+southdeltan Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Jeremy, please forgive me if this is out of line. I thought this got lost in the other thread and it's off topic in the other thread - so I created this thread. In another thread: Premium Members - Why are you not one?, Jeremy posted an interesting (and mildly off topic, hence this thread) comment: What I do like is a big PayPal link and a kind message requesting that everyone donate what they can afford. Everyone can afford *something*. A dollar every other month from EVERYONE who posts here would go a long way... Tried that in the beginning. Didn't work. And the "dude, you could totally make bank on providing advertising" doesn't work either (and frankly, I don't like advertising more than most - unless it benefits the geocaching masses). This is an interesting thread. I'd like to know what the threshold for folks in the reasoning behind "weighed options and it ain't worth it" need to become Premium Members. Please no "if you changed x policy" because we don't change our principles for monetary gain. More like "If you provided x feature I would join." Granted, we provide a whole heck of a lot for free, but contributing members who place well thought out caches are just as valuable as folks who provide monetary support for the site, in my book. I'd like to bring up the question in a more positive light. The other thread has a few negative implications that I'd like to avoid. I added color to show 2 points: #1. Jeremy asked this and it got overlooked in the other thread. I think it's a valid question. Instead of debating why you aren't - lets ask what would it take? #2. Jeremy specifically says people who hide well thought out caches do contribute and are valueable. I think many people have that view as well, so let's not get into the "why aren't you a member?" debate... there's already a thread for that. Lets keep discussion of why people don't join out of this - there are valid reasons that people don't join (and if you don't buy that - there's another thread, see the link above, debating that). However, it has been stated on more than one occasion by a variety of different geocachers that they CAN afford to - but they don't see the value. Please keep this discussion to features. That ellimates the people that have issues with Groundspeak policy - whether it's the listing guidelines or their business model. The question is simple: If you CAN afford to be a Premium Member, but decided that the features available were not worth your money - what added features would make you reconsider your stance? In otherwords - what could Groundspeak add that would make joining worth it, in your opinion? southdeltan Quote Link to comment
Jeremy Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Well written topic starter. Quote Link to comment
+TruFinds Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 perhaps event cache coordinators could collect donations for the gc site or accept premium menberships there? could there be a way to do that? Quote Link to comment
+TruFinds Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Hey! what if the basic membership would be limited to 50 or 100 finds, then the account is either disabled (temporarily, for say 6-months - just enough for the summer) or the account owner 'bumps up' to a premium membership. i am now really thinking of premium membership myself now that i have a good gpsr. there are only 2 things holding me back: 1. it is winter, therefore snow 2. i dont understand the pocket queries. Quote Link to comment
+southdeltan Posted January 1, 2005 Author Share Posted January 1, 2005 perhaps event cache coordinators could collect donations for the gc site or accept premium menberships there? could there be a way to do that? I don't see why people who hold events can't accept donations to send to GC.com as it stands now - but I'm not sure why they'd want to do that? I'm not sure Groundspeak would be interested in that either. How would that entice non-members to join? As for the Premium membership thing - There have been discussions of "gift memberships" - including buying a 12 pack of monthly (or, since I think monthly may be going away eventually - a 4 pack of quarterly) memberships to give out so people can try it out. I don't know what that'd have to do with being a premium member.. Unless you mean some people can't pay using the current methods. (They accept Paypal, credit (and I assume debit) cards, and checks currently). That's not exactly what I was thinking of... that falls more along the lines of "How can Groundspeak make it easier for people who want to become members to join?" not "what features can they add?". southdeltan Quote Link to comment
+Spzzmoose Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Nice post SD. I like the suggestion that premium catches revert to regular caches after a specific time automatically (specified by the owner). I read it here in the forums but forgot where, hence no link. I'm not pro or anti members only caches...(sitting on the fence) but I think this is a cool option that could be implemented if it's in the ptb's ability to do so! Just my 2 cent's. Quote Link to comment
+southdeltan Posted January 1, 2005 Author Share Posted January 1, 2005 Hey! what if the basic membership would be limited to 50 or 100 finds, then the account is either disabled (temporarily, for say 6-months - just enough for the summer) or the account owner 'bumps up' to a premium membership. That's a bad idea. It should be noted that Jeremy has always maintained that the basic features of the game (on this website) will always be free. I don't see that ever happening. You'd actually end up losing customers that way. i am now really thinking of premium membership myself now that i have a good gpsr. there are only 2 things holding me back: 1. it is winter, therefore snow 2. i dont understand the pocket queries. Sounds like a another thread in the GC.com forum on pocket queries is in order If you do some searching, there are several good "how to" threads on the forums, as well as free example PQ out there somewhere (Perhaps on Clayjar's site? or is it here on GC.com?) that you can play around with. sd Quote Link to comment
Jeremy Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Please don't put together fundraisers. That isn't the point. Southdeltan already posted that but I want to stress it again. More to the point, what would make you as a non-premium member become a premium member? What feature would make you take the plunge? Quote Link to comment
Jeremy Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 I hate to be exclusionary, but input from the non - Premium Members would be preferable. In retrospect the forums is probably not the best place since the majority here are already PMs. Quote Link to comment
+southdeltan Posted January 1, 2005 Author Share Posted January 1, 2005 (edited) I hate to be exclusionary, but input from the non - Premium Members would be preferable. In retrospect the forums is probably not the best place since the majority here are already PMs. I don't think it's exclusionary. A non-member is the intended target for the question. You are probably correct in assuming that most of the people on the forums are premium members (I just checked the +'s - and 2/3 of the logged-in forum members were premium members - there were about 80 guests and 10 anonymous... so that data's not real accurate) but some of those non-members are very active forum posters. I do think that it'd be good if you guys (Groundspeak) did program some online polling system and emailed a link to polls in the weekly cache-alerts (and displayed it in the Announcements forum, and the main GC.com page, and on the "My Cache Page") so non-forums readers/posters could give you guys feedback... but that's another topic for another day.... I think you can get some quality feedback in here. You won't get a lot of feedback... but they say it's not about the numbers.... it's about quality. sd Edited January 1, 2005 by southdeltan Quote Link to comment
+Spzzmoose Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 I hate to be exclusionary, but input from the non - Premium Members would be preferable. In retrospect the forums is probably not the best place since the majority here are already PMs. Change your avatar and I'll shut-up! Ok, I'll play nice. Only non-members need post! Quote Link to comment
+tobsas Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 #1. Jeremy asked this and it got overlooked in the other thread. I think it's a valid question. Instead of debating why you aren't - lets ask what would it take? a ) Reliable interface for pages like Geocaching.de b ) Reliable interface for other pages who organize for example Travel Bug races or at least a answer to a question raised in the forum. c ) Possibilitie to add states to the cache description outside of the US, Canada and Belgium, for example Germany, Switzerland and Austria beside many others Greetings, Tobias PS: Yes, at the moment we are PM, but there are several points which I will not discuss here which speak strongly against a renewal. Only thing I will say is that the behavior of some PMs inside the other mentioned thread is one of them. Quote Link to comment
+tobsas Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Oh, may I add two other points which are not so important for myself but I think for others on this side of the pond: a ) German|French|... interface including metric system on request on all pages (speaks: also for Travel Bugs) b ) An account in Euro-land which would make it MUCH easier to pay as everybody has an account overhere and a transfer inside Euro-land costs as much as a transfer inside a country meaning nothing or not much. A transfer is the common payment method here to pay a bill. (Just to make sure: "Euro" is the currency of Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland and Greece.) Greetings, Tobias Quote Link to comment
Larry H Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 (edited) How about giving a free trial of all the premium benefits, for a limited time ,to new people when they sign up . Maybe if i knew what i was missing, i'd pay up. Edited January 2, 2005 by Larry H Quote Link to comment
+TruFinds Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Unless you mean some people can't pay using the current methods. (They accept Paypal, credit (and I assume debit) cards, and checks currently). yep Quote Link to comment
+Metaphor Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I can afford the membership. I don't really use many of the extra features. The off-topic forum is nice for the occasional debate, but a lot of the threads I don't even bother to read. I don't use pq's, and I write down coordinates for the caches I seek on small slips of paper, which are then manually transferred into my aging etrex Venture. I have a pretty large set of geocaching photo albums on the www.mdgps.com site, and, I use a Macintosh with OS9. Well, you get the picture. What I would like to have is a reliable listing service, that provides me regular feedback on my caches, introduces me to other people who have similar interests in finding hidden stuff, and has a positive environmental outlook. GC.COM has provided that for me unfailingly for nearly three years. Thank you. If there was one update I would like to see added, it would be comparable maps outside of the US as are provided inside the US. I believe my $30 charter membership is a bargain, even if I don't use the services provided. Quote Link to comment
+DaveA Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I joined this fishing site once, it was around the same price as GC.com. This site provided access (to paying members only) to topographical lake maps. For those who like to fish those maps are very valuable. Previously I had purchased a book of such maps that covered the SE portion of my state for around $30.00. This site gave me access to maps of all lakes in 5 states for the annual subscription price. In other words I saved money by having a membership. Later the state started offering maps for free on the DNR website so the fishing site lost value. So, if there was something I was spending money on that I would get for free along with membership that would induce me to pay for membership. Pocket queries are an answer to this for many, but not everyone. The fishing site also offered discounts on fishing gear via online and brick and mortar businesses. If one is an avid fisherperson the discounts could amount to more than the cost of membership. The site basically partnered with these vendors in some way. There is a store associated with this site, but as far as I can tell there is no difference in the price of items for premium and regular members. So, I don't have anythings specific, but in general if I could spend $30 for a membership and it would result in my saving more than $30 in a year then joining would be a no brainer. Quote Link to comment
+TEAM 360 Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 How about giving a free trial of all the premium benefits, for a limited time ,to new people when they sign up . Maybe if i knew what i was missing, i'd pay up. Not a bad idea. If I had a week to check out what Premium Members were getting, I might see something I couldn't live without... Yes, I can afford $30 a year, but right now the only benefit I can see would to be getting files, which I don't use anyhow, because I don't have a PDA.... Quote Link to comment
+Lemon Fresh Dog Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I'm a premium member -- so I'm already happy....but.... I would find a Membership "Kit" to be very enticeing. Some of the things I'd like to see in the "kit" 1) Geocaching patch or decal that is ONLY available to Premium Members with year on it (so a new one each year). 2) Special "Premium Member Travel Bug" - only in the kit - use it or collect it. Maybe a different color than the current bugs. 3) Premium Member cache container (one regular, one micro?) or the ability to purchase same. 4) A collection of discount coupons from outdoor suppliers that wish to support the Geocaching community (off of supplies, etc) Of course, I wouldn't expect ALL the above for $30. The postage alone would cost a bit as well as the cost to manufacture any of the above, but just having something that is limited or exclusive to premium members would be neat. (something physical) What I'd like to be able to do is place some "decorations" into/onto my caches that indicate that they were placed by a Premium Member. Why? Well.... no logical reason -- just a way of supporting the hobby and site. This is similar to sites like a movie fan club. There may be an exclusive toy or figure that you can get only if you are a fan club member. hahaha! Maybe a "Geocaching Action Hero Figure!" no.....no..... that would be horrible..... Quote Link to comment
+BigHank Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I have given this a lot of thought after I saw Jeremy's post in the other thread....and after all that thought, I cannot come up with anything that Groundspeak could offer that would get me to sign up....but, that is not Groundspeak's fault...it rather reflects the way I approach 'caching. I usually go by myself or with my wife, and have gone a few times with one or two close friends who cache. We liked the "under the radar' aspect of caching when it first started and try to continue that to the extent possible given the changes that have taken place as a result of the growth of 'caching and the influence of external events. We print out cache sheets and manually enter them into our GPS's. We only go out caching when the mood strikes us, or if we happen to be going someplace else together and know we will have some time to kill. This is our approach to it, and it is how we have fun with 'caching. We have no problem with virtuals, micros' or any other kind of cache, because depending on our mood, we may or may not do a given type on a given day. So for us, the premium membership would do nothing, and we are completely happy with doing things the way we are now. I think it is commendable that Jeremy is asking this question. I hope he gets some good ideas and is able to implement some of them.....and who knows, maybe someone else will come up with the one thing that never dawned on me, but is the one thing that Jeremy offers that makes me say "hey, now that's worth joining for." Quote Link to comment
+The Waldo's Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 BENCH MARKS on the map page! We are cachers too! If You post it do We not Log? Ok so I already am a premium member but I still want to see benchmarks on the map page. You show those virtual ghost thingies. Quote Link to comment
+TeamK-9 Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I know you wanted responses from non-premium members, but I felt like sharing my opinion. In March of last year, I found an old PDA at a garage sale for relatively cheap. Slowly but surely, I was able to get all the correct updates for it, and I got all the right software, and it was working fine. And so my dad and I got a premium membership so that we could use pocket queries to go paperless. Then in July, my old PDA just sort of bit the dust. It kept crashing and it basically quit working. I had become accustomed to the paperless lifestyle and now I was being forced to go back to paper. Quite frankly, I didn't and still don't have a purpose other than geocaching to spend any real money on a PDA, and so I continue using paper. It was then that I realized that, the $30 I had paid wasn't really good for much other than pocket queries. There were no seriously great, usable features that I needed that premium membership offered. Jeremy, I would like to congratulate you on coming up with pocket queries. It is an incredibly versatile search tool. Unfortunately, for someone without a PDA it doesn't serve much purpose. I mean, sure it's more powerful than any search you could do on the site, but it's very rare that I need a very powerful search, but occasionaly I do. About once a month now, I set up a pocket query, sometimes just to look at cache densities on a map. Now in about three months, it will be time for me to renew. But I'm not really sure I will, because pocket query is the main thing that I feel I'm paying for as a premium member. But honestly, I will renew, if not to use the features, then to just support a website about the sport I love. Two things that pop into my mind however as perks that I think could be nice: 1. Some kind of discount in the Groundspeak store. It wouldn't even have to be major or year long, you could have maybe one month out of the year where premium members get 5-10% off anything in the store. This could be really great, and I bet you could make up for the losses real quick. 2. My other idea is a shorter approval que. Anyone who's ever been to Disneyworld probably knows about the fastpass. For a certain ammount extra to your ride pass, you can get the fast pass. Basically, they just keep a line for Fastpass users only, and they of course cater to that line first. So if a bunch of people with fastpasses walked into the line, they'd seat everyone in that line first, before they went back to the normal line. You could do this with cache approvals with some coding. Have it so premium member's caches get sent to a different que, or even just the top of the que. That wouldn't even have to be the way you'd do it. But that's my idea. Faster cache approvals for premium members. Not that my area is slow, (Keystone Approver is great) but I think this could really "entice" more people to join the cachewagon and become premium members... Quote Link to comment
+webscouter. Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 How about giving a free trial of all the premium benefits, for a limited time ,to new people when they sign up . Maybe if i knew what i was missing, i'd pay up. My immediate reaction is that people would create many new profiles to get the free week. Log the caches on their personal account and use the others for the "freebies" I would like the ignore this cache added and the Premium Member sticker is pretty cool also. Quote Link to comment
+southdeltan Posted January 2, 2005 Author Share Posted January 2, 2005 Since at least 2 people have gone OT in mentioning why they won't sign up (or possibly re-sign up) concering PQs: You don't have to own a Palm/PPC for PQ's to be useful (I don't own a PDA). While I love the "my nearest unfound" cache feature on the website - it is very easy to use PQ's with 3rd party software such as GPS Babel, Watcher, and GSAK. The planning and data manipulation you can do is mind boggling. You can quickly and easily make your own custom maps that are far superior to anything you'll find online. Paperless caching isn't the only benefit. Heck, you can still cache with paper but cut your paper from a big stack to a few sheets using 3rd party software and PQ's. Back ON topic: The question is: What features could Groundspeak add to Premium memberships that would get you to join? I don't mean to sound harsh - but I think we've covered why some people DON'T join - I'm curious as to what it would take to get more people to join? Please, keep the suggestions coming. BTW - in response to one poster, I think I should say this: While this is aimed at non-premium members (and I do welcome suggestions from premium members on what would "sweeten the deal") it's not necessarily aimed at the geocacher who geocaches only occasionally. It's obvious that if you only find a couple of caches per month that there's probably little that could entice you. I would be interested in people that find 10 or 20 or 50+ caches per month but are NOT members - what added value would entice you? sd Quote Link to comment
+TEAM 360 Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Back ON topic: The question is: What features could Groundspeak add to Premium memberships that would get you to join? Alright then... Want TEAM 360 to sign up? You know what I want: the ability to hide my amount of "finds"; to not have my numbers posted. And add a feature that allows MY cache info to be shared to other listing services, such as what Navicache has done with a simple checkbox. You asked, I answered. Easy enough. Quote Link to comment
+Jeeping Family Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 (edited) Being only an occasional Caching family we (Wife and Myself) cannot think of a reason to pay for the site. There are only 8 caches that I cannot see in 100 miles from my home zip code, and that leaves me with 578 of the 586 remaining caches to find. Of course 36 of the 586 are disabled as of today, but some of those are down for seasonal, maintenance, or owner missing reason. I would agree that if you got something useful for the membership then it might be worthwhile. I liked the idea of getting Travel Bug(s) with your membership. Or even get your Bugs for cheaper as a member. Another idea, you have lots of people who are having problems with posting images, maybe give members a certain amount of photo gallery space with membership. I have plenty of my own space on several different sites that I can use, but there are those who don't have that or don't know how to use it. OT: How about teams of individuals being allowed, you and your friends can compete against others. Of course, its not about the numbers Edited January 2, 2005 by Jeeping Family Quote Link to comment
+Xangxa Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 As a recent premium member I can speak as to what drew me the most: Pocket Queries! I hope to see enhancements in the coming year to encourage current members to renew. Specifically adding cache attributes upon which we can filter (e.g., additional granularity for sizes and types; rankings by finders [e.g., to filter out the yet-another-sucky-micro-at-a-mall-lampost]). Quote Link to comment
+Lemon Fresh Dog Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 oooooo! -- that last post made me think of a really cool feature that could be given to Premium Members -- the ability to rate caches and see the ratings! If only Premium Members were permitted to rate and see ratings on caches, I can imagine some folks would join for that. (of course, others would still be able to post positive or negative comments in the find logs) Quote Link to comment
+TruFinds Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 As a recent premium member I can speak as to what drew me the most: Pocket Queries! I hope to see enhancements in the coming year to encourage current members to renew. Specifically adding cache attributes upon which we can filter (e.g., additional granularity for sizes and types; rankings by finders [e.g., to filter out the yet-another-sucky-micro-at-a-mall-lampost]). I like the filtered search idea - that would be a good sell point for me! Quote Link to comment
+TruFinds Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Someone mentioned pre-paid memberships for others. that's very nice - i'd like for someone to get one for me (I just need to figure out the pocket queries first!!! ). here's another thought - prepaid PM cards like Napster's cards you can get at wal-mart, circuit city, best buy, target, etc. That would boost PMembership and raise public awareness of the sport. Just imaging those curious kids at the checkout line!!! Quote Link to comment
+Lemon Fresh Dog Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Actually, if you could buy pre-paid cards -- they'd make for a great FTF prize. Quote Link to comment
+Katydid & Miles Stone Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 SouthD, being regular cachers with over 300 finds and also being non members, we fit the category of those you are posing this question to. Bravo to Larry H for having the same idea that Miles and I have discussed and are in favor of. A TRIAL PERIOD. For example, netflix.com offers a one month trial period. Please note that my list is my own, and does not apply to Miles Stone, who is much more technically inclined than me. Features that would entice me: A trial period. More thorough explanation as to what exactly a premier membership can do for me. The page currently talks about pocket queries, GPX, LOC files...means little to me! Appeal to the non techie! Tell me- what can be done with and without a PDA? How will these features enable me to cache more easily? For a person who likes this sport because they want to be out in the woods, not at a computer, will this save me time at the computer, make it easier to plan caching adventures, and how so? Just because I join, doesn't mean I will know what to do with the capabilities (download, upload, sideways load, upside down load ) Which leads me to... TUTORIALS, again for the technically challenged. (And yes, I know I can search threads and piece together answers, but that is more time consuming). Having it all in one place to refer back to, makes sense. Something comparable to Buxley's, where I can search for caches along a route or in an area we're visiting by map. I really like being able to scroll over a map. Ability to develop and plot multiple stops along a route. Again, I would like to see it laid out on a map. I think this may be a feature already? I like the ideas of a membership "kit" or a Groundspeak discount. These things simply add more appeal in general, and overall seem more professional. Quote Link to comment
+LthrWrk Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I recently uped myself to Premium Member.. Pocket Query.. and going paperless. $3/month and you save hours of time.. piles of paper printouts.. consumable printer ink. Sure there is the cost of the PDA, GSAK and Cachemate. What a huge difference going paperless has made. Still a bit too new to think of what might serve me well to add to Premium Membership. Possibly if others had a trial period to be Premium Member for a short duration they would see the advantages. Quote Link to comment
+dunos Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 1.) Valid HTML on all pages of geocaching.com including cache pages 2.) More accessable page designs with style sheets for handheld access and for printing. Table less designs (see www.alistapart.com and google for css layout) 3.) More than 20 pocket queries - I realise that this is a server hog but it would be nice! 4.) More than 500 results allowed from a pocket query. I would like to be able to dump every cache available in the UK to GSAK once a week easily. 5.) Ability to search for UK place names such as "Bristol" or "London" rather than having to make up a postcode. Ok, so that is just a general want list and is a bit off topic. I liked the idea of pre-payment cards. I could see myself buying pre-paid one month cards and leaving them in caches for other people. Free travel bug if you buy a years subscription? Free other merchandise if you buy a two year subscription? Discounts on software such as GSAK. Multiple sub accounts so that members of a family can all login with their own passwords. It could be limited to say 4 sub accounts to stop non family use. Team / Groups so that if you cache with a group of people you can leave a log message as a group rather than each member of the group individually signing the log. Each group member then gets a "find". Dan Quote Link to comment
+Team ARK-ville Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Since I live within the Catskill Park and there are very few caches available and no new ones allowed, I am forced to travel a minimum of 40-50 miles to even start to find caches of the type and ability I am able to search for, it would be nice to be able to have a map of an area with all or many of the caches indicated. This way one could plan a day trip to search for several caches in a small area. This may be one of the benefits already, I don't know. So I would also have to ask that possibly a trial period to see what benefits there are already, would be nice. At present I use an Etrex but do not have the software or cables to allow for downloads and am not sure if the downloads would work on this cheaper model. Just got it a couple months ago. I have enjoyed this new sport very much and am very pleased with what is available as a basic member. My wife and I try to get out at least once a month and maybe more when possible, but not sure if a premium membership would beneficial given the time we spend in caching and the distance we need to travel. Keep up the good work and will be watching the premium membership and possibly joining. Thanks for a great sport from Groundspeak and also to all the wonderful folks who have the time to place the cache containers for all of us to find. Quote Link to comment
SFABobby03 Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 if they are looking for a way to entice new paying member (since it is a business I would imagine they are) I think the very best way they could (since it seems like there are some very good features already) would be to figure out a way to encourage many more members only cache's. There is only one within an hour of me (I think). Just seems like if there were a lot of them, people would pay just to find them. Just my opinion and seems like it would make sense from a business poitn of view. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 (edited) OK, I've been a premium member since day one and will probably continue ponying up for the foreseeable future. But I do think there are some features that, if introduced, could entice additional subscribers (if they were subscriber only). 1. A comprehensive stats page (similar to Dan's now defunct site). It would have to be "opt out" rather than "opt in" to be of any value. Those who opt out would still be listed, but under the name "anonymous". 2. Capability to see who is watching your cache. 3. Audit feature similar to the one available for subscriber caches 4. Ability to search along a route 5. Instant new cache notification for FTF hounds. 6. Ability to extract and download your own cache logs in doc or txt format. Edited January 2, 2005 by briansnat Quote Link to comment
+MisterNixter Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I was all set to become a premium member, but sort of got turned off a while back when I wrote to Jeremy stating that I had a feature on geocaching going into the magazine we publish and that it mentioned this web site quite favorably, and I never got a reply. I realize he gets a lot of e-mail, I do too. Still turned me off. I like the idea of a free travel bug, and maybe a 25% discount on future travel bug purchases. Not saying that I won't become a premium member eventually, I probably will. As far as the downloads and all that, I can live without them at this time, my activity level is not that high yet. Quote Link to comment
ju66l3r Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 To get me to pay, I would primarily need to see: Available total scale licensed access to the database (e.g. a solution for Buxley's). This would not be part of the premium membership fee if the license carried a cost but it would be necessary to implement as a new feature for the website if I were to become a premium member. This could give rise to many of the aforementioned features in this thread that are not readily provided by this website (such as a thorough statistics page). I will only support this website monetarily when I feel they are truely an open service to the entire community. Quote Link to comment
+WascoZooKeeper Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Anyone who's ever been to Disneyworld probably knows about the fastpass. For a certain ammount extra to your ride pass, you can get the fast pass. Basically, they just keep a line for Fastpass users only, and they of course cater to that line first. So if a bunch of people with fastpasses walked into the line, they'd seat everyone in that line first, before they went back to the normal line. I haven't finished reading the entire thread yet, and quite frankly this suggestion I'm making wouldn't matter much to me, anyway, but . . . Let premium members see all NEW caches 24 hours (48? 72?) before they're visible to regular members. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment
+Bob Blaylock Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I'll bet that the answer is not in what new features to add, but communicating to non-paying members what benefits they would gain from the existing paid-member-only features. People are more likely to buy, the better they understand what you're selling. For example, Pocket Queries. I understand this to be one of the biggest benefits to being a paid member, but as a non-paid member who has never had access to this feature, I have very, very little understanding of what this feature is, or how I could put it to use. Perhaps an idea would be to offer some very limited use of this feature to non-paying members; a use that woudl allow anyone to get some sense of all that could be done with this feature, but which is limited enough that anyone who wants to make significant use of it would find a strong incentive to pay for unlimited use thereof. Quote Link to comment
+Milbank Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Speed! I use to be a paying member. I'm on a cable connection and geocaching.com is one of the few sites I visit that I have to wait for. There have even been times that it would not load at all for me. I know it's a bit much to ask for. Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 In the beginning I joined to support the site. Later I remained a charter member because of the pocket queries. Last time I had to think long and hard about renewing. Next time, odds are my charter membeship will lapse. Along the way I made a decision that my time, and money would go to member owned and/or non profit sites. Where that's not feasable. then I'm going to give the benifit of the doubt to the sites that don't charge becasue they at least have the option of becoming member owned and non profit when they make the decision to start charging. Quote Link to comment
+southdeltan Posted January 3, 2005 Author Share Posted January 3, 2005 In the beginning I joined to support the site. Later I remained a charter member because of the pocket queries. Last time I had to think long and hard about renewing. Next time, odds are my charter membeship will lapse. Along the way I made a decision that my time, and money would go to member owned and/or non profit sites. Where that's not feasable. then I'm going to give the benifit of the doubt to the sites that don't charge becasue they at least have the option of becoming member owned and non profit when they make the decision to start charging. That's fascinating, but entirely off topic. This isn't a thread about why you WON'T become a member, or why you will let your membership lapse. It's also not a thread for people to ask for policy changes - as some of the requests (opening the DB to other sites) clearly are. It's also not for a general wishlist of features that aren't necessarily for Premium members only (seen a few of those as well). ------- That said, there have been some good suggestions so far. I think one of the easiest to implement would be a better and more visible explanation of pocket queries. I know there's information already out there but it's not compiled in one easy to find space. I'll work on a thread for that and post it in the GC.com forum later. Another popular request has been a free trial period. I'd like to echo the concern about people continually creating new accounts to take advantage of that. I don't think it's as easy to implement this as some may think. For the time being, you can buy a monthly subscription for 3 dollars. If you don't like what you see - you're out 3 bucks. If you do like what you see you can purchase a yearly subscription. ------- Now, back to topic: If you are NOT a premium member, what FEATURES could GC.com add that would make you want to join? southdeltan Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 (edited) ...That's fascinating, but entirely off topic.... Why would that be? There are two kinds of members. New ones and the ones you keep. Services and features that prevent the loss of customers are every bit as important as what it takes to gain new customers. If it helps, it doesn't change if I'm not a customer (which I am an have been) or not it's become the one thing that interests me the most. So come April of this year my post is on topic as you define it. Edited January 3, 2005 by Renegade Knight Quote Link to comment
+Team Neos Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 I am also already a paying member, but I thought long and hard about it before I did paid...I would have become a member faster if... 1) there were some way for a couple to share a paid account and still log separately. My husband and I usually cache together, but not always. It isn't about racking up big numbers for us, but it is about having an accurate accounting (that's the science teacher in me). If he visits a cache that I don't and tells me about it, I may eventually go to it also. Having a separate log would remind me to go there. If I never go there, I don't want some joint account implying that I have been there. It wouldn't be too hard on us financially at this point to pay for two accounts, but that seems wasteful, and I would rather spend the money on putting out new caches and travel bugs. And should families of four or five would pay for separate memberships? 2) the "new member welcome package" might also have tempted me. Quote Link to comment
+southdeltan Posted January 3, 2005 Author Share Posted January 3, 2005 ...That's fascinating, but entirely off topic.... Why would that be? There are two kinds of members. New ones and the ones you keep. Services and features that prevent the loss of customers are every bit as important as what it takes to gain new customers. If it helps, it doesn't change if I'm not a customer (which I am an have been) or not it's become the one thing that interests me the most. So come April of this year my post is on topic as you define it. Why would that be? Perhaps because you didn't suggest a FEATURE that they could add that would entice you to renew. You instead rambled about the fact that you decided that your money would go to member owned or non-profit sites so you possibly wouldn't be renewing. The only thing I can gather from your post is you'll renew if GC.com becomes member-owned or non-profit. That's not a feature, it's a policy. If you'd like to debate the Groundspeak, Inc.'s for-profit policy - create your own thread. Incidentaly - while it doesn't matter - it ain't April. Even if it would - you ain't suggesting a feature, you're discussing something entirely different. Please keep this on topic. If there's some feature that would entice you to change your position to possibly not renew - list it - otherwise debate profit vs non-profit elsewhere. sd Quote Link to comment
+orome Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 I'd pay more for a list of caches along a given route/road segment. From what I've read elsewhere here, it wouldn't be easy to program, but I'd be willing to support it. Quote Link to comment
+Mastifflover Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 As said by Briansnat, the ability to search for caches along a route would be a huge postitive selling point. Quote Link to comment
Jeremy Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 I'd rather if this continued to be a positive topic and not a platform for chest thumping. Thanks for everyone so far who have provided some interesting suggestions for new feature enhancements. Quote Link to comment
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