Discover Forumotion Packages: the new way to evolve your forums

[The Godfather]

First topic message reminder :

New: Forumotion Packages

Dear users, As we told you in this topic, we are pleased to announce the arrival of Forumotion packages. A new way to enrich your forum and customize your members' experience through a redesign of paid features management. Presentation of Forumotion packages Forumotion packages allow you to enrich your forum with additional features. As you know, Forumotion offers for many years the possibility to create a free forum, with a rich diversity of features. If, by default, our forums offer most of the tools necessary for the proper use and development of your forum, some paid options can enhance it with new features, and improve your members' experience (ads deletion, SSL certificate, custom domain name, etc.). Until now, these paid options were dispersed in the administration panel. Today, and thanks to the arrival of Forumotion packages, the purchase of a package will allow you to access a set of additional features, while leaving you free to activate or not, step by step, each of these options. These packages are primarily a response to technical issues that disrupt the proper use of the service, particularly because of the international nature of Forumotion. But they are also the manifestation of an evolution of the web, and the world of forums. These have evolved a lot in nearly 10 years, and Forumotion must evolve in the same direction in order to adopt an operating model to guarantee the quality, viability, and continuity of our service. What are the different offered packages ? Forumotion forums offer three packages: Free, Advanced and Premium. Here is a non-exhaustive presentation: - Free package: this is the default package for all Forumotion forums, which continues to offer features that allow relevant use of your forum. These features include access to advanced permissions, image hosting, optimization of your forum for SEO, unlimited number of topics, members and messages, etc. - Advanced package: in addition to the features offered by the free package, the advanced package offers, among other things, more storage space, a higher newsletter limit, the possibility to activate an SSL certificate or to acquire a domain name, etc. - Premium package: it is the most complete package, offering the most functionalities, such as the monetization of the forum, the suppression of copyrights, an improved search which extends to the content of messages, the personalization of the"Popular content" newsletter, etc. You will find a more complete presentation of each package in your administration panel, in the Misc tab. Example: How can I subscribe a Forumotion package? The subscription to a package can be done with two methods of payment: Either via an annual payment: In this case, you pay your package in a single payment, for a validity period of one year. Or via a monthly payment: With no due date and no commitment, it allows you to access Forumotion packages by paying very accessible monthly fees and to spread the payment of your package. Note that the annualized subscription includes 2 months free. Forumotion packages use credits, the virtual currency specific to Forumotion forums. Subscribing to a package on an annualized basis requires therefore to have a sufficient balance of credits on the forum. Nothing changes, the purchase of credits remains made in the same way as in the past, via Allopass, Paypal, Hipay or Skrill. The monthly subscription is only possible via Paypal (the use of a PayPal account linked to a valid card or bank account is mandatory), the only means of payment to set up a satisfactory monthly payment given the technical constraints we know. To subscribe to a package, go to your: Administration panel > Misc > Credit Management - Forumotion Packages We hope that these innovations will bring you full satisfaction. Forumotion team

A Forumotion Important Announcement

[Neptune-]

@jkh

If you just need SSL and ADS removal, you can wait till few days before SSL expires.

If you buy advanced package on march 16 or 17 you will have no features break and you'll even get refunded for the two weeks remaining on ads removal. Effective cost reduced by 80 or 85 credits.

[0ldcat]

Hello ^^

I have a custom url (purchased through forumotion in 2008 - no further annual fee has ever been required). It now looks/reads like I will have to pay annually for that privilege ?

It wont change if you still have the requirements. Offered domain names will still be offered even with the free package.
But if you don't fill the requirements one year, you'll have to be at least in advanced package to renew a domain name.
Price has been lowered by 25%, domain name costs now 1200 credits "only" versus 1600 credits so far.

Further, each year I buy 2000 credits to stop ads for guests and members, and now 500 credits for the SSL Certificate. This adds up to 2500 credits per year.

SSL certificate is now included in advanced (and premium) package.
Removing ads for members + guests will cost 1660 credits. Once more, price has been reduced by 17%

Reading into your info and what it says in my ACP, to get the same level of service when my renewal comes around, it looks like I shall have to move up to the "Advanced Package". That would, according to the charges at the bottom of the forum packages page in the ACP, be a rise in credits to 5260 per year.

Or am I reading it wrong ? I would appreciate your clarification.

I'm afraid you read it right
3600 credits for advanced package
1660 credits to remove ads
Total 5260 credits per year

So,
I now have to pay over double my current annual credits fee of 2500 credits, and upgrade to the advanced pack at a cost of 5620 credits just to receive the same service I now get ?
Okay so there are a couple of other extra things thrown in (4 news letters instead of 2 and a small increase in storage non of which I either asked for nor do I need).
I'm sorry I'm not feeling the love

0c

[Castiel]

I don't think it will do much but I'd like to add that I am also not happy with these changes. We ran on $50~ a year and now it goes up to $100~ a year to get the same things that we purchased in the past with a lot of unnecessary additions. As others have mentioned before, I do understand that Forumotion is in need of more finances to keep on running but I don't believe that this is the right method.

First of all, if an argument is being raised by Forumotion that giving away free domains is costing so much then why do they not simply stop giving away free domains? Secondly, wouldn't it be better to simply increase the prices a little bit and still allow people to choose what they wish to purchase? To impose the community with these packages might result into a lot of folks migrating elsewhere, eventually netting Forumotion even less than they anticipated by bringing in with these forced packages.

Once again, I don't think this will change much but I think if we all complain instead of accepting these changes silently they ought to hear us out at least and take it into consideration. My personal preference goes to allowing customization like in the past but at a certain increase in price i.e. I go up from $50 a year to $70 a year instead of $100 a year.

Regards,

Cas

[Neptune-]

I'm sorry I'm not feeling the love

0c

Same here. It looks like someone's trying to find something deep in my purse.

I don't think it will do much but I'd like to add that I am also not happy with these changes. We ran on $50~ a year and now it goes up to $100~ a year to get the same things that we purchased in the past with a lot of unnecessary additions. As others have mentioned before, I do understand that Forumotion is in need of more finances to keep on running but I don't believe that this is the right method.

Hello Castiel,

I ran with 5100 credits per year. And yes, i will need nearly 9000 credits next year. Nearly the double ! But it is worse for some of us.
I'm glad and lucky to use already many features (SSL / Domain name / Copyright and ads removal) since i have "only" à 80% increase.
Lucky if i compare to guy who just bought SSL certificate for 500 credits, and will need 3600 credits next year (620% increase)

First of all, if an argument is being raised by Forumotion that giving away free domains is costing so much then why do they not simply stop giving away free domains? Secondly, wouldn't it be better to simply increase the prices a little bit and still allow people to choose what they wish to purchase?

Well, maybe your pro-admin told you on previous page (page 3) that you can trust what i say and so on ? But i will tell you not to trust the following lines because it's just my opinion (relying on no facts that i could check myself)

Giving away free domains, of course it costs money, of course Forumotion could save them. But Forumotion has a great heart. Difficult for them to choose to stop offer something to us. I dont know about you, but when i offer something to someone, i am as happy and sometimes even more happier than the folk who receives my gift.

Now, be serious ! If a hamburger restaurant needs money, he wont stop giving away free drinking straws. Asking Forumotion stop "wasting" money for offered domain names wont really help.

Just increase for example 40% the previous prices letting us choosing each service we need ?
Maybe it would work for one year or two, then the problem will be back, because i don't know if it's clear for you, but free Internet does not work as good as it worked 10 years ago.
There's another problem with a lower increasing. How do you increase the price of someone's running with no paying feature ?
Forumotion is a "free forum" platform. Free is in its DNA. Free is its DNA.
Forumotion needs to find something else than moderate increase to continue to work.
Forumotion has tried many things before during past years.
- They added sponsored content at bottom of some topics in 2016, and even gave us the way to stop them with no extra fee. They trusted us enough to think we would let those additionnal ads.
- Several years ago, they stopped offering additional domain choices for great events (Olympic Games, Soccer World Cup, release of some very popular movies like Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Wars)
- More recently they ran a technical maintenance on many Forumotion domains.. Technical maintenance means you cannot choose any more those domain names, and if you were using one of them, your forum switched back to something.forumotion.com. Some of us can read between the lines to discover what is really a technical maintenance.
- The Godfather got rid of his private jet to take a motorbike in 2011 (not enough money to pay kerosene). And switched it versus a bicycle in 2014 (not enough money for both petrol and insurance). Now that he's riding a bike, I can say bull**it because he can not catch me anymore.
- Forumotion, it's also a company, precisely a "small or medium-sized enterprise". When a company doesn't work as good as before, i think you know what happens. For a small or medium-sized one, it's worse. It's a drama. A human drama. You don't know (and i don't know myself) what happened yet to that company, but in France (where Forumotion headquarters are located) there are some laws to protect workers.
- Last years i think we had fewer contests and/or lower prizes than in the past. Once again, this is not what will really help to reduce prizes with hundreds of credits when whole infra is running on so many servers.

I would be able to add many lines about clues Forumotion tried to improve its business model without having us to pay more, but one thing is important. Increasing prices is not enough. Forumotion needs to really change. And we need to change too, even if most of us hate that (and i hate that myself)

Once again, I don't think this will change much but I think if we all complain instead of accepting these changes silently they ought to hear us out at least and take it into consideration.

I can tell you what we have now is not what Forumotion planned. They already heard us before bringing us those f***ing packages. But you should take in consideration those packages are the result of a long and unpleasant work :
- Thinking the future
- Coding the feature
- Test it (and hear what testers might have said)
- Fixing it
- Testing it again

Now it's there but it's not finished. They still have to improve that. An endless job, and i hope it will really be endless. Did i mentionned that even if staff members do not post, or write few posts there, they're still reading you and all of us. You're not dreaming. Some of your words, of your ideas, of mine and of all of us, might be the future of Forumotion.

[SLGray]

Several reasons motivate us to make this choice :

- To solve the technical issues that hinder the overall use of the service.
- To guarantee the quality, viability and continuity of the Forumotion service.

[Van-Helsing]

Hello team,
I am back after long time ago, and I saw a lot of changes. It seems the cost of the packages have been increased because the user options are preselected and mandatory. I would like to suggest the users to have the ability to select which features want to have and which of them not. It will be more customizable with better effects such by this way each user will pay the features which he want and the cost will be calculated only for the features which the user have been selected and activated via dropdown menus (Yes/No).

[CDDIVA]

I certainly hope this does go back to being able to purchase separate features, instead of these horrible packages... I am now stuck for a year with my newest forum because I bought a domain name and an SSL, and only bought enough ad removal and copyright removal for half a year with the credits that were left, knowing like a dummy that I could purchase the remaining months later on, bla bla bla... I also JUST once again renewed my other domains here... so I am stuck there also.... but

unfortunatly, if this does not change, and become affordable again, I will be closing down and moving some of the forums elsewhere... maybe to another server where my website is. heck I can host all 11 of them off one account for under a hundred.

I hate to do it, because I did like this platform, but I can not continue at this cost, and I can't work with free.... I have to at least have the ability to make the forums as professional as they were, with the domain, ssl, copyrights, and ad removal.... or maybe it's just time I face the fact I am getting too old for all this, and just be an old woman in front of a tv... that is all my ssi can afford anymore. Heck, they took my medical away, they took my Polyvore away with everything I created in it, what made me think any other thing I loved or needed would not go away too. What a horrible week this has been....

[Ape]

We will not go backwards on this it took a lot of time to make this new system and to just bin it will not be worth the time it took to make the system in the first place. we have to move on and not look back as already said it this or we close down and no one has a a forum the fact is it's this or nothing sadly.

Think about it we always used ad's to pay for our income and to keep you having a free host but as the world will know the price of things go up and we have had to be get all the new things in that FM was made to do like
#SSL_Certificate
#Declare_authorized_sellers
#Topic_it (To make your forums more mobile friendly)

This all costs us money to make the change to our systems and we did not pick to take this on we was made to do it. ( ok Topic it was not one that we was made to add but we had to move in with the times)

None of us like change but it's all for the best of the host and our forums.

[Van-Helsing]

Hi dear all,
@Ape all of us we can understand that there are some expenses / costs for the company. There are some business development strategies which are able to improve some things as I know from my professional experience but probably this topic is not the correct place to discuss them.

Btw these are company's decisions and we must respect them.

[JulesofColorado]

I purchased the premium package mostly so I can send 8 newsletters. It only let me send one! I have to wait until May 14th to send another one. What's up with that?

http://artistictagpassions.forumotion.com/forum

[Neptune-]

I purchased the premium package mostly so I can send 8 newsletters. It only let me send one! I have to wait until May 14th to send another one. What's up with that?

http://artistictagpassions.forumotion.com/forum

If it gave you just one newsletter, that means you sent already 7 newsletters on last 30 days ? Right ?

[JulesofColorado]

I purchased the premium package mostly so I can send 8 newsletters. It only let me send one! I have to wait until May 14th to send another one. What's up with that?

http://artistictagpassions.forumotion.com/forum

If it gave you just one newsletter, that means you sent already 7 newsletters on last 30 days ? Right ?

I don't recall sending that many. Seems to me if you purchase the package it should not count that anyway!

[JulesofColorado]

I know it's only been 20 hours but I have to go to bed soon for work tomorrow. Can an admin please address this?

I purchased the premium package mostly so I can send 8 newsletters. It only let me send one! I have to wait until May 14th to send another one. What's up with that? I purchased the premium package so therefore I should have 8 newsletters. Is it going to do the same thing to me next month? It's not right that even if I have sent 7 prior newsletters (which I know I haven't) when purchasing packages everything should start at the time of purchase. We should get what we pay for.

http://artistictagpassions.forumotion.com/forum

Thank you.

[brandon_g]

Hello,

I believe the way the system has been set up currently is that it considers newsletters sent from March as part of the overall total, whether you pay or not it doesn't erase the amount considered sent in the previous month. So if the system is saying you have to wait, it is because you sent a total of 8 newsletters between the middle of March to now. There isn't anything we or you can really do about this except wait.

We are sorry for the incovience and for any mis understanding.

[JulesofColorado]

Hello,

I believe the way the system has been set up currently is that it considers newsletters sent from March as part of the overall total, whether you pay or not it doesn't erase the amount considered sent in the previous month. So if the system is saying you have to wait, it is because you sent a total of 8 newsletters between the middle of March to now. There isn't anything we or you can really do about this except wait.

We are sorry for the incovience and for any mis understanding.

Thank you for your response Brandon. I don't mind telling you (I know it's not your fault) that is not good business. Like I said, we should get the whole package at the time of purchase regardless of what happened before that.

Thank you.

Jules

[Neptune-]

If it gave you just one newsletter, that means you sent already 7 newsletters on last 30 days ? Right ?

I don't recall sending that many. Seems to me if you purchase the package it should not count that anyway!

It's not right that even if I have sent 7 prior newsletters (which I know I haven't) when purchasing packages everything should start at the time of purchase. We should get what we pay for.

If you know you hadn't sent those 7 newsletters, just let us know too, providing us a screenshot of that page :
ACP > General > Newsletter > Tracking and archives.

Then, because it's a bug, it will be fixed and you will get what you paid for.

Like I said, we should get the whole package at the time of purchase regardless of what happened before that.

I completely agree with that, system should have been designed to think all forums sent 0 newsletters from march 9th to april 9th, but it probably won't change !

Why ?
Because that issue should solve itself 30 days after the package implementation. May 9th !
Once all the previous newsletters sent with no limit will get older than 30 days, the system will give correct values if refering to what was sent 30 days ago.

Fixing a bug which would solve itself in 3 weeks would be just a waste of time and money.

[frontier gander]

Wait a minute! Are you telling me that the domain name I pay for on forumotion, went from $24-26 a year to now $50 by having to purchase the Advanced package option!?????

I currently have the (free) version and for the last 8 years, Have paid for my domain with you guys.

[CDDIVA]

Wait a minute! Are you telling me that the domain name I pay for on forumotion, went from $24-26 a year to now $50 by having to purchase the Advanced package option!?????

I currently have the (free) version and for the last 8 years, Have paid for my domain with you guys.

Sucks huh... I have to move on.... I have total 12 forums I either run or manage.... we are all closing or moving on when what we JUST paid for runs out

[cassini]

We will not go backwards on this it took a lot of time to make this new system and to just bin it will not be worth the time it took to make the system in the first place. we have to move on and not look back as already said it this or we close down and no one has a a forum the fact is it's this or nothing sadly.

Think about it we always used ad's to pay for our income and to keep you having a free host but as the world will know the price of things go up and we have had to be get all the new things in that FM was made to do like
#SSL_Certificate
#Declare_authorized_sellers
#Topic_it (To make your forums more mobile friendly)

This all costs us money to make the change to our systems and we did not pick to take this on we was made to do it. ( ok Topic it was not one that we was made to add but we had to move in with the times)

None of us like change but it's all for the best of the host and our forums.

Thank You Godfather and Ape, this is something I do completely agree with and I can see where you are trying to improve Forumotion to move with the times. TapaTalk who have taken over a number of forums for example My Free Forum, that I have a board with they do a Donation which is Voluntary. I am prepared to pay for my two forums, and to continue to stay with Forumotion, as long as paying for a forum that doesn't become ridiculously expensive. There are many forums that are going this way as Forumotion and TapaTalk which I am sure more will follow this way. At least we all have a choice of three so it will be down to the individual Admin to decide.

Regards
Cassini

[Arynah]

Hello. I am a user from Germany and apologize for any language mistakes in the beginning.

I don't get an informative answer in the german support, so I'll hope, I'll get one here about the SSL certificat.

From the 25th may onwards, you have to pay a fine (50.000 euro or more) when your website is not safe through HTTPS, but many users don't have the money to spend 40 euros a year for the package and every new user, who makes a new forum, will be acting against the law at the first hours, days oder weeks, because: Why spend money for a forum, which doesn't have any users and could be fail to grow?
Who will be the one acting against the law? The Admin who doesn't have the money to buy HTTPS for 40 euro a year or forumotionen who offers an illegal service (in my opinion) or both? What about all the inactive forums that are forgotten? What about the forums of user under legal age? What should we users expect?

Greetings

Arynah

[SLGray]

Where did you get the information that you will be fined if your forum does not have a SSL certificate?

[Arynah]

https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tmg/__13.html

"Eine Maßnahme nach Satz 1 ist insbesondere die Anwendung eines als sicher anerkannten Verschlüsselungsverfahrens."

In english: "A step after "Satz 1" is especially a as safe recognized ciphering method"

And here the fine: http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tmg/__16.html

"Die Ordnungswidrigkeit kann mit einer Geldbuße bis zu fünfzigtausend Euro geahndet werden."

In english: "The administrative offence can be punished with a fine up to 50.000 euro."

A recognized ciphering method is SSL. A lot of websites write, that it is the only alternative. Or is every forum safe after that law and we don't have to be afraid to get into dept?

[Asciugamano]

@SLGray
I guess Arynah talks about the GDPR.
Since every forumotion forum has a contact form, can send newsletters and takes personal data like IP and E-Mail, the forums need to add transparency on how the data will be used and also every forum needs a proper encryption (SSL) to protect the data of the users.

I made a suggestion in the German forum to use Let's Encrypt (they offer free SSL certificates), but forumotion already uses them.
However, if SSL certificates are not included in every forum the service is not really free, since the forums would be illegal if you don't pay the 45 Euros...

Edit:
Just to make clear: Even if you're not from a country that belongs to the EU, the law is als valid for you as long as you have users from EU.

[brandon_g]

@SLGray
I guess Arynah talks about the GDPR.
Since every forumotion forum has a contact form, can send newsletters and takes personal data like IP and E-Mail, the forums need to add transparency on how the data will be used and also every forum needs a proper encryption (SSL) to protect the data of the users.

I made a suggestion in the German forum to use Let's Encrypt (they offer free SSL certificates), but forumotion already uses them.
However, if SSL certificates are not included in every forum the service is not really free, since the forums would be illegal if you don't pay the 45 Euros...

Edit:
Just to make clear: Even if you're not from a country that belongs to the EU, the law is als valid for you as long as you have users from EU.

That is untrue, it is not illegal to not have a non ssl certificate website. Just because you do not have an ssl certificate does not mean that data isnt encrypted.

All data on all forumotion forums are encrypted in our database, that has always been the case and always will be. An ssl certificate and https is simply an EXTRA layer of security. Not having it by any means doesn't make one's site any less secure (despite what web browsers like chrome and firefox lead you to believe). You have nothing to worry about. ALL forums are encrypted, for free, that will never change.

[Asciugamano]

All data on all forumotion forums are encrypted in our database, that has always been the case and always will be. An ssl certificate and https is simply an EXTRA layer of security. Not having it by any means makes one's site any less secure

It does? What do you need an encrypted database for if you don't encrypt the connection?

Example: Someone could sniff the password despite your database being encrypted, because you can easily read the data from the connection.
Not encrypting a connection is susceptible to a man in the middle attack and that's why modern browsers almost impose SSL as a standard.

[Walt]

I do not think this topic is here to debate about that...

[brandon_g]

All data on all forumotion forums are encrypted in our database, that has always been the case and always will be. An ssl certificate and https is simply an EXTRA layer of security. Not having it by any means makes one's site any less secure

It does? What do you need an encrypted database for if you don't encrypt the connection?

Example: Someone could sniff the password despite your database being encrypted, because you can easily read the data from the connection.
Not encrypting a connection is susceptible to a man in the middle attack and that's why modern browsers almost impose SSL as a standard.

I meant to put doesn't. I am typing from a phone so yeah. Anyway as Walt says this.topic isn't intended to discuss the secureness of ssl certificates.

Just rest assured.your forums are always encrypted and secure at all times, whether you pay for anything or not.

[♥ Lovin ♥]

Actually I am very unhappy with this--thinking of moving my group somewhere else with a vote from them as to where. That money could be spent on other things beside a computer. This is a group and now is being considered a financial burden to me. I am not happy either

[frontier gander]

I just purchased the advanced package..... I have 15 days till my domain expires... I upgraded, thinking that the domain was in this package deal. But after buying it, I have to purchase an additional 1200 credits to renew my domain! What the hell! You guys are nickel and diming us to death with this trash!

What did I spend over $50 on?!! The option to open up a new folder and have the ability to purchase my domain name?

[SLGray]

The advanced or premium package just give you the ability to have a domain name.  The domain name price is separate from the packages' prices.  This means the expiration date for the domain name will not be the same as the package's expiration date, unless you purchase both on the same date.