Vote: Would you rather pay $1 - $2 per month for RCU vs advertising "independence
Hey Marc -
I think everyone is stuck on $24 per year. If your operating costs are $5K - $10K per month ($60K-$120K/year) and we already have 30,000 members, do you think you could offer it at $10/year and still have the improvements? Even if only half of the members signed up for the $10/year deal, your inflow would be $150K/year. That is well above your upper end estimate with only half the traffic.
Some people will leave. RCOnline used to be the dominate site for RC. It failed because of many of the problems you have described. I know it is still around, but it is no where near the site it once was. I think if you charge $24/year, a lot of people will bail. I personally don't mind paying the fee even at $24, BUT - the value of this site is NOT the photos, the magazine, the galleries, etc. - it is the people. Without a broad base of users, this site is worthless. If you lose the people, everyone will find another site to go to, RCGroups, the old RCOnline, Flightlines, various yahoo lists, etc.
For a nominal fee though, I think a lot will stay. I greatly appreciate the "Consumer Reports" type format. I used to subscribe to four different magazines. Now, I get everything off the internet. RC Reports was the only one even close to giving accurate reviews, but it does not include a lot of my interests.
My vote is a much smaller fee - $10/year max and/or advertising. Actually, I really like the advertising - they are smaller companies who I have not heard a lot about until I see them here.
Keith