TOPIC: So paid membership AND sponsors now?

lakingsfan35 wrote: Thanks to the mods, SO and the contributing members, your collective insight and comments helped me in my decision against Phalloplasty

This is a huge part of what this forum is about, too. There is no vested interest in steering and coaxing people to have a procedure. Unlike other \"forums\" that are aligned with a doctor, there are no commissions, no referral fees, no nothing. If this site was set up in that way, this would be a done deal. However, then there would not be the open exchange of information.

Thanks for the support, LA.

\" How are you even complaining about this?\"

I\'ll tell you how. There will always be people who just complain. I\'m also a business owner and over the years I\'ve learned that, it doesn\'t matter how good, how cheap or how valuable your services, there will always be complainers. Serious respect and thanks to S.O. and the moderators. Critiquing this site is not wrong, in fact, it\'s a very good thing, because that\'s how you get better. But this one is very ridiculous. If you are a grown adult, there\'s no reason you shouldn\'t be able to afford this site. Even a paperboy could afford this site. The only critique I would have is that doctors like Dr. C, who have benefited greatly from this site, should definitely provide a discount to members. This is just common sense. S.O. has plenty of leverage to make that happen. Dr. Oates is a good example, as he has provided a considerable discount to members from this board.

Really good point about Dr. C...never thought about that. He seems like a capitalist at though and I don\'t see discounts in the future...(and theres nothing wrong with that, he has an excellent service and charges what he thinks he deserves. Obviously people pay it.)...but I can only imagine how much $$$ S.O. helped that man earn.

S.O. did the Doc give your any free sessions or anything last time you went or was this place not as booming back then? I know M8 and him are good friends. Miracle hasn\'t been around much lately. He\'s probably busy building his business. That guy is wicked smart. I don\'t think theres anything about penile anatomy or pmma or health in general that guy doesn\'t know. Like a damn physiology encyclopedia.

@chester. Very viable points. However, those \"paperboys\" who don\'t pay little subscriptions like $5 might have technical reasons not able to. There could be several thousands of so called members living in \"third world countries\" where simple facilities in \"first world countries\" don\'t apply. In my particular case PayPal won\'t pay to PhalloBoards, google wallet is for residents of the US, ccbill also (they need a TIN registeration number which doesn\'t apply to me). SO could have the leverage to facilitate these kind of payments, as I\'m always asking how come charitable and other entities can simply deduct these amounts from our cards but PhalloBoards cannot?
Therefore, smalljay and sideline, some of these \"shitheads\" \"freeloading\" might not be really what you think ...

All the same, I don\'t see any problem with the commercial memberships.

I\'m sure if there is a technical issue SO can make it happen either way. I remember him saying if you have difficulties in seeing the forum email to .......... He is working to make this available to everyone at a very reasonable cost. Is it perfected yet probably not....a simple email stating the difficulty may solve the issue.

its not that he is trying to get money for profit here, he is trying to not come out of pocket any longer and I get it, its not a hard concept to grasp.

Yes lakingsfan. Not perfected yet, OK. Email him? I made it clear in the thread introducing the subscription membership. In fact, I remember, I was a proponent of subscriptions a long time ago (watch the threads).

Purpose of my last post was for some people who are having it easy to know that those who aren\'t might not be \"shitheads\" ...

Hi skeptical one I would have to agree on dprice on this, while most people will say $5 or whatever amount to charge users to post is not much or users being cheapskate you have to look at other medical forums and other medical sites realself, health grade , other phalosites, etc... They don\'t charge users and hence the massive growth . Since information should be free

In regards to monetary I think the sponsorship should be great to an extent. My suggestions would be to charge surgeons to talk about their procedures and then do a q.a so for example Dr.elist which large amount of people hate, charge him and give him a chance to speak about procedure, complications, etc... And then let the users provide their reviews and questions which to the point dr elist might regret paying you lol if he is that bad of a doctor while majority of other doctors who are good surgeon will be comfortable writing new techniques and procedure. Possible have a poll and review system that is more organized as well so then users know based on other users experience to do surgery or not. It win/win since they get to advertise their clinic but at same it\'s the patients/users that have full control by reviewing if worth or not

In regards to other monetary like advertising viagra, Cialis, and other medical devices could be good way to get additional income plus have a section dedicated to it so people can review and advice on using them.
But Ofcourse not advertising scam pills

Oslo,

Can you find this type of information, research, experience on realself, healthgrade, etc.? No. Other phalosites in no way contain the quality of information contained here, as well.
If you feel that the other sites that do not have a membership fee are of equal of higher quality, by all means head there for your research.

You said you feel that information should be free. Well, look at it this way...
You are at a bar that has free drinks, but there is a cover charge to get in.

Leaving out the membership fee or not part of Oslo\'s last post, he has made a very sound and feasible suggestion which will auger for more transparency and a fair chance to \"everyone\" apart from them paying for it ...

Thanks for input gentlemen. All respectfully written advice & critiques will be thoughtfully considered, although I\'m not making any changes in the current system at this time. Again, sincerely thanks to both those who\'ve defended my right to charge and those who have respectfully suggested other alternatives.

For those that think SO \"should\" do something, change, modify things to their liking, etc - you\'re wrong. This isn\'t your board, and if he wants to sell his magic pet rocks on here, what is it to you?

The attitude portrayed by the original poster is ignorant and entitled. You have donated nothing, other than your little and loud opinion.

You want access to a knowledgeable community on what is undoubtedly a sensitive topic? Pay for it. Or don\'t, it\'s a free country. Websites aren\'t democracies.

And for those people who \"can\'t\" pay for a basic donation because of their severely depressed economic status, should never have the economic wherewithal to stomach a $3k tab for PMMA enhancement. So it\'s a moot point...unless of course, we change our discussion from ability to pay, to a question of financial priority.

If I see ads here, I\'m going to click them - personally, I kinda want SO to be well-compensated for his time and effort. Those who wish to defy economic gravity and expect others to carry the financial brunt for their personal benefit, display a basic ignorance of economics and the incentives that drive them.

Shout out to the mods as well as SO for running, building, and continually donating to the community.

\"For those that think SO \"should\" do something, change, modify things to their liking, etc - you\'re wrong. 'This isn\'t your board...\"
Ok, that\'s a bit harsh. I agree with the general gist of your post, but to say that forum members should have zero say in the forum is drone-speak. By definition a forum is made up of many people, thoughts and ideas, for the purpose of discussing things and making them better, that includes the forum itself. Only through listening to, and addressing, both positive and negative feedback can you ever hope to truly improve. That\'s true whether you\'re an artist, an athlete, a company, or a forum. To all members, I would say that you\'re not rocking the boat by just offering up suggestions. SO appreciates them, as is evident by his response. As for the forum being a pay site, you already know my stance on that, and here\'s why:

Nov 2015, savings from Elist implant: $10k
Feb - July 2016, Girth gain from bathmate: 0.5+
Mar - Jul 2016, length gain from esl 40: 0.15
Apr 2016, potential Girth gain from PMMA or HA: 0.5+

To clarify, I haven\'t done PMMA or HA but I learned about all of the above on this forum, yet I paid not one dime prior to buying a lifetime membership, which I did right away when it was announced. To those comparing other forums because they\'re free, it\'s a poor comparison. I was on all those boards and never learned a fraction of what I learned here, which is why I don\'t visit them anymore. Bottom line: This is a great forum, with great ideas, members and visual and textual guides. It will continue being so as a pay site. Those that don\'t like it should be able to voice their opinions, but if they want to keep benefiting from the types of substantive information that has helped me, they can reach in their pockets and contribute financially to the forum.

SO, if PayPal will not pay to PhalloBoards do you have another email address? I could try that.

Or maybe, some of these ranters can offer to have us pay $5 each month to their email accounts then forward to you by google wallet - that\'s part of the \"fraternity\" one can expect from an \"exclusive\" forum like this ...







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Ok, that\'s a bit harsh. I agree with the general gist of your post, but to say that forum members should have zero say in the forum is drone-speak

@Chester, we can agree to disagree . You may think the post is harsh, that\'s fine. But respecting other people\'s private property (and their right to do with it as they see fit) is far from drone-speak.

I\'m sure SO would be very open to suggestions and feedback, and I agree that both are necessary. But there\'s a way to do that which reflects a basic respect with whom the individual is talking, and not an underlying sense of obligation or entitlement from the suggester. Flaming a post with sarcasm, innuendo, and speculation (as the OP did) is not very helpful to any forum, paid or unpaid.

For those speculating on a monetarily viable model to sustain the site, there are only three that are currently present in the web world:

- Charge for your content (whether that be a monthly, one-time, whatever. Ala wall street journel - \"premium content\").

- Host adverts (\"sponsorships\" - i.e., ads, seen huffpo, MSNBC, youtube, etc). The only common theme with this model is that the ad network attempts to have \"relevant\" content hosted on the site - matching up the nature of the content with the nature of the ads. If working on a \"onsie twosie\" scenario, in which SO is personally vetting the advertisers, it will likely become exhausting in a hurry. Which is why so many turn to ad networks (revcontent, google adsense). The downside is you lose control of exactly what gets advertised on the site.

- Affiliate promos - similar to what you see on newsmax, they act as a salesman of specific promos they select.

Or, of course, some combo thereof.

Again, I just wish to express my gratitude to the mods and SO for the work they put in on the site.

Cheers.

jogift wrote: SO, if PayPal will not pay to PhalloBoards do you have another email address? I could try that.

Or maybe, some of these ranters can offer to have us pay $5 each month to their email accounts then forward to you by google wallet - that\'s part of the \"fraternity\" one can expect from an \"exclusive\" forum like this ...







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So is the problem that it won\'t accept low denominations like $5? Or it won\'t accept any amount period?