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NEW questions concerning the Membership options

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Instinct79
Active Ink Slinger
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Quote by simplyjohn


Instant Messaging is online messages/bb's/black boxes/whateveranyoneelsecallsthem. PM's are private messages, i.e. using the Mail feature.

edit - and before anyone asks; private whispers in the rooms are available to everyone!.


So I did loose direct contact with all of my friends... how fantastic...
OldDom48
Advanced Wordsmith
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Ref payment methods

I am not sure what country Lush bills from, but I discovered when trying to pay for an Alt.com membership that my debit card was set by the bank to disallow any non-US transactions. I had to call them to get that restriction lifted, after which it worked fine.
simplyjohn
Site administrator
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Quote by Instinct79


So I did loose direct contact with all of my friends... how fantastic...


Taking a deep breath .. there was a glitch upon implementation of the new changes which meant some people had issues ... those problems have been fixed. No member who joined prior to 1/1/15 will be affected by these changes until after 30/6/15.
OldDom48
Advanced Wordsmith
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Video and Image Upload Restrictions

The account comparison chart states that Premium members may upload unlimited images, implying a limit for Silver memberships. Could you explain what the limits are for non-Premium accounts?
OldDom48
Advanced Wordsmith
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I noticed that I did NOT receive an email notification of the "Important Site Announcement ..." PM. Does this reflect a policy change, or was email notification turned off just for this message?
billy
Active Ink Slinger
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I'm supportive of this, for what it's worth. Lush is a quality operation and quality costs money. Simple as that.
“It's nice sometimes to open up the heart a little and let some hurt come in. It proves you're still alive.”
simplyjohn
Site administrator
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Quote by OldDom48
Video and Image Upload Restrictions

The account comparison chart states that Premium members may upload unlimited images, implying a limit for Silver memberships. Could you explain what the limits are for non-Premium accounts?


I think the model says its unlimited for gold but not for Free/Bronze/Silver members which to me implies that those members who do not have gold can still upload but yes there is a limit .. someone else .. probably Gav .. will have to tell us what that limit is.
simplyjohn
Site administrator
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Quote by OldDom48
I noticed that I did NOT receive an email notification of the "Important Site Announcement ..." PM. Does this reflect a policy change, or was email notification turned off just for this message?


It may well be that the site wide PM is still going out .. it may take a while to get to 260k people .. or perhaps you have that switched off via your profile settings.

edit - perhaps you mean the pop-up? .. perhaps you were not here when it popped up? its only apparent for a few seconds and then disappears. Its not saved for when you next login like black boxes are.
simplyjohn
Site administrator
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Quote by billybroadband
I'm supportive of this, for what it's worth. Lush is a quality operation and quality costs money. Simple as that.


Thank you Billy.

Man hugs
adele
Weaver of Words
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Quote by nicola
This thread has been created for people to ask questions about the new membership model.

I have closed off the other thread as it became submerged in messages relating to a programming issue which has now been resolved, and people complaining about the new measures put into place. That is not what this thread is for.

Before posting any questions, please thoroughly read this post: https://www.lushstories.com/forum/yaf_postst41205_New-Freemium-Membership-Model-for-2015.aspx which is more or less the same as the PM which is being sent to all members.

Questions already covered off in the above post, or general complaints relating to the new set up, will be deleted to keep this thread from becoming too cluttered.

Key points:

All members registered before 1st January 2015, will effectively be given a 6 month bronze membership.

New members get a 3 month free trial, all features enabled.

Authors published with us already, will be given a lifetime Bronze Membership.



Nicola, I think you are being extremely generous i the amount of time you are giving both existing members and new members to decide whether to buy a membership or not. If the existing members start now, they will need to save a whopping 6 cents a day in order to save the $10. This is, for the most part an amazing site. I occasionally disagree with some of the policies, but then who agrees with everything all the time. I am actually surprised this hasn't happened sooner. I have been on a number of other sites, and most of them require a payment from day one for certain features to become active, such as the ability to send a private message (email) or online message (IM's). Some even charge for the ability to whisper. And virtually everyone of them charge more, some even that same $10 per month.

Besides that, some of these sties are almost exclusively chat rooms, none of which matches the ease of use that Lush has. Other sites with forums are often far harder to follow or post than Lush. And while there are other story sites, Lush is certainly among the best of them. Both in terms of the quality of the stories published and the verification process. Another site I was on took 2-3 weeks to post a story once it had been submitted. I have been a supporter of this site since the gold memberships were first offered and will continue to do so. I really do not understand those people who seem to think you have taken away their "rights" to speak to other people in any manner they want without paying SOMETHING or who think that they should have been asked for their opinion on the matter.

I do have a question however about the authors receiving a free lifetime bronze membership. In the initial announcement, you said "Existing members who are successfully published on site with us, will be given an unexpiring Bronze Membership from the off (depending on certain criteria - # stories / poems, views, avg. score etc)". In this thread you say "Authors published with us already, will be given a lifetime Bronze Membership." Just to clarify, is there still going to be certain criteria beyond just being an author needed to get the bronze membership, or will anyone with an author badge, even if it is a single poem or story receive the membership? Also I presume this will NOT apply to new members?

Thank you again for providing us with this amazing site.

Cas
Dani
Big-haired Bitch/Personality Hire
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Quote by simplyjohn
Quote by OldDom48
I noticed that I did NOT receive an email notification of the "Important Site Announcement ..." PM. Does this reflect a policy change, or was email notification turned off just for this message?


It may well be that the site wide PM is still going out .. it may take a while to get to 260k people .. or perhaps you have that switched off via your profile settings.


I think he may mean that he didn't receive an email in his personal non-lush account to notify him of the Lush PM being sent, as some people choose that as an option.

And to answer your question OldDom48, Nicola sent the PM as a newsletter as opposed to just a regular PM. Do you have your options set to include email notifications for site newsletters?

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adele
Weaver of Words
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Quote by simplyjohn


I think the model says its unlimited for gold but not for Free/Bronze/Silver members which to me implies that those members who do not have gold can still upload but yes there is a limit .. someone else .. probably Gav .. will have to tell us what that limit is.


I believe the limit for non gold members is 50mb John, which still allows for a significant amount of pics if they have been edited to a reasonable size.
Dani
Big-haired Bitch/Personality Hire
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Quote by adele
I do have a question however about the authors receiving a free lifetime bronze membership. In the initial announcement, you said "Existing members who are successfully published on site with us, will be given an unexpiring Bronze Membership from the off (depending on certain criteria - # stories / poems, views, avg. score etc)". In this thread you say "Authors published with us already, will be given a lifetime Bronze Membership." Just to clarify, is there still going to be certain criteria beyond just being an author needed to get the bronze membership, or will anyone with an author badge, even if it is a single poem or story receive the membership?


Waiting for clarification on this currently, but we'll bring things up to speed ASAP.

Quote by adele
Also I presume this will NOT apply to new members?


This is correct. To be 'grandfathered' in this way, submissions must have been published prior to January 1, 2015, as far as my knowledge goes.

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simplyjohn
Site administrator
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Quote by Dani


I think he may mean that he didn't receive an email in his personal non-lush account to notify him of the Lush PM being sent, as some people choose that as an option.

And to answer your question OldDom48, Nicola sent the PM as a newsletter as opposed to just a regular PM. Do you have your options set to include email notifications for site newsletters?


Thanks Dani.
simplyjohn
Site administrator
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Quote by adele


I believe the limit for non gold members is 50mb John, which still allows for a significant amount of pics if they have been edited to a reasonable size.


Thanks Cas smile.
OldDom48
Advanced Wordsmith
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Quote by Dani


I think he may mean that he didn't receive an email in his personal non-lush account to notify him of the Lush PM being sent, as some people choose that as an option.

And to answer your question OldDom48, Nicola sent the PM as a newsletter as opposed to just a regular PM. Do you have your options set to include email notifications for site newsletters?


You are correct, Dani, and my "Newsletter Opt-out" is UNCHECKED. This is not really a big deal for this particular newsletter, because I am on the site every day, but I sure do like getting PMs and other stuff in my regular non-Lush email account. I hope it is a glitch and does not represent a policy change.
Instinct79
Active Ink Slinger
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Quote by simplyjohn


Taking a deep breath .. there was a glitch upon implementation of the new changes which meant some people had issues ... those problems have been fixed. No member who joined prior to 1/1/15 will be affected by these changes until after 30/6/15.


The semantics of a timeline mean little should they decide not to pay. And as a pessimist I assume most will opt not to, if not decide to retire entirely from the site once the deadline hits.

I'm also not pleased that I won't be able to hear personally from ALL members who read my stories and wish to comment more personally rather than on the story itself. In fact, that's how I've gained most of my friends.

While I find myself both lucky and thankful to have been grandfathered a Bronze Membership due to my stories (and since I'm in the middle of writing a series of stories that all hasn't been in vain) I'm concerned about the direction of exclusivity that the site is heading toward. Soon a back and forth conversation won't be able to take place with any Free Member, thus making new friends somewhat harder, and keeping old ones an anxious thought in the back of your mind.

I don't know. Maybe it won't turn out as bad as I fear, but still the restriction of an easy two way communication of any sort between two members, regardless of membership level, is unsettling to me.
Dani
Big-haired Bitch/Personality Hire
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Quote by OldDom48


You are correct, Dani, and my "Newsletter Opt-out" is UNCHECKED. This is not really a big deal for this particular newsletter, because I am on the site every day, but I sure do like getting PMs and other stuff in my regular non-Lush email account. I hope it is a glitch and does not represent a policy change.


It's probably most definitely a glitch, unless Nicola had a reason for not using the email-notification option.

I'll check with her and get back to you when she gets back to me, deal?

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Guest
Lurker
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To be given a lifetime Bronze is an honor. Those (not all) that complain just need to look and see what they have done for Lush. I see that there are many that don't do anything but read...no contributions, but willing to complain. That in of itself is a story and easy to read between the lines. You have a choice so either pay up or go.
tx89
Rookie Scribe
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This is a very poor business decision on behalf of 250,000 people in which this site believes will suddenly be a revenue driver.
Even at $1USD per member per year, they're raking in a quarter million a year to run this rather simplistic website. And the contributors are still the general public.

I understand the costs associated with such sites but there are statistics being left off, like the number of active users, average time between visits, etc.
There are people on here who have not accessed their account in years. While it looks great for membership numbers it is not truly reflective of the number of active members.

To me this looks like a way for those who own / run this website to capitalize on their success by seeking money from each of us.
Dani
Big-haired Bitch/Personality Hire
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Quote by OldDom48


You are correct, Dani, and my "Newsletter Opt-out" is UNCHECKED. This is not really a big deal for this particular newsletter, because I am on the site every day, but I sure do like getting PMs and other stuff in my regular non-Lush email account. I hope it is a glitch and does not represent a policy change.


Unless Nicola intentionally disabled the email notification option for the newsletter, it's most definitely a glitch.

I'll check with her and get back to you when she gets back to me, deal?

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simplyjohn
Site administrator
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Quote by tx89
This is a very poor business decision on behalf of 250,000 people in which this site believes will suddenly be a revenue driver.
Even at $1USD per member per year, they're raking in a quarter million a year to run this rather simplistic website. And the contributors are still the general public.

I understand the costs associated with such sites but there are statistics being left off, like the number of active users, average time between visits, etc.
There are people on here who have not accessed their account in years. While it looks great for membership numbers it is not truly reflective of the number of active members.

To me this looks like a way for those who own / run this website to capitalize on their success by seeking money from each of us.





If I may I think you have partly addressed your post and thus the figure you state of $250k pa is a nonsense. Furthermore there will be those, not a small percentage I perceive, that just will not pay .. full stop.
Dani
Big-haired Bitch/Personality Hire
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Quote by tx89
This is a very poor business decision on behalf of 250,000 people in which this site believes will suddenly be a revenue driver.
Even at $1USD per member per year, they're raking in a quarter million a year to run this rather simplistic website. And the contributors are still the general public.

I understand the costs associated with such sites but there are statistics being left off, like the number of active users, average time between visits, etc.
There are people on here who have not accessed their account in years. While it looks great for membership numbers it is not truly reflective of the number of active members.

To me this looks like a way for those who own / run this website to capitalize on their success by seeking money from each of us.





Incorrect. While turning a profit would be wonderful, at this point we're just trying to break even.

Servers cost several thousands of dollars monthly. We're only charging for the things that we can no longer afford to offer for free. I suppose another option would be to continue as a free site, scrap all of the things that eat up bandwidth, and become a skeleton of what we are now.

In regards to the inactive accounts, unless they uploaded tons of graphics and videos prior to going defunct, they just sit there, costing us virtually nothing.

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HeraTeleia
Top Shot
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Quote by kiera_nightgal
I wont use pay pal or a credit card to pay for services that can't be known - how long will I have to take down images etc that are hosted here before you changed and started requiring a membership


Ermm, when I paid for my gold membership, via PayPal, the transaction notation didn't reflect the nature or even the name of the site, so if you have privacy concerns--don't. There's nothing to be worried about. And honestly? $50 (the cost of a gold membership) is a freaking bargain for what this site provides.
Want to spend some time wallowing in a Recommended Read? Pick one! Or two! Or seven!

Liz
Scarlet Seductress
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I think how the 'trial' element of the new membership system has been structured is very generous. It should give any new member to the site plenty of time to decided whether or not Lush is for them. They will still be welcome to share stories and comment/score on others submissions without any financial commitment.

As far as pricing is concerned, $10 for an annual membership seems to me like extremely good value based on the benefits. What's that, like 84 cents per month?

There are plenty of people who want something for nothing, but the fact is that it costs a lot of money to run a website this size. A freemium model is a sound idea. I paid for my first gold membership before being gifted a perpetual one when I became a moderator, and have since donated prize money from competitions back to the site.

I'm happy to support a site which I spend so much time on. The membership fees collected will be put towards keeping this site going and improving it with new features. Why should anyone object to that?
simplyjohn
Site administrator
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Quote by simplyjohn
A post was made (in the old Q&A thread) about people not wishing to make a payment since the transaction would be highlighted on their subsequent statement as a payment in a different currency with likely conversion details.

I use a MBNA Visa credit card and certainly when I purchased a few golds a while back the entry on the statement was simply this:

28 Jul 14 30 Jul 14 PAYPAL BIGSOFTWARE £30.36

No mention of any currency conversion. I have no idea what other card providers do.


Just posting this again in connection with the post above!!

edit - the post above the post above!!
Evie
Blackbird Supernova
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Quote by OldDom48
I noticed that I did NOT receive an email notification of the "Important Site Announcement ..." PM. Does this reflect a policy change, or was email notification turned off just for this message?


Just the one message. It is likely that conflicting contacy options got in the way of external email notifications, but everyone should have gotten the note in their Lush inbox.

Sometimes technology goes kerfuffle.
Dani
Big-haired Bitch/Personality Hire
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Quote by OldDom48


You are correct, Dani, and my "Newsletter Opt-out" is UNCHECKED. This is not really a big deal for this particular newsletter, because I am on the site every day, but I sure do like getting PMs and other stuff in my regular non-Lush email account. I hope it is a glitch and does not represent a policy change.


I've done some digging, but let me preface this by saying I don't know shit about shit when it comes to the technical aspects of what I'm about to explain to you. But here's the verdict:

The 'Newsletter Opt-out' option applies to newsletters in terms of them coming to your Lush inbox.

I do not believe there is an option to receive an email notification of the Lush Newsletter, the reason being that Lush Newsletters are sent simultaneously to 260,000+ members simultaneously. If that many email notifications were sent out simultaneously from our direction, that'd set off red flags...spammy red flags. And we do not wanna trigger anyone's spam filters, as it's sort of a red mark against the site, if you will.

For some reason or another, some members did not receive an email notification, some did. This most likely has to do with settings and/or a glitch and notification emails slipped through.

Hope that clears things up.

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Mysteria27
Prolific Writer
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I still can't believe people are moaning about this. Nicola has given you all a bronze membership until July. To continue with a bronze membership is only $10.00. I bet a trip to burger king or Mcdonald's cost you more then that. I mean if this is something that you value, you should just pay the $10.00 and stop moaning about it. This site has been free for 6 years.

Lush Stories has grown. The costs monthly in servers alone must cost a small fortune. I know I will always support Lush Stories. This is the most amazing website on the internet.

Other sites are run horribly. This is the best place to be. It has the best stories, the best moderating staff, the best community. It has been noted that you can buy gift cards pay them on a Pay Pal account. I mean it has been shown to you how it would read on your statements.

I really can't believe people are going to go on about this. Its $10.00. I mean if this site is important to you. Just pay it. You can buy a silver membership for $20.00.

There are lots of people on this site if you network properly that would probably even pay your membership fees.

I know for me this is somewhere where I will be staying. I love to write and this is the best writing site on the internet. Thank you to Nicola, Gav and the moderating staff for making this a wonderful place to be.

That's now my 4 cents.

Hugs and Licks....

xo
Belthazor
Idk... Gryffindor?
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Quote by simplyjohn


You have been gifted it by the site since you are an author .. expires 2034 I think you will find.


Is that for all authors, or are there specific specifications? And if there are, may I inquire as to what they are?