My 0.02$...

Here in this thread the "premium membership" is joined with the idea of a marketplace where there is some minimum quality assurance of the standing in the community of those posting gear for sale there. I think joining those two only serves to muddle the water.

The idea of a "premium" or a "benefactor" status is a good one. I am sure ETS foundation will make good use of that money.

I am a bit puzzled of how to solve the challenges that arises with the marketplace - no matter how you put it there are evil pitfalls and traps. I think the most clear cut and easy way is to put the marketplace in a totally separate forum, the way it is done at candlepowerforums (nerdy flashlight discussions). Registering at the candlepowerforums marketplace is totally separate from the candlepowerforum. Exclusion from one has no impact on the other. What happens in the marketplace stays there. Period. Go to http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/index.php? and read their rules, contact the administrators if you want feedback of how they regulate private transactions and professional vendors and how those rules works and are enforced in practice.

Having a separate marketplace forum also solves a lot of the issues disussed here of how to QA those who are permitted to a "premium" status - simply by exporting the problem to another forum. I don't want to go into details, but I see several cans of worms with some of the above proposals to that problem.

Let me rephrase that for clarity: Since you no longer are worried about QA the morale of those that wants to sell excess gear, the rules of admission to "premium" status can be much easier and transparent. My favorite: If you pay, you get "benefactor" status. Simple as that.

An added benefit is that you won't develop a paria caste (those worthy of "premium" status) high above the rest. With some grains of salt, common sense and perhaps a little search you find out pretty quick who knows what they're talking about and who doesn't. I like to see all members on equal footing. I wouldn't mind seeing that member X has contributed to ETS and now has a well earned "benefactor" status. Having a board comitty evaluating member Y to "superior" status means we no longer are on an equal footing. I dislike that.



None at all. You pay cover charge to a fancy bar and misbehave - do you get your covercharge back? No you don't.

Technically you CAN refund the appropriate proportion of the subscription (minus paypal fees, minus the time elapsed since payment and so on). But I don't really see the problem if ETS states that it won't.

I'm also guessing that the trolls don't want to PAY for having their fun. Of course, you could have a situation where honorable members starts flaming each other (perhaps due to some marketplace dispute...). Possible, but unlikely.