What new insider lobby? I signed up to give feedback and was asked questions about this all of which I said were a terrible idea but I didn't know it had been implemented. And I don't see it on the site anywhere?
This looks like a good idea to me $100 USD is a trivial, tiny, paltry, sum and what it will do in effect, result and consequence is substantially limit and reduce the children who post here there seem to be quite a few that are probably at the third grade level as revealed in they're thinking such as in the other thread about how it is a moral failing to earn a profit from items bought from this site! There are also those fundamentalist proselytizers who jump into every cable thread and yell SNAKE OIL and then say they do it to protect others from a fraud that they can not prove! I would say that if the $100 fee does not work that the site explore, consider, and evalulate an even higher fee so that those who contribute here are serious rather than winkly dinklers.
As the $100 is such a trivial paltry amount to you can you sign me up as well pretty please!
Seriously though, I was asked about it along with Jond and many others I am sure, and I thought it could have a chance of working as intended. Agreed the blue book included is nice. Ad free browsing, yep nice too. Moderate my own thread? Oh Lord give me strength to resist hitting that delete button too often! Not sure as that is the best course of action, tempting as it may appear! Could end up with a LOT of one sided threads depending on the OP in question.
I wasn't kidding! Geoff keeps in real in an outer space kinda way. He makes me laugh. I wasn't being snarky!! Man, I dunno. What was it Groucho Marx said? I kind of like the noise and commotion of the public forum. Plus, I learn --- I think being part of some premium club is great when you are waiting for an airplane, but on a forum meant for the exchange of ideas? Not so sure about that. Then again, I'd pay a premium for an ad free tier of Internet. I don't know how people live without ad blockers on the general web. Some of that stuff is so invasive-- this is where the real aliens from outer space are gonna invade-- through the interweb. But, I did get my specially lined hat, so I'm good. :)
Ahhh...and so it begins: what once was free you now have to pay. They could've just opted to give us most the new 'perks' for free.
Great move for Audiogon, they'd like to own the casino...they have a constant revenue stream, set the rules of behavior and, win loose or draw, the odds always favor the house...nice!
...and I'm wondering how many of the "children" in our ranks have a hundred bucks burning a hole in their pocket...
Well I certainly won't be shelling out. And count me as one of the nonbelievers in all the fantastical cable and fuse threads so I guess it's accomplishing what is intended. I really don't sell much on here and just come on for the entertainment value to see with the crazies are trying next… Can't see how it would be a good thing in the long run though, even for Audio gone and the advertising revenue stream.
Instead of trying to "monetize" the forum directly, what A'gon should realize is that people coming to the forum will likely jump over to sales too. Indeed, reading forum threads probably inspires people to make purchases there that they wouldn't otherwise have made. Seems greedy and unnecessary and potentially counterproductive to me.
I would say it is a result of the change of ownership where the new owners only see Audiogon as a pure business venture and all business have to make money.
It is not the enthusiast owned Audiogon of old I am afraid.
Long overdue to create a new forum for enthusiasts. First class/second class membership ? Maybe we should pay Audiogon to stop it.Or even better buy Audiogon. I can see there are enough people here who don't really know what to do with their money. It is just some have $10k and others $1 million.
Come on, anyone could find couple of thousands if it looks promising. I don't mind membership fees either, not too high and not too low or it would make no sense.
lookin like net neutrality on a micro scale and a dash of social stratification with whiffs of gentrification. It’s obvious who they really want around. And that’s fine they gotta make money. I’ll find other forums not worried. Will be interesting. I personally like all the craziness and cable naysayers, etc. it’d be pretty homogenous and boring otherwise.
A forum in which you can only participate by invitation?
A forum with minimum system requirements to participate?
As I have thought about this "Insider" thing, I keep wandering if I would be that interested in comments from someone that was paying to keep them private.
Its not a horrible idea, I just do not see it working right here, right now. There is little enough member participation right now on freebie forums, by that I mean many varied members not the same consistent core posters. Really do not think timing is right for an elitist club.
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