All unpaid members will no longer have an avatar. No other car forum has this policy.
Avatars add to the interest of being a member on the forum. This was an arbitrary decision without warning.
No announcement either. Just happened out of nowhere. Sent from my Samsung Note 8 using FerrariChat.com mobile app
I don’t mind paying to use the forum, I just think it’s a weird way of doing things. This forum is alive and make money from advertising because there are members here that are present, posting and making the platform interesting so more people come. I don’t understand the logic of punishing members for not paying to use the platform. It’s a bit F*** up Sorry for my language Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app
I think it's a rather poor business decision to punish the very users who contribute and make the forum possible in the first place. I sincerely doubt anyone is going to join just to have an avatar. However, the negative message removing avatars sends may cause many here to feel like second-class citizens. It all just comes off feeling rather petty to me. Ray
There should have been a general notice however, given the amount of information I have learned here, the enjoyment of seeing other Ferraris, and sharing experiences it is worth spending a small fee to support the site.
The issue is not the $15 per year fee, it is the lack of respect displayed to long term members who have contributed mightily to the forum and have been responsible for increasing membership and keeping the place vibrant and a source of information and entertainment. At a minimum, the moderators should have posted an announcement about their intentions to encourage paid membership. Removing avatars, which add to membership experience is not only a petty tactic, it is counter productive as it has the negative consequence of making the forum less interesting. The moderators should offer an apology for their hasty and ill conceived actions.
Your assumption that this was a moderator based decision or action is fallacious. This is/was an admin function, cleaning up what has been part of a long standing policy here. Up until the software change to xenforo, only paid subscribers had the option of an avatar. It slipped through when the upgrade occurred, now what, maybe 5+- years ago? Apparently either a software update or some specific switch was flipped that has returned the policy to the original status quo. BUT, the moderation team had ZERO to do with it. D
Whether it was the moderators or some other reason is not the issue. The end result is the crux of the problem.
Subscription was required to have an avatar for 17 years. When the software changed over this requirement was missed by the development team and just now corrected. I understand this change is the end of the world for some unsubscribers, but 1) wasn’t like that for 17 years. 2) not required functionality for nonsubscribers. 3) not fair to our valuable subscribers as always part of their additional benefits. 4) subscription is 4 cents a day and honestly avatars aren’t even top of the value added list.
Nope, it is absolutely part of the issue, and that's your doing. You took the shot at moderators without having any factual basis for it, I am simply setting the record straight. We catch enough **** here without non-factual attacks against the team, followed by demands for an apology from them. Unsubscribed members get a good deal here for free. Lots of info, lots of helpful members sharing it with you. Maybe not having a free avatar is really small potatoes, all things considered? D
I don't think that I even bothered with an avatar for the first few years I was subscribed, and I was even an owner, from about the time I joined.
I’ve actually been thinking about resubscribing again prior to this avatar stuff. Used to waste too much time in silver subscribed so I stopped...but now I’m retired...
Just makes the place a less appealing place to contribute to. I guess next subscription will be mandatory. You will need a Ferrari Chat vaccination card to be allowed in. Stupid move.