Supporters section?

[mark5009]

Hi, Dave.

I am concerned about the information apartheid aspects of the "special section".  There will be the idea of a walled garden where secret matters are discussed between the few.  I know that is not what you are after but it will remain a fact.  Richard Stallman is right when he keeps rabbiting on about information should be free.

Much better is GeoffS's suggestion re the competitions.  Want something for nother?  Then be prepared to pay for it!  That is cool thinking.

  .. mark.

[ve7xen]

I am concerned about the information apartheid aspects of the "special section".  There will be the idea of a walled garden where secret matters are discussed between the few.  I know that is not what you are after but it will remain a fact.  Richard Stallman is right when he keeps rabbiting on about information should be free.

This is my thought as well. Segregating the community does not do it a service.

If this new forum is just a locked forum for Dave to announce and discuss contests/perks for donators I'd be all for it. However if it allows general posting I am opposed. The community benefits from everyone having equal access to each other.

[millerb]

From what I've seen on other forums I visit, having areas on the board that require high post counts to access just encourages some folks to post crap until they're in the club.

[jucole]

I am concerned about the information apartheid aspects of the "special section".  There will be the idea of a walled garden where secret matters are discussed between the few.  I know that is not what you are after but it will remain a fact.  Richard Stallman is right when he keeps rabbiting on about information should be free.

This is my thought as well. Segregating the community does not do it a service.

If this new forum is just a locked forum for Dave to announce and discuss contests/perks for donators I'd be all for it. However if it allows general posting I am opposed.

If you read the "About" page on the EEVBlog home page it states...

If you want my advice on something then ask in the EEVblog Forum, ...  That’s what the forum is for, it’s an awesome resource, use it!

So if having a small supporters section bothers you that much, seriously, you're not working on enough widgets! ;-)

[brabus]

A secret area in the forum will always be a pretext for endless whining. 

To give something back to major contributors, I would prefer a special discount on the shop, and/or the exclusivity in joining luck-based contests or giveaways. 

For any other skill-based contest, obviously I would put no restriction.

[madires]

From what I've seen on other forums I visit, having areas on the board that require high post counts to access just encourages some folks to post crap until they're in the club.

Unfortunately there's no bullet prove automated system, so you have to find a compromise. Instead of automatically promoting an user with 1000 posts the user could be suggested (automatically by 1000 posts) for promoting and a board would consider the quality of the posts and decide to promote the user or not.

[jancumps]

I've seen it work well on other fora. Supporters only future is sometimes being allowed to barter/buy/sell in a dedicated session or get discounts from a site sponsor.
I don't mind at all if there is a part of the activity happening where I can't participate. If it is interesting enough, it might convince me to support.

And there will always be enough usual content. If that dries up, the community disappears.

[brabus]

(...) on other fora. (...)

OT MODE ON

Finally someone treats Latin right! 

OT MODE OFF

I also quote madires; Dave can choose manually who to add to the "golden list", basing on nr. of posts, donations, forum behavior, etc.
Maybe some statistics can help him a bit, just to find out candidates.