brainstorming over a while now how we could support SL&ENT, the idea of Patreon or similar has always propped up. If you don't know what Patreon is, it's basically a tool that provides businesses a subscription model for users to be a part of and support the creators. Many popular podcasts, videocasts, and artists use Patreon for such.
My idea behind a subscription model has always been to provide some "niceties" that enhance the experience but are never ones that users would feel like they are gated in such a way where the core of the product is hindered by not having them. You can look to Discord Nitro (discordapp.com/nitro) and Reddit Gold to get an idea of what I am thinking of. Some of these features could also be enhancements that might actually require further monetary investment to actually make happen, which again, is tough to do if everything is self-funded.
Some ideas (not limited to nor concretely locked down) that could live behind a Subscription model:
- Live Threads (no refresh required)
- Animated/PNG avatars
- Paste/Upload images directly and hosted on SL&ENT (rather than having to use a service like imgur)
- Custom Emojis (upload your Premfaces as you wish)
- Custom Themes (make it primarily brown and magenta if you wish, I don't care, I won't see it)
- No Ads (if we ever get them back)
- No Sponsorship stuff (if we ever get them)
- Custom Statuses (ala what Slack does)
- Enhanced Thread Editor (I'm 50/50 on this, might not have that behind paid subscriptions)
- Bookmarking Threads/Posts
- Early Access
And a bunch of other stuff. Other things that users have requested that I do thing would be candidates to the "core" of the platform, e.g. saving drafts, multi-page quoting, SFW mode, desktop notifications, post highlighting if someone quotes you, @mentions, inline editing, Google sign-in/sign-up support, emoji support ala Slack, etc. would still be built out as part of the core product and not be behind a paywall.
After that long and winded post, please let us know what you think. Pricing wise, I'd reckon a baseline of $3 or $4/mo, but with the option for users to contribute more if they feel so generous. If the userbase truly hates the idea, then we won't ever consider going through with it. This is just to solicit feedback in as most of an open and transparent way possible to understand if it's even something viable we could do.
The most obvious question that some of you might have is, "why ask about this now?" Simply put, a lot has to do with the fact that (as mentioned in the Life and Stuff thread) I am in the midst of a job-hunt after some layoffs (there's much more to that story, but those details will be revealed much later after things clear up). With that being said, much like I do all the time by ruminating about what I want to accomplish in my life, the ideas and thoughts that have always come to mind are about finding ways not to just grow SL&ENT long-term, but also make it profitable and sustainable as its own entity. Currently, as things stand, ads aren't quite a viable solution (thanks Google, ya jerks) simply because we don't generate enough traffic to meet some of the insane thresholds that non-Google ad providers insist upon to be able to put ads on the website. And truth be told, I don't think ads are the end-all-be-all solution to generate money -- just ask any media publisher ever.
SL&ENT has always been a passion project, one that's been done in crazy off-hours and on long weekends where any semblance of other life activities tend to get thrown out of the window to keep it a viable project. It's also one that I am obviously committed to long-term, but without any sort of revenue generating mechanism, it's one that's always been a self-funded money-sink (with financial support of the other admins) as well. Eventhough we're small, it still costs a few hundred bucks a month to keep running and it only gets more expensive if we look to grow traffic. It's pretty easy to support while making a San Francisco's engineer salary, but when you are unexpectedly between jobs? Well, paying San Francisco rent becomes a bigger priority. Don't worry, SL&ENT isn't going anywhere despite all of this.
In an ideal world, I would love to work on SL&ENT full-time by growing the experience (both in feature set and user activity), but that's difficult to do without being completely financially secure (some day though, right everyone?).
After much brainstorming over a while now how we could support SL&ENT, the idea of Patreon or similar has always propped up. If you don't know what Patreon is, it's basically a tool that provides businesses a subscription model for users to be a part of and support the creators. Many popular podcasts, videocasts, and artists use Patreon for such.
My idea behind a subscription model has always been to provide some "niceties" that enhance the experience but are never ones that users would feel like they are gated in such a way where the core of the product is hindered by not having them. You can look to Discord Nitro (discordapp.com/nitro) and Reddit Gold to get an idea of what I am thinking of. Some of these features could also be enhancements that might actually require further monetary investment to actually make happen, which again, is tough to do if everything is self-funded.
Some ideas (not limited to nor concretely locked down) that could live behind a Subscription model:
- Live Threads (no refresh required)
- Animated/PNG avatars
- Paste/Upload images directly and hosted on SL&ENT (rather than having to use a service like imgur)
- Custom Emojis (upload your Premfaces as you wish)
- Custom Themes (make it primarily brown and magenta if you wish, I don't care, I won't see it)
- No Ads (if we ever get them back)
- No Sponsorship stuff (if we ever get them)
- Custom Statuses (ala what Slack does)
- Enhanced Thread Editor (I'm 50/50 on this, might not have that behind paid subscriptions)
- Bookmarking Threads/Posts
- Early Access
And a bunch of other stuff. Other things that users have requested that I do thing would be candidates to the "core" of the platform, e.g. saving drafts, multi-page quoting, SFW mode, desktop notifications, post highlighting if someone quotes you, @mentions, inline editing, Google sign-in/sign-up support, emoji support ala Slack, etc. would still be built out as part of the core product and not be behind a paywall.
After that long and winded post, please let us know what you think. Pricing wise, I'd reckon a baseline of $3 or $4/mo, but with the option for users to contribute more if they feel so generous. If the userbase truly hates the idea, then we won't ever consider going through with it. This is just to solicit feedback in as most of an open and transparent way possible to understand if it's even something viable we could do.
Sorry about you getting laid off reilo. I think the whole patreon thing is a good idea, but because of my poor financial situation I can't contribute at the moment. Please give me multi-quote for poor users
By giririsss Go To PostI'll subscribe to gold tier if everyone can get post counts except psy.damn.
By giririsss Go To PostI'll subscribe to gold tier if everyone can get post counts except psy.Same
One thing I have appreciated is the site design and layout in both mobile and desktop, and the fact that it doesn't have ads.
I think those are ideals worth supporting.
I just canceled Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Humble Bundle Monthly because my lifestyle and priorities are changing drastically, and so I wouldn't mind redirecting some of those funds to help pay for site upgrades like having the option to turn off bandwidth and battery hungry GIFs in mobile.
Tumblr's mobile app does this really cool thing where, if you're not on Wi-Fi, it places a still image of the first frame of a GIF as placeholder, and you have the option of clicking on that still in order to load and display the rest of the frames. I appreciate that it doesn't load the GIFs by default.
I mainly use Slaent during morning and evening commutes to and fro work, so maybe that information can help you with your marketing and demographic analysis and how to make sales pitches and all that to advertisers once you have too many freeloaders.
I think those are ideals worth supporting.
I just canceled Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Humble Bundle Monthly because my lifestyle and priorities are changing drastically, and so I wouldn't mind redirecting some of those funds to help pay for site upgrades like having the option to turn off bandwidth and battery hungry GIFs in mobile.
Tumblr's mobile app does this really cool thing where, if you're not on Wi-Fi, it places a still image of the first frame of a GIF as placeholder, and you have the option of clicking on that still in order to load and display the rest of the frames. I appreciate that it doesn't load the GIFs by default.
I mainly use Slaent during morning and evening commutes to and fro work, so maybe that information can help you with your marketing and demographic analysis and how to make sales pitches and all that to advertisers once you have too many freeloaders.
I'll slip you a fiver now and again, like. Not for the extra features, just for sake of keeping this place up and running in general.
By giririsss Go To PostI'll subscribe to gold tier if everyone can get post counts except psy.
In for this.
But in all seriousness, course I'd donate 3/4 dollars a month to this site.
By Smokey Go To PostLooking at SY post count now, and he's not as great as he thinks. How sad.
cold lmao
By rvy Go To PostOnly if you ban twitter embedding for more than 5 twitter posts per pageBan it just for Laboured
By MaxxTheCat Go To PostLet’s clarify: precisely what type of nudes? Ambiguity could be dangerous here.
#momporn
#modporn
By Kidjr Go To PostWhat about letting me charge for content and you taking a cutyour content is trash m8
it used to be good too
By Kidjr Go To PostWhat about letting me charge for content and you taking a cutWhat do you mean?
From the random thoughts thread
By Fenderputty Go To PostCan we add this to the Patreon thing? Like people who pay $10 a month get access to a video of Kidjr being water boarded
By Kidjr Go To PostWhat about letting me charge for content and you taking a cut#Nobodyssmiling
I'd totally be down for this. I could afford AU$5 a month (which is around US$3-4), so your price suggestion is right in my wheelhouse.
I'm gonna spend next couple of days prepping for a few coding interviews I have coming up, but I'll share the Patreon details once those are ready. Thank you to all that have said you are interested in helping out, it's more appreciated than you know.
I'm also working on a new and improved profile along with some nifty surprises that I think everyone will enjoy. I'll share once I have something more concrete lined up. After profiles get refreshed, I'll determine a some sort of stack ranking of new features to build out.
I'm also working on a new and improved profile along with some nifty surprises that I think everyone will enjoy. I'll share once I have something more concrete lined up. After profiles get refreshed, I'll determine a some sort of stack ranking of new features to build out.
I would be willing to help out for sure, but I think locking down a lot of features behind a pay wall is a bad idea, especially when it comes to post editor. That should just be for everyone. Stuff like no ads and such, or even animated avatars for those that pay is fair enough though. But generally I think make as much available to everyone as possible, and let the patreon be for people who just want and can help out.
By W Go To PostI would be willing to help out for sure, but I think locking down a lot of features behind a pay wall is a bad idea, especially when it comes to post editor. That should just be for everyone. Stuff like no ads and such, or even animated avatars for those that pay is fair enough though. But generally I think make as much available to everyone as possible, and let the patreon be for people who just want and can help out.To clarify, nothing that is currently available would be put behind the subscription paywall. When I say "enhanced editor", I mean certain features that might not be available today but cost money to implement, e.g. being able to edit and upload images inline. But like I said, I'm 50/50 on that for the same reasons you most likely are.
By Smokey Go To PostLooking at SY post count now, and he's not as great as he thinks. How sad.low energy
By blackace Go To Postlow energy
Total lack of commitment.
By Fenderputty Go To PostTotal lack of commitment.
You see his post count too right? lmao it's wild out here
By Smokey Go To PostYou see his post count too right? lmao it's wild out here
I really thought adding 3SP's post count to his would help too.
By Smokey Go To PostYou see his post count too right? lmao it's wild out here
Must admit thought it would be much higher too.
By Baconsaurus Go To PostYou doing student discount?That's definitely something we could do. The tricky thing is verification but I don't think that'll be an issue.