dw_news | Update: Seed Account Re-sale, Free Users + Custom Styles

Update: Seed Account Re-sale, Free Users + Custom Styles

Two things for you today!

Thing the first:

We have not been able to finish and fully test the new site functionality that enables people to purchase accounts without a PayPal account. Instead of finishing it up an hour before the first sale is scheduled and crossing our fingers that it works, we've decided to push the sale off another week.

The new time of the Seed Account re-sale is Thursday, May 14th, 9PM EDT and again at Friday, May 15th, 9AM EDT. In total 200 accounts will be available.

Thing the second:

People with free accounts have probably noticed that a few days ago we took away the Advanced Customization area of the site. (The pages that let you make a custom style.) We had never intended for it to be available unless you paid, and having it on was an oversight on our part. After we turned it off, we got to hear a lot of really good comments from people and we reevaluated the original decision.

We've turned it back on, but gave free users a pretty low limit on the number of styles you can create (1 custom style, up to 5 layers). Short story: you can once again go back to customizing and importing styles from other sites. Sorry for the trouble!

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wow, this is really awesome. thank you for actually listening to people's responses about this situation. *hugs you all*

I have to say, so far I'm pretty impressed by how responsive you are to users/customers. It's appreciated.

Thank you!!

I was already thinking about upgrading my account soon because I love my icons, but this has pretty well cinched it! I can't tell you how good it is to hear that you actually listen to your users and take into account what they want is such a blessing...and the FREE users, at that! I had grown so accustom to some other sites pretty much ignoring even their paid users that this just blows me away.

I wish I had $200 to buy a Seed Account, because you all sure deserve the support.

It actually works out better for us if you pay for your account on a regular basis (yearly, etc), since that way we get the steady income, so don't feel bad!

that's just awesome that you would still let us keep that feature :D Thank you so much!

this is fantastic! thank you guys.

You guys are just awesome. :D Things like your response to the customization issue are slowly convincing me to to pay for an account when I have some extra moolah. ^_~

Thank you so much for #2. I for one really appreciate this decision and the information you've given us about it.

Your awesome response re:#2 is directly responsible for my first paid account payment. While I was one of the ones who used the feature, only to find when I went to fix something that it didn't work for me anymore, I was cool with the fact that it wasn't meant for free users. We're in beta! Things happen and need to be fixed. But that you guys listened and weighed whether a few more dollars was worth annoying users and came up with a reasonable response? *thumbs up*

"We've turned it back on..."

Oh wow, really?

Cool. Thanks!

linkage to seed account for payment? The option isnt available when I goto paid account.

Seed accounts aren't currently on sale. They will only be available at the times listed in the post (Thursday, May 14th, 9PM EDT and Friday, May 15th, 9AM EDT), and are limited in number.

I have a problem.. When I go to "select journal style" for a community that I have, it comes up with:

Select Journal Style
Sorry, there was a problem.

:/

For the best assistance from those volunteers with the most experience with styles, please go to http://www.dreamwidth.org/support/submit.bml, select "styles" from the drop-down menu, and describe your problem in as much detail as you can.

Thanks!

I see from the usps site that the envelope with the money order for my account is waiting for y'all to pick it up . . . I can hardly wait!

...and I just grabbed it a half hour ago! Sorry, but I had to wait until I could get off of work early to go to the post office.

(no subject)

jiltanith - 2009-05-09 03:24 (UTC) - Expand

Everyone has said this, but here's one more user grateful for having one custom style available to her. I don't have any money right now and it's nice to not feel that all the "shiny things" are unavailable to me, even on my little online havens :)

Does the one custom style count for free communities as well?

Yes. :D

It's pretty awesome to see that you guys take the opinions of your users into account when you make decisions. That's not something you get in many places these days.

just to make sure i wasn't seeing things... you guys DID say you'd eventually be working on bringing over the journal customizations like "generator" and "tabular indent" etc from livejournal, right?

We've turned it back on, but gave free users a pretty low limit on the number of styles you can create (1 custom style, up to 5 layers)

Thank you! I don't know if I'll use advanced S2 for my free accounts but I'm very grateful for the possibility to access and save their layers.

I wanted to thank you guys for Dreamwidth.

I have a strange question that is more about policy than functionality. Are Dreamwidth staff and support going to have the access to make this something on Dreamwidth? I don't know what to call it other than a safety net for an extreme emergency. I've even heard of telemarketers being able to save people's lives because of overhearing things and having an address or phone number to give to the authorities.

I wasn't sure where to post or email this, so I'm trying here in hopes that it'll get to the people it needs to get to.

The current set up for paid accounts makes sense to me. That is, you pay less the longer you commit to using Dreamwidth as a journal service. Currently, if you pay month to month and you keep your journal for a year, you'll pay $36 over that year, but if you commit to longer and longer increments, your payment price goes down - $30 over a year if you pay every 2 months, $26 over a year if you pay every 6 months, and $25 for a year if you pay it all at once.

Your payment schedule for after the first 6 months, though, is, to use an outdated term, a bit wack. You've still got the month-to-month payment at $3/month, which totals out to $36 if you continue paying every month for a year - but if someone decides to commit to a year of using your service up front, they will pay $35. This does not provide any incentive for your userbase to commit to your service for long periods of time.

To be successful, you're going to need people committing to using your service and the best way to do that is to keep a payment structure where commitment evens out to a cost-incentive over time. In your change of account structure, you won't be competitive with LJ at all - as their service will still cost $25/year when that year is paid up front and will otherwise cost $30/year if a user chooses to pay in smaller increments. I think you need to stay with the current pay structure to both provide an incentive for people who choose to commit to using your service for a year at a time and also to be competitive with LJ.

I think that most people who buy $3 of paid time are the ones doing it to bypass the invite system, and that these users either will not continue to buy paid accounts, or will decide they like the site enough to pay for their accounts over longer periods of time.

Dreamwidth should be able to tell how much of a concern this is by monitoring paid account sales - if lots of people have bought a month of paid time to get onto the site and then continue buying month-by-month, then they probably do have reason to be concerned.

(Hit post too soon, oops.)

But if most people buying 1-month paid accounts either let them lapse or choose 2+ month increments when they renew, then I would suggest DW keep the $3 level. I'm not sure how much higher they could take the price and still have people willing to pay it just to avoid having to solicit an invite code.

Edited 2009-05-10 14:42 (UTC)

Re: Paid account structure in 6 months

amythyst - 2009-05-10 16:00 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Paid account structure in 6 months

sofiaviolet - 2009-05-10 17:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Paid account structure in 6 months

amythyst - 2009-05-10 17:18 (UTC) - Expand

So, we can buy seed accounts? How much do they cost? I would totally buy one (even though I'm terribly tight this month) just to support DW's ad-free aspirations!

Seed accounts are hecka expensive at $200, so don't feel like you need to pony up for one to support DW.

It's far better to support DW at this point (and definitely more budgetable in the short term for you!) to buy a regular paid account--you can get 6 months of the lower level for $13 right now.

Instead of finishing it up an hour before the first sale is scheduled and crossing our fingers that it works, we've decided to push the sale off another week.

*cough* Famous last words?

It's already the 14th in some parts of the world... ;)

Thing two is awesome, BTW.

Good luck with thing one, to all of us!

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