Ning Pricing

[Rob MacKillop]

This should maybe discussed here as well as on the CB site:

 

http://about.ning.com/announcement/plans.php 

 

 

[Ian Bell]

This came up on the "One Row Melodeon" Ning group a little while ago as well. I haven't had a chance to look at it closely.
I gather these networks have been free up to this point. John?
Minstrel Banjo is a sensational resource.
I'm amazed at how much I've learned "hanging out" with the players here, and how much fun it's led to.
If we are going to have to pay for this (I'd rather not, but I believe it's worth it) we'll have to figure out a way to divvy it up somehow.

[Ian Bell]

This came up on the "One Row Melodeon" Ning group a little while ago as well. I haven't had a chance to look at it closely.
I gather these networks have been free up to this point. John?
Minstrel Banjo is a sensational resource.
I'm amazed at how much I've learned "hanging out" with the players here, and how much fun it's led to.
If we are going to have to pay for this (I'd rather not, but I believe it's worth it) we'll have to figure out a way to divvy it up somehow.

[John Masciale]

I am looking at our options.

If we choose to stay with Ning, and if we want to keep the group small with under 150 contributing members, then it's only $20/year, which we can afford. If however we to have more members (which we presently have), then we are looking at $200 / year. This seems prohibitive to me, unless we can get some paid avertisers.

[Rob MacKillop]

Ning have mentioned the possibility of having a PayPal button on the site. It would only take twenty people to contribute 10 dollars each for the year, then we could have everything except the mp3 player. The membership is already over 200, John, so the 'mini' version is not an option. I for one would be happy to pay 10 dollars. We can't expect every member (many of whom only visit once in a blue moon) to pay, but I'm sure an annual call for money would provide all that was needed very easily.

[John Masciale]

There may officially be 200 members, but close to 50 of them are spammers who have been removed. I'm willing to try things out to see if we can collect the money. Before I put a paypal icon up, I'd like to get a commitment from our members. There would be nothing worse than to collect money, not get enough support, and then have to figure out how to return it all.

The other point we should consider is that we can run our own adds under the new format. Would some of our luthiers be willing to put up some money for advertising on the site?

[Tim Twiss]

Good time to evaluate and show your support. Let's see if any are willing to kick in ANYTHING to keep it going. We'll do the math later.
So...is it worth it, or should we let this thing fade away????

[Ian Bell]

I'm in.


Tim Twiss said:

Good time to evaluate and show your support. Let's see if any are willing to kick in ANYTHING to keep it going. We'll do the math later.
So...is it worth it, or should we let this thing fade away????

[Rob MacKillop]

I'm in.

[Rob MacKillop]

Here's a thought - bring together both the minstrel and classic banjo ning sites in one big site for 500 bucks per annum, which I'm sure we could raise. Set it up properly with a few administrators including a designated Treasurer. It would give us everything we want.

There are alternative free sites, but for how long will they remain free? I'm sure they are all watching Ning carefully.

[Ian Bell]

I haven't spent as much time hanging around the Classical site, but my impression is that the two are pretty close to each other in "attitude". They're both considerably more eccentric than any of the other instrument forums I've come across. I think it may be because in both cases, to a certain extent we're all trying to figure out what this stuff is actually supposed to sound like - and having a great time figuring it out. (The banjo & bassoon trio on the classical site springs to mind) There's already a certain amount of crossover in both directions and quite a number of people are members of both. On the other hand, I can see that some folks might not want their particular interest "diluted".
On a "deluxe" site there might be a way to have "two sides of the tracks". I don't know enough about the mechanics of these things to say for sure. Over....


Rob MacKillop said:

Here's a thought - bring together both the minstrel and classic banjo ning sites in one big site for 500 bucks per annum, which I'm sure we could raise. Set it up properly with a few administrators including a designated Treasurer. It would give us everything we want.
There are alternative free sites, but for how long will they remain free? I'm sure they are all watching Ning carefully.

[Trapdoor2]

I'm certainly in.

Although the two sites do have some overlap, I would prefer to keep them seperate. It helps me keep them sorted out in my mind. ;-)

[Mark Ehrsam]

I'll ante up.