VIP Members, suggestions needed

Post by **Andy** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:08 am

compact-mac,

We use a non-standard theme so chances are it won't work with this one either.

pr0gram,

I really don't want to switch board software. phpBB has never been bad for us. Theres an old saying; If its not broken, don't fix it. I think that applies here

Post by **zchri9** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 5:22 am

i know provide tons of things people want and have a unleaked build see what happens

Post by **hounsell** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:23 pm

zchri9 wrote:i know provide tons of things people want and have a unleaked build see what happens

Yes, that would attract people, but i think that most people on here (Andy one of them) would not keep a build to themselves, particularly an interesting build, without good reason. An unleaked build would be available here to everyone, not just VIPs. and btw, they then wouldnt be unleaked and they would spread anyway, defeating the point

Post by **Andy** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:24 pm

Maybe we could do a release-a-week sort of thing again?

Post by **hounsell** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:29 pm

If we could get hold of the builds

Post by **Andy** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:32 pm

hounsell wrote:If we could get hold of the builds

True.

Im going to be setting up the VIP section tonight along with some other forums. I haven't told everyone about the new ones yet but you shall see.

I was thinking of making it a group where you can access it after x amount of posts. I was thinking maybe 500, 750 or 1000, but very few people have that amount even now after over 1 year of being registered.

Post by **Unknown** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 2:10 am

Andy wrote:Maybe we could do a release-a-week sort of thing again?

That could only last so long, surely there's not that many unreleased betas out there.

Post by **Apache** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 6:01 am

Andy wrote:Im going to be setting up the VIP section tonight along with some other forums. I haven't told everyone about the new ones yet but you shall see.

Have these been created yet or are they just not visible yet?

Have the @betaarchive email inboxes/forwarders been looked into any further yet?

Hopefully when phpBB3 is finally released then the VIP members can have more benefits

Post by **Luckie** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 6:35 am

Andy wrote: I was thinking of making it a group where you can access it after x amount of posts. I was thinking maybe 500, 750 or 1000, but very few people have that amount even now after over 1 year of being registered.

please don't do this. many people will spam only to get the posts to be a VIP

Post by **Apache** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 6:40 am

Luckie wrote:
Andy wrote: I was thinking of making it a group where you can access it after x amount of posts. I was thinking maybe 500, 750 or 1000, but very few people have that amount even now after over 1 year of being registered.
please don't do this. many people will spam only to get the posts to be a VIP

Thats why the forum has moderators, to delete the spam posts and ban the spammers

Post by **Andy** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 7:01 am

The forums didn't get created. I was very seriously ill last night with stomach pains. I couldn't even move without being in agony. However I'm glad to say I'm a lot better today. So well in fact I went to work an hour late.

Of course, spam will be removed. Its pretty hard to spam 1000 posts without being caught

The e-mail forwarders have not been looked into more yet.

Post by **Apache** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 7:42 am

Glad to hear that you are feeling better Andy

Just a suggestion for when you do create the forums, make them publically visible but not accessible (if you know what i mean) so that people will see them, want access to them and then donate in order to gain access to them

Post by **Andy** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:22 am

Apache wrote:Glad to hear that you are feeling better Andy

Just a suggestion for when you do create the forums, make them publically visible but not accessible (if you know what i mean) so that people will see them, want access to them and then donate in order to gain access to them

Agreed.

Post by **Vista Ultimate R2** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:03 pm

Unknown wrote:
Andy wrote:Maybe we could do a release-a-week sort of thing again?
That could only last so long, surely there's not that many unreleased betas out there.

There seemed to be a lot of Whistlers and Longhorns when they were doing it before, no idea where they were coming from though, if they had someone who actually worked for MS who was getting them or something like that, or if KenOath used to provide them.

Post by **Andy** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:14 pm

I think it was grabberslasher if I remember correctly. I could be mistaken though.

Post by **Peteski** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:28 pm

i would like to see a release a week system set up, but getting hold of unreleased builds would be a pretty big problem wouldn't it?

Luckie wrote:
Andy wrote: I was thinking of making it a group where you can access it after x amount of posts. I was thinking maybe 500, 750 or 1000, but very few people have that amount even now after over 1 year of being registered.
please don't do this. many people will spam only to get the posts to be a VIP

yes, this system was implemented on joejoe. when you got to 700 or so posts you got access to the VIP area. it lead to mass spamming and lowered the overall worth of a VIP member.

Andy wrote:I think it was grabberslasher if I remember correctly. I could be mistaken though.

he was in charge of 4093 afaik

Post by **Andy** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:31 pm

Spamming will not get you access. If I find people spamming I'll simply delete their posts or deny them access to the group. I have to add people manually anyway so its not a huge issue.

I have now created the VIP forum and decided on 750 posts or $5+ donation and 10+ posts. I think this is reasonable enough.

Staff and members with 750+ posts, and those who have donated are already added.

Post by **Jeff** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:05 pm

Great Idea! I think I might be able to donate soon...

Post by **Jeff** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:20 pm

Just FYI, VIP posts are in the RSS feed.

Post by **Andy** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:23 pm

Jeff wrote:Just FYI, VIP posts are in the RSS feed.

Drat... lol. I'll update it

Post by **Vista Ultimate R2** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:23 pm

Andy wrote:I think it was grabberslasher if I remember correctly. I could be mistaken though.

I wonder where he got them from - he must have had some very good connections, if I remember rightly he had (legit) access to all the Apple betas and the Developer Transition Kit too.

Post by **Jeff** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:24 pm

Do you think people who set up a decent reliable server might be able to access the VIP forum, too?

Post by **Andy** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:26 pm

Jeff wrote:Do you think people who set up a decent reliable server might be able to access the VIP forum, too?

It would have to be 99% uptime and have a half decent speed, but I think something could be arranged...

Post by **Jeff** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:32 pm

Just so I know, what is a half decent speed?

Post by **Andy** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:33 pm

Jeff wrote:Just so I know, what is a half decent speed?

Basically not stupid like 5KB/s or speeds that fluculate a lot all the time.