Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 18:15
Actually, I mentioned the
membership gathering function for a very relevant reason. It keeps your trip firmly in the viewfinder and visible for a lot long than a post that scrolls down to be archived later on. It is also a place that people will reference first to see just what is being planned rather than search a
forum for a random thread.
As for never being a member I copied this from wato's post. It was from David and Michelle and related to why
membership helps this great site that you are so keen to receive benefit from.
This is an excerpt from the
About Us page...
"Why Pay to become a Member?
Although site registration is free, additional features are locked-out to free users. Getting the most from the site requires
Membership (small annual fee).
The reason for
Membership, is two-fold:
* ExplorOz is self-funded
* To provide a quality online experience
We work very hard to minimise our administration expenses and don't exhibit at shows, or use fancy marketing. In fact, the site does not gain any "profits" because all earnings are put back into the site operations (staff and operating expenses). Our view to having advertising on the site is that it should remain relevant to the site users, so we would prefer to only take ads related to the core theme of ExplorOz, which is tourism and on a more specific level, 4WD/Caravan/Camping and outdoor
recreation.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to secure sufficient ad-sales from the relevant market sectors to fulfil our ad-serving potential so we have been forced to accept ads from outside our niche market. This approach is not to our ultimate satisfaction, so we have attempted to create ways to buffer the reliance on ad-sales to keep the site viable. And this is where
Membership fits in...
Membership enables all the best features - such as
Blogs, GPS data downloads (from
Treks and
Places), EOTrackMe, and the integrated enhancements of being a Member are visible to others as you use the site. Members have their own webpage on ExplorOz (your Member Profile), a Member Footer is shown in all your
Forum posts, you have a Member Screen Name, and you have use of Member Messages (an IM/PM style communication tool).
Members also get 5% discount in our
Shop, free overnight courier delivery*, and eligibility to redeem any of the advertised Members Rewards (offered by our Business Members).
Membership can be both renewed or activated for free if you make a qualifying purchase in our
shop.
We see
Membership as the life-blood of ExplorOz and put all our energies into developing new site features and
services but we have kept it an optional subscription. Whether you see value in the specific benefits offered in our Member service, or because you know how important
Membership is to keeping ExplorOz viable, we hope this information has encouraged you to join.
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