Daniel Mayer wrote:
--- Andrew Lih andrew.lih@gmail.com wrote:
It seems that the price should be set near the price of a decent magazine subscription, which in the US would be around USD $30 a year. That's how many public broadcasters in the US rationalize their membership drives.
We should have several different membership levels starting at $30 a year.
One possible structure:
$30 a year ($2.5/month): Standard $60 a year ($5/month): Silver $120 a year ($10/month): Gold $240 a year ($20/month): Platinum #240+ a year: Sustaining (yep, goes up a category)
Why not yes.
And of course anybody who is active on any Wikimedia project could be a volunteer-level member by just signing-up (and maybe paying a nominal fee). A parallel discount fee structure should also exist (set it at 20% of the regular fee structure and reserve it for special cases - such as for nations where the cost of living is really low).
I hate to say this Mav, but I started the discussion about fees ONE month ago on meta, asking for ideas and feedback. I made my proposal based on what people offered me then, on meta, by mail, on irc.
I indicated I would draw a final proposal based on all that. I had no feedback whatsoever at that point.
I then drafted that proposal and asked feedback again. There was very little. About 10 people overall. No opposition. Essentially, comments on the amount of fees, for which I guess discussion is totally possible.
I consequently closed the proposal.
I started doing the membership application form according to that proposal.
So...I see no problem with discussing the prices, but I definitly see a problem in *entirely* rediscussing the entire organisation of a fee structure already decided.
Couple of points : * the volunteer member will NOT NOT NOT pay anything. This is not negociable. * there will not be country discount because this is too complicated * there is already a discount fee system. With the discounted amount, no side benefits such as mugs are planned.
Going up each level should also mean the person gets more wampum (shirts, mugs, etc). We could reach out to various businesses to ask for wampum donations (discount cards, free gifts, etc). This may complicate the discount fee structure though. Either way getting the gifts may require a separate payment for shipping. It will also be some time before we could set up such a system.
Just some ideas to chew on.
-- Daniel Mayer
All discussions on side benefits are welcome and great. And yes, they do not impair setting the structure as is.
ant