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Post by **bazzah** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:13 am

Firstly, I would like to thank all of you that have contributed, either by uploading your covers/labels, or by donating. Since we have reopened hires, the site has never been so popular. Our bandwidth allowance has just had to be doubled, as we have used 390GB bandwidth already this month!

On top of that, we now have well over 13000 images in the gallery. This is an excellent feat, and proves the dedication of our community.

However, hosting this excellent community is becoming extremely expensive. The site is costing a lot more than we are receiving in donations, due to the amount of members that sit in the gallery downloading all day. Because of this, we are looking to move towards subscriptions. This would mean, all non contributing members, would have to pay a yearly subscription of $10 Euros per annum. Roughly about $12.5 USD or £6.9 GBP.

I would like to make sure that all contributors do not have to pay this subscription. So, all current artists / resident artists / donators (over $10) etc will automatically be subscribed. Therefore, I would like to know of anyone that is not currently in one of the above groups, that feels they should be.

In the future, it will work similarly. Anyone joining the site, or indeed anyone improving their skills, will have the opportunity to prove they deserve to be in the artist group, and will be able to be automatically subscribed for free.

I would like you to know, the whole reason for this move, is by the end of the year, the site costs will have more than doubled. We want to keep the site running as fast as we can, which costs a lot in hosting fees. The idea of subscriptions will remove the non contributors, who take advantage of the contributing members, who have helped to keep this site alive.

Raiderviking · Post by **Raiderviking** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:30 am

So where do you draw the line??? What will the criteria be to become an artist?

Post by **bazzah** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:33 am

To become an artist, you need to upload fairly reguarly, and not have any covers disaproved. If you feel you fall into this catagory, then please let us know.

Storm Raider · Post by **Storm Raider** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:45 am

Raiderviking wrote:
QUOTE(Raiderviking @ Jun 25 2006, 08:30 PM)
So where do you draw the line??? What will the criteria be to become an artist?

I have seen your work and it is very good im am sure it would not be to hard for you to become an artist
Cheers

MrHenryDog · Post by **MrHenryDog** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:54 am

seems like its the way all the top sites are going,because of people leeching and not contributing,but i havn't got a problem with subscribing.the money is next to nothing.the only problem i see is those people who already sub to other sites.so you just have to make sure that this is the site that they want to subscribe to,above the others.

burnbabyburn · Post by **burnbabyburn** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 2:22 pm

Bazzah wrote:
QUOTE(Bazzah @ Jun 25 2006, 07:33 AM)
To become an artist, you need to upload fairly reguarly, and not have any covers disaproved. If you feel you fall into this catagory, then please let us know.

Bazzah...

I think this will be a great improvement for the site! Kudos on all your (and others) hard work. Although I'm fairly new here, and hey...maybe my stuff isn't up to par with some but I'm hoping I would be considered for the "Artist" category also

Narchy · Post by **Narchy** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 6:45 pm

Bazzah wrote:
QUOTE(Bazzah @ Jun 25 2006, 08:13 PM)
The site is costing a lot more than we are receiving in donations, due to the amount of members that sit in the gallery downloading all day. Because of this, we are looking to move towards subscriptions.

Have you considered limiting the number of cover downloads per user (over 24 hours rather than per session as this would merely result in these same leechers logging off when they reach the limit, thence logging straight back on again)?

Also, I hope you will give members AMPLE warning (preferably by email) once the decision to become a subscription based service is taken. This would give those who don't already have a PayPal account time to set one up in order to donate.

The downside to becoming a subscription site is that potential new artists (who are NOT currently members) will look elsewhere if they HAVE to pay BEFORE joining, resulting in a lack of new talent being fostered and the site becoming stale as existing ARTISTS move on to other things...

chefjoe · Post by **chefjoe** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 7:15 pm

I have to agree with you that a subscription fee is a way to keep folks honest. I am guilty myself of not yet donating, but only cause of credit issues. 20 years of military life has left my finances a mess. And yet I will be happy to donate soon.

This is a premium site, and as such serious contributers should be, and I'm sure will be happy to subscribe in order to keep it running.

bigfella · Post by **bigfella** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 7:30 pm

I too have no problem with paying a members fee as this is the best quality site on the net, i would feel stupid uploading other peoples covers just to try and keep free membership.

Krafty · Post by **Krafty** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 7:39 pm

It is a shame that we have had to take this step. I would have loved to have kept this site a 'Free Site'.

When you consider that a subscription will cost just a little more than a packets of ciggs, for a whole years worth of covers, it is value for money. Is it not?

A big thank you to all those who have been able to keep us going for so long with your contributions.

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