SHAWN & All members - Please read

Superfamifreak · Dec 22, 2004

Whilst being in chat, I have noticed quite a few members becoming worried with the state of the Neo scene and the fact that with no new titles coming out and the obvious slump in sales and values, that this could all come to an end and the forums shut down.

I appreciate that the forums cost a lot to run - $10,000 p/a if I remember rightly, and this is a hell of a lot of money for someone to fork out to keep this community running.

Maybe if the end is approaching and Shawn can't fund the forums by himself, how about the following idea?

A yearly subscription fee.

Paying maybe $10-$20 per year to have access to the forums would be something I'd be willing to do, as not only do I use the buying & selling forums, but also I speak to a lot of decent people here in chat.

The 2 obvious advantages to this would be

1) The forums and best online community would keep running.

2) The subscription fee would help deter spammers, fake accounts and the French.

I know this may seem a bit of a dramatic thing to post, but even though I have a great social life and do know what the real world is, I think the internet would be a much lesser place without ng.com.

This is where the true fans belong. Let's keep it that way.

FTL · Dec 22, 2004

Prices of RARE games are on the rise.
Not only US carts but jap games as well,like Blazing star or other good titles.
Don't be fooled by fears of some pople,collectors are out there looking to take advantage of the situation if someone sold all his carts.

Neo geo WILL always be the king system for collectors:
-arcade loved classic games
-no real good alternative system to collect

Buying from the neostore would be a great way to help the forums.

Kiel · Dec 22, 2004

This is really the only place I go to on the internet. I would always be willing to help out if it came down to it.

Robert · Dec 22, 2004

If a yearly fee can help to make the board survive, why not? let see what Shawn is thinking about that.

bulletnyourass · Dec 22, 2004

I'd be down for that. I have met some cool people and gotten some great deals here. My experiences here are worth the price of admission.

Phillip

P00t · Dec 22, 2004

Count me in, I'd be willing to contribute costs as long as we keep this place running.
Fair enough we have the spammers, fake accounts and Jackasses, but we are like family.

Ive also met some great people here, including ones Ive fell out with and made up with, which gos to show there are some great people here.

anyway Shawn, give us a shout if you need some help.

RESPECT
Brett

FrostbayneAucti · Dec 22, 2004

Maybe it would be free, but you had to drop the 10 yearly for the selling forums? Either way I'd be in.

ericb · Dec 22, 2004

It's interesting because I've only very recently been posting on the boards here, but already I know that I would be more than willing to pay a yearly fee for the service to continue. My only fear is that the fee would in fact cause the community to dwindle even further than it already has, but I guess there are two sides to any argument.

Honestly, the use of the selling/buying boards would be enough to warrent a yearly fee of $10-20 (although I haven't used them yet because of my financial situation, I can see myself making good use of them within the next year).

Jedah Doma · Dec 22, 2004

Not too bad of an idea, but it could rock the boat a bit and leave some members out in he cold. Although for any owner of a Neo Geo, 5-10 bucks isn't much compared to an AES or MVS cart.

Superfamifreak · Dec 22, 2004

Jedah Doma said:
Not too bad of an idea, but it could rock the boat a bit and leave some members out in he cold. Although for any owner of a Neo Geo, 5-10 bucks isn't much compared to an AES or MVS cart.

To be honest, if I was to pay say, $20 per year, that's nothing to me. It's just one less afternoon in the pub, or a couple less packets of cigs. Nothing at all really when you think of it over a year.

Jedah Doma · Dec 22, 2004

Superfamifreak said:
To be honest, if I was to pay say, $20 per year, that's nothing to me. It's just one less afternoon in the pub, or a couple less packets of cigs. Nothing at all really when you think of it over a year.

Agreed, especially the price that smokes are these days. Who knows, in a few months you might have to put them on lay-a-way.

P00t · Dec 22, 2004

ericb said:
It's interesting because I've only very recently been posting on the boards here, but already I know that I would be more than willing to pay a yearly fee for the service to continue. My only fear is that the fee would in fact cause the community to dwindle even further than it already has, but I guess there are two sides to any argument.

Honestly, the use of the selling/buying boards would be enough to warrent a yearly fee of $10-20 (although I haven't used them yet because of my financial situation, I can see myself making good use of them within the next year).

Paying a $10-20 dollar fee compared to listing items on ebay just pisses all over what youd actually save on ebay alone in the selling forums.
I admit im actually not here just for the selling forums, I actually enjoy the riff raff of other topics not just the neo. Although I have sold enough bits and bobs that proberly saved me well over $200 on ebay listing fee's.

P00t · Dec 22, 2004

Superfamifreak said:
To be honest, if I was to pay say, $20 per year, that's nothing to me. It's just one less afternoon in the pub, or a couple less packets of cigs. Nothing at all really when you think of it over a year.

Also I must stress that all these Fake scammer/Spammer accounts will be dropped, whos going to keep making fake accounts for $20 a pop when I suss them out to be a scammer within 30 seconds of posting.

Ackula · Dec 22, 2004

I'm new to these forums, but not to the Neo. That being said, I'd gladly pay a yearly fee to use these forums, I have already, in a short amount of time gotten some great deals from some great people via the selling forums...that alone would be worth the price of admission. Not to mention all the drama +1 that I like to read..even though I rarely participate in it heh.

pretas · Dec 22, 2004

THE VOICE OF REASON: Listen up

the Neo market is dead already- it has been dead since 2000 when SNk really croaked and shrunk a LOT before they went under. Really by '97 or so the Neo was so niche it was not funny.

when you stop seeing noobs and stop seeing the established names then it's dead. people still collect saturn or super famicom and they're both dead. they have been so for years. when a system dies, that shakes the suckers out.

With our little comminuty, they suckers were shaken out years ago. what's left are a hardcore group whom now have less to TALK ABOUt b/c the system is dead and now have more time to BUY AND PLAY their games.

if the Neo's final demise has you worried, then you are a straggler and need to get on the bus with the other people that ditched the Neos years ago- go get an Xbox or similar, you'll be happier.

For the rest of us, we're all still buying and all still playing.

Looking at eBay, there TONS of stuff for sale as always and the prices there have not dropped. If anything the mid to rare games cost MORE not less.

As for this forum's future, that's another question that only the admin can answer.

Edit: There are almost 9000 screen names registered. If 25% are fake/douplicates of old members that leaves 6750 real names and that many people whom might own or at least like Neo Geo. That sound like a lot, btu consider that Sony sold 20+ millions Playstations in the US alone. It would be hard for the Neo community to get any smaller.

Superfamifreak · Dec 22, 2004

pretas said:
if the Neo's final demise has you worried, then you are a straggler and need to get on the bus with the other people that ditched the Neos years ago- go get an Xbox or similar, you'll be happier.

The Neo's demise is not something that worries me. Yes it's been in decline since the late 90's, but you have to remember, it always has and always will be a niche system. I'm still buying games for it because I love those games. I wouldn't be happy playing KoF or Baseball Stars 2 on an XBox for one simple reason. It wouldn't feel right. No home gaming experience comes close to the one SNK delivered for well over a decade.

What I am worried about is if there is a major crash, what will Shawn do with all that stock if he can't sell it? How will he fund the forums?

Those that wouldn't want to pay a fee obviously don't care much for this place and they are the ones who should 'get on the bus'. Fair enough I use the selling forum and chat more than anything else here, but now I've started posting more on other sections of the community.

As you can see, there are members here that are willing to pay for these forums if it came to it.

If say, 150 very active posters all donated $20 yearly, that's $3000, 30% of what would be needed. I'm not saying it will happen, in fact I'm hoping it doesn't, but it just shows that this place means something to us. More than just a place to post, it's like a massive dysfunctional worldwide family and we want to keep it that way.

FrostbayneAucti · Dec 22, 2004

One thing though, if I pay for this board, I want updated price guides. I hate not knowing the baseline cost for stuff.

SouthtownKid · Dec 22, 2004

Not to sound like a cheap bastard, but where the hell did all this come from? Why don't you wait until he actually has a problem before you start volunteering everyone's money? I know "$20 is nothing" to a lot of you, but it's not to everyone, and all this patting yourselves on the back and talking about how you're willing to sacrifice, just makes the people to whom $20 is not nothing look like assholes.

I'm not saying I wouldn't help contribute -- I love this place. But you're practically putting Shawn in a position where he'd almost have to feel stupid not to ask for your money after all that talk. I trust that if Shawn ever were to get in financial trouble over the site, he wouldn't just shut the place down... he'd bring it up to us, and allow us the opportunity to help. But he hasn't said anything. For all you know, everything is fine on his end.

Not to mention, if you start charging for this place, it really will be the end of any new blood. I know everyone feels that they were the last good member to join, but we do get some good new members from time to time. It's just that since they don't act like spaztics, people forget they haven't been here a long time. Charging would be a huge deterrent for potential new members who wanted to try the place out.

Also, unless you came up with a scheme to get Vihn to charge for his site, too, you might cause a mass exodus from here to his free site. Well, maybe a minor mass exodus.

Maybe charging a fee to use the selling forums wouldn't be a bad idea, but I wouldn't feel right pushing for that, because I never sell anything. It would be like a 70 year-old man voting to reinstate the draft... Easy for him to say the draft is a good idea. I'd have to let the actual sellers decide if that was a fair idea...

...IF Shawn is in financial trouble! Otherwise, take it easy. You sound like the people who taped plastic over their windows after 9/11 to keep the anthrax out.

Just trying to present the other side of your suggestion.

P00t · Dec 22, 2004

No Offence, but your just trying to bring all the negatives out of the woodwork.

Im with shawn making all this happen, and with a great reason he made it work.
He may as well just give all the titles away from the neostore than pay for this webspace right now and the fact that you dismiss the $20 fee if "It comes to it" is nothing compared to Shawns or even the mods time they put into this for us.

You posted this so its a "Point" to say you wanted to post.

Your opinion counts, but we wont see you on here if it comes to this.

SouthtownKid said:
Not to sound like a cheap bastard, but where the hell did all this come from? Why don't you wait until he actually has a problem before you start volunteering everyone's money? I know "$20 is nothing" to a lot of you, but it's not to everyone, and all this patting yourselves on the back and talking about how you're willing to sacrifice, just makes the people to whom $20 is not nothing look like assholes.

I'm not saying I wouldn't help contribute -- I love this place. But you're practically putting Shawn in a position where he'd almost have to feel stupid not to ask for your money after all that talk. I trust that if Shawn ever were to get in financial trouble over the site, he wouldn't just shut the place down... he'd bring it up to us, and allow us the opportunity to help. But he hasn't said anything. For all you know, everything is fine on his end.

Not to mention, if you start charging for this place, it really will be the end of any new blood. I know everyone feels that they were the last good member to join, but we do get some good new members from time to time. It's just that since they don't act like spaztics, people forget they haven't been here a long time. Charging would be a huge deterrent for potential new members who wanted to try the place out.

Also, unless you came up with a scheme to get Vihn to charge for his site, too, you might cause a mass exodus from here to his free site. Well, maybe a minor mass exodus.

Maybe charging a fee to use the selling forums wouldn't be a bad idea, but I wouldn't feel right pushing for that, because I never sell anything. It would be like a 70 year-old man voting to reinstate the draft... Easy for him to say the draft is a good idea. I'd have to let the actual sellers decide if that was a fair idea...

...IF Shawn is in financial trouble! Otherwise, take it easy. You sound like the people who taped plastic over their windows after 9/11 to keep the anthrax out.

Just trying to present the other side of your suggestion.

P00t · Dec 22, 2004

Currently active viewers:
Snake-Eyes, Amano Jacu, Cassius, FrostbayneAucti, kobylka68, Shawn, SouthtownKid, Superfamifreak

Come on Shawn, whats on your mind?

Big Shady · Dec 22, 2004

FTL said:
Buying from the neostore would be a great way to help the forums.

Yes, support the Neostore and their awesome service
:buttrock:

Superfamifreak · Dec 22, 2004

Snake-Eyes said:
Currently active viewers:
Snake-Eyes, Amano Jacu, Cassius, FrostbayneAucti, kobylka68, Shawn, SouthtownKid, Superfamifreak

Come on Shawn, whats on your mind?

+1

Seriously though, this wasn't meant to become 'teh DRAMA' or to scare monger, I just think that it's an option because let's face it, even though it may not be now, or next week, or next year, at some point, Shawn will have to shut these forums down as the Neo Store can't fund this place forever.

Athlon64 · Dec 22, 2004

@Superfamifreak

Hey, good thread it does shake a lot of people and make them "value" the site more but I think it would be better if you shot Shawn an e-mail regarding this before it was posted. I think if the site is in need, he(Shawn) will and must be the first to cry out for help.

Just my 2 cents

Oh and one more thing, a monthly/yearly fee is OK with me if it's needed.

SouthtownKid · Dec 22, 2004

Hey, Snake-Eyes: If you read my post without the anger, you'll see I said I would contribute. ALL I'm saying is let Shawn ask for help if he needs it, then we can decide what needs to be done. I didn't "dismiss" the $20 fee, I just tried to present some of the possible consequenses you may not have thought of.

"Bringing negatives out of the woodwork"? It's called thinking through both sides of a situation. If you don't think about what could go wrong, or how things might go differently than you expect, you're asking for trouble.

"If it comes to it." EXACTLY. But what makes you think it has come to that? Trust Shawn not to keep us in the dark if there ever is trouble. I really would like to hear what he has to say. Is there trouble?

Snake-Eyes said:
No Offence, but your just trying to bring all the negatives out of the woodwork.

Im with shawn making all this happen, and with a great reason he made it work.
He may as well just give all the titles away from the neostore than pay for this webspace right now and the fact that you dismiss the $20 fee if "It comes to it" is nothing compared to Shawns or even the mods time they put into this for us.

You posted this so its a "Point" to say you wanted to post.

Your opinion counts, but we wont see you on here if it comes to this.

P00t · Dec 22, 2004

SouthtownKid said:
Hey, Snake-Eyes: If you read my post without the anger, you'll see I said I would contribute. ALL I'm saying is let Shawn ask for help if he needs it, then we can decide what needs to be done. I didn't "dismiss" the $20 fee, I just tried to present some of the possible consequenses you may not have thought of.

"Bringing negatives out of the woodwork"? It's called thinking through both sides of a situation. If you don't think about what could go wrong, or how things might go differently than you expect, you're asking for trouble.

"If it comes to it." EXACTLY. But what makes you think it has come to that? Trust Shawn not to keep us in the dark if there ever is trouble. I really would like to hear what he has to say. Is there trouble?

+ 1

No anger really. Im actually making my point to your point, what made you think I was Angry? I would of Typed in "CAPITALS" and sent you a Death threat lols.

Anyway Whatever

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