Reply To: Is more than the price of a cup of coffee too much? (title amended see within)

[angelicdespot 4689xp 4]

I really appreciate the respect for the community shown by the BoW / OTT team wanting to avoid price increases and diversifying your income streams.

That said, you guys have been really key to my hobby enjoyment for many years and I would like to be able to pay you a bit more. £5 a month is very affordable, and I’d rather do this than make one-off donations. Partly because I know that charities etc. much prefer reliable income to unpredicted donations and I’m assuming it’s the same for a business with fixed costs too, and partly because it’s easier for me. I would be happier knowing that I was steadily paying a bit more, month after month, contributing to something very important to me.

If you feel that now is the wrong time / the wrong message to even be telling people you’re introducing a new payment option (and I get why you’d be concerned about this, even if i don’t think anyone would be worried by it), you could make the change and not even announce it. Just let the option spread by word of mouth among the community. Let’s face it, it’s probably those of us who are most regular who’d want to do it anyway.

Last point: I would very much prefer not to receive anything extra for paying more. I’ve no objection to you selling branded merch, etc. for people who want to show support and/or who want something ‘extra’, but I don’t like the idea of different classes of membership. I don’t think anyone paying more should even have an identifying mark in their profile or signature. I would like to pay a bit more and I’d like others to be able to pay a bit more, but I wouldn’t like to contribute to anyone feeling that there differently valued kinds of membership.