news An important note on lifetime accounts

Dear DNForum members,

This is an important note to all lifetime membership holders (memberships of any type).

I would like to inform you that after careful consideration, I am considering canceling all lifetime memberships on DNForum.com. While I understand that this may come as disappointing news to some of our members, we believe that this is a necessary step to ensure the long-term sustainability of our forum.

In 2 words: Lifetime offers are Unsustainable

I am sure, you understand that maintaining a forum of this size on the internet is a costly endeavor, and unfortunately, the people and companies who sold lifetime memberships did not consider the long-term costs associated with running a forum. I believe that every business must be able to sustain itself, and I hope that all DNF members can appreciate this decision to ensure the longevity and very existance of our community.

The plan is: Effective May 31, 2023, all lifetime memberships will expire. Moving forward, the primary difference between a free account and a full account will be the ability to have a signature, larger inbox, and access to exclusive forums.

I encourage you, and all of our members to discuss this decision in this thread over the next 30 days, until May 30, 2023.

Look, the winners will be everybody! This will help us to get a new life into the DNF, and I am 100% confident that we will be able to have much more new content and visitors than it has today, and that the winners will be everybody.

Nobody enjoys a niche business forum that is weak!

Best regards,
Helmuts

 

[wizarduk]

Thanks - And yes great news we are in great hands @Helmuts

 

[Helmuts]

Thanks - And yes great news we are in great hands @Helmuts

Thank you Sam!!

 

[Mr. Deleted]

Not sure if I’ll be upgrading but I had mine free, if I’m not mistaken, but I did volunteer to be a moderator at the time and it was a good deal at the time. I hope someone can breathe new life into this website as it’s a great place.

 

[Johnn]

I believe I offered you the membership because of your help. Don't worry about it.

 

[Johnn]

That was 2018

news - *** New Mod ***

Please join me to welcome Jim aka Jaydub as our new Staff Member. Jim has been here for almost 14 years and has years of experience in moderating the Forums. https://www.dnforum.com/members/jaydub.8792/ Congratulations and Welcome! John

www.dnforum.com

 

[DNF Admin]

I'd like to add that no one will be enforced to buy a membership to be able to do business here. According to our plan, free members will be able to create threads, post, sell and buy domains without restrictions. Premium members will have some additional perks.

 

[Mr. Deleted]

That was 2018

news - *** New Mod ***

Please join me to welcome Jim aka Jaydub as our new Staff Member. Jim has been here for almost 14 years and has years of experience in moderating the Forums. https://www.dnforum.com/members/jaydub.8792/ Congratulations and Welcome! John

www.dnforum.com

I had exclusive in around 06 I believe, with the @dotcomgod. I’m Joe, not Jim.

 

[Johnn]

It was a long time ago! Anyhow free is good.

 

[Johnn]

I had exclusive in around 06 I believe, with the @dotcomgod. I’m Joe, not Jim.

Scroll down. Your name is next after Jim.

 

[Domainnature]

This can be perceived as a bad move, example SpeedDial 2 extension went into a similar thing, it was received in forks, same thing with NetLimiter software it was one time payment for ever now you must subscribe to get latest updates.
My advice is better concentrate on new members rather than bother the old ones, most of them even are not active here.
But overall I do agree that a forum and any website must be profitable, cause we pay for Hosting, Domains and our time is invaluable when given to a website. You can also give Premium to those who create content in the forum therefore more user engagement will happen.
imo

 

[GeorgeK]

When you acquire a business, you're acquiring both the assets and the liabilities. To the extent that "lifetime accounts" represent a "liability" to the owners, the move to simply try to eliminate that liability is not prudent, in my opinion.

Indeed, some of the lifetime accounts represent knowledgeable members who answer questions and bring value to the other members. Without them (if they decide not to pay again for something they've already paid for) the forum might become a ghost town.

 

[Johnn]

There are pros and cons from any decision. We value our members so feel free to express your opinion!

 

[Biggie]

When you acquire a business, you're acquiring both the assets and the liabilities. To the extent that "lifetime accounts" represent a "liability" to the owners, the move to simply try to eliminate that liability is not prudent, in my opinion.

Indeed, some of the lifetime accounts represent knowledgeable members who answer questions and bring value to the other members. Without them (if they decide not to pay again for something they've already paid for) the forum might become a ghost town.

HI

You bring up an interesting perspective.

to me
dnf, when conceived, was not a business,
it was a forum that provided a platform for it's members, to do business.

as it grew, so did it's value
therefore, advertisers wanted to be seen here
and buyers and sellers wanted to be here, because this was the place to be.

lifetime memberships were an investment for those who bought them and an investment in the future of the forum.
it also showed that people were willing to put their money where their mouth is, by purchasing these accounts.
as badges gave credibility.

the difference between those who came after Adam is that they made the forum free for all and removed all badges and membership levels.
but if the forum is going to reinstitute the same model of free/premium and exclusive (corporate), while dropping those prepaid levels who helped finance and sustain it.. then to George's point -
that may alienate some, especially if/when you only considered them as liabilities, without accounting for the asset of their past and potential future contributions.

as a draw, lure, hook or bait, one could consider allotting those perks to previous exclusive/premium members who opt to come back.
and since "word of mouth", moves faster than the smell of shit, then getting off on the "good foot" would be good publicity.
in that situation, you're investing on the potential effect from a goodwill offering.

and if anyone is counting, that's 3 goods in a paragraph!

imo....

 

[Mr. Deleted]

Maybe a separate section for those lifetime members that were grandfathered in, and another for the current paying menbers?

 

[dragonzpit]

I paid close to $1k years back, not paying again. I understand you guys bought this forum from the previous seller, but this wouldn't be right to people who paid $$$ and now after the acquisition, you guys want to charge us again.

 

[Helmuts]

I paid close to $1k years back, not paying again. I understand you guys bought this forum from the previous seller, but this wouldn't be right to people who paid $$$ and now after the acquisition, you guys want to charge us again.

Good morning,

can you please email us your receipt to admin (at) acorndomains.co.uk > I will ask our main @DNF Admin to look into this.

most probably will make an exception in your case.

Can you do that, please?

Best wishes,
Helmuts
owner

p.s. we are still sorting out access to all the systems here, therefore we are using the Acorn Domains email

 

[dragonzpit]

Helmuts it was the year 2008, you can inquire from the previous owner, their price was close to $1k back then. It's impossible for me to dig it.

 

[Helmuts]

Helmuts it was the year 2008, you can inquire from the previous owner, their price was close to $1k back then. It's impossible for me to dig it.

Thank you for the correction. It was 14 years ago.

I am sure, you as a business owner understand that lifetime offers are unsustainable. I would even add that today this is irresponsible to offer these (in 2008 they probably didn't think about this). Would you offer lifetime maintenance for development works you offer to your clients? .. our 1st mission is to get the forum back into 'into the green'

Respecting the amount you paid, I could consider switching your membership to the new upcoming one for an unknown time (can't guarantee 'unlimited'), but, will need a receipt. Without it, it is impossible. Please check your emails.

We can clearly see in the system that these memberships were given left-to-right .. there are lifetime gold members who even haven't posted a single post

Best wishes,
Helmuts

 

[dragonzpit]

I understand this is exactly what happens after acquisition and now you guys are aiming for ROI. I can't pull the receipt, it's been a while and yes, I have paid close to $1k back then. Back then there was a lot of traffic and yet that strategy might work for some and might not work for others, guess it was working for them.