Can anyone explain the Moot?

[BlackBat242]

It was the T20-centric focus of the Moot that turned me away.

Since I wasn't ever going to buy anything for T20, that meant that a 5% (iirc) discount on QLI webstore purchases and access and input to playtest files were worthless to me.

That left:

A title of Nobility attached to your name on your account here.
Cool, but essentially meaningless.


A CotI Blog aka Travellog.

I don't do Blogs, so... zilch value.


A bigger PM account, 50 stored messages instead of 10.

I don't PM people very often, nor do I get many PMs, so I've never come close to hitting the lower limit.


A private forum (The Moot Spire).

How special. Why?
Anything I want kept private I'll PM the intended recipient, anything else everyone can read.


Personalized custom Avatar privileges.

Nice, but not worth spending for.


Library Data (largely replaced by the Wiki stuff), a TAS News Archive, a calendar function, and some other small perks. Some eventually made board wide without subscription (like the Image Gallery*), some lost/damaged in the various board upgrades.

* might still have some Moot added functions, like Album creation, I'm not sure

Do any of these this still exist, and what do they really do?
Can they be returned to all of us?


Basically, there is nothing there for me.

One other reason to join: it pays to keep the board operating.

If I want to contribute to that, I'll PM the admin and ask for PayPal instructions or a mailing address for the money order.


Taking things away from the general population to try to coerce payments is more akin to extortion than camaraderie... it'll just piss me off and make certain I won't ever make that support donation.


Make the board more useful to everyone, and more welcoming, and you'll get my help when you need it.

The Moot always seemed an elitist "we're better than you common scum" thing anyway, appealing mostly to the snobs among us.

Says the Scottish/American commoner. {no reason to dislike "upper class high society", no... none at all}

 

[far-trader]

So you don't do customer reward programs BlackBat? That' more how I've always seen the Moot subscription deal. Sign up, pay membership fee, get rewards. Not a crippleware free board vs full function paid board. Not (by a long shot) any snobbery flaunting put down to anyone who doesn't want to sign up. Mainly, as many said when it was first suggested, just a way to donate to the site upkeep. In fact I seem to recall it was born from people asking if they could donate, or saying they would if there was a way. Hunter thought such donations should be rewarded, I still think they should but I'd support the site anyway (as I have even with little if any bonus in it the last couple years). I know several members who signed up and rarely post, and likely never used the bonuses. I presume it was because they enjoyed reading the posts (most of which are on the open boards) and saw it as simply a donation. I guess what I'm beating around the bush at is why you wouldn't simply use the Moot subscription as the way to donate if you want to instead of going to the extra effort of contacting the Admin to donate via PayPal? Of course you'd have to see the board as it is worthy of supporting with a donation, and I hope it will become such for you.

As for the T20/QLI centric nature, that is of course gone (or soon to be) under the new management, so at least one sticking point for you will be rendered... Moot.

 

[aramis]

Originally, the Moot was for T20 supplemental materials early review drafts, T5 playtest, and some "let's run this by others" discussions.

It was the pool from which further playtesters were to be drawn.

The PM issue was one of Hunter only allowed 10 PM's... but when enough moot members asked, Hunter made it a moot benefit. (as a mod, I often run across the 50 PM limit and then some...)

If you want to contribute financially to the BBS, moot membership is the way it's done. At least, to date. You don't have to use that title you just bought...

If you need more than 10 PM's, moot membership allows 50. generally prevents most of the PM-Spammers. Non-moderators probably will find 50 plenty.

 

[Cryton]

A fairly cool way to show ones support for the board.

Its easy, and I just did :devil:

 

[MJD]

The Moot used to offer some benefits to QLI customers, such as the discount and the opportunity to look over playtest files and the like. There were also some articles in there, with the intent of having quite a lot. That never really reached its intended target.

The Moot's purpose was originally to generate revenue (to pay for the board or whatever else; it was a revenue stream for QLI and could be used for any purpose, like any other) by offering a number of fairly small benefits plus the chance to be part of the 'inner circle'. I recall a conversation about the nature of fans and fandom; it seemed likely that Moot membmership would be popular.

At present, there's not much to the Moot. My own articles have been removed for reasons that I won't discuss here, the Imperial Noble title is a plus if that's your thing but there's not much else to it. (BTW: my own Moot membership is not an endorsement of the Moot, it was granted as a courtesy to allow me to verify that my work had been removed from the files section). However, there are plans afoot (I have heard; I'm not party to inside information) to do things with the Moot.

Presumably there will be playtest documents and articles for Moot members in the future, like there used to be. If the content is good enough then membership might be worth considering. However, last time around the Moot-articles thing ran into a problem (and this I do know about because I was Line Editor for the company who then owned the boards).

The problem with Moot articles was that the same amount of writing time could be spent on a product which would then be sold. This raised the question of whether it was worth more to write Moot articles that would be available only to a segment of the board membership, or to write product instead. Which would generate more revenue? Finding a balance was something of a problem.

This is something the board owners might not have encountered yet - it wasn't immediately apparent the first time around. Presumably a solution can and will be found that will make the Moot worthwhile.

Of course, there will always be fans who are happy to pay for the title and to chuck some money in the direction of FFE. For them, the question is academic. They'll join anyway. Solutions to the content problem will determine whether or not membership is seen as worthwhile by the wider COTI audience.

It may be that something is already planned; I don't know. But it seemed worthwhile mentioning this problem early on - after all, learning from mistakes is better if it's someone else's mistake......

 

[Gruffty]

Re. customised/personal avatars: many other boards will let you upload your own avatar (or link to an image via a URL), as long as the image fits the board software requirements, which is usually something like "Image cannot be bigger than xx by xx pixels or XX kb in size".

 

[Gruffty]

just a way to donate to the site upkeep.

I can understand the reasoning behind that, but there are hundreds (if not thousands) of other boards on Teh Interwebz that don't charge anything to members for the upkeep of the boards.

If a board wants to offer an 'extra something' that requires members to pay for that 'extra something', then that 'extra something' really needs to be good enough for those members who buy the 'extra something' to shout about.

 

[spinwardpirate]

Just as a data point, I have a pirate forum, which back in the PotC heyday saw a decent amount of traffic. Total yearly cost is about $75. If I was wise I would get a better price by paying for multiple years up front, instead of renewing yearly. So I would surmise the cost of running this place is nearly negligible.

 

[far-trader]

...There were also some articles in there (the Moot), with the intent of having quite a lot. That never really reached its intended target.

...If the content is good enough then membership might be worth considering. However, last time around the Moot-articles thing ran into a problem (and this I do know about because I was Line Editor for the company who then owned the boards).

The problem with Moot articles was that the same amount of writing time could be spent on a product which would then be sold. This raised the question of whether it was worth more to write Moot articles that would be available only to a segment of the board membership, or to write product instead. Which would generate more revenue? Finding a balance was something of a problem.

This is something the board owners might not have encountered yet - it wasn't immediately apparent the first time around. Presumably a solution can and will be found that will make the Moot worthwhile.

Thanks for the heads up from your experience Martin, that's invaluable. Maybe (IF articles are one of the benefits) a discount, an early release, or both for membership would work.

 

[CosmicGamer]

...snobbery flaunting put down to anyone who doesn't want to sign up.

It's nice that I haven't noticed this occurring.

... so at least one sticking point for you will be rendered... Moot.

For me, there were many features that were promoted that I didn't care about. Some of the more useful things mentioned in this thread I'm just finding out after over a year on this forum.

Hunter thought such donations should be rewarded

If I want to contribute to that, I'll PM the admin and ask for PayPal instructions or a mailing address for the money order

I can understand the reasoning behind that, but there are hundreds (if not thousands) of other boards on Teh Interwebz that don't charge anything to members for the upkeep of the boards.If a board wants to offer an 'extra something' that requires members to pay for that 'extra something', then that 'extra something' really needs to be good enough for those members who buy the 'extra something' to shout about.

pay membership fee, get rewards...

Cute titles, a fancy avatar... yes, I can see those given to contributors.

More functional features... That does seem a little more like your paying for something and less like a contribution or donation to the site.

Of course you'd have to see the board as it is worthy of supporting with a donation, and I hope it will become such for you.

Then start piling on all the features possible because personally I don't think the site is worthy of a donation yet. Many other forum sites have better layout, features, ease of use, and so on. I only come here because it's where the Travellers are. I like having a site dedicated to Traveller and not some generic role playing or sci-fi site where Traveller does not get it's own area. It's the people that are here and the discussions we have that make this site special. If the site was not renewed the loss of all the old posts would be dreadful, but if it died and all the people went somewhere else where Traveller got it's own thread and wasn't mixed in with other games... I, really don't see how this forum software is any better than some other place.

I think some people would gladly donate if there was a fund raiser. With some cutesy web site fluff and emailing contributors with something like a piece of Traveller artwork or a very short writeup on a weapon or creature that someone created could be enough of a reward.

It seams simple enough to have a contribution of X dollars get a t-shirt with some Traveller related artwork on it. A T-shirt with the famous Free Trader Beowulf mayday quote or even just the red on black Traveller logo. Mark is here now to sign off on using the Traveller stuff in a fundraiser. He could probably even raise enough money to operate a forum site by just signing a small number of items each year and selling them on ebay.

Anyways, shouldn't Mark be able to write off this site as an advertising cost? If this place really is draining the wallet then what is needed is someone with the savvy to set up a cheaper solution. I'd think Mark would want it to be as feature rich and hospitable as possible so that people come here and learn about the things he has done and is working on (and presumably is making money from and will sell here).

 

[Cryton]

How long does it take it take a moot subscription to kick in once you've bought it?

 

[Andrew Boulton]

How long does it take it take a moot subscription to kick in once you've bought it?

There may be a blockage. PM me if nothing's happened after a couple of days.

 

[rothesay]

As a longtime lurker, I've decided to kick in a few credits to help keep the board running. Plus, I'm about to kick off a new campaign in a few weeks, so it's even more important to keep a source of ideas in my back pocket.