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StephTheGeek
Posts: 11433
 Joined: 2006-04-14

So, what's this new site gonna contain?

A lot of what everyone's used to, such as a blog, forums, cams, photo galleries, FAQ, links, etc.

What's changing is the interaction among content and users, and the way information is displayed.

The site will take on much more of a game-like atmosphere. Everything you do on the site will earn you points, which will unlock access to extra sections or features. Basically, motivation for interaction.

All information will be taggable and cross-referenced. Want to find everything on the site to do with corsets? A few clicks will get you all related blog posts, forum topics, cam pics, and links.

The site will use Drupal (drupal.org) for content management.

The site will still contain the personal things you're used to, but there will be a greater focus on all users being able to contribute more content.

I've always believed that the biggest strength of this site is its ability to draw and retain a very diverse group of intelligent, interesting people. Well, it's time we all got to learn more about each other, not just me :)

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erica057
erica057's picture
Posts: 2331
 Joined: 2006-05-20

Garr wrote:
even as a subscriber, i still like the idea of earning by using.I naturally like to look at everything in a site, and stg.com has had a hell of a lot of perusal by me in prolly almost all links.

subscription provides a specific level and extras can be earned... that's what i'd like

I'm just throwing this thought out there as a brainstorm-type deal. I don't even know if this appeals to you, but it's worth a shot...

The point in the membership subscription is primarily to pay for bandwidth, yes? Cost of streaming, hardware, storage...basically a/v content.

I imagine that if someone was paying, they'd want access to all videos and images. Rightfully so, of course :) But then there are people who don't care for the porn-type stuff nearly as much as community, interaction, and you. Like...your draw is essentially beauty + brains/personality. You could roughly divide your site viewers into three groups. First, there's people who just think you're hot and have kinks that are compatible with the memberships site (bondage, girl/girl, erotica, amateur, etc). There's people who don't really care about the audio-visual content and happened upon the site because they love your CD or your posts on Gizmodo. And then there's a third group which is into both -- sometimes because of synergy between the two, i.e. your sexy pics are hotter when they find out you're a techie and a musician.

So paid members automatically get access to all a/v content. But then, what if you had more personal textual stuff that requires points to access? For example, a members blog or similar. Or more community-oriented stuff. Depending on your comfort level, this might actually make your site more open rather than less. I'm thinking of my own livejournal. It's friends-only, but I'll add anyone who fills out my little survey. I don't care to restrict who can and can't read my journal. Rather, I just want to ensure that anyone there cared enough to take the time to introduce themselves, and aren't a random troll (or coworker or family member) cruising by. So this allows me to be incredibly frank, moreso than if I made everything public.

So if people earned points for interacting, digging around, basically showing that they are interested in YOU...perhaps you could have aspects of yourself on the site that you normally keep off-limits. And it still seems fair to paying members, who pay for the content that, well, costs money.

Of course this is contingent upon YOUR interest, and whether or not you share my apprehensions regarding public textibitionism.

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March 1, 2006 - 8:09pm login or register to post comments

BofH
Posts: 35
 Joined: 2006-05-20

I think you've really hit onto the right idea there Erica - in the same way www.pogo.com gives you free games, once you become a member of the community you get a lot more content and competitions and forums as part of the package.

A lot of the Stephs personal blog related stuff I think should move into the subscription area, certainly provide some stuff to get people hooked but to get the best "balanced" community, you would want subscribers who just aren't in it for the videos / images, but also for the brain based interaction :)

At the moment a lot of Stephs "intellectual property" (to use a business terminology) is available for free that I feel many would pay for under a subscription model. Certainly if the new site is moving to become an entertainment, game style subscription site with unique StG interaction it should be a winner!

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March 5, 2006 - 9:04am login or register to post comments

Garr
Posts: 82
 Joined: 2006-05-20

i like the sound of this "unique stephthegeek interaction" :D

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March 6, 2006 - 6:28pm login or register to post comments

StephTheGeek
StephTheGeek's picture
Posts: 11433
 Joined: 2006-04-14

Hehe, I do too!

A couple things though... text doesn't take up much bandwidth or make up any kind of significant costs. And there's very little that I wouldn't write completely publicly. Also, I don't want to set myself up for being expected to write more than I do :P

Who says there aren't brains behind my videos/images anyway? ;)

The bottom line is that the multimedia stuff is the expensive stuff to do. It's what funds some of the things non-subscribers get as well, and that's okay. People are fairly comfortable with paying for that type of content.

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Bugs/feature requests? Let me know!


March 6, 2006 - 8:25pm login or register to post comments