Desperation Move
An AFF member posted in Club 7 today that he was no longer able to access chat rooms without getting a pop-up message prompting him to either upgrade to gold or fork over 50 points.
Other people stated that they weren't having that issue, however a knowledgable member reminded everyone that the site tends to do a gradual rollout of changes like this so it could be 25% of people are seeing it and the other 75% will get it later.
Another member just chimed in,
Until just moments ago,,, EVERYTHING was going,,, Great, going as normal...
So, I finish up on the Community Side and go to check on the Dating Side,,,
I had noticed a few minor changes earlier, the searches were set up differently. But When I go back a few ago,,, EVERYTHING is a Pop-Up,,, Pay for This, Pay for That....
$14.95 to see My Hotlist
$14.95 to see Who's viewed me
$14.95 to see My Friends
Upgrade To Gold OR 50 points per comment In ANY Blog Or Group Chat Room
They must be desperate to get people to upgrade. I'm guessing that instead what will happen is people leaving the site (and a great reduction in discourse on the blogs if people end up having to spend 50 points every time they make a comment).
Time to start giving away some of my 17,000 some points, I guess.
I knew they were going to introduce new membership packages, but as usual, implementation leaves much to be desired. I swear, they really need to get feedback from Club7 before they start implementing things. Who the fuck wants to pay to see lists that have no meaning in the first place?
ReplyDeleteI rarely if ever look at who's viewed me. Maybe a couple times a year for who's hotlisted and flirted me, when I'm feeling really bored. I suppose someone who's new and still thinking there's a chance they might meet someone might be anxious to see who might be interested in them. Probably not $15 worth of anxious though.
DeleteEven if I were a horny dude, I wouldn’t pay for something so meaningless. The management got my 2 cents on their brilliant idea.
ReplyDeleteI knew they’d start charging in the blogs. Though I did think they’d charge to blog.
ReplyDeleteLogan told me about the rest of the changes earlier. It sounds like desperation to both of us.
Guess the court case is going badly, since they’re getting so desperate?
DeleteYes, jajo did a post speculating that mgmt is trying their best to wreck things before they have to turn the company back over...
DeleteThe Dispute Resolution got pushed to June, so we shall see what transpires.
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DeleteYou have got to be kidding me..Jesus Murphy, having to pay to blog or comment on them? If I had not been banned, I would have left the site on my own instead of having to pay to blog or comment. My money and time is better spent elsewhere in my real life for things that matter the most. Desperate indeed and makes me relieved I am not on that site anymore..It is a sinking ship and so hope those in charge go down with it..
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if people have to spend points to post a blog, I haven't seen any comments about that so far. But if folks have to spend points to comment, I'm guessing comments will pretty much dry up. And that's the part of blogging that's fun, the conversation in the comments.
DeleteNow a standard member, I can confirm that I don't have to use points to leave a comment on a blog post. I haven't submitted a blog post yet so I'm not so sure about that one but people only seem to be complaining about either having to use points or upgrade to gold for using the chatrooms.
DeleteI have off-line messages now from those who now do to state otherwise....
DeleteAre you saying standard members either have to use points or upgrade to gold to blog?
DeleteAs vagoo pointed out, the site tends to roll out changes like this incrementally - like maybe 25% of the userbase at a time. So spunky, just because you don't have to spend points to leave a comment right now, doesn't mean it'll be the same for you next week.
DeleteSOME people have reported having to pay 50 points to leave a blog comment. Others aren't seeing it yet.
I follow you. It just gets worse on AFF. Things seem bad with the site financially, but maybe that's Jon's plan all along.
DeleteLike you, I have loads of points. But as a standard member, I'm not in a position to give them away as I can't view profiles.
My latest reply, as mailed, is probably in your spam folder.
DeleteThe site's approach smacks of a little desperation. I suspect far more standard members will not upgrade and maybe leave than upgrade.
ReplyDeleteI think so too. People perhaps would pay if they felt there was a viable chance of meeting someone on the site. It's doubtful that they'll pay for "entertainment" type activities like chat rooms and leaving blog comments.
DeleteMyBaffies has just announced his departure from blogland. And BigWilly is threatening to do the same.
DeleteWhen it comes to those who threaten and actually Do It, there is a difference..
DeleteAs for Mr.Baffles announcing his departure, it means nothing until de-activated entirely or in our case banned /exiled..Actions in a few cases, speak so much louder than words as we all know. This is a circumstance when it does.. One must , Put their money where their Mouth Is......
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DeleteI think it's not so easy to judge people how they withdraw from AFF.
DeleteIt would have been fantastic if everyone on AFF deactivated their accounts en masse on hearing about our bans. But that was never going to happen. We're not that important. Also, it was useful to have friends on AFF to report back to us when banned from AFF.
All that's happened, as far as I can tell, is that blogland has become quieter and others have stepped up to fill the vacuum created by our bans, and when I say others have stepped up I just mean there's more space for other bloggers to fill.
I don't blame anyone for leaving a skeletal profile in place, just in case these changes get reversed or something changes after the court case gets resolved. I was originally planning on deleting once I get my blog cleaned out. Then I started thinking about my username becoming available for someone else to use, and I don't really like the thought of that haha! So I suspect I might end up keeping a minimal profile saying something like, "move on, nothing to see here".
DeleteAll good points you both raise here. If we all thought the exact same on issues and topics, this world would be a boring place..
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