Guest Level Accounts

[james]

Title:
Guest Level Accounts

Area:
accounts

Summary:
Creating a cheaper, minimal-perk account which still supports DW.

Description:
I've heard interest from folks who would like to be able to support DW and participate in conversations on communities and journals here, but without having to maintain an entire "presence" here, but with more benefits than just a free-level account. Specifically, the ability to track comments and have replies to comments mailed to them.

$35 a year can be a lot for someone who sees themselves as just commenting on other journals, but a minimal amount of paid-account would enable them to comment and keep copies of their comments via email, and keep track of conversations. But even a $15 a year account could be bare bones, and yet let them interact with others on DW.

I have no idea of how the coding works, so I don't know if it's an easy thing to do, or hard, or if being emailed copies of comments is a high-burden sort of benefit.

Poll #7080 Guest Level Accounts

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 57

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
17 (29.8%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
5 (8.8%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
14 (24.6%)

(I have no opinion)
19 (33.3%)

(Other: please comment)
2 (3.5%)

Comments

[liv]

Given that we have both free accounts (for people who can't afford or don't want to pay $35 a year) and OpenID accounts (for people who want to participate but don't use DW as their main site), I don't really see what this would add. If people want to donate money but less than the minimum yearly amount, they can always buy DW points in smaller denominations. Also, the general culture of LJ-clone sites means I really don't see most people being willing to pay any money if it doesn't get them extra icons.

I would rather see OpenID support being ironed out so that the system is usable and not confusing. And possibly, if comment editing and email copies of own comments are cheap anyway, extend those to free accounts. I may be wrong, maybe there are loads of people who would pay $15 a year to be able to get their own copies emailed to them but don't want any of the flashy features of a paid account. It just seems a bit unlikely that that's a big demographic. In general I think it makes more to sense to have bundles of features, rather than trying to put a specific value on each premium feature DW offers and let people buy them a la carte.

[silverflight8]

I would rather see OpenID support being ironed out so that the system is usable and not confusing.

Yes, this.

[goodbyebird]

+1