the "for sales" philosophy

I think a monthly fee for sponsorship isn't the way to go. I think most of the service should be kept free and only involve fees in a sale. At it's worst I'd say a sponsorship should last for at least 6 months, preferably to one year or more. I wouldn't want to see beta turn into more of a commercial site because once monthly fees are started, there will be more expectations... Like new features or convenient features given only to sponsors... Or more exposure only to sponsors. It will go against some of the objectives the upgrade is trying to achieve. So I think sponsorship should remain the same as it is right now, donation based with a little medal or star or what have you... I would suggest however that maybe in order to raise cash, those who do donate should be a featured gallery (looping order). I think that's the best return for those generous enough to donate and I think will encourage more to donate. I don't think it will hurt other galleries that much as it's not like they'll be losing functionality. So keep the functionality available for all RS members regardless of whether they are sponsors or not. Fees/Commissions should be kept strictly for sales. That's just my opinion though.

I don't know where people get these things, so I'm only going to say this one more time.

It'll be free to create and host a gallery. Free to buy things out of the market. Free to chat, post in the forum, use the background gallery, and any number of other resources.

Sponsorships will likely be month-to-month at the sub-10 range. There will be some ability to prepay. Existing sponsors will get some sort of free time in the new system. Completely optional. I don't think anyone should be surprised though if sponsors get preferential treatment. If you find value in the service, become a sponsor.

The reality is that Rubberslug burns hundreds of hours of time and significant amounts of capital. A competitive price quote from a consulting firm would be eye-opening, to say the least.

The trade off to expanding is that some of that needs to come back.

I think it would be great if the "no sales policy" would be overturned and I love the idea of having "for offer or NFS" tags on gallery images.

I wouldn't mind paying monthly for a sponsorship - prepay would be great. I like hajimenokizu's idea of having the sponsor's galleries and only sponsor's galleries featured on the side bar of the front page. And I agree with Jason - RS needs funding. I am just getting into web design right now in senior year of my BFA and I can't believe how much work goes into creating and maintaining a site, not to mention a site like Rubberslug.

But there should definitely be perks to sponsoring - maybe sponsor galleries can be more pimped out (like they get more options for customization etc). Or fun little features get unlocked when you become a sponsor, like you can tag your gallery images with a rating system (5 stars, 4 stars, Kidney cel, etc).

Ah maybe I didn't phrase my thoughts correctly but either way I didn't think that RS will no longer be free. What I am saying is that if there is a monthly fee then the benefits of being a sponsor will have to be defined early on as there will be expectations. Also I think it would be better if there are options to do a monthly or a discounted rate for multiple months.

Definitely agree with KIZU if there is a monthly membership fee then the benefits need to be clearly hammered out. I.e. privileges, awards for referring new users, selling, fining, etc.

We like the idea to repeal the for sale policy. One idea is help raise funds for RS is to allow paid contributing members the ability to donate cels for sale and have the proceeds go directly to RS.

We like how joining, posting, creating a gallery remains free. However, instead of allowing the sale feature to be free for all RSers, how about raising the bar a bit initially only for people who have been past a probation period (say nine months)? The reasoning for this is reduce people just joining RS to pump and dump cels. The same logic would apply to people joining RS just to ask 20 questions, but do not contribute anything (create a gallery) and then poof disappear!

Definitely agree we need a solid tracking feedback system on RS. Star rating 1-5 with required descriptions are good. However not too sure we agree about a LinkedIn type of association and/or linking RS users accounts to live databases such as LinkedIn or Facebook. Some people most certainly will have privacy concerns while others do not mind the convenience of syncing up their RS gallery. Shouldn't we give users (especially paying ones) a choice? Just wanted to raise the concern.

We feel there has to be a better way to authenticate/validate users and after much thought we think adding a credit card (not paypal account) is probably the best way. By doing so it serves a couple of purposes. The first, one day by associating credit cards to all user accounts it will enable RS as it grows to charge/collect memberships, donations, and fines. Second, we completely believe in implementing fines for situations like deadbeat buyers. For example someone places on hold item(s) to buy, then 7 days pass no payment sent and no arrangement is made for delays. Isn't it reasonable to allow RS to fine the irresponsible user? Proceeds would go to RS. As for the amount perhaps a sliding scale could work depending on how long they've been a paying member and whether or not they have ever sold or bought on RS.

Also for those unsure of fines, isn't it true no one appreciates their time being wasted? Since no one likes people wasting their time and jerking them around, we need some form of accountability don't we? For example, we all get charged late fees by banks, credit card companies, lenders, utility companies, etc it only makes sense RS holds users accountable. And for users who are minors RS should require an adult with a working credit card add their card on file.

Thanks for listening. We know some of these ideas may not be popular but it definitely moves RS towards a viable business model.