Closing up the old threads will really be a slap for providers like me who have been running services since early 2008! god damn it's like 3 years now.
I have the following suggestions.
a) Keep the old threads open and charge something monthly or set up a subscription so that the providers can keep them running as they want to.
b) Auto-Closing of the threads and referencing your Old threads is definitely going to be a big mess.
c) Charge something like low $XXX to create a new service thread in the marketplace and then charge $XX per month subscription to keep it running, why not do that. It's capitalism at its best and let the fittest survive.
Let's see the reaction to my comments now.
Red_Virus!
I agree with everything you have said except for the amount to charge.
There are some threads on here (including mine) where we sell services for cheaper than the bigger threads that have built up a reputation and offer multiple scaling packages that cost more. Smaller services (while people may not like them, think they get in the way, think only bitches run them, etc...) allow the noobies (or even experienced guys) who are tight on cash to get something, that will help them get the push of promoting their site(s), without breaking the bank. In my situation, I would love to offer bigger services, however, its just not possible with my full-time job, 7 month old, and other commitments I have outside of the internet, so I rely on my smaller services (that are much easier for me to manage) to earn me a few bucks every day.
While I have not been on this forum for very long, I really do like it, and I am afraid that with these changes, it will push us smaller service sellers out of the forum completely.
Perhaps these suggestions could be taken into consideration:
1. An option for us smaller service thread guys that would allow us to pay month by month to keep our threads open, while still allowing us to keep our prices low, but still providing revenue to the forum. A pricing example would be $33.00 per month (this equates to $396/per year).
2. A yearly service thread subscription. Where the heavy hitters of this forum who offer more expensive services could purchase a subscription that costs more, but would be offered a discount for paying for a full year in advance. Using the pricing scale as above, if you paid a year in advance, you could get a discount of $50.00/off or something like that.
I also wonder if it would be possible to make "small incentives" on your threads that you can pay for on a case by case basis in order to promote your thread.
IE:
1. Paying $x to have your thread become a sticky for however many days you want to pay for it.
2. Making a rotating banner that would display on all threads throughout the forum to showcase services.
3. Having the ability to pay to edit the thread
I think I am so concerned/saddened by this change and take it a little bit personally is because I love to offer my services to people. I don't make a huge profit off of my services (because of the nature of them), but its nice to be able to offer something to someone that helps them in one way or another, and even though I don't make that much, I still make a few bucks. I am very fortunate to have found this forum, and to get a good response for a service like mine that is relatively small compared to the other services on this forum.
I hope that this whole thing gets figured out soon. Like I said, I am very fortunate to have found this forum, and to be able to post my services for as long as I did for no charge.
That being said, I am all for paying to setup threads, I just wish there could be other options for the services that are small(er) like mine.
Thank you,
-J
