[FEATURE] Charter Members

[+Marshall]

As a Charter Member (Jan.2001) I have come up with a couple of ideas that would keep me in the Game.

Sara B. said I should run them through here. For Feedback

 

1) Offer a "Lifetime Membership" to Charter Members only for a onetime fee.

(say $250.00 +/- We would not have to remember to renew year after year and not be subject to future increases in membership fees)

 

2) Offer/Present to Charter Members an exclusive GeoCoin with their Member ID # on it with a Tracking #

(Maybe in conjunction with their Lifetime Membership)

 

Thanks John

aka Marshall

[+Jake39]

Only "Charter Members?" ?

PITY. :-((

[+Delta68]

I'd have thought that the Charter Members would be pushing for lifetime FREE membership in recognition of their early contribution to the site.

 

I have no idea how many active Charter Members there still are but I'd have thought their annual subscription would be a drop in the ocean compared to the the revenue from everyone else....

 

 

 

Mark

[+Marshall]

I'd have thought that the Charter Members would be pushing for lifetime FREE membership in recognition of their early contribution to the site.

Mark

 

FREE.

Even better, but No Thanks.

 

It would come back around and the fine print would Have us doing "Special Guest Appearances at Events" and other such Lackey things.

A reasonable fee and a token of appreciation would be nice now that the Ten Year Anniversary has been reached.

 

This short description from the "Glossary of Terms" at GeoCaching.com

 

Charter Member:

During the very early years of Geocaching.com when Premium Memberships were first offered, they were called Charter Memberships to thank those who supported the web site. Be sure to thank the Charter Members you meet on the trail since the site would not be here today without them.

 

Rarely happens. Even if I do major maintenance on somebody else's Cache.

Edited November 18, 2011 by Marshall

[Moun10Bike]

1) Offer a "Lifetime Membership" to Charter Members only for a onetime fee.

(say $250.00 +/- We would not have to remember to renew year after year and not be subject to future increases in membership fees)

 

FYI, we have always said that existing premium members will be grandfathered in at the annual membership cost that was in place at the time that they started their premium membership (not that we have any plans to raise that cost anytime soon).

[+dfx]

Elitism!!!!

[+Marshall]

FYI, we have always said that existing premium members will be grandfathered in at the annual membership cost that was in place at the time that they started their premium membership (not that we have any plans to raise that cost anytime soon).

 

This I Know. Thank you.

 

This

 

Elitism!!!!

 

and This

 

Only "Charter Members?" ?

PITY.

 

Border on Abuse.

 

I learned a long time ago "If you do not have anything nice to say it is best Not to Say anything"

 

These are only suggestions.

You Negativity only show you for what you really are…………

Edited November 19, 2011 by Marshall

[+GeoBain]

Elitism!!!!

You Negativity only show you for what you really are…………

 

Someone with a sense of humor? I think you missed the smiley face.

 

But back on topic, in order to ensure you do not miss a renewal and lose charter member status as I have seen happen recently, could you not just go ahead a pay a couple of years in advance? Then each year renew again anyway, thus ensuring you never risk losing that status.

 

I do this with my domains. I keep them about 5 years advanced and pay the yearly renewal each year so I know they will never lapse.

[+BlueDeuce]

2) Offer/Present to Charter Members an exclusive GeoCoin with their Member ID # on it with a Tracking #

(Maybe in conjunction with their Lifetime Membership) [/font]

 

Sure, why not?

[+pppingme]

1) Offer a "Lifetime Membership" to Charter Members only for a onetime fee.

(say $250.00 +/- We would not have to remember to renew year after year and not be subject to future increases in membership fees)

Then how mad will you be when they drop the price to $12 annually (or even less)? Will you expect that to be pro-rated and a refund issued?

[+sbeelis]

1) Offer a "Lifetime Membership" to Charter Members only for a onetime fee.

(say $250.00 +/- We would not have to remember to renew year after year and not be subject to future increases in membership fees)

Then how mad will you be when they drop the price to $12 annually (or even less)? Will you expect that to be pro-rated and a refund issued?

 

No, that just means he gets to live twice as long ;-)

 

@Marshall: not being a charter member, your proposal has little impact on me, so I'm not really in a position to support or oppose it, but if Groundspeak would be willing to offer such a package, I would certainly not begrudge it!

[+t4e]

 

This

 

Elitism!!!!

 

and This

 

Only "Charter Members?" ?

PITY.

 

Border on Abuse.

 

I learned a long time ago "If you do not have anything nice to say it is best Not to Say anything"

 

These are only suggestions.

You Negativity only show you for what you really are…………

 

if you read the forums more you would know that is a joke, but if you consider those two posts to be "border on abuse" perhaps is good that you don't read the forums much

 

Premium Member Only caches are elitist!

 

anyway here's my Thank You for your support of the site for so long

[+W7WT]

Being 86 a lifetime membership would not be a good idea for me. Because of physical limitations geocaching and ham radio is about all we can do anymore. Happy to pay my $30 a year. Dick, W7WT

[+Prime Suspect]

I find that having full access to the Charter Member Spa, and free use of the Charter Member yacht and private jet, to be quite sufficient.

 

Oh, wait. I forgot that those are only available to the "First 5k" subset of the Charter Membership. I think everyone after number 5,000 got steak knives or something. Maybe it was a discount coupon for steak knives. Or it might have been a picture of steak knives, come to think about it.

[+Ambient_Skater]

Oh sure. Only give the good stuff to the CHARTER members. You all think you're so great with your CHARTER member this and your CHARTER member that. What about the PLATINUM members? Don't they get something for constantly putting up with rumors about all the exclusive benefits they supposedly get when they really don't?

[+Delta68]

What about the PLATINUM members?

 

I learnt a long time ago not to mention the Platinum Members

 

[Keystone]

Please remember this is the feature suggestion and bug report forum. If you don't have anything constructive to add for the developers to consider, then don't post. We are making an effort to organize this subsection of the forums to remain focused and free of off-topic banter. Thank you.

[+Marshall]

As a Charter Member (Jan.2001) I have come up with a couple of ideas that would keep me in the Game.

Sara B. said I should run them through here. For Feedback

 

1) Offer a "Lifetime Membership" to Charter Members only for a onetime fee.

(say $250.00 +/- We would not have to remember to renew year after year and not be subject to future increases in membership fees)

 

2) Offer/Present to Charter Members an exclusive GeoCoin with their Member ID # on it with a Tracking #

(Maybe in conjunction with their Lifetime Membership)

 

Thanks John

aka Marshall

 

Wow! Sure does not take long to be shuffled to the bottom.

There must be more Charter Members with opinions on this?

[+Lil Devil]

Lifetime membership has been discussed here in the past and I believe it's not in Groundspeak's best interest to offer such. Had they done so right at the beginning, for your suggested price, it would have already paid for itself, and Groundspeak would make no further income from me even though I may continue to use the services for another 20 years.

 

And knowing what I know about geocoin manufacture, offering custom one-off coins (our member ID or name) isn't cost-effective.

[+MAntunes]

As a Charter Member (Jan.2001) I have come up with a couple of ideas that would keep me in the Game.

Sara B. said I should run them through here. For Feedback

 

1) Offer a "Lifetime Membership" to Charter Members only for a onetime fee.

(say $250.00 +/- We would not have to remember to renew year after year and not be subject to future increases in membership fees)

 

2) Offer/Present to Charter Members an exclusive GeoCoin with their Member ID # on it with a Tracking #

(Maybe in conjunction with their Lifetime Membership)

 

Thanks John

aka Marshall

 

Wow! Sure does not take long to be shuffled to the bottom.

There must be more Charter Members with opinions on this?

 

As you asked... no, in fact I don't ask for any special discount or prize for being Charter Member.

 

It is enough for me the pleasure to be supporting this game since I decided to get involved to it more effectively.

 

Sorry for not supporting your suggestion.

[+Egnix]

As a Charter Member (Jan.2001) I have come up with a couple of ideas that would keep me in the Game.

Sara B. said I should run them through here. For Feedback

 

1) Offer a "Lifetime Membership" to Charter Members only for a onetime fee.

(say $250.00 +/- We would not have to remember to renew year after year and not be subject to future increases in membership fees)

 

2) Offer/Present to Charter Members an exclusive GeoCoin with their Member ID # on it with a Tracking #

(Maybe in conjunction with their Lifetime Membership)

 

Thanks John

aka Marshall

 

Ooooh. I'd love a "charter member" geocoin. That would be cool!

 

I recently met Jeremy and was surprised to hear him say that charter members are a "dying breed". I'd love to see some statistics on the number of charter members over the years. I did notice that at the last 2-3 Mega events I went to this year, that there only seemed to be around 6 charter members with "will attend" or "attended" logs. At the Earthcache mega, Jeremy and I made up 2 of the 6...

[+Maconb]

Lets face it. I only heard about this sport in August and hit the Ground running. I cache by myself and have collected quite a few caches considering the amount in my area and the amount of time my wife doesn't pitch a fit about me going.(I have to wash her car before I go this weekend) Lifetime membership is a good option for charter members or for people who are striving for world ranking status. But I wouldn't consider spending $250 up front because the sport although awesome is not huge in my area. The yearly fee isn't that big of a deal and for those lukewarm cachers they can decide every year if its worth it to sign back up. I think that not only Charter Members who helped the sport along should have that option but it also should be an option for distinguished cachers who are racking up big numbers of finds as well as hides who didn't get the "memo" on the starting of geocaching......

 

Example: Mr. Cacher. Started in 2008 and has: 21999 finds

280 hides

hosts 2 events a year

Should this guy be given the same opportunity?

[+RoadRoach58]

Why should any limitation be placed on a lifetime membership? At $25/year, it would take a minimum of 10 years for anyone to become a 'freeloader' on the system if a lifetime fee was set at $250. In essence, their membership is paid up in advance for 10 years. Chances are, someone like me may not be able in 10 years to get out and cache, so the site loses NOTHING by granting me a "lifetime" membership. If a 10 year old kid saves up his grass-cutting money, and pays a lifetime fee, well, yeah, there's a possibility the site would lose a little money. I don't know what possible "perks" could be offered to those that qualify under other conditions, but my $250 is certainly as good as anyone else's, and should buy the same thing for me. Prorating that or in any way offering based on a find count or hide count is elitist and snobby. Some of us still have real jobs and lifestyles that command a lot of our time, making caching a hobby, as it is intended to be. Adding ANY competitive measure to qualifying for a lifetime membership is just plain wrong. Groundspeak's stand was, is, and hopefully always will be that numbers don't matter and this isn't a contest. It's an adventure, plain and simple. Who is to say geocaching will even be around in 10 years? At one time, it was a secretive hobby, fun, and the caches were primarily "quality' caches that were fun to find. Now, most of them are mindless pill bottles scattered on the road side and sorely neglected. I think it's a matter of time before roadside hides will be banished in some way because of obvious safety reasons. I can hope, anyway. No offense to the numbers hounds that like the mindless park and grabs and compete to have the most finds on the planet. That's just not my way to wiggle. Chances are, many would pay the lifetime fee, and will perhaps fizzle out on the game long before it becomes a cost to Groundspeak for their membership. I know it takes some pretty spiffy equipment to manage all the data, and some pretty hefty salaries to pay the IT talent to keep it running, but, I also know there are a LOT of folks paying annual memberships, and not just in this country.

 

I don't understand the part about forgetting to pay the annual fee, either. I get a notification when my fee is due. Hard to forget that.

 

Sure, offer a lifetime membership, but let's not make it class based in any way form or fashion. That's just bigotry in it's simplest form.

[+MAntunes]

Excellent post! 100% agree.

 

I'm one of the "dying breed" specimens , but it only means to me that i'm enjoying this activity for some more time than the majority. Nothing more. If a lifetime membership appears, it should be an option available for everyone.