Donator status

[x010]

I dislike the fact that a 'donation' is required to access part of the forum. Why not replace it with say 5 contributing releases?

[Resident007]

Because maintaining a site and FTP server costs a lot of money and BA needs some money in order to continue functioning correctly.

[mrpijey]

Because maintaining a site and FTP server costs a lot of money and BA needs some money in order to continue functioning correctly.

Not that it has to do anything with the OP's question, since it was about forum access, not the nature of why we need donations...

To answer the OP question: It's just one forum section, that's all. The people kind enough to donate gets this access. Moderators etc also get other access to the forum. It's not really a big deal, and you don't get any special benefits from being a donator except for that status and one forum section.

[DanielOosterhuis]

It's not really that big of a deal, the donator forum isn't all that active. Plus, there's also a VIP section that donators don't have access to, but you don't hear us complain about that either.

[WILSON2bGg]

I think it's perfectly fine to give those who donated to help BetaArchive access to a special forum on here.

As DanielOosterhuis said,

the donator forum isn't all that active.

So it isn't much to be a part of anyway.

[JimOlive]

Regardless, the idea of donator-only forums seems silly.

[Andy]

Would you care to give your reasons?

Getting access to another forum is a perk. It's not uncommon to get perks on a website when you donate. You're not missing anything in there if that's what you're worried about. It's barely ever used.

[x010]

Would you care to give your reasons?

Getting access to another forum is a perk. It's not uncommon to get perks on a website when you donate. You're not missing anything in there if that's what you're worried about. It's barely ever used.

I think that goes against something you've repeatedly said: that donation should not be required to access any part of the site (after all, not everyone can do that). Hence my alternative suggestion - not easy but achievable without needing to pay.
True, it might be only a single forum, and rarely used, but the mere presence of something which cannot be unlocked by meaningful effort (like contributing x releases or the older 750 posts) bothers me.

It's not really that big of a deal, the donator forum isn't all that active. Plus, there's also a VIP section that donators don't have access to, but you don't hear us complain about that either.

As said above, access to that forum does require quite some work (or is intended to), and hence that bothers me less right now.

[Andy]

So let me get this straight, you want us to give you more free access on top of the already incredibly generous free access that you already get, just because you don't like that someone has access to a little more than you? Is it some kind of jealousy? Do you some how feel entitled to it? Well guess what, not everything in this world is free and you're lucky that the BA FTP is.

Getting access to the donator forum is a perk and a thank you for choosing to donate, and is reserved for people who have chosen to donate. It doesn't contain anything valuable, nor is it particularly active despite the huge number of people who can see it, so really you're not missing out on anything.

[JonathonWyble]

I kind of agree with Daniel on his statement. I mean, the donators forum does seem to be inactive, but I do see new posts (on the forum index) from that forum once in a while. I don't want to sound stubborn, but I sometimes don't see a point in having a forum for people who donated to BA and got awarded donator status. But like Andy said, it exists on this forum because it's a nice way to thank someone for donating to BetaArchive and what not, so that's nothing to be worried about

[DobaMuffin]

Getting access to the donator forum is a perk and a thank you for choosing to donate, and is reserved for people who have chosen to donate. It doesn't contain anything valuable, nor is it particularly active despite the huge number of people who can see it, so really you're not missing out on anything.

I see why the site has a special Donators only forum. As Andy said, it's for those who donate to keep this wonderful site up and running. It acts as a sort of community for those who have gone above and beyond everybody else. The fact that it is largely inactive is kind of sad, but it goes to show that the type of people who donate don't really care about using the forum that they and they alone have access to.

If it was changed from donator only to everybody who submits x amount of submissions, then it would defeat the purpose of rewarding those who donate by allowing people who haven't to obtain what they got as a reward.

So in the end, I understand your point about having a section of the forum barred away from the people who don't donate, but it does make sense as to why it is that way.

This is just my understanding of the whole situation. I'd be glad to hear yours, different or not.

DobaMuffin