New pay per post system

[Spriggan]

As with the main site, to help Fell feed his family, we're moving to a pay-per system on the forum as well but in a more limited way.  Now any thread that has the moneybag icon requires 1 Fell Point to post in, and today is a free trial as the main site.

How do you get fell points?  Submitting articles for the main site is one way, earning awards via contests is another and for the lazy we're selling fell points for the low price of half a British Pound each, that's only 5 Pounds for 10 FP! The store will be up tomorrow and will be ran via Paypal so it's simple and easy to get your FPs.

Fell and his three kids thank you for your support in this hard time.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I heartily endorse this change, as I get a small portion of the proceeds (enough to feed my comic habit, anyway).

And, for the record, "5 Pounds for 10 FP!" is one of the most surreal phrases I've ever heard or read.

[42]

Isn't there a way we can charge people just for viewing the site?

Being a public servant and student leaves me with so much extra cash lying around.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

We weren't going to say anything about that yet, since it's still in the planning stages, but since you brought it up, I've actually been talking with Scott McCloud about micropayments quite a bit. He and I are putting together a system that will work. The problem was getting PayPal to work with us on it. So yeah, when we have the prices down and the backend put together, instead of having to buy articles individually you can just sign up for the micropayment system and you'll be charged as you go. It will work with the forum too.

[Spriggan]

Well we are going to be charging to view front page articles, you buy them as boosters, but Fell hasn't gotten back with the write-up about that.

[stacer]

Y'know, I was wondering when you guys would get around to this. Seemed like such an obvious next step. (Though the phrase "a day late and a dollar short" comes to mind.)

[Parker]

Shh.  They're trying to be creative and funny at the same time.  I say we humor them.

[Spriggan]

Actually we're being quite honest about this, we've been thinking of ways to have TWG pay itself off for the past few months and this is something we've discussed quite a bit.  When Fell lost his job we started to push towards this model and this was a good balance between making house payments and not driving people away from the site. 

There aren't going to be a lot of Pay-Per-Post articles but enough that our goals can be met, and we also find paying for articles as a "booster pack" instead of an expensive monthly subscription is more in spirit with the site itself.

[stacer]

Right. I was thinking you should have done this years ago.

[Qarlin]

Hah. Now I just have to find stuff I want to write reviews of... Any suggestions there? I know there are reviews of games, both video and tabletop, and movies, and books, but is there an area that is generally lacking in reviews, or should I just write by ear, as it were?

Will it cost a Fell Point per post, or will it just require a certain number of FP to post in a given forum or article?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

We are lately lacking reviews on most anything game related. That's what we'd prefer.

But we'll take anything, really.

The charge will be by post. So posting in a thread more often does not save money over posting in many threads.

[Spriggan]

Man this was a disappointed April Fools.

Maybe if those lazy-sacks-of-crap SE and Fell actually did something for it instead of just piling everything on me at the last minute it would have tricked more then one person.

shessh.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Whine whine whine.
Maybe if you had a life you wouldn't have time to do all the stuff. It's your own fault for being available to do it.

[Spriggan]

You know, I'm really sick of you and Fell taking my willingness to help for granted, I do all the work and you two get all the money and review materials.  I haven't gotten anything in a year and somehow you just bought a new PC, which I know you can't afford, and Fell has got all his toys he's been buying even though he doesn't have a job.

You guys are taking me for granted and I'm thinking without me there wouldn't be any TWG or money to line your pockets.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

oh geez. Have you heard the words "tax return?" Like I get that much from TWG.

I'm pretty sure that I could code it. But you *wanted* to do it. remember? You can put it in your little portfolio.