If you have ever wondered how successful your site can be, check out this example.

Hornfans.com is a website devoted to fans of Univeristy of Texas athletics. Their site is "free", but users are encouraged to make donations - as follows:

quote:

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End Zone ($5 - $9.99/month or $55 - $109.99/year)
No ads on the message boards. If you choose, your username designated on the message boards by a and listing on our Hall Of Honor page. A free HornFans mouse pad.

Upper Deck ($10 - $19.99/month or $110 - $219.99/year)
No ads on the message boards. If you choose, your username designated on the message boards by a and listing on our Hall Of Honor page. A free HornFans tshirt.

Lower Deck ($20 - $49.99/month or $220 - $549.99/year)
No ads on the message boards. If you choose, your username designated on the message boards by a and listing on our Hall Of Honor page. A free HornFans tshirt and a free copy of the 2003 Recruits In Review.

Stadium Suite ($50+/month or $550+/year)
No ads on the message boards. If you choose, your username designated on the message boards by a and listing on our Hall Of Honor page. A free HornFans tshirt, a free copy of the 2003 Recruits In Review, and a free copy of Mack Brown's One Heartbeat.

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Then (hold onto the bodypart you sit on), check out this page that shows how many have actually paid for that membership.

Hornfans.com is more than just a message board, but the board is the heart of the community. Seeing what can be done with a "homegrown" site, certainly is helping inspire me.

Tom

Phog.net: Where the Jayhawks Hold Court!

That's pretty nice, indeed!

I had thought of something similar, although I wouldn't offer any eh... items like t-shirts, mousepads, etc..

With my current number of members, I don't see any reason to do so, anyway.

Can I borrow some of yours?

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Iceware - Programming Solutions | Iceware Community Forums

I have suggested a premium member feature addition to the UBB.classic where various levels of service could be offered to members.

Great concept and nice site. Thanks.

Hmmm...UBB.threads before they were Infopop's boards.

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"I see dumb people....they're everywhere. They walk around like everyone else. They don't even know they're dumb"
TheGeeksInc.com Forums

quote:

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Originally posted by Ron M:
Hmmm...UBB.threads before they were Infopop's boards.

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Yup, they're definitely running an older version, but it still looks great! And what a way to to capitalize! I'm impressed by their creativity in assigning different tiers of membership -- End Zone to Stadium Suite. This is a good example, especially for non-profits that are looking for ways to offset the costs of their board software & maintenance.