SW goes PAY! Better Make Some Room Here!

[Red Mtn Riders]

It is without a doubt a very sad day. Snowest was an excellent resource fueled by a great bunch of sledders. I am one of the angry for sure. I just think it is plain wrong for SW to profit off the backs of its members. They have offered no added value. They have simply stolen what was painstakingly accumulated over the years by good loyal people.

I have been through transitions like this in the past, on a slightly smaller scale but some concept. In the end, the vast majority of the good people found a new home, like the one I found here. The pay site morphed into something I do not find interesting. SW will still be there, it will just be different, and unfortunately, regardless of the propoganda being spread there, it will not be for the better.

Thanks Snow and Mud! Thank you for providing us a free forum in which we can share our passions for outdoor playtime! I hope the traffic increases in a huge way and allows you to attract new advertisers and make money to futher support this place. I hope that the greed never overtakes you like it did SW.

 

[Cyle]

I stop going to SW the day then announced it would eventully become pay, don't miss it one bit. SW went to sh*t a long time ago and become nothing but a bunch of 10 year olds bickering. Most of the knowledgeable people left to or just stopped posting. All the good information is in the old threads.

 

[Modman]

Yes I don't think I will stop yet?It does bring me down though seeing so many angry people.
Both of these sites are where I spend my time and well I am a creature of habit.
It is real sad though having friends leave,so angry...but when things are good I really enjoy it,hmmmm,confused, and at a loss of words!

Dave, we spoke about this and I want you to know that I did not leave SW because of the moderators, they are the nuts and bolts keeping things moderately (see pun<<?? LOL) held together over there. I'm not angry. I'm dissappointed in SW, but not angry. The users made that forum what it was, Harris was only the host organism, but did little to create "life" there. In the end, "someone" saw an opportunity to come in and pilage and plunder the success of the members, once the forum had grown to considerable size over the past few years. I've shared some great moments, learned about the death of friends, and met some really nice people there. That's what it was all about. Not "chat boxes", fancy classified ads or bigger avatars. Built by the people, for the people, and all about sledding. Not a hair salon.

Your insight helped my finalize my decision. I would support you being a moderator over here on Snow and Mud if you ever apply and can consider this my nomination for you, I think you have done a great job on SW in the riding section, you were open, non-judgemental and fair to all my requests but unfortunately, you can't fix their fundamental site problems.

My choice to not pay, and its not about the $$$ at all, is simply based on the ethics and principles that they built their integrity on. After repeated direct questions about the upgrades and site becoming a user pay system, the answer was always "No". Less than 1 month later (magically....) it was moving to the user pay. This is how they chose to run their business model - lie to the users, force changes on them, and then tell them they will now have to pay for the changes that they did not request. They knew what the reaction was going to be if they asked people if they wanted upgrades that they would then have to pay for - the unanimous response would have been "Hell NO!". As stated, someone created a job for themselves by "upselling" their idea to parent company.

They tried to make it look appealing with a cheap subscription cost, but can you really trust them this cost won't "magically" increase in the future? With all the other great sites out there, I see no reason to give them a second chance to lie to me. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice....

If this was a grocery store or a car dealership, I wouldn't conduct repeat business there, and so I choose to not allow SW access to my knowledge. I realize that I run the risk of depriving myself of the knowledge on SW, but there are other people out there with that knowledge as well (more than one way to skin a cat) and I'm comfortable that those sledders will eventually switch sites as well and make their knowledge available to me and others, if they are not on multiple sites already.

 

[Modman]

It is without a doubt a very sad day. Snowest was an excellent resource fueled by a great bunch of sledders. I am one of the angry for sure. I just think it is plain wrong for SW to profit off the backs of its members. They have offered no added value. They have simply stolen what was painstakingly accumulated over the years by good loyal people.

I have been through transitions like this in the past, on a slightly smaller scale but some concept. In the end, the vast majority of the good people found a new home, like the one I found here. The pay site morphed into something I do not find interesting. SW will still be there, it will just be different, and unfortunately, regardless of the propoganda being spread there, it will not be for the better.

Thanks Snow and Mud! Thank you for providing us a free forum in which we can share our passions for outdoor playtime! I hope the traffic increases in a huge way and allows you to attract new advertisers and make money to futher support this place. I hope that the greed never overtakes you like it did SW.

Well said!

 

[paulw22]

I like this site better anyway, less BS

 

[stripe]

it is a sad Day for all.Not just the members but the sport in general that we are all so passionate about. snowest has been a part of are lives for a long time.but they have decided that making money off from us the members and are sport. is more important to them then we are.if snowest Reilly cared about are sport or the members they simply would not be trying to make money off from them i will not support them in there effort's to tarnish a great sport with there greed.

 

[smokindave]

confused,sad and at a loss of words,I enjoy my job but...the anger people are feeling is making it tough

 

[Depsnolvr]

I have been a member on Snowest for years, updating the Valemount sections as I could. I personally will not be paying for a membership, if my association wants to thats up to them. What will happen when more people stop updating conditions etc, that was the best part of the site IMO.

I was a productive member of that site, informing of the conditions in our area. After all of my time and contributions, im kinda ticked to have gotten a warning message stating "eventually" then I go to update Valemount and presto, sorry not allowed.

Thanks Ron and the rest of the crew around here for providing a great site !

 

[steel town]

Just got my you need to pay to read posts b/s, oh well, I only have 2 sites to be addicted to now....

 

[1ABunch]

i think its wrong to pay for something others give for free

 

[paulw22]

I have been a member on Snowest for years, updating the Valemount sections as I could. I personally will not be paying for a membership, if my association wants to thats up to them. What will happen when more people stop updating conditions etc, that was the best part of the site IMO.

I was a productive member of that site, informing of the conditions in our area. After all of my time and contributions, im kinda ticked to have gotten a warning message stating "eventually" then I go to update Valemount and presto, sorry not allowed.

Thanks Ron and the rest of the crew around here for providing a great site !

I think your correct, if they are charging money for us to view what you have to say, then in my opinon they should cut you a cheque based on the value of your input. I also think that they are receiving money from sponsors on the site and that should cover there operating costs, end of story. Think of it like the web, there is all kinds of information to look at and learn from, if it was a wise and profitable desision for Google to charge for each search, dont you think they would of done it long ago. Something tells me the people over at Google are a tad bit smarter than those at Harris Publishing. Sorry for the vent, I liked that site, but not any more.

 

[stripe]

Welcome to snowandmud guys and thank you for not letting this thread turn in to a big bashing fest you guys are great and we are glad we can give you a free place to call home pass the word to others and lets make this place better then snowest ever was

thanks stripe

 

[hilinerider]

Just got my you need to pay to read posts b/s, oh well, I only have 2 sites to be addicted to now....

same here, i will just be spending more time here and at BCR

 

[Puba]

From me.... Thanks to Ron and all the mods at snow and mud... This is the only site I have known and the only site I am interested in. I've made some really good friend since I have been on this site, found lots of great information and heck if you need advice everyone will jump in.

If more MOD's are needed I nominate BOGGER........ Think of it, all the stuff he's learned from being pm'ed by so many mod's it would be a waste to not use that training to your advantage.................. BOGGER FOR MOD.........

 

[bbtoys]

sites like this are not cheap to run and i know that Ron pulls $$$ out of his pocket each month to keep it going. where does the $$ come from if he can't continue to pay each month, tons of members means that more server upgrading has to be done. we don't have an advertising promotor to try and get more of that. can't afford to pay someone to do that.
we have always said that this would be a free site but holy crap, how much in the hole are we going to keep going without looking at another option to help with the costs. i know we don't want to make a ton of cash off everyone but it does cost money to operate. i know that if it comes down to it i will gladly pay a small yearly fee to keep us up and running.
it has not been discussed, but to hear Ron say that he had to pull money out of his pocket again because we didn't get any new advertisers again this month can only go on for so long.

 

[the450kid]

Thanks Ron for keeping a great thing going here! its appreciated by all on here!

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Translation - "We want your money because our other ventures aren't making enough money to pay for the corporate heads"

Dear SnoWest Member:

As you may recall, on November 11th, Harris Publishing, owner of SnoWest Magazine and the SnoWest Forums issued a letter outlining their future plans for the SnoWest Forums (Letter to all member from Harris Publishing (SNOWEST FORUMS: Letter to all Members from Harris Publishing - SnoWest Forum)). A major part of those plans was the introduction of a "Paid Premium Membership" category. At the time that letter was issued there was no solid date to begin the new paid membership status, rather they laid out a series of goals that they wanted to accomplish before that would happen. When those goals were met, they would begin the introduction of paid memberships.


On February 1st, we quietly added a link to all member's menus that took them to a new page where they could sign up to become a premium member. On the black menu bar that goes across your screen is a link, at the far left that says *USER-CP*, when you click on that link a small list will appear, the top of which says *UPGRADE TO PREMIUM*. We did this quietly because we wanted to have time to test and debug the system before thousands of members upgraded all at once. During the last week a few hundred members have gone through the system and allowed us the time we needed to get the bugs worked out. We are now announcing this option to all SnoWest members and encouraging you to take advantage of it.


Blah Blah Blah Blah

 

[Puba]

So how about this then, why don't those that wish to help out try and assist with recruiting a vendor to advertise on the site. If everyone here tries to drum up one supporting vendor to advertise that would help out allot. And those that wish to make a personal financial donation (those that can afford it or want to) make one. It's kind of paying it forward so we can all have fun on the site without having to become a pay per use site and we all help Ron with his dream of keeping this site open to all. Personally, I for one would make a financial contribution to a cause like that. :d

sites like this are not cheap to run and i know that Ron pulls $$$ out of his pocket each month to keep it going. where does the $$ come from if he can't continue to pay each month, tons of members means that more server upgrading has to be done. we don't have an advertising promotor to try and get more of that. can't afford to pay someone to do that.
we have always said that this would be a free site but holy crap, how much in the hole are we going to keep going without looking at another option to help with the costs. i know we don't want to make a ton of cash off everyone but it does cost money to operate. i know that if it comes down to it i will gladly pay a small yearly fee to keep us up and running.
it has not been discussed, but to hear Ron say that he had to pull money out of his pocket again because we didn't get any new advertisers again this month can only go on for so long.

 

[Bogger]

Send me a cheque..... I'll make sure Ron gets it....

Should be a lot easier to attract vendors now with the numbers increasing as they are...

So how about this then, why don't those that wish to help out try and assist with recruiting a vendor to advertise on the site. If everyone here tries to drum up one supporting vendor to advertise that would help out allot. And those that wish to make a personal financial donation (those that can afford it or want to) make one. It's kind of paying it forward so we can all have fun on the site without having to become a pay per use site and we all help Ron with his dream of keeping this site open to all. Personally, I for one would make a financial contribution to a cause like that. :d

 

[jbb]

whats snowest? is that like a pay porn site?