I would like to get your feedback and opinions.

I am considering starting a community web site. The town is a growing community with a current population of about 60,000 and a projected population of 120,000. The community is primarily young families with children and many residents work in high-tech professions.

The web site will be designed as a comprehensive resource for the town. It will include a shopping directory, links to city, community services, school web sites, feature stories and interviews. But it will not be a newspaper.

What I would like you to consider is if a fee based forum would work? A forum that includes discussions about city government, schools, neighborhoods, shopping, etc.

I do not want to support this site through advertising fees. I want to consider user fees for the forums. I would also provide subscribers with a free classified ad service and other benefits once I can think of them. Do you think this will work? Are there any other community web sites that you might know that are charging user fees which I could look at? I was thinking about charging $12 per year ($1 per month).

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Originally posted by TwoonTwo:
A forum that includes discussions about city government...

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And charge a fee? Doesn’t sound too thrilling.

Just giving you a hard time.

Seriously, build your community first, then consider charging. That’s my advice.

If it’s a growing city, sounds like you could be off to a good start by being the first game in town with your site.

Good luck.

I think Mitch is on the right track: sometimes it's hard to get members into a new community if it's being charged for. You might want to offer a few forums for free as a sort of teaser to get people hooked, as well.

Good luck!

Kate Sloan
Customer Care/Account Management
Infopop Corporation
Moderator: Community Management Forum