So two of our esteemed contributers, Jeff and french, mentioned in their LOLUVA reviews that to do a full breakdown of that game would take a novel.
I'd really like to read that novel! Would it be possible to get this during the tedium which is that horrible period between Spring Game and the start of Fall Camp?
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Coffee table material for sure
There will be a review on the Hokie defense vs UVA coming next week. I did want to take a week to chill a little though.
Thanks French! You are the man!
I hope there is a review of the DADI crawl after the sack on Lambert. I'd give his technique a 9.5!
Maybe Joe can add a Football 101 or something section where a little more detailed information or links can be shared so people can learn more about the games then just Brewer Sucks or Foster is a genius.
I just got into reading more. Is it going to be Kindle e-reader compatible?
Baby HOAT:
Big goals!
I'm contemplating starting a Kickstarter and publishing a preseason magazine.
How much do you think it will take to make it.
I support this!
Let the fans write it
I up-voted, but I'll be honest, the reason I clickety click like a lab rat on this site is all about the day to day and week to week analysis and articles you and team feed me.
Preseason mags are stale weeks before they publish compared to the info you got on here.
*beep* Crap, I'm pretty sure its time to hit refresh.
The other idea is to make our preseason series of articles premium articles (i.e. you give us money to read them all) and you get a downloadable PDF after they're all published before the season.
I'm okay with whatever business model keeps the content as rich as it is now.
I've also thought the idea of having articles gated for days/weeks for pay before going public would work too for sports which are so temporal and immediate, but not sure how the numbers would work.
*beep* dang it, refresh and a paypal transfer. Wizards are at work here.
Appreciate the donation, thank you Zeke!
So let me try to understand this idea fully.
1. The kickstarter happens.
You take the money, and then start writing the articles for the magazine.
2. You write the articles.
As you finish the articles, you publish them to people who backed the kickstarter, and then also to subscribers who decide after the kickstarter that they want in on this deal.
3. You compile the articles.
The articles go into a finished PDF that people who gave you money get to download.
4. You publish the magazine.
People who gave extra special super money get to have the magazine in print.
Is this about accurate?
No. It's two separate ideas.
1. We publish a preseason magazine in print. We need a Kickstarter to back it because of all the upfront printing costs.
2. We publish a series of preseason posts on the website that would require a premium subscription to read. As a bonus, we may aggregate those posts into a PDF for our premium subscribers to download.
Will the magazine have embedded YouTube videos, or will it come packaged with a flip book?
Gifs in the form of lenticular pictures. I'd turn the page back and forth to watch Wyatt Teller pancake someone over and over.
Is that like Flip-o-Rama?
Those are the ones where you look at different angles and the image moves/changes. The original version of gifs in print form.
Check any Topps card pack from 1992 onward and you'll get the idea.
If it has moves like this in it, its pure gold!
I'm not a big fan of starting premium content. It goes against what you've said in the past about what you wanted this site to be, and I also think it would hurt the family atmosphere and (relatively) civil discourse around here.
That being said, I would buy the crap out of a TKP mag. Less as a preview, and more as a reference. What's the Stud's role again? Page 13. What does the inverted veer look like? Page 24. Who's the 14th string RB? Page 3.
Between hokiesports.com and TKP the content already exists. I'm just to lazy most of the time to go look it up. A mag that I could pick up; that clearly indexes players, positions, and plays would be awesome.
It would certainly go against my goal of the website being 100% free. And that's something I've wrestled with internally for a while, but at the end of the day I think a freemium business model is what will work best here.
How would the discourse change? I don't follow the logic.
Beer logic... I guess my thought was that most of the inside jokes/references/etc. occur in the comments. Making some posts exclusive might hurt that. What if Dork Magic happened on a premium article? Where did it come from? Here's the reference, oh wait. You can't see it.
It takes serious time for knowledgable talent (French et al) to write the material. Money to compensate them is appropriate. You can still have the weekly articles that we all know & love, but detailed analyses beyond that would need some funding. For example, I'd love to see some X's & O's analyses of the CFP contenders/participants. Sites like eSECpn will do fluff pieces about national rankings on offensive & defensive categories. They won't even touch advanced metrics like joelestra or in depth analyses of French or 3rdand31. Heck, wouldn't we all want to see Foe-Rensics on the 4 play off teams? This would be above & beyond, the call of duty for these guys.
I think your greatest success would be having a glossary of terms to go along with your everyday content. That way French doesn't have to explain the X's and O's of the inverted veer or smash route concept or seam routes or fades every time he mentions them. Plus put in the gap fits on defense (which I still don't understand) and diagrams of blocking schemes, block shedding, stunts, 3-technique, 4-technique.....I could go on.
A TKP handbook would be awesome with that info. Add in some VT-specific stuff like "It was a catch", "fully dipped dork magic" "3rd and 31" and some historic stuff and I would buy it in a heartbeat.
Now would these things change every year? Maybe. The first year would be the hardest. After than it's revisions and additions of new schemes and stuff.
There may be a book out there like this, and this would take a lot to go through and do with easily referenced diagrams and what not, but it'd be a hit. Heck, I'd buy one for me and my dad, provided they were reasonably priced ($30-$40 for that kind of a reference/handbook IMO).
^THIS!^ French's writeups (and now Jeff's, too) are what sucked me in to the wonderful world of the tactics involved in a football game. While I'm getting more familiar with some of the concepts and terms, a reference handbook would be invaluable.
I will admit that I probably wouldn't be willing to cough up the dough for paywalled articles, but I would definitely pay for this.
I love this idea of a reference guide for different formations, terms, position responsibilities, etc. I think it would be a very valuable and handy guide (can be used for college and pro knowledge). Something that won't immediately go out of date and can provide constant value.
^This. Can we do this? I want this... please
Especially if it has a space for notes.
As in, I'd like to be able t pencil in changes if the player switches positions or gets hurt mid season or maybe a spot to tally the TDs or receptions for offensive players, TFL, INT etc for defense,
While I've been much more of a lurker than a contributor, I have really enjoyed the content put on this site, and 99.9% of the people that comment on TKP since I've joined. This is why I've bought shirts and the pint glasses when my small college budget permitted it. That being said, if this site started having premium content I'd leave. Having knowledge that is only shared with people who can afford it seems like a mistake Thomas Jefferson would make.
Yet, you're enrolled in college--a business based on a money for information/knowledge exchange.
I sincerely appreciate you buying the shirts and pint glasses we sell. That's how I envisioned this would work. However, only a small minority of people actually did that. According to Google Analytics, 78,000 unique people read the website over the last 30 days. To make the math simple, we haven't sold more than 780 shirts and pint glasses combined. 780 / 78000 is 0.01. That's a tiny fraction of TKP's readership who read the website and help keep it online.
Like I've written in other threads, managing TKP has become a full time job. We have an awesome technology stack because I regularly code and deploy updates. Growing the website and business I started takes time and money, one I have, the other I don't.
Whether you stay or leave will help validate this website. If you don't think our content is worth a few bucks each month, then why are we busting our asses to make it happen? If you do, then great, this is a worthwhile venture to pursue.
You raise some good points so let me break this down from my point of view.
1. My investment in college at VT is important because I expect it to pay off in the form of job opportunities. A subscription to a website with a pay wall is like a degree from UVA, an investment in knowledge that doesn't help you in the real world, but rather creates a superiority complex due to being in an "elite" group of people.
1.5. I find these UVA metaphors humorous and are probably much too harsh for you Joe, because up to this point I really can't express how much I appreciate this website. I spend at least 50% of my internet time on TKP.
2. Wow, I didn't realize how disappointing merchandise sales were. With merchandise sales that low I expect you get more money advertising which I'm sure you don't really get enough from.
3. Going back to point 1.5, I appreciate that you've put so much time and effort into this site, it shows. I'm glad that as a VT fan I don't have to deal with a terrible website format like thesabre and I understand that it takes money to add content and also to just keep the site up and running.
4. I do think the site is worth a couple bucks a month as it exists now. Like I said, I have spent what is quite a large percentage of my spending money on merchandise to support this site while also getting some cool items. However, I can't ethically get behind a website with a pay wall. An important aspect of this site is the community, I love having a community where a fan at any level of fandom of the Hokies can find a group of people who also love the Hokies, and also have an expansive website of knowledge to learn about all things Hokies. By making a "freemium" website the ability to share the love and knowledge of the Hokies, which is my favorite part of this community, is greatly handicapped.
4.5. Where should money come from?
Obviously, you do need money for the site. However, even though I read the site pretty much everyday of the week, even during the summer, I didn't realize the budget for the site was as tight as you're making it sound now. The only place I can see to donate is a small link under the resources section. I'd never find it if I weren't actively thinking about trying to donate, and I hadn't noticed it before today. If the site needs more money, be a little bit more aggressive with advertising donating to TKP. It would also be acceptable to me to charge a couple of dollars to get rid of ads on the site as long as the ads to free members aren't aggressive (no pop-ups no audio ads). Also, you could set up something with a fundraising goal, where the community would get things at different dollar amounts. (how much for a billdozer video?). As it stands now though, it looks like the site isn't really actively seeking money.
Also, this seems relevant.
I will agree to disagree on point 1 especially because I'd use your own point 4 to hammer you.
This feedback is very valuable, and I appreciate it. Thank you!
I'm curious, what's your major?
Natural Resources Conservation specifically with the recreation and resource management option. Along with a forestry, and Urban forestry minor.
Ey cnre brother! What year are you?
I took your advice and added a donation link above the right sidebar.
I giggled at this.
And then immediately went to the GIVE US MONEY! link and made a 10$ monthly. I'd slacked off on giving money, but this is the kind of idea that I'm fully supporting with my wallet.
But I'd rather see it free. If joe, of all people, is considering moving towards a premium/subscriber model for anything then that means TKP needs money to stay free. Tragic dynamic.
I also consider that a preseason magazine goes out of date after the first game. I'd rather have something that was kept up-to-date. But that would require ongoing maintenance.
Great idea. I just matched it. $10/month is very manageable, and I realized that I hadn't thrown a donation out there in a while, since Joe's donation drive over the summer (do more of those, I'm bad at remembering unless it's thrown in my face). It also made me think - I seem to recall Joe mentioning a while back that there are ~4k registered members? Imagine if everyone (or heck, even half) did a recurring $1/month donation, likely the financial pinch would be solved. Of course, there's great irony in this, as you note - paying for a site to stay free. But if it's voluntary...
Hell, we raised $3000 for charity in like 2 days, almost solely via Twitter, when Brewer only threw one pick in a game.
I'm not saying any of this to try to pressure anyone into donating, just offering my own thoughts on the matter. But I realized a long time ago that this is my favorite place to hang out on the Internet (I spend a lot of time here consuming content and posting, which I know comes as a great surprise), and that means something to me. I support the goal of TKP to make all its content freely accessible, because it has attracted a great community of contributors and commenters (insert some sort of "I love you guys" GIF) and it's sad to think that this model may have to change. It's reality and I'm actually happy that Joe is being transparent about what's going on rather than just posting a Meta thread before next season saying, "sorry guys, but this is how it is."
When I originally thought about the merchandise sales / donations I did the same math in my head. 78,000 unique people have read TKP in the last 30 days, there are more than 4,000 total registered users and 500 registered users who have been active in the last 24 hours. My initial projections were inaccurate because there are less than 800 unique people who have donated or bought something from us. Many of the folks who have given us money or bought a shirt have done it multiple times and are hardcore TKP users. Again, I can't thank y'all enough, this message isn't directed at you. Folks like HorseOnATreadmill, yourself, OhHerro, etc... have gone above and beyond.
There's a tiny fraction of TKP users who financially support the website and that needs to change. It's not fair to the folks giving and picking up the slack. It's not the right way to run a business. From my analytics analysis, the overwhelming majority of users don't post or comment, they just habitually read the articles / lurk. Heck, they probably won't see this, but they would notice when they go to read a film review or a season preview article and it doesn't load. Those are the folks I need to reach.
Correct. This is what's dumb. I don't want to beg, and I don't want the small minority of folks to support a free ride for everyone else. I need to clearly define what our premium content (product) will be and sell it.
As far as transparency goes, I will be as transparent as possible and as of right now don't intend on making our community features (commenting / message boards) pay to play.
I wanted to comment on this because I think both you and GuitarMan alluded to it. Personally, when I donate, I don't think of this at all. The way I see it, the internet is better with TheKeyPlay being both on it and free. When I donate, I don't think of the other hardcore members that will benefit at all, it's that the landscape of college football is better when teams have an active community centered around journalistic coverage. Since I think what you produce is as good as any team-oriented site in the country, keeping it free for the random internet passerby is what will build popularity. I used to go to scout.com for college football content, but every time I clicked on an article that sounded remotely interesting I would get hit by a paywall. Same with Rivals, to an extent. Guess which sites I rarely visit now?
But you know where I hung out for a while? Southern Pigskin. Free content all the time about the ACC, SEC, and Southern conferences. Other sources would link to that site because users could click through to it and get content, not paywalls. Allowing other news(ish) sources to network their users to SP's site surely increased that site's popularity (I have no data to back up this claim, btw), and so I think that model can work to continue to build TKP. But that can't happen if internet passerbys hit paywalls on the way to valuable content, and since I think the majority of the site-produced content is valuable, I'd rather not see the distinction being made between 'this content is pay-only' and 'this other content is free'. Who knows if that is sustainable in the long run, but I'd like to see how far we can push it until that reality hits us in the face.
That's what I think of when I donate.
I 100% agree. See ashore13's comment below. I've made a very small donation at the beginning of the last 2 seasons and own 2 lovely shirts. I'll also add I prefer making annual donations instead of PayPal charging me every month until I tell it to stop.
So in an ideal world we would (1) have more people donate to (2) keep content free for casual readers and students. And I think (3) one time donations are easier and feel like less of a commitment than monthly, or annually, subscriptions.
Here's my crazy idea:
What if we had a 3 day or week long TKP-a-thon to encourage people to donate while having some fun? I envision people making posts like "I'll donate $20 if someone writes thekeyplay.com in the snow in front of Burruss and posts a picture" or "I'll donate a dollar for every leg of the most up voted comment on this 'create a caption'". We could have fun coming up with reasons to donate and people that didn't feel like they could would still be able to participate.
Joe - Do you have any fear that putting up a paywall would hurt the site's growth? As a 1-2 year member, who is employed, no longer a student, I would consider paying for full access. However, if I were a new member (or a student), I would not. I never had any interest in paying at TSL. I have no idea what is behind the paywall - even if I did, I don't think I'd pay.
I think a crowdsourcing/kickstarter would be the best route, but you'd have to be specific. For example (this example is completely made up:
We need $500 for a new server. This new server would allow us to host interactive videos.
$10 or more gets you a star next to your username
$25 or more gets you a T-Shirt
$100 gets you.... etc. etc.
TL;DR I'm more likely to donate to a specific effort rather than donating to an entity or paying to read something.
Disclaimer: like everyone else, love the site, and I'd hate to see it go under or not reach full potential b/c all the members are cheap. Definitely recognize the catch 22 of finding a way to fund a free site. Just offering my $0.02, trying hard not to sound like a douche.
Edit - I would love a TKP iOS app. That's a cause I would donate towards funds for creating, and then pay for again once it went live. But that's just me.
Edit #2 - You should also make it easier to find the donate button. Perhaps add one to the shop page and the top bar? Took me a few minutes to find.
I'll save Joe the time in responding about the app since that's something many people, myself included, have wanted for a while. More or less, Joe put a hell of a lot of time into redesigning the page to what you see now. In that redesign, he made it mobile friendly and as such, it would be a wasted effort to then go and make an app.
you had me until kick starter:
NSFW
Meh .. I lurk more than participate too but I have no issues with some freemium content such as articles .. These guys work hard for nothing to provide a great forum for us. Now if it started going down the road of some of the other sites where most or practically all good content is paid for, Id leave too. I still browse the 247 boards but I'm no longer a subscriber. Can get most of their info elsewhere.
But I can't blame you guys for wanting to make a little cash. I don't have the time to work for free and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to either.
to clarify my half joking post...I would probably pay for premium content and a preseason magazine...I object to using kick starter. I believe they get to keep 10% of the money raised on every campaign which is what South Park was making fun of along with the Red Skins.
I browse a lot of VT websites and it seems the more premium the content, the more users, the more pissing and moaning .. And this makes a site miserable for people interested in consuming real information and having real conversation. I've never subscribed to rivals but I heard it got bad And everyone bailed. Vt scoop on 247 is becoming the same way .. TSL is pretty bad. There ate a few vt sites that are enjoyable ... This one definitely included. I just don't want it to become like those other sites. And mods .. Keep a tight leash on shit like you do. Most of us don't mind opinions but whining to whining is a wasts
I understand what you're saying, but I don't think you're correlating the trend properly. If we continue to publish the same objective film reviews, statistical analyses, etc... but some of them cost a subscription to view, I don't get why that would change the culture at TKP. Like minded people are going to gravitate towards each other. We publish objective articles, and I believe that's led to objective thinkers reading what we write and therefore rationally discussing Virginia Tech athletics with the rest of the TKP community.
At one time or another the premium VT websites (TSL, HokieHaven, VTScoop) have sold (spoon fed) insider information to their readers. Those audiences live and die with every commitment, are willing to shell out money for "inside" information about the program (so it stands to reason they are invested in program via HokieClub / season ticket donations) and seem to be the most vocal and radical. My guess is for the one thread on TKP this season that fairly asked what Frank Beamer was being paid to do, there were 10 - 100x as many "FIRE!!1! FRANK!!!1!" threads on the three aforementioned websites. TKP's community has done a great job self-moderating itself, and I've flat out banned people that are assholes / trolls / and can't follow the community guidelines. I don't plan on letting TKP change for the worse.
In summary, I believe the tone and type of the content published determines the audience and therefore community.
There are a few reasons I'm on TKP alot, but not on those sites. You just cited one of them.
One issue any subscription site has is that paying subscribers are sometimes jerks and trolls. So you're left with the quandry of cutting off a source of income or keeping a problem poster around. Sure you may still intended to moderate as you have in the past, but there didn't use to be any downside to banning a user and that's going to result in the bar for acceptable behavior being lowered and the commentary/discussion will suffer.
The product people would be paying for is premium content. If I disable the ability for someone to post a new thread or comment, they'll still be able to read what they're paying for.
My thought on how I think you can effectively achieve your goal:
Have certain "insider" material for the fans who really want to read the high quality information, but keep the comments section free to everyone. At first, I thought people might just try to skip on the payment and try to get the information through the comments; but the more I think about it, I would argue that it might help encourage others towards payment. If they can't get the full effect of the article through the comments, they will be curious as to what it really was about.
I think where this could hurt you is if you make certain articles completely unviewable to those who have not paid anything. As AirplaneBottleOfBourbon said above, you have a very strong sense of community at TKP right now. Making a division between the group could cause it to fall out completely.
Just my thoughts on the subject and I hope it helps.
If there was ever premium content, it would be just that, articles / content we publish. Our premium content would be "expert analysis" not "insider" content.
I think that is the way to go.
Joe, I haven't been as active on TKP as I want to be this semester (I had more time while I was working). So I guess I've become a lurker. But, I do want to say that I'm behind whatever keeps this site top notch. If you feel that requires us to pay for the amazing content, then I'll pay. I love this site and want to support it any way I can.
Also, I feel badly that I haven't been donating. I'll start once I begin my full time job in the summer. I can't really justify a donation as a student.
I really appreciate the thoughtful feedback.
Joe, clearly you have given this dynamic much thought and invested countless hours to make it a great community space. Have you reached out to other sites similar to the TKP (relatively speaking, we all know nothing out there is quite like this) to see how they've handled the same question when the audience grew to a certain point?
Yes. I consider the owner of 11warriors.com a friend. We bounce ideas off each other all the time. He's committed to the free model. It helps that there are many more Ohio State fans (think web traffic) than Tech fans.
Hey Joe, I can't really put into words how much I appreciate all of the work that you and everyone else involved with the website have put into this. I didn't realize things were quite so tight. I've always tried to do something when I can although that's really only amounted to a couple shirts. I won't ask you a thousand questions because I'm sure you've been turning this over in your mind more than I can imagine.
Anyway, do what you've got to do to make this work because this site is amazing. I'll do what I can when I can to try and support you guys, you've more than earned what you're asking for. Thanks, Joe
Thank you for the feedback. I appreciate it.
I enjoy the 'one time' benefits, like the annual t-shirt after a decade of dominance or the shirt that accurately predicted our future win over 'Bama (in progress). I would also enjoy a magazine once a year.
In the spirit of the site, I would prefer other 'one time' things. Perhaps a lifetime subscription, or annual, rather than monthly or per-article. Something small that applied to everyone. $5 or $10 multiplied by a several thousand might be a big shot in the bottom line.
And I do like the idea of a magazine that could be updated. Maybe make the magazine the premium content, with the 'normal' content still free.
Man, I did not expect my forum post about offseason doldrums to take off like this!
For starters, I went and donated just now for the first time and once I'm not stuck with phone browsing I'll navigate my way around making that a recurring payment. I've bought no shirts as I'm terribly picky about clothes and most don't fit me well, I didn't get in on the pint glasses because I already have a cabinet full. I have no excuse for not donating previously.
As others have said, I'm in favor of a free TKP. The content is as good as if not way better than anywhere else, but it's the conversation that makes it really entertaining for me and I don't want that to be hindered by a paywall. I would be for a magazine, but honestly I prefer the digital nature and as I've said on here before, what has helped my understanding of the intricacies of the game has been your breakdowns combined with Dozer's video (especially the slow-mo this year). The ideal scenario for me would be to save on any printing costs and do an e-mag or pdf with preseason content that includes video. Possibly sell the e-mag for $X or recurring donators above $X/month get it free, maybe a few extra perks for recurring donators over the course of the year?
Thank you! If you need help making it a recurring payment let me know. I know PayPal can be confusing.
I really appreciate all of your feedback. It's very helpful.
Joe,
Over 10 years ago I paid :10bux: to join the Something Awful forums. It was the best thing I have ever paid for on the internet. If you feel that a monthly charge of a few bucks or a one time lump fee of 5-15 dollars is necessary to keep the content on this site at the quality standards you expect while fairly compensating those that have worked to make it as great a place for Hokie fans to convene, then go for it.
Those that buy in will get just compensation in the materials provided seeing the upward trajectory of the site, and in turn we can help make sure it stays that way.
This board has done a good job of self moderation (although a board moderator finally came online this year), a pay wall like SA has here I do not think would stifle conversation, but it is going to help enforce the need to play nice because now you've invested something into the site you could lose with shit posting. As you get bigger (which I watched happen over at SA), you may want to start creating some space between the content everyone can see and content which is reserved for those that really want it. It can be really hard to keep up that quality if you can't retain the talent that put you where you are or you get overloaded with the bad corners of the internet that will ruin the attitude of the site. Honestly elitism will crop up anywhere, so I don't see a paywall encouraging that the way some have suggested (most folks would already cry foul if anyone said there was a better place for Hokie analysis of the games than here).
A paywall won't be the worst thing that happened to this site if you bring it along. Might be worth considering that if some articles go behind it (at least for a bit), that perhaps portions of the forums/boards go there too. I guess what I'm saying is I would support a pay wall or subscription of some sort because I think it actually encourages quality discussion within the established culture of the website.
Sincerely,
Guy on Your Website, Who is also a Hokie Fan, and payer of Subscriptions elsewhere.
I am still making a determination of whether or not there should be any pay-for content. As of right now, I'm strongly leaning no. I really appreciate the feedback of your experience.
If you did want to pretend this was a subscription website and make a small recurring donation once a month, or a one-time donation, you can do so here: http://www.thekeyplay.com/support.
Is there any way besides PayPall to contribute direct money? I always have trouble with it from China for some reason.
China really makes Internetting difficult. Other than mailing a check, I don't have a solution. What sort of issues do you run into?
Maybe you could use Patreon instead of Kickstarter? It's a really cool fundraising website that lets people pledge money to support their favorite writers, artists, filmmakers, what have you. TKPers could pledge, say, $1 a month, or $5 for every article by French or their favorite staff writer (Patreon is great about allowing flexibility for how and what you pledge to support).
I will look into it. Thank you!
Isn't one of the dangers that you mentioned before that once it's a pay site it's harder for you to control the people that comment. For example, let's say Bender comes back and pays for a subscription and then we all have to put up with that jackass again. That's a real negative.
Would it be possible to do a fund raising drive every year? Announce the drive to start in January for $5,000, for example. Then have a leg meter on the side bar of every page that shows how much has been contributed so far. That way people can see who much support has been made and push for more to support, or contribute more themselves. At least this way you maintain control on the boards.
You could even package the raise to expected content in order of priority for you:
TKP 2015 Fund Raiser
target $5,000
Results: New Server, TKP Magazine, new TKP Shirt Design, TKP Tailgate Party, etc, etc
As many others have mentioned the best part of the site is the content you all provide but the open community of Hokies is what really makes it over the top enjoyable for everyone. I, for one, would be happy to contribute to an annual raise like this and let everyone enjoy the site, even if they didn't contribute themselves.
Anyway, none of us really know what time and effort you put in to it, so if you do go premium I will be one of the first to pay and sign up. But I would much prefer to keep the heart of the site in tact.
I definitely like the idea of some sort of meter to say what the goals are for the money and how much has been raised. Similar to one of the usual thermometer style meters you see when organizations do fundraisers, it helps to motivate people in a simple way. But maybe that's just me though.
Participating in the community would be separate from premium content. Premium content would be a product we are selling. Participating in the community would be a privilege subject to the community guidelines as it is now. Paying for premium content wouldn't guarantee access to the community features and not paying wouldn't deny it.
My wife enjoys TKP t shirts because she knows they are great gift ideas for me. I'm sorry to see them not be big sellers. As for the rest of the issues in not sure how I feel. I want TKP and the contributors who I think of as some of the best to be fairly compensated for their work but I do not have a lot of experience with paywall sites. I would be willing to support TKP in other ways fundraisers, TKP tailgate at one away game a year, TKP bar night in NOVA/Burg, TKP newsletter yearly or quarterly, pay for "special" one off articles Etc. I also want to take the time to thank every writer, reporter and person associated with TKP.