NEW questions concerning the Membership options

3 Jan 2015

I opened an account about two weeks ago, so what I'm about to say is probably rubbish, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway.

I'm informed, at the top of my homepage beneath the tool bar, that Lush Stories has 265, 880 members. And as a result of this we will eventually be charged for using the social elements of the site because, and I quote: "hosting the images, private messages, chat rooms, profiles and videos, FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MEMBERS adds up to a lot of bandwidth costs (several thousand dollars per month)."

Now, I've been on Lush almost constantly over the past two weeks (Yes, I love it) and I can assure you, the ONLINE MEMBERS figure has never risen above 5000. Now that's a ratio of about 52000 to 1. That's quite incredible.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd estimate that about 15000 of the 260k members still visit the site regularly. That would mean that around 250k of those members are dormant, completely inactive and therefore not costing the site a penny.

My point is: Are the site's financial problems due to too many members, or not enough active members. Because if it's the latter, then charging people for using the social elements of the site will only brings those numbers down further.

Just a thought. coffee

3 Jan 2015

For what it's worth, I support this move by the administrators of Lush. It's a great site for so many reasons, including tremendous authors and stories, forums, photos and vids, and a good social site where you can meet many fascinating and talented people. As an author I see that I've been gifted a Bronze membership already, but have been considering buying Gold in any event and will likely do so - as an expression of my appreciation - when things settle down just a little. I think that $10 for Bronze and $25 for Silver for a year's membership is extremely reasonable for the product delivered and the fun you can have here, and the Gold brings extra benefits that make it more than worthwhile - especially if you plan to write!

I'll definitely be staying, and thanks, Lush!

storm

4 Jan 2015

I think this site has amazing features and many wonderful people. I am surprised there has not been a fee before now. For whatever it is worth, and even if I had not been gifted a bronze membership, I am supportive of this move. Thank you, Nicola, and all involved with keeping it up and running. May the greatness continue.

4 Jan 2015

Since this is a writing/reading site maybe some of you should try to write a few stories. Get a few under your belt and maybe you will get a gifted a bronze badge.

This is a writing site with extra cool things to do. I know myself I never go into the chat rooms. I recently found the forums. My time is just spent writing and reading stories and talking to a few friends.

When I first joined I played around in the chat rooms but not in over a year. There is lots to do here and for 10.00 or 20.00 which is nominal fee. Lush stories is one of a kind. We should all help Nicola and Gav get to where they need to be. These nominal fees will help them continue to give us all a great product.

Just a thought,
Xoxo

4 Jan 2015

People should take a look at the thread that contains over 2300 posts discussing what can be done to make the site better. Then think about the resources, hardware, software, programming, and the costs involved in trying to satisfy those requests. Then you'll understand why some of us want to do this Brick wall

when people complain about 3c a day to keep a membership. If Lush opened its doors on 01.01.15 and this was the current model, we would not even be having this discussion. But, people dont like change. Understandable, but change is always inevitable, with everything in life.

Our Tumblr

4 Jan 2015

Everybody seems to want something for nothing??? It does take a lot of money to run a site like this and their features are wonderful. I personally can go out on a Thursday night with my girlfriends and spend more then $10 on margarita's. Hell I could buy myself a Gold Membership and a couple friends with what I spend on Margarita Thursday's. Go buy a pre-paid Visa/MasterCard if you don't want it to show up on your personal credit card statement. As I posted early, having been/being harassed by someone who just keeps creating new profiles and then those who have multiple profiles just to cause drama and strife, it will make the site a much more pleasurable place. While I just won my Gold Membership thanks to SimplyJohn...I am more than willing to pay the $50 next year to renew it without giving up my margaritas!

4 Jan 2015

I have a question that I don't believe I've seen answered here. I got a grandfathered Bronze account for having published a story (and thank you very much for that generosity!), but feel inclined to support Lush by purchasing something more. If I buy a Silver or Gold membership and then can't afford to re-up when it expires, will I fall back to Bronze or to Free membership?

Thanks for providing this excellent service. I used to frequent Literotica's chat rooms, but they were buggy and inclined to crash, and eventually went down (sorry) for good. I'm very glad to have "landed" here.

Oh, and "Happy New Year!"

4 Jan 2015

TRACKED!! Sounds like someone is into conspiracies. lol
More like have friends who work as a private investigators and for lawfirms that seek information. Tracing this site and related content to its user through financial records will be easy and extremely valuable. We know most content here is not what most people would care to have released. Now it will be. you will also have a direct link if you are posting false profiles. Example - Men posting profiles as women using improperly obtained photos or posting profiles for the purpose of defamation. Not to mention questionable content. Employers, spouses, and law enforcement will now have a direct link toy you and this site. How will you explain purposefully and continuously paying for this site and its content. It even publicly tracks how often you visit. This site will also get slammed by warrants in related legal cases related these new fees. It going to get very interesting here. We will see..........

4 Jan 2015

Quote by NudistRob
TRACKED!! Sounds like someone is into conspiracies. lol
More like have friends who work as a private investigators and for lawfirms that seek information. Tracing this site and related content to its user through financial records will be easy and extremely valuable. We know most content here is not what most people would care to have released. Now it will be. you will also have a direct link if you are posting false profiles. Example - Men posting profiles as women using improperly obtained photos or posting profiles for the purpose of defamation. Not to mention questionable content. Employers, spouses, and law enforcement will now have a direct link toy you and this site. How will you explain purposefully and continuously paying for this site and its content. It even publicly tracks how often you visit. This site will also get slammed by warrants in related legal cases related these new fees. It going to get very interesting here. We will see..........

That's why I'm thinking prepaid debit cards are the way to go.

4 Jan 2015

Quote by adele

If you understand that a great deal of the members are not active, the why even suggest that charging every member $1 USD a year would raise $250,000? in the last month, only a bit over 17,000 members were active. (you can see this by going to search members, checking the active this month box, but leave the member name box blank. the system will then bring up all the members that have created a profile, or logged on in the last 30, or 31 days. today, 884 pages @20 members per page. do the math.) this is a pretty typical amount. however, even inactive members are using bandwidth and storage space if they have pics and vids on their wall, or get emails. if you read the original announcement, bandwidth alone runs several thousands of dollars a month. that does not include equipment, cost of software and other expenses. And do you expect that Nicola should own and run this site without ANY compensation? and the possibility of each and every one of those 17,000 people buying even the $10 membership level is zero. my guess would be some where between 10 and 25% will, though I certainly hope it will be more.
then consider that that amount is a one time yearly fee.

last month, roughly 3400 new members joined. just on the first page of 20 people, 13 have not been back on since the day they joined. roughly 10,000 people have joined in the last 3 months, and only a third of those have been active in the last 30 days. If you use those statistics to extrapolate yearly figures, then you get 40,000 new members a yrs, 13,333 of which remain active for at least 30 days, and if 10 to 25% of those buy a $10 membership, that raises $13,000 to 33,000 in ANNUAL revenue. I don't see anyone getting rich on that amount. I am not a statistician by any means, and i hope i am wrong in my estimates. however, in the past, I have made many estimates that have proven to be eerily accurate, and with far less information than I have here.

AND, by the way, this site is FAR from simplistic. it has complex chat rooms, including user created rooms that can be customized and even locked. It has forums that, while they may need some revamping, are far superior to others I have seen, not only just allowing entries, but giving you the ability to quote someone where the original post shows in the new post, but also allows a forum signature and the inclusion of pics, gifs and vids, as well as the ability to edit your own post. They have a fairly complex email system that not only allows you to send one email, but also to all your friends, or any number of individuals. they have profiles which not only can contain a wide variety of information, but which is also highly customizable. they have instant messaging AND private chats that have a number of features. show me another site that has all these features and does not use some method to raise revenue.

The success of this site is based on the fact it was free. The number of people willing to pay anything and have a direct financial link to this site is going to be VERY small. It will eliminate thousands of users almost instantly. It will also cause many more legal issues related to financial compensation related to copywriter and trade marked materials. Hosting a free site is far different from a pay site. The owners will have to establish a legal defense fund with most of the revenue. They will also have to legally register the company and claim taxes on the income. They will be taking full financial responsibility now. It is a huge game changer that will prove disasterous in my opinion. we will see..........

These so called costs are questionable as well. So are the true number of users although your breakdown was detailed. This site will become a huge burden to manage and the money will not be there. Can you imagine the content owner legal requests that will pour in from law enforcement ? There will be no legal remedy if the owner attempts to refuse warrants. They will have direct financial links between the parties. What a tangled web we weave.......

4 Jan 2015

I'm confused if your a free member and someone sends you a friend request and/or a private message, will you be able to add them or reply back to that person??

4 Jan 2015

Quote by SheriPie
Everybody seems to want something for nothing??? It does take a lot of money to run a site like this and their features are wonderful. I personally can go out on a Thursday night with my girlfriends and spend more then $10 on margarita's. Hell I could buy myself a Gold Membership and a couple friends with what I spend on Margarita Thursday's. Go buy a pre-paid Visa/MasterCard if you don't want it to show up on your personal credit card statement. As I posted early, having been/being harassed by someone who just keeps creating new profiles and then those who have multiple profiles just to cause drama and strife, it will make the site a much more pleasurable place. While I just won my Gold Membership thanks to SimplyJohn...I am more than willing to pay the $50 next year to renew it without giving up my margaritas!

If you think the harassing is bad now, wait till the only people left are freaks willing to pay. Can you imagine? The average person would not even consider this option. Those that do will be very questionable to say the least. People cant afford reality, never mind a Lush Illusionary 4th dimension of fake profiles! But maybe I am wrong?

4 Jan 2015

Quote by NudistRob

If you think the harassing is bad now, wait till the only people left are freaks willing to pay. Can you imagine? The average person would not even consider this option. Those that do will be very questionable to say the least. People cant afford reality, never mind a Lush Illusionary 4th dimension of fake profiles! But maybe I am wrong?

Yeah, you're wrong.

4 Jan 2015

Quote by amy1967

Yeah, you're wrong.

Thanks for clearing that up. I guess this settles the matter. Where do I turn over my credit card info? Ya, the credit card that has my address and links to my credit score and overall NSA online profile.

4 Jan 2015

Quote by Chrissyy
Hubby is a little concerned about how I pay for this...

Is it possible that I could buy a prepaid Visa Card and use that to pay for my membership?

Sorry if this question was already asked, I have been looking but I didn't see it.

Thanks!

Please look back at earlier posts in this thread .. there are post on this subject.

4 Jan 2015

Quote by s12341234
I'm confused if your a free member and someone sends you a friend request and/or a private message, will you be able to add them or reply back to that person??

Will you please re-read the announcement .. its clear from the model what you can and cant do. Thanks.

4 Jan 2015

Quote by TheUprightMan
I have a question that I don't believe I've seen answered here. I got a grandfathered Bronze account for having published a story (and thank you very much for that generosity!), but feel inclined to support Lush by purchasing something more. If I buy a Silver or Gold membership and then can't afford to re-up when it expires, will I fall back to Bronze or to Free membership?

Thanks for providing this excellent service. I used to frequent Literotica's chat rooms, but they were buggy and inclined to crash, and eventually went down (sorry) for good. I'm very glad to have "landed" here.

Oh, and "Happy New Year!"

This question came up only 12 hours ago and its being considered .. bear with us please.

4 Jan 2015

Quote by simplyjohn

Sounds like one huge pain in the ass. still all linked and 100% traceable. As an owner of a site, you know it is. I.P addresses and everything. These fees and membership levels are designed to create a fear of loss. As if you have created something tangible. The more elaborate your page and friends are the more you will pay to keep it. You will see this on the CIA's created facebook soon as well. Soon people will actually PAY to tell on themselves. Nice!

4 Jan 2015

Quote by migbuster
I fell that we members who were here before the change should be grandfatherd in to the new system with out charge anyone joining after 1/1/2015 are stuck by the new requirements.

I for one have seen a drop in membership since couple of catigories were remove, I was planning on leaving then, but have stuck it out, With this new change came in as a bush whack item with out warning....

member should have been give a warning order befor this was drop on the membership. JMHO

You have until 30/6/15 before the changes kick in for you .. how is that 'no warning' or being 'bush whacked'.

4 Jan 2015

Quote by sylvie34100
Maybe I'm just plain thick, but where can I find out what the respective 'Benefits' are for each level of Membership? (i.e. Gold/silver and bronze)
I am published on this site and read that this guarantees automatic 'Bronze' membership, but there was also a rider saying it depends upon # of stories printed etc. Once again, could someone clarify please?
As a footnote: I was a member of AFF for many years, and despite them turning it into a money making machine they at least gave free gold membership to certain single girls under their 'Icebreaker' offer. This was on the basis that it was single girls who drew in the full fee paying guys. (sexist i know, but hey, a girl has to use any advantages going. Right?.. )Are there any such plans envisaged with the 'New Lush' ?

As an author prior to 1/1/15 you have been given a bronze until 2034 .. full stop.

As for the rest here is the announcement with the membership model ..

https://www.lushstories.com/forum/yaf_postst41205_New-Freemium-Membership-Model-for-2015.aspx

4 Jan 2015

Maybe I'm just plain thick, but where can I find out what the respective 'Benefits' are for each level of Membership? (i.e. Gold/silver and bronze)
I am published on this site and read that this guarantees automatic 'Bronze' membership, but there was also a rider saying it depends upon # of stories printed etc. Once again, could someone clarify please?
As a footnote: I was a member of AFF for many years, and despite them turning it into a money making machine they at least gave free gold membership to certain single girls under their 'Icebreaker' offer. This was on the basis that it was single girls who drew in the full fee paying guys. (sexist i know, but hey, a girl has to use any advantages going. Right?.. smile

)Are there any such plans envisaged with the 'New Lush' ?

Reply - Then I will change my user name to Nudist Roberta and use some random girls pic as a avatar and ask for free benefits. Keep in mind, this is the internet. Nothing here is reality. Only in the real world will the power between your legs work. Here you are whatever you say you are. Welcome down the rabbit hole..........

4 Jan 2015

Quote by NudistRob
Quote by simplyjohn

Sounds like one huge pain in the ass. still all linked and 100% traceable. As an owner of a site, you know it is. I.P addresses and everything. These fees and membership levels are designed to create a fear of loss. As if you have created something tangible. The more elaborate your page and friends are the more you will pay to keep it. You will see this on the CIA's created facebook soon as well. Soon people will actually PAY to tell on themselves. Nice!

I assume you never buy anything with a credit or debit card. Your payment transactions here are as safe as they are when used elsewhere.

4 Jan 2015

Quote by NudistRob
As a footnote: I was a member of AFF for many years, and despite them turning it into a money making machine they at least gave free gold membership to certain single girls under their 'Icebreaker' offer. This was on the basis that it was single girls who drew in the full fee paying guys. (sexist i know, but hey, a girl has to use any advantages going. Right?.. )Are there any such plans envisaged with the 'New Lush' ?

Reply - Then I will change my user name to Nudist Roberta and use some random girls pic as a avatar and ask for free benefits. Keep in mind, this is the internet. Nothing here is reality. Only in the real world will the power between your legs work. Here you are whatever you say you are. Welcome down the rabbit hole..........

Speechless

4 Jan 2015

Quote by NudistRob
Maybe I'm just plain thick, but where can I find out what the respective 'Benefits' are for each level of Membership? (i.e. Gold/silver and bronze)
I am published on this site and read that this guarantees automatic 'Bronze' membership, but there was also a rider saying it depends upon # of stories printed etc. Once again, could someone clarify please?
As a footnote: I was a member of AFF for many years, and despite them turning it into a money making machine they at least gave free gold membership to certain single girls under their 'Icebreaker' offer. This was on the basis that it was single girls who drew in the full fee paying guys. (sexist i know, but hey, a girl has to use any advantages going. Right?.. )Are there any such plans envisaged with the 'New Lush' ?

Reply - Then I will change my user name to Nudist Roberta and use some random girls pic as a avatar and ask for free benefits. Keep in mind, this is the internet. Nothing here is reality. Only in the real world will the power between your legs work. Here you are whatever you say you are. Welcome down the rabbit hole..........

Here ..

https://www.lushstories.com/forum/yaf_postst41205_New-Freemium-Membership-Model-for-2015.aspx

4 Jan 2015

Quote by simplyjohn

I assume you never buy anything with a credit or debit card. Your payment transactions here are as safe as they are when used elsewhere.

"Your payment transactions here are as safe as they are when used elsewhere" This could be its own thread. Spoken in true legalese! This statement should have ended with a question mark? How safe is everywhere? NSA says 98% of all websites and bank accounts are not secured. The statement is circular in nature. Designed to be reassuring without actually making any claim of such or placing any liability on the author. hmmm.......

4 Jan 2015

Quote by NudistRob

"Your payment transactions here are as safe as they are when used elsewhere" This could be its own thread. Spoken in true legalese! This statement should have ended with a question mark? How safe is everywhere? NSA says 98% of all websites and bank accounts are not secured. The statement is circular in nature. Designed to be reassuring without actually making any claim of such or placing any liability on the author. hmmm.......

Sir .. you know your options. I try my best to assist the members as best I can and answer any 'sensible' questions/queries they have but as far as your posts go .. I *give up*. I thought NSA put rockets and stuff into space .. didnt know they were involved in the security of bank accounts.

4 Jan 2015

Quote by simplyjohn

Sir .. you know your options. I try my best to assist the members as best I can and answer any 'sensible' questions/queries they have but as far as your posts go .. I *give up*. I thought NSA put rockets and stuff into space .. didnt know they were involved in the security of bank accounts.

Did you just refer to the NSA as NASA? Oh no you didn't!

How the NSA works - https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/how-it-works

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

4 Jan 2015

Quote by NudistRob
"Your payment transactions here are as safe as they are when used elsewhere" This could be its own thread. Spoken in true legalese! This statement should have ended with a question mark? How safe is everywhere? NSA says 98% of all websites and bank accounts are not secured. The statement is circular in nature. Designed to be reassuring without actually making any claim of such or placing any liability on the author. hmmm.......

Have you stopped crossing streets too just because the world isn't a perfectly safe place and nobody guarantees that you won't be run down by a car? Regaeman Man

4 Jan 2015

Quote by ChrissieLecker

Have you stopped crossing streets too just because the world isn't a perfectly safe place and nobody guarantees that you won't be run down by a car?

Don't be silly. But I look both ways first, right? Taking a calculated and managed risk. Fully knowing all the risks incurred. That crossing that street , if not managed properly could likely end in DEATH! How about you? Feel free to post your credit card info here ...........................................

4 Jan 2015

Quote by simplyjohn

As an author prior to 1/1/15 you have been given a bronze until 2034 .. full stop.

As for the rest here is the announcement with the membership model ..

https://

THANK YOU John for the very simple yet clear clarification.