TRIBE NEWS: 11/30 - "Important news from Mark Pincus"

[Ms Dynomite]

see also this thread for more info on the paid premium membership

A new Tribe Blog post was made this morning, for those that missed it. The link is below, along with the full post in case you can't access Tribe.


Important news from Mark Pincus, posted by Darren, 11/30/07

It's that time of year when people tend to overeat, so we’re going to try to do our part by taking some donuts out of circulation. We’re sure that you’ve noticed the recent instances of site instability and the plague of outages resulting in the much-hated “DONUT FREAK OUT” page. First, we replaced the DONUT FREAK OUT page with something more informative. Second, we’ve listened to our users for solutions to our site instability problems. The overwhelming consensus is that our users love tribe.net so much that they are willing to pay for a premium subscription for all the functions that we now give to you. We’re excited (happy? grateful? nervous?) to say that we’re going to launch the premium subscription service next week. Between November 30th and December 15th we’re going to offer premium subscriptions at five bucks for thirty days.

So here’s how it works while we’re developing the upgrades: Tribe’s traditional, free service is going to continue just as it always has and always will. Those that want to upgrade can click on the PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION link, fill out the information, and sign up. The premium subscribers will automatically have a gold star instead of the orange bubble when they’re online. The Premium Subscribers will not see much of a change initially, but will receive a list of what the new, premium features will be on or before December 15th. We’re not going to say what they’ll be before December 15th, but it’s pretty cool. On February 1st, the Premium Subscription features will come online. If we get enough interest from people, we will offer six month and twelve month premium subscriptions (obviously with a discount for subscribing long-term) along with month to month premium subscriptions.

We’re aware that some people may not be able to sign up for premium service for various reasons. For those folks we offer the free service (hopefully they’ll click on some of those ads), but we’re also offering an ADOPT A TRIBE ORPHAN link where some kind folks can help out one of their friends (or maybe a lucky, random person) by upgrading them to premium subscription status. A lot of us give gifts during this time of the year, and this might be a cool way to take care of some people on our gift-giving list.

We feel so grateful for this outpouring of support from the Tribe communities. You all have made this a truly wonderful week to say: “Thanks!”

[Ms Dynomite]

Ghost,
There were several blogs going around with the suggestion, with many people posting a yes vote for it. I don't know how that stacked up against the Tribe population as a whole, but it seemed to be an indication that at least fervent Tribe members would support paid membership. It seems a pretty standard thing for social sites to do. :)

[Ms Dynomite]

I applaud them for finally communicating in a direct manner with their members. and for finally taking some action. I don't think this is going to be some magic cure, and Tribe would be really short-sighted to think it was. But at least it's a first step. :)


...though I have to admit "five bucks for thirty days" seems way steep. especially for a premium service that won't even be premium for awhile. I think this "premium membership" is really more of a donation thing, for people who wish to support tribe that way.

[MeShell]

and the slot machine is turned on...

[Rik]

I don't like the idea, especially that stupid gold star. I think that brings separation to the tribe and would make people that didn't pay feel beneath the others. I can afford five bucks, that's not the problem but i would rather see them make it a paid membership for everyone or free for everyone, not both! Plus, if i'm going to pay i want to see all the alts gone. That's obviously not going to happen.

I defended my position here if anyone wants to read..
http://uspolitics.tribe.net/thread/23a42f70-ee53-4e8b-9ae7-79d9ada7...

[gypsydaze]

even w/ paid memberships it's gonna guarantee it's survival...tribe has never been a big contender in the social network scene and personally i don't think this is going to help.
i too could afford the membership. just don't like throwing away money unless it's towards a latte. at least i get what i ordered. i've seen huge file sharing sites go down despite donations. granted some weren't legal and some are. they had large contributors....nothing lasts forever..
.tribe can't survive in the long haul, competing against the big SN sites. having a star, glowing orb, or flashing lights to indicate you're a contributor is just an ego booster. besides the light is always off on my profile. i prefer people to not know when i'm online.
and finally, in the spirit of anarchy, when did money ever solve problems? this will just create dissension as people will expect more and tribe won't be able to satisfy everyone. it's a bandaid approach to a simple fact. tribes maturation has peaked and it is on the down side of consumer interest.
i'll just keep backing up my files of interest and people's emails....

[marie]

Am I the only person that has a problem with their pay now and we'll tell you later what you are paying for strategy?

And the star thing, oy. Someone gifted me a membership so I've got a star. I am so not a star person.