After the stir of the past few days, and in consultation with Austin (owner of the hosting service), I've made some changes and improvements to the forum. Two will benefit all members, the rest will only benefit those who choose to contribute not only with their words but also their wallets.
The first two general changes that will appear, either later today or tomorrow depending on my time availability (on my way to Boston on 2250 as I write this), entail two new forums that people have requested. The first is the requested "Train Advocates" forum for discussions on how to promote train travel & funding for same and for stats to help support said discussions. This will be open to all, including guests.
The second is a general discussion forum where one can discuss pretty much anything one likes. Our politics rules will still remain in force in this forum; as well as the no personal attacks rules. This forum will only be available to members.
Now turning to those who choose to support our forum financially. Three special groups have been created entitled Bronze Members, Silver Members, and Gold Members. Which group you are assigned to is dependent upon the amount of your support. Lower amounts will place you in the Bronze level, middle of the road into Silver, and the highest amounts into the Gold level.
Each level provides for increased rights on our forum, including greater storage of PM's and the ability to invite more people to a conversation, increased photo storage, ability to edit posts without any time limit for as long as you remain a member of one of those special groups. How long you remain an enhanced member is based upon the size of your contribution. And starting one month prior to the expiration of your special membership, you can choose to renew at the same level or go to a higher level. Either way, that is added on as of the original date of expiration. In other words, if you have a 6 month membership and you renew 10 days before the end of the six month period; you don't lose those 10 days. Your renewal starts on the day your first term expires giving you another full 6 months.
In addition, all contributing members will have a special, exclusive forum to discuss anything that they like. This forum will not be seen by any guests or any regular members; only those who have contributed to support AU and the senior level staff members can see & post in this special forum.
Additionally, Austin & his team are working on setting things up to create an ad free experience for those who remain in these special membership groups. I don't as yet have a time frame as to just when that will happen; but they are working on it and hopefully it will only be a few weeks before its in place.
For the time being it has been decided that these special groups will be assigned as what we call secondary groups. This means that it will NOT be readily apparent as to how has given money and at what level. There is a slight chance that Austin's team may need for these groups to be used as primary groups for the Ad solution; but it is hoped that won't be the case.
Assuming that remains a constant, then unless a large majority of those who do contribute decide that they would like their special status to be on display, my current intentions are to leave things as they are. And only those who contribute will know who else did the same by seeing who posts in the special "Contributing Members Lounge" forum.
Turning to the levels, we've tried to make this available to all by having both small amounts and larger amounts. And other than varying the amounts of photo & PM storage, basically the biggest difference is the longevity of your special membership.
A $10 membership gets one a Bronze level for 6 months.
A $20 membership = Bronze for 1 year.
A $30 membership = Silver for 18 months.
A $50 membership = Silver for 3 years.
A $100 membership = Gold for 6 years.
In closing please let me stress that NO one is required to give anything. But doing so does help to ensure the continued existence of AU. And yes, your contribution is going to a "for profit" company, Group Builder. But they are not only hosting us, they update the software, they brought in Tapatalk, and keep an eve on the day to day operations of the server. These are all things that Anthony either did of his own free will or in the case of Tapatalk never did.
So I hope and ask that all consider that when deciding whether or not to become a contributing member. Again, no one must do so; and save for the special forum not giving will not have a major impact on what you can see & do around the forum.
Finally; my thanks, as well as Austin's, to those who have already stepped up to the plate to help ensure that AU remains available to all!
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The first two general changes that will appear, either later today or tomorrow depending on my time availability (on my way to Boston on 2250 as I write this), entail two new forums that people have requested. The first is the requested "Train Advocates" forum for discussions on how to promote train travel & funding for same and for stats to help support said discussions. This will be open to all, including guests.
The second is a general discussion forum where one can discuss pretty much anything one likes. Our politics rules will still remain in force in this forum; as well as the no personal attacks rules. This forum will only be available to members.
Now turning to those who choose to support our forum financially. Three special groups have been created entitled Bronze Members, Silver Members, and Gold Members. Which group you are assigned to is dependent upon the amount of your support. Lower amounts will place you in the Bronze level, middle of the road into Silver, and the highest amounts into the Gold level.
Each level provides for increased rights on our forum, including greater storage of PM's and the ability to invite more people to a conversation, increased photo storage, ability to edit posts without any time limit for as long as you remain a member of one of those special groups. How long you remain an enhanced member is based upon the size of your contribution. And starting one month prior to the expiration of your special membership, you can choose to renew at the same level or go to a higher level. Either way, that is added on as of the original date of expiration. In other words, if you have a 6 month membership and you renew 10 days before the end of the six month period; you don't lose those 10 days. Your renewal starts on the day your first term expires giving you another full 6 months.
In addition, all contributing members will have a special, exclusive forum to discuss anything that they like. This forum will not be seen by any guests or any regular members; only those who have contributed to support AU and the senior level staff members can see & post in this special forum.
Additionally, Austin & his team are working on setting things up to create an ad free experience for those who remain in these special membership groups. I don't as yet have a time frame as to just when that will happen; but they are working on it and hopefully it will only be a few weeks before its in place.
For the time being it has been decided that these special groups will be assigned as what we call secondary groups. This means that it will NOT be readily apparent as to how has given money and at what level. There is a slight chance that Austin's team may need for these groups to be used as primary groups for the Ad solution; but it is hoped that won't be the case.
Assuming that remains a constant, then unless a large majority of those who do contribute decide that they would like their special status to be on display, my current intentions are to leave things as they are. And only those who contribute will know who else did the same by seeing who posts in the special "Contributing Members Lounge" forum.
Turning to the levels, we've tried to make this available to all by having both small amounts and larger amounts. And other than varying the amounts of photo & PM storage, basically the biggest difference is the longevity of your special membership.
A $10 membership gets one a Bronze level for 6 months.
A $20 membership = Bronze for 1 year.
A $30 membership = Silver for 18 months.
A $50 membership = Silver for 3 years.
A $100 membership = Gold for 6 years.
In closing please let me stress that NO one is required to give anything. But doing so does help to ensure the continued existence of AU. And yes, your contribution is going to a "for profit" company, Group Builder. But they are not only hosting us, they update the software, they brought in Tapatalk, and keep an eve on the day to day operations of the server. These are all things that Anthony either did of his own free will or in the case of Tapatalk never did.
So I hope and ask that all consider that when deciding whether or not to become a contributing member. Again, no one must do so; and save for the special forum not giving will not have a major impact on what you can see & do around the forum.
Finally; my thanks, as well as Austin's, to those who have already stepped up to the plate to help ensure that AU remains available to all!
(null)
