Site News: Subscriptions

[Annette]

TAKING THE FORUM INTO THE FUTURE

As I’m sure you are all aware, we have recently been suffering from the forum being down on numerous occasions. This is due to how the forum is currently hosted on the internet and the huge increase in new members this year.

In order to be able to provide a better, faster service to all members of the forum we will be changing to a managed server with more space. Additionally, this will give us a back up system so none of the forum content can be lost. However, in doing this the costs of hosting the forum will be dramatically increased.

During a recent discussion between administrators and moderators it has been decided that in order for the site to continue to function correctly it will be necessary to introduce an annual subscription for full membership of the forum.

The cost of this subscription will be £12.00 annually and details of how to pay this will be posted shortly.

For full membership, subscriptions will become payable from 1st August 2008.

Subscription is not compulsory, and you will be very welcome as a registered member of the forum.
If you don't subscribe however we will limit the functionality of the forum. We need to encourage you somehow.
The following will apply.

All registered members that haven't subscribed will have the following restrictions:

• You will NOT be able to start new posts in the For Sale/Wanted section.
• You will NOT be able to use the Private Message function.
• You will NOT be able to have a picture gallery or signature.
• You will NOT be able to view discount/deals threads.
• You will NOT be able to view/join the social groups.

Subscribed members will be able to do all of the above plus will get an exclusive Forum Sticker signifying membership. **PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY**

Obviously, we will not be restricting any members from full use of the forum straight away. We will be imposing these restrictions from 1st September 2008.

Payment of subscriptions will also enable to us investigate and implement additional features and functions of the forum, improving your enjoyment of the forum.

We hope that you are all able to understand our decision to make this a subscription forum and that you will continue to support the forum now and into the future.

Regards

xrv.org.uk

[DaveS]

Just to let you all know that I'm starting to reduce registered member functionality now in line with the post above.

[DaveS]

Some common questions that I'm getting on the subscription front.

Question: Does my subscription automatically renew each year?

Answer: No. You are always in full control of the subscription. However the forum software will alert you when your subscription is coming up for renewal.


Question: Can I continue to use the forum even though I don't want to subscribe?

Answer: Yes of course. You will only have the restrictions applied above, but you will still be able to post in the bike specific forums and discuss ownership issues.


Question: If I don't want to subscribe do I have to delete my account?

Answer: Absolutely not! As you will see you still have extensive functionality available to you.

[DaveS]

We've had some feedback recently on our forum rules around the fact that only subscribed members can reply to items for sale or wanted.
The feedback suggested that this limited the market for subscribed users.

We have reviewed this rule and have agreed that this rule does unnecessarily restrict the market for subscribed users and have agreed to revoke it with immediate effect.

Therefore non subscribed members are now able to reply to posts in the For Sale and Wanted Forum.

Please note that this doesn't mean that non subscribed members can post items for sale by replying to other threads. This is not allowed and any posts will be removed. The intention of this rule is to allow non subscribed members to buy or reply to goods for sale / wanted.

Once again thank you for the feedback do keep it coming.

[DaveS]

In addition after further feedback we have decided to allow non subscribed members to post in the Meet Ups / Rideouts forum.
The rules at the head of this thread have been updated.

[DaveS]

I have needed to clarify when a non subscribed member can reply to a wanted advert or post.

A non subscribed member may not reply to a wanted thread or post offering an item for sale. If this happens the post will be removed.