Closing Off BHW From The World

blackhaze · Dec 3, 2008

charging money is NOT a good idea.

It doesnt make the forum better, it only gives chance to "rich" people and is unfair to the few who would not be able to afford the fee.

It doesnt mean that people who are not willing to pay (or are being poor) are less "fit" for this forum.

We are all marketers, be it WHITE H or BLACK H...we want to make money not SPEND it. I dont believe you if you all say how great it would be to have to pay for BHW.

I can see this having a bad effect on BHW.

Already, you pay for ads and classifieds....so why pay for signups also?

Make it invite only (sounds good)....but dont be greedy and use the forum to make more money just "to be on the forum".

Again..you wont gain anything....do you think a certain fee would protect us from the "bad" people?

My honest $0.02

blackhaze · Dec 3, 2008

Also...a forum lives off the people....our contributions. From a certain point of view the owner would need to pay US, since we are the ones putting the content in the forum.

Cheez people....

brwipens · Dec 3, 2008

This thread is becoming a startling testimony to leeches, morons and "what's in it for me only?" I'm waiting for the suggestion that BHW should setup each member with hosting, websites, promotion, products/services, banking and then forward all monies collected to the members.

There is a mentality that making money is somehow "bad" "wrong" "greedy" that really shocks me considering this forum certainly appears to me to be about making $$$. Then again, maybe to some it's just a place to download software and read about ideas they'll never attempt.

bargain · Dec 3, 2008

close the forum, stop the cancer. this place is going to be like warrior forum or dp soon, this needs to be stopped.

engine102 · Dec 3, 2008

I found this site from searches while learning new methods to make money. I can truly say that I have learned more than I can ever give back as I am still learning each day from this site.

I feel that some areas might be fine as free or open to the general public. Areas such as Adsense forums or other parts that would be general in nature should be ok.

I would be willing to pay for a closed off section that has more advanced or security required topics.

I thank you for the forum and for all of the members that have contributed in one way or another to my learning. If I haven't hit the thank you button for you, I apologize in advance.

After a year of trying to make money online, I finally had my best month last month with around $2K...lol...and my wife still thinks I'm just "messing around with that internet crap!".

Thanks to you all!

highspeedmac · Dec 3, 2008

Just happen to see this post, figured I drop my 2 cent in.

I just found this place about a week ago, I have seen it before
but I just saw one of the post and forgot to bookmark the forum.
I couldn't remember the name so I end up search for it for a long time.

Found it again, finally and joined.

So far I have learned quite a lot of new stuff from here. Most of which
seems to be just contained here. Yea, I'm new here, but I'm an old dog
when it comes to underground forums. Mainly W*arez though. An*dr
was my main home, fact if you go there now and look under their Tech
help section you will find a Sticky written by me a few years back.

I haven't been so active in the scene lately, partially cause I don't have a
lot of time any more, but more so because the scene has changed to much
for my liking. Virus rittled downloads, Monetized downloads, Rapidshare, yea
I don't like rapidshare. The thought of paying for a download service that
is full of *warez just doesn't fit with the meaning behind w*arez.

That being said, I can understand wanting to close this place off to
the public and I can even understand making VIP area's, but I can not
agree with pay to access the forum. Simple & frankly, I would not. To be
honest I would leave.

So far I have seen a lot of members that are willing to share their
knowledge, very few post I have look at have zero replies and I see Thank
you everywhere. That in it's self, right now is rare. So many Forums have a
billion post with no replies and no communication. And most of their info
is dated and copied content. This forum doesn't seem to have that problem.

In my opinion, you might stun the further growth of this community if you
start charging to be a member. You may lose many of your valuable members,
witch would be a great loss in my view.

That's just my newbie opinion....

spasm · Dec 3, 2008

I dont think it should be pay only, but i agree with others, it should be invite only.

grinek · Dec 3, 2008

can i use proxy to vote ?

30 char

peter1988 · Dec 3, 2008

justthinking said:
Stupid: What do you mean where does the money go? To the owner of the site. When you go out to a restaurant, do you ask the owner where the money goes? No. You do understand why people are in business, right? To make money. Duh!

lol..hilarlious...lol...

agreed here...some people really love to post strange question..

xbox360gurl70s · Dec 3, 2008

Essential Clix said:
Honestly, there is nothing you can do to stop account managers/spies from joining this forum and possibly even working their way up the ranks. Invitations and fees sound good in theory, but if someone wants in bad enough, they'll find a way in; they always do. Account managers & spies have friends too, you know. And they DEFINITELY have enough money to spare for a little membership fee. Hell, for all we know, there may be a CPA account manager in the Executive VIP area... Doubtful, but possible.

I know it seems like I'm saying one thing and then turning around and saying another, but the system we currently have in place seems to be working well enough. We have 2 levels of VIP membership with private forums, and certain sub forums that aren't accessible unless you have at least 30 days on the forum and 50 posts. Those sub forums are also completely blocked from being indexed in the search engines.

There is no way to share information on a public forum like this (or private forum, for that matter) with 100% certainty that the information won't be leaked to the networks/authorities, but these little speed bumps we have in place help to keep the information from being leaked out so fast. This is the delicate balance that we have to maintain, while still allowing new members to join and keep the flow of valuable information coming in. If you cut off that flow, the forum will stymie and eventually die; much like cutting off circulation to a limb.

I'd like to add that Dave's reason for even considering this is not based on money. Hell, if that were the case, he wouldn't bother putting up a poll and asking for your opinion -- he'd simply lock up new registrations and require a fee. So squash all that noise, Dave's concerns are the same as yours.

In the end, this decision is completely up to Dave. This IS his site and he can do with it whatever he pleases, and I will support his decision either way. If you guys are seeking a private (paid-only) forum to join, check out blackhatuniversity.com (also owned by Dave).

I whole heartedly agree on everything said in there above.

Yes we never if there are spies all over. Heck I could even say I am an eGay AM looking my way to the ranks to see the coveted VIP threads. who knows right?

But it the end it still boils down to Dave, he owns the place.

We should all just be thankful he didn't pull a Hitler on us and let us voice out our own opinions before he decides on things.

This makes this forum special.

irancrude · Dec 3, 2008

Free to speech is basic but as you all can see this thread is turingin into an endless thing, at the end our ideas coutn but certaily wont be the last word.. Correct me if wrong please.

We all should vote and thats it. If you post here but you are not voting then your words are lost in the air. This because we are over 8 pages long and this wont stop.
The Poll is enough I guess.

Maurice

ajeeyunz · Dec 3, 2008

nope I think. the BHW member is nearly 24000 people (let's assume the active is 10%, or in about 2400), yet the result is still at 588 votes. Still a long way to finish this poll.

str8thustler · Dec 3, 2008

I am new to this board so i dont how you may take me expressing my opinion but this forum is full of great contributors and very valuable information, putting a price on membership you may drive alot of the posters who have alot of experience away from the board. I see where the point is that alot of the methods discussed in this board are being over used making them useless but people here coming up with more great ideas everyday.

I also found this forum through a search engine and actually just stumbled across it. I realize the greatness of the information here but limiting the information to just paid members is really going to cut out alot of new ideas from people that arent willing to pay wich in final I think will really dry the forum out.

Other methods would be to lock people out of certaint threads until they build there creditability or number of posts up to make them a very active members wich in turn would reward the willing to participate with access to these great areas of the board. Also maby even caping the membership amout at a certaint point and see how it goes with maybe 30k memberships and if everything is fine increase it. Really just my two cents but putting a price on a great board like this closes off alot of avenues of information and helpfull people.

affigold · Dec 3, 2008

that really sucks i think bhw should wait till it beat digital point's member amount and close off new members

or just close of new members,

and start taking money in 6 months

DutchRebel · Dec 3, 2008

i think you just have to test some stuff out, and see how it works..

one example: move all downloads to jr vip or something, or just out of the serps.

this will attract a lot less leechers just for the downloads,
those books and stuff are no longer listed in the serps, so people who are just looking for the latest release won`t find bhw when searching in google. but people with seo related searches will still be able to find bhw, these are the people who are actualy looking for specific related information.
and more likely are the more serious members.

if it doesn`t work out, put it back in the serps and try something else.

test test test. is the key in internet!

but just charging isn`t the way to go i think, this forum will just die out slowly.
you just have to find a way to keep most the wrong people out.

also send out a mass email to inactive accounts, and delete them if there is no response in 14 days or something.

i think there will be a lot less accounts left.

eskimo · Dec 3, 2008

I think it should be closed, I don't mind paying a small fee, as long as the make it easy to pay. I live in SA and it's a pain in the ass paying for stuff online

PuppetMaster · Dec 3, 2008

You will lose a lot of newbies but I think you should charge some fee and close it off. This will help prevent many methods from becoming saturated. Even $5-$10 per month would be feasible.

dayomoto · Dec 3, 2008

if you cant afford a small fee per month then what are you doing here? to just come and look at information and not put into use....i see thread of new members posting here of their success, methods and etc..so defineately everyone should be making a few dollars per day. i think this is Dave choice but the money part shouldnt force him to make a decision to favour those that cant afford it....honestly everyone should be able to afford a small fee and i think those that are saying they cant are those that are greedy and want everything free in life and i dont think Dave wants that here!

so my opinion is apply a small fee and new user can join by invitations only....

bintbiz · Dec 3, 2008

thank you for letting us give an opinion
i agree with a lot of members here
keep it FREE
if its getting too big, close it to new members. but allow new ones via invite, only mods or jr vips would have invitations to give.

serenelypanicked · Dec 3, 2008

I think everyone agrees in principle that we ought to (1) continue attracting contributors while (2) weeding out leechers, scammers, spammers, spies, non-contributors, "idea-thieves", etc.

The idea of charging monthly fees would affect both (1) and (2), so I don't think it would be beneficial.

What attracts (2)? Some have suggested that (and I happen to agree) it's because of the download section and the making money section. As long as products and money making ideas are given for free, you will attract bad apples as well as good apples. Off the top of my head, we should start by targeting these two sections.

One of the best ideas I have read is limiting the download sections and/or making money section to either jr.vip or keeping it out of the search engines.

Closing Off BHW From The World

Do you want to close off BHW to non-members?

Please close off BHW to visitors... I don't mind paying a small fee.

Please keep BHW open to the public... I like it the way it is.

Power Member

Power Member

Regular Member

Junior Member

Registered Member

Newbie

Newbie

Newbie

BANNED

Elite Member

Power Member

Regular Member

Power Member

BANNED

Regular Member

Regular Member

Registered Member

Regular Member

Regular Member

Newbie

Main Menu

Marketplace

Making Money

BlackHat World