stephanie is: 
at work.
another day…this week is going incredibly slow. china went to the vet with danny yesterday. she had a fever of 103 and bacteria in her stool. i guess she has a puppy flu. she has stopped throwing up and took her antibiotics this morning without a problem. she seemed a lot happier. her poopies aren’t good yet though…
about the whole t1/dsl thing… i’ll prolly get some of this wrong cause danny is the one who actually talks to everyone…. but this is basically it: we applied for sdsl when we first moved in november. after waiting a month, covad and verizon replied that we can not get dsl – that we don’t have copper wireds and that we are 21000 ft from the co. so we put in an application for a t1 (which will cost $400 more per month). they tell us it will be 60 days. so it has been 30 days. we find out that our neighbors were turned down for adsl, but tried for sdsl from another company. after staying at a ‘problem ticket’ stage for a while, it was approved! they said the wires were copper – excellent quality, and that they are 8000 ft from the co. arggh! we told this to our isp and they were shocked. our neighbors are two doors down. he looked into it but he could not find out if we were approved for dsl without going through the process.
so yesterday we were given a little time to decide what to do. we could not apply for dsl on top of the t1 because the t1 would be past the point of no return in a week. if we tried for the dsl, there would be at least a month, and if it turned out that we are on different lines from our neighbors (which is entirly possible) then we would have to start the 60-day t1 process all over again on top of that month. the t1 will be ready by the end of the month or beginning of february.
we didn’t have much time to decide because the t1 was pushing forward and about to go to the verizon stage. do we risk 3 more months of no internet to see if we can get the dsl? we decded we couldn’t really takke that risk right now. we are going to stick to our 1-year t1 contract, and see about changing to dsl towards the end of that if it is still a struggle to pay the $900/month. so that is that…
um, yea… it is time for me to work. oh, i had a question. i think my site will be monthly, but with an option to pay around $50 for a lifetime membership. should i give my current members automatic lifetime memberships (though most donated $5-$10), or should i start from scratch?
do you have any way to know who donated how much? im thinking if they are already members and want the lifetime membership mebbe they could just give you the difference. Like if they originally gave you 10 bucks, they’d owe 40 instead of 50 if they wanted lifetime membership. i don’t think thats too bad. or you could let them pay it off in 2 payments of 25. something like that incase they couldnt give the 50 all at once. you needs to let me know tho so i can give you da money before i am out of this job and poor again hahaha. i need my stv! hell, its the only way i see you more than once every few months! i cant wait to move to CP and be close to everyone again zoom!!!! btw – i am so ansy to play with my magnets…i tihnk i just might attack dads refrigirator….i l0af you!
hrm… that may be a horrible lot of trouble for everyone. i want it to be pretty painless. i could give people a few moths free or give them a discount on thier first payment, but even those would be difficult. it seems the easiest two choices are starting my members from scratch, or just giveing them lifetimes… i am leaning towards the free lifetimes.
yeah i guess that is more complicated than it should be hehe. i was just babbeling ideas that popped into my head. either way most ppl will prolly pay it since they are already addicts of yer site (im a firm believer that webcams are more like crack for some of us).
i say start all over. 🙂
start over …..
you have heart of gold stef…but for what you charge at all…you should just start over considering all the money you have to put into maintaining your site….and not counting all the hard work….people could always pay off in two payments if necessary….they will understand if you wipe the slate clean and start over….its tough for all of us out there money wise…but if you consider what you are getting for your bucks…a lifetime of stv for 50 dollars???? that is an awesome deal for those of us out here who love the site….I wish I could hire someone to entertain me for a lifetime on 50 dollars…. :))
If you are leaning towards automatic lifetime memberships, what you might want to do is just suggest to members that they make up the difference (or whatever extra they can pay), but not make it mandatory. I think that a lot of people who are members now would be happy to make up the difference even if they didn’t have to. I know I wouldn’t mind.
membership
I would start over, or at most, give a reduced membership fee (25.00??) for current members.
It would be “nice” to just turn current members into Life members but you should look at the situation from a pure business (eeuuwww) standpoint. We all realize you are not here to get rich off this but we can not expect you and Danny to lose money on the site. You should price it to at the very least be able to break even.
I think $50.00 for a life membership, understanding that “life” in this sense is an unspecified point in time (it IS the internet and all) to be very reasonable.
I guess the thing to think about is will there be, based on your current rate of donations, enough new life members and monthly members to support the site over time.
I’m not sure of you or Dan’s business background (so I mean absolutly NO offense here) but if you have questions, feel free to email and ask.
Sorry this was so long and businessey.
Re: membership
perhaps start from scratch, but give current members a month or two free before they have to choose a payment option?
Re: membership
That would probably work for everyone but those opposed entirely, and they would not be happy with anything but the free upgrade option anyway.
Hmm, that’s difficult, but…
…I would say, start from the scratch, I have no problems with that. But it would be easier if you inform all you members via e-mail that their membership ends at a specific date, and where they can go to sign up again.
The plus would be, that all paying members would keep their passwords, so that you haven’t autorize them again.
The lifetime thingy would bring a lot of money at once, but the recurring billing option would give you a income from the site, that you can add to your monthly costs calculation. I guess, I would even take the recurring option, to support you at a regular basis.
But if you do that, I would use a billing company for that. I must say that iBill here at LJ, looks very good and save for me. I payed at a lot of billing companies, but at iBill it was the first time, that my browser locked in “security”mode. Well, I don’t know how much they want from the billings, but I guess that it couldn’t be to much.
The most of us members already payed for the time we are here at your site, so don’t fear to make a new start.
I say wait for the dsl!! Why spend all that money on us losers who frequent your site for free?!?! Not to offend, I am talking soley of myself of course…(I am a starving student). So if you are going to spend the money on the T1, I say start all over. Those who cant eek out even $5 bucks cant eek out $50.
=)
M-
we can’t wait for the dsl really – we need something better than a dialup since we bot work from home some and can’t get cable
a chow named china, what a coincidence!
hee! maybe this is the same doggy i took care of while she was boarding @ hayfield animal hospital… so maybe about a month ago, there came in this lady with 2 chows rescued from the animal shelter way out in charlottesville or something. she named one china and the other one, i don’t remember, but he was a male. the lady was from the chow rescue of northern va (if i’ve remembered correctly, that’s the name of the org.) china was spayed and she boarded at my work and i walked her and played with her and a couple days later she was gone. if your chow’s a tawny/sand color and likes to be brushed often, maybe it is the same china. 🙂
Re: a chow named china, what a coincidence!
no… this one is a babie who was boarded with her 4 siblings… she is a sweetiehead!
I think starting over is the only thing that makes sense from a practical perspective. Giving a free ride to existing members who made minimal donations is a very kind thought, but it does little to address the reality that things will have changed and your bills will be higher.
It might be different if most of your existing members had made donations at or near the $50 level, but it doesn’t sound like that was the case. If you wanted to discount at all, you could consider calculating the average donation amount, and offering existing members that amount of discount (i.e. if total donations divided by total members = $7.43 then you might offer existing members a $42.57 lifetime membership).
Starting over is definitely simpler.
i will pay the 50 bucks gladly, 🙂
I miss stvlive so to be a life member is kool with me, let me know when to send it stephi, 🙂
scratch this, baby
sounds to me like the best option for you is going to be starting from scratch, stephanie. while I’m sure most of us would prefer not to pay again, it really does make sense financially, and the majority of your followers are going to pay what they can anyways. says the poor student.
Re: scratch this, baby
ditt0!
$400 a month is obscene!
Isn’t DSL cheaper? If so Tell them to put you ahead of the pack because they were full of s*@! to begin with. Sometimes you just have to get rude with these people. Call them untill there so sick of hearing from you they do it. Ask for the supervisor everytime you call too. Good luck punquin 🙂
Re: $400 a month is obscene!
If there’s a place for a free membership, maybe it’s at the DSL provider’s office …
Re: $400 a month is obscene!
that is because it is highspeed business class dsl for runing servers on with a full class c of ip#s and business class support…
Check into this Stephanie:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/computing/01/17/verizon.ap/index.html
site plan
Hmm, what about people who donated more than $50? 😉
I have *no* problem paying $50 (or more!) for a lifetime membership to stvlive. It’s worth it! 🙂
*hugs steph*
I was hoping the $100 I previously donated would eventually be considered enough to rate as a lifetime membership.
if i had $50.. i would pay it. my friend bought my membership at stvlive for me.. i think he donated $10.
from your stand-point.. it’s probly better if you start from scratch or have the people who already paid make up the difference rather than just making them lifetime. but.. from my stand-point i’d rather have it be lifetime.. ;P hehe. i’m too biased.