How many lifetime members?
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Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
scubasteve03
Well-Known Member
Do a year, if you like it keep it if not don't pay anymore. I pay to keep this site going. Massive amounts of information on here and a lot of it has helped me out.
How many homebrewing books would you have to buy to get the information that is on here and how much would it cost. I feel like a membership is in liew of a bookshelf where I can never find the answer to the question I have.
Ya i've joined lots of various forums over the years, all for various topics but ive never taken as much information out of them as i did this one, thats why i joined. Im prob gonna go lifetime membership when this year is over.
Nightshade
Well-Known Member
I have been freeloading for a bit now but am planning to pony up for the lifetime as soon as the IRS stops raping me.... which I suppose is never but once this especially painful bit is over.
^ Oh boy, don't get me started.
"Serenity Now. Serenity Now..."
Cheers!
"Serenity Now. Serenity Now..."
Cheers!
I don't know....I have been here awhile and have never felt the need to become a "member". While I appreciate having HBT my feeling is that if it were to suddenly disappear the void would be filled by other current brewing forums (AHA, BN, MoreBeer, and others). I AM a member of the AHA primarily because it supports homebrewing on the legal front, I get a cool magazine, and I get discounts at my LHBS. My feeling is also that I get exposed to paid ads so that help pays for HBT....
That's what I did, and unless I stop brewing this site gets my support in return for the goodies harvested along the way.
Nightshade
Well-Known Member
Don't take this the wrong way but...
This site is a way of combining all that knowledge into one stop shopping and it updates constantly and quickly. When something happens it is usually posted here in a few hours or less.
New and innovative processes are peer reviewed and designs are tested with articles to document the results...as it happens.
Sure you get a cool magazine to read on the crapper, but it is outdated the day it prints. Support the AHA if for nothing other than the legal fight aspect (which may be dwindling) but these sites are far superior to magazines by leaps and bounds.
I used to work for a magazine as a photographer and I can't tell you the number of times my publisher called me swearing till he was blue about how some site had event coverage or build coverage weeks before we even went to press and wasn't aware until after it was pressed.
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I've learned almost everything about brewing from this site. Yes I've read a book or two, but if you have a question that needs an answer. You'll get one here is a minute. Lots of great people with a ton of knowledge. If you were gonna support a website, this would be a good one.
I hear what you are saying. The AHA also has a very informative forum. It is a much smaller scale but is every bit as good. My point is just that WE make or break the forum. I have no idea.... but how expensive is it to run a forum? What does a forum owner have to do other than provide a platform for people to communicate? It's not like they have to put up content...the members do that for free.
Nightshade
Well-Known Member
Server cost, software, updates all cost money not to mention design and i.plementation. the more traffic a site gets then the more bandwidth it uses in a month so the cost adjusts accordingly.
This is why even with paid memberships advertising still exists to keep to income flowing to defray the costs of operation.
Hmmmm.......so what do you think it costs on an average monthly basis? Just curious...is it like 10k a month? Less? More?
Nightshade
Well-Known Member
Too many variables to say for sure since traffic is the deciding factor really.
*edit* I think it would be safe to say less in this case by quite a bit.
This got me interested into knowing who "owns" HBT. I always assumed it was some super dedicated homebrewer(s). It turns out it is a media company....http://www.groupbuilder.com/ They own a bunch of forums dealing with a variety of subjects including cycling, guns, and pets. I think I would be more inclined to lay out some cash for a membership if it was at least owned by fellow homebrewers. Paying the hundreds of dollars to a private, for profit company for a lifetime membership with no real benefits??
It is owned by one guy, and he is a homebrewer.
dynobyte
Well-Known Member
passedpawn said:
The Groupbuilder site does indicate they own HBT.
