Everyone read this and comment

Move the Downloads section to Jr. ViP.
I dont think we should get rid of it frankly, it saved alot of people money on worthless crap. But i dont think it should be the primary reason people come here.

The (sad) fact is that the downloads sections attract new people to the forum. Some of these guys donate to the forum to keep it running, but most don't.

Personally, and I've been advocating this for a while, I think we need to start charging people to enter the Downloads & Downloads Requests sections. $10 for 3-6 months' access should be sufficient. The tricky part would be figuring out how to prevent people from entering the downloads sections while still allowing the posts to show up in search engines.

Other than that, moving it all to Jr. VIP could work too, but it would definitely put a hurt on the amount of people finding the forum, which in turn means less donations.

Don't forget about "word of mouth".
I now recommend BHW to all my friends, associates etc.. as my one and only resource of making money on the internet.

And I dropped all another resources, forums, etc... except only Tony's (RSSGM etc.) forum.

Essential Clix said:

Personally, and I've been advocating this for a while, I think we need to start charging people to enter the Downloads & Downloads Requests sections. $10 for 3-6 months' access should be sufficient. The tricky part would be figuring out how to prevent people from entering the downloads sections while still allowing the posts to show up in search engines.

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One of the better ideas I've heard.

If someone isn't willing to shell out 10 bucks to download thousands of dollars worth of material then we probably wouldn't want them in this forum anyways.

I think charging is a great idea.

The amount of people asking for 7 dollar WSO's is really getting pathetic.

Also giving warnings to people that post in the wrong section should be a big thing. I saw a thread a little while ago in Blackhat SEO about who is Canadian or not and the guy saying he put it there because there is more traffic on that section. I'd definitely give that guy a warning just for purposely doing that. There should also be a lot more bannings for not reading the rules.

Seeing the directive for this thread is "Everyone should read this and comment", I will.
I originally came here purely for curiosity sake alone. I had joined another website of similar vein, but had found it to be wooden. In fact that was too polite as the puppet Pinochio had more life in it. Anyway. I was having problems with one part of my on line business and found the answer I was looking for here.
I admit I got caught up in the downloading frenzy, almost to the detriment of my business. The ebooks, and software are great, but unless you utilise the concepts therein, you are wasting your time. I've learnt that, and now once more enjoying my business.

The thing I found about the download section is this: Up until finding BHW I had literally wasted hundreds of dollars on ebooks and applications. Some I'd really love to shove up the noses of the people who were selling the stuff. Some you cannot get a refund back because of their no refund policy. Which I do understand as how does one really expect their money back when you still have the product in your possession.

BHW has literally saved me hundreds of dollars from purchases of stuff I thought was great, but after downloading here I have found was rehashed or worthless junk. There has however been some gems, and for that i am greatful.

I've read the comments in this thread, and would like to add mine to the mix:
1. Why not scrap the requests section completely as it seems to be the biggest problem.

2. Anybody that requests anything gets warned twice, then banned on the third.

3. People who annoy others by pm'ing requests should suffer the same as in 2. above

4. Divide the Download section into two (similar to the normal download and JrVIP as it is now). One section is free, the other as 5. below.

5. Place a blanket fee on the paid download section of $25.00 per annum

6. Only paid subscribers can post downloads in the paid section.

Thanks for the opportunity to voice my comments.
Gudammit

***************************************
13677 members @ $25.00 per year is $341,925 - I need to start a membership site

Essential Clix said:

The (sad) fact is that the downloads sections attract new people to the forum. Some of these guys donate to the forum to keep it running, but most don't.

Personally, and I've been advocating this for a while, I think we need to start charging people to enter the Downloads & Downloads Requests sections. $10 for 3-6 months' access should be sufficient. The tricky part would be figuring out how to prevent people from entering the downloads sections while still allowing the posts to show up in search engines.

Other than that, moving it all to Jr. VIP could work too, but it would definitely put a hurt on the amount of people finding the forum, which in turn means less donations.

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Excellent idea! I would definitely pay. This is by far the best forum I have ever participated in. I know that every response I get is actually from someone that truly wants me to do good, as there is no incentive to actually help people.

How about make it so that there are 2 Downloads sections. A main one (hidden by default) and a smaller one. People must make at least 5 threads in the smaller one to gain access to the main one. This makes it so that people can still find the site via Search Engines and allow paid products to be shared.

I may be a new member, but these are just my 2 cents.

HaRRo Mate, Do what is needed for the good of the forum, "i am sorry and apologise" - that is not needed, we all have other projects up our sleeve and it takes time.
As for bans you are probably more forgiving than i would be, members are lucky if they get 1 warning on my forum.

As for warez, ummm - this part is awkward - Everyone wants warez and ideas, will they pay for it , I dont think so unless you have some shares which cannot be got anywhere else.

I have an open forum and a lot of members want free stuff, I also have an ultimate group of members about 10 ( not a lot but can get me almost anything i want )

My suggestion is try it and see, dont allow any warez for about 2 weeks and check stats to see results.

Also a shoutbox or IRC server would be a good move for this forum.

HaRRo - All the very best for your future projects - wish i had a few more like you

ByteCatcher

When I joined the download section was really small, and the heart of the forum was the discussions (yes that sounds cheesy but it's true ), now it's just people looking for a quick freebie download, and sure I'll help out when I can but it's getting annoying.

I definitely agree with restrictions on the downloads.

The main observation with the ebook downloads is the fact that most newbies (myself included) spend too much time downloading the next best thing; then maybe reading it, (or not), then downloading again..instead of spending time implementing any information or techniques that they have discovered. (I'm working on this)....
"My name is Spdbmp and I'm a Downloadaholic"

Anyone who has been a member here for any length of time can see that there is much more valuable information posted daily, than in most ebooks coming out. Not to mention, that alot of them are ideas and techniques that someone copied off here to begin with.

The genuine sharing and teaching mentality of this forum is The big attraction. Many of the vets will often make great post contributions regarding some new technique and also add their own personal touch or twist to make it even better. This by far is invaluable to this forum; not the fact that you can get a free copy of the latest thing.

I wouldn't be heart broken to see the download section with tighter restrictions of who is able to access it (even if it put me out of reach for a while); in fact it would probably do many of us alot of good.

solution is simple. just rework it a little so that download section posts dont show up in the recent posts page. This will leave it there for people to use as much as they need to, but will take the posts out of the main stream of information (which is all that I can see really matters).

The download section will save people a lot of headaches, and money from products they learn are nothing more then rehashed info with a glorified sales page.

However,

The last time i checked the name of this forum was called black hat world, not blahblahwarez.com The real gems are in the masterminding/taking action

Essential Clix said:

I think we need to start charging people to enter the Downloads & Downloads Requests sections. $10 for 3-6 months' access should be sufficient. .

Click to expand...

You should do this or kill it all together because the people who spend all day downloading the garbage that's being put out are not making any money. This would be the kick in the butt some people need to get to work and use what they have learned

I joined this forum in Feb and paid to get access to the unique downloads some people bring to the forum they have been worth every penny.

I have seen this rapidly become a download fest and now have been sucked in to a downward spiral downloading complete crap on occasions. There is always the odd good item so banning them totally would be counter-productive.

One way to prevent the warez problem is to make each download and/or request include at least a review of the product so that when we see something worthwhile others know what they are getting on that rare occasions they are worthwhile and actually work. I have lost count of post where people ask what is it or what does it do?

This shows then new blood what we are truly about sharing great information not piling it on the shit pile for the sake of rep and thanks.

In addition all downloads for what ever reason to be put in the downloads section then the forum stays more organised. The problem is people see links all over so just follow suit and post where ever.

Maybe a product review section would help a lot as then people could leave downloads of good products (must haves) and most junk wouldn't make the cut.

Hope this helps in someway I for one want a forum that doesn't end up as a DP or Warrior or Warez if you want them join them if you want BH then stay here.

Many ppl got here thru the SERPs. Moi included. Word of mouth gets only so far. Frankly. to maintain the quality of BHW, we need to have a core group of dedicated folks - the admins and mods are doing a swell job. I think it's fair to say everyone who's written in this thread wants BHW to succeed.

Download junkies there'll always be. That's the cost of doing business. Start charging money as Ess Clix says, and you'll separate the tares from the wheat.... in some ways.

YEAH HARRRRRRRRRRRRO, WOO HOO YOU DA MAN I couldn't have said it better myself. Although I'm still a newbie and haven't been on in a while this is the BEST Forum I've had the pleasure of being a part of with some of the most INTELLIGENT people I've ever digitally met, lol!!

Anyway, I agree with you 1000% and will do my part by not adding to the BS and following any rules given. And I too would like to thank you and all of the adminstrators for accepting everyone into such a KICK ASS forum and for everyone who has given not only their time but their expertise on the various topics, I've learned so much so THANK YOU FELLOW BLACKHATTERS!! By the way, I LOVE your avatar HARRO, lmao!!

Amen Brother

i just think its sad that people come here for the warez shit.

this forum is full of great info for noob's to gurus .

i say that what needs to be done , needs to be done.

bluey said:

...
One way to prevent the warez problem is to make each download and/or request include at least a review of the product ...

Maybe a product review section would help a lot as then people could leave downloads of good products (must haves) and most junk wouldn't make the cut.

Hope this helps in someway I for one want a forum that doesn't end up as a DP or Warrior or Warez if you want them join them if you want BH then stay here.

Click to expand...

Good idea. Certainly, I wouldn't like the downloads section be a place for copy/paste articles of several warez sites.

Would you volunteer to review downloads before to be posted?

I consider myself comparatively new on this forum - I've only been here about 4 months, so I'm not sure how much weight can be attached to what I say. On the other hand, during that 4 months I've tried to get involved with the forum. I've swapped posts, given some advice (where I was able to do so) and, yes, I've used the download section.

I think BHW is an excellent forum - but I get very worried when, as happens on many forums, the 'old guard' start getting upset that the forum is changing. It happens. It's just evolution. And it's fine to complain that "it's not like it was supposed to be" if you don't MAKE it like it's supposed to be. That is, if you don't like the way it is, why aren't you making the postings that will make it the way you like it? Don't blame 'noobs' for everything.

Yes, there's been an increase in traffic on the downloads - even I've noticed that over the short time I've been here. But you need to consider what will happen if you restrict it. If you make it "pay only" what incentive is there for people to post download details there? Unless they are paying they don't get any benefit so why would they do it? Someone previously posted the idea that rather than posting the downloads people should post the methods they'd used to get those downloads. i.e. teach a man to fish. That's a great idea - because it goes back to the idea that the forum is about helping other people.

If you don't want to include downloads (and why should you?) then what about a section where you list warez sites that people have downloaded stuff from that check out as 'safe'? That removes the problem from here but points those who are desperate to somewhere that the can get what they are after. Helping again, you see.

But, what I'd really hate is for this forum to become a gathering of a clique of people who do nothing but moan that some new person had the temerity to ask a question. (And I don't mean "Can you get me xyz piece of software?")

If, as most of the previous posts suggest, people really are here to learn and help then that's what needs to happen. However, in reality, I haven't seen an awful lot of that happening recently.

And just in case anyone dismisses me as a noob too - I've been on the net for over 19 years - before the WWW was implemented - and I've been selling on it for a long time too. But I can always learn - and that's why I'm here.