An ad-free (and fast loading) site for a subscription? Would you?

[Laska5772]

No ads, no skimlinks just MN like it used to be..

Yes, I realise it all costs and that MN need to get revenue in so adverts are a way of doing this , but im pretty sure thats why its all so ruddy slow

So would you consider paying asubscription?

I would .

How about it MN?

So if everyone blocks the ads and no-one pays a sub, how do the server bills and staff get paid?

I don't really see the issue, tbh. Some of us are prepared to pay for it, to have an ad-free/skimlink-free service, and others aren't.

As long as the fee isn't exorbitant, then I can't see what the problem is. I'd be more than happy to pay a fair fee for something I use pretty much everyday.

Let's say you buy a cup of coffee everyday on your way to work. At a minimum this is £1. So £5 a week (assuming you work Mon-Fri). That would equate to £260 a year - and that's on the basis that you work 52 weeks of the year. So take 5 weeks holiday off that, and it takes you down to £225 a year. That's £18.75 per month.

That is a lot of money for a lot of posters on a really tight budget. I think it's a terrible idea.

I can see your logic BIWI but paying to chat on the internet is a huge psychological barrier to get past, it's just not the way people are used to using the internet, well except for very niche specialisms that I'm not certain MN want to venture into

Re: something awful forums - I'm not certain but I don't think they turned enough profit to entertain the idea of having a 'team' of fully employed staff and offices in the same way as MN, tbh I'm not really sure what the answer is there. Except that a forum in and of itself isn't a particularly profitable venture. It's too reliant on the whims of a largely ungovernable populace who have no real obligation to your brand.

Personally I think the forum is too big and unmanageable. There are far too many sub-forums and my uninformed opinion is that this must have some effect on how they run technically = £££

But I don't spend £18.75 on coffee every month!

There are just too many other forums available to make a subscription worth buying.

If it was something like £25 a year I'd do it. £10 a month = nah.

These other forums that are as good as MN? Anyone care to name them? I've had a poke about when things have gone crazy here but I've not found anything as good.

It's a fairly personal thing tbh sloany and depends on what you're into and what you want to talk about.

Reddit can be a good bet to find a comfy spot but the layout doesn't appeal to everyone and some sections aren't as busy so you can't count on a conversation that doesn't take place over a number of days. Digital spy has a fairly busy general section, but again it's personal to you whether you feel you fit there. I haven't been on in an age but straight dope had pretty good forums with the same caveats as digital spy (and theres always net-mums....).

There are lots of forums but generally you find them when you're looking for something in particular.

Imho MN's greatest attraction is its biggest weakness, their forums are catering for far more than their originally targetted audience. For example, I wouldn't expect to find more than one board on a parenting website for pets. MN has seven. Maybe I'm way off the mark, but I think they're trying to be too many things to too many people.

nope

Thanks Cornetto I'll have a look.
I'd pay a fiver a month for ad free. I use an ad blocker but I know that the site needs advertising revenue. I wouldn't want to pay for other things like hide poster though as that would be too far into the 2 tier thing.

"So if everyone blocks the ads and no-one pays a sub, how do the server bills and staff get paid?"

Well quite.

That's why the silence from MNHQ over a weekend when users (who hadn't had one before, weren't interesting in having one, don't mind seeing ads; but cannot put up with a non-functioning site) were reluctantly realising it was the only way to go, is so in explicable.

There are two explanations:
a) driving MNHQ to become a paid site by deliberately sabotaging the tech and then ignoring the affected users
b) the affected users aren't actually great enough in number to warrant the a crisis communication plan from MNHQ and the number installing adblockers isn't business critical.

I don't expect it'll be a) as that's so underhand and nasty. b) gives no additional reason to change to a paid site.

There is of course also c) incompetence, but again I don't expect it's that. But if it were, that is also no reason to become a paid site. Arguably the opposite from the Talk user pov- why pay for something which not only has a recent track history of not working well but also no communications from the site management when things go wrong?

Therehave been posts about standard good practice when there are problems for users. MNHQ has chosen to do things differently. And that's fine - their choice - but not a way to look like a service worth your direct cash.

Yes, as long as there was still a free version with ads for those who want it. Maybe add in the customise options that were on classic and which I am missing since I had to make a new account. Don't know what a suitable price would be, MNHQ could let us know what would be viable.

I've been on a couple of forums that introduced subscriptions and all became ghost towns very quickly. It would be a huge shame if the same happened to MN.

I used to be on another, very popular forum to do with my hobby. They went subscription only and the place is like a ghost town now. The pursuit of more money (bigger servers, coping with problems and the volume of traffic, founders wanting decent money out of it etc) does seem to kill a forum. People can take their thoughts elsewhere - facebook for example.

I don't think anyone thinks subscription-only is a viable business model for MN. But a subscription option might be.

You can't provide a fairly crap website that is slow, buggy and has intrusive ads but is free to use, then offer a paid version that is ad-free but runs smoothly and expect people to sign up. New users will get fed up too quickly to believe that it's worth it and existing non-paying members will leave.

In order for a paid website to work, you have to provide a well functioning free version, with ads that don't cause grief, that people enjoy using, then offer a paid version that has benefits over and above what they already have. Ad-free and a couple of paid members only sections should do it.

No.

I actually dont understand why mumsnet can't get their technology sorted. You look at sites like trip advisor, millions upon millions more visitors, plenty of ads, and no problems in loading. Mumsnet is a fraction of the size and you pretty much have to use ad blocker to use it on apple products.

Potentially it's a back office issue, they need to understand the size of scripts advertisers can use, how many the site can tolerate maybe even it's simply the platform being used.i don't know, but there is plenty of member sites, free, that are much bigger and don't have any issues.

As said, ad blocker worked for me, but I shouldn't have had to use it.

Like other users, the site was rendered unusuable for me during last week. This is using Safari on the iPad.

I did two things. Firstly I got the App, which does work, however does not have all the features of the main site. I also got an ad blocker. With the adblocker I have found the site useable but a bit more jittery (sometimes flips out and sometimes when wanting to post key board randomly disappears) and slower.

So I use both. That way I will see some of the adverts . Adverts only bother me when they interfere with functionality anyway.

I would not subscribe to the site. I would probably just spend more time looking at non subscription forums. Finance wise I tend to be pretty frugal with money spent on things that are not necessities. So no takeaway coffees, takeaways only on special occasions, packed lunches, freezing left overs, batch cooking, shopping at budget supermarkets and pound shops. This sort of money really adds up and we save thousands doing things this way.

I don't object to ads per-say.
I object to intrusive ads with video and music content because they gobble up my bandwidth and data..

I wold be very happy if MNHQ set it ip to that ads are restricted to visual pictures and typography only. And even then limit the size of pictures to not be too data hungry.

^adblocker slower than App I meant to say.

Itsnoteasy: per se

I'm on an iphone se and have no issues with the site.

I wonder how many users who are having issues are on 'older' apple products.
Ipad 2s, iphone 5s etc? I found my iphone 4s was grinding to a halt so I upgraded.

My iPad is a few years old but I'm not upgrading it just for MN! It works fine for everything else. I choose to have a 'dumb' phone. I don't buy technology just to keep up with passing trends, I have to really want it.

No I wouldn't pay.
There's adblocker for starters. This is free.
The whole hacking thing last year. Now imagine that scenario with your bank details.
There's lots of issues with the site loading and being jittery. Why would I pay for that?
Aside from the hacking last year they have also had other issues - porn diverts

If they cannot deal with the issues with all ad money they currently generate, cannot see getting memebers to cough up will make a difference. Plus if I was paying I would want it staffed 24/7