I think that services on Internet must be free, at least, at starting.
If you need more featured services, they must be at payment, just for maintaining site performance and developing (if it is the case).

There's also movements about freedom on Internet, such Open Source http://www.opensource.org/ , or free network connection using wireless http://www.freenetworks.org/ (search for links on this site to find nodes near to you to access freely and highbandiwitted to Internet).

There's also free software initiatives, such some OSes as Linux http://www.linux.org/ or FreeBSD http://www.freebsd.org/ or OpenBEos http://www.openbeos.org ; or complete free sites with lots of free apps for any system https://sourceforge.net/

My thought is: there's a lot of sites with free resources, but if someone are very interested on a topic, this user must pay for the service (or anything related); an example, Blender3D (a 3d graphics program previously released as free software, was discontinued by developpers, and the comunity are paying for get the sources and making free for all http://www.blender3d.com ).

This is a real BAD idea because there are people out there that will and can do anything with your credit card number and/or SSN (Social Security Number) and basically screw your life up in hell and there are people out there who just dont go for it anymore.

It relies upon a secure, non-interest method of payment. I think it is a matter of time before people realize that for-pay internet activity is feeding 10-20% of their spending money to credit-card companies.

I know that I would spend vast amounts of money online if there were a decent way to do it. I was within days of getting a Paypal account when Ebay bought them and all the class-action talk started. Now, i dunno. Credit cards are one of those unseen drains on the world economy that sooner or later will face scrutiny. I know people that do *all* their buying and bill-paying with credit cards. When will they get pissed about what amounts to a old-testament tithing to huge lending organizations, just to do what the rest of us do for free? 6-30% interest on groceries and the electric bill? When did we get so jaded that we expect to pay interest on *everything*?

What about all the emerging countries wherein getting a credit card is pretty much out of the question? Will we write off billions of consumers because they don't spend plastic? There has to be a solution somewhere.

Anyway, that is a little, slightly on-topic rant. I don't have a problem with subscriptions in games, software, sites, or pretty much anything. All my gripes in the past have either had to do with the relationship between designers and the developers, or the selling of previously-free content. Don't sell what was freely given to you, and make it as easy for people to pay as possible.

End-users should pay for product, no questions asked. They are the Great Maw that consumes and doesn't give back. Let the cheap masses of unwashed feed at Yahoo or MSN, where they can click banners to their heart's content. For the sake of the upstanding users who demand better, and users in all parts of the world, there needs to be a method of payment that works cheaply and without the red tape of plastic.

Wow. Some great points.

I agree with Carlitus basically. The sites that want to do this need to provide their basic services for free and then encourage those core users who massivley use the site to upgrade to use additional services.

Bakerstreet: Will need to digest your post more before I respond. Good stuff!

bakerstreet has a good point don't sell content that was previously free, wincustomize has done a fabulous job in doin this, ive become a big fan of wincustomize as of latley so as soon as i save enough cash im gonna get a subscribtion

hmmmm.... I wasn't sure about this subscribtion thing but I do see it as a way to make sites better. If the subscrption goes into full swing here it should mainly focus on enhancing the site experience as oppossed to changing the site experience for non subscribers. If the site is as it is then leave it. Improve on it, but don't make that a subscribtion. The subscribtion should be a diffeent way to access the information on the site. I think the subscribtion here has allot of advantages but at the same time for those who do not want those advatages or need them, they can easly browse just as they did before.


If there are any special suites that are for subscribers, I think that eventually they should be released to the public (maybe after like 3 or 4 months). The word ads for subscribers are a great idea. Being about to interact with the site faster because of direct database link as oppossed through a browse is wonderful. I think also the browser could be a way to link to the "TV stations" of other companies who have siutes is cool too. Coming up with other ideas like different site interfaces for subscribers, Business contacts for those who want to start a design company, skinning jobs open for hire, other sites asking for skinners to bring there work to there sites, first to see or get specail designs for t-shirts, sweaters, caps, laptop bags that look like the skins designed by the artist... yada yada yada.

Just as long as the ideas of what a subsrciber gets is not hurt the non-subsriber. Try to keep what is "exclusive" to those who are more dedicated to skinning or being apart of the site then just a downloader passing through. Other stuff should be someing that they get first and then eventually gets to the masses.

Payments for services is fine by me. I pay for subscriptions to news sites or buy software. But what pisses me most about some sites and developers is how they lock people to one particular way of payments. How many wishfull users out there who would gladly pay for service, providing they have a way. I remember mail exchanges with one developer who was about to start selling his software online. I wrote him: "Look, I have debit card and there's some site that I know of, that can process payments with debit card. Like WorldPay or ShareIt. Can you use them?" He wrote back: "If you can't pay, I can send you reg info free then" I said: "I can pay. I will pay. Just give me a choice!" He didn't and went with company that takes Visa and Amex. I don't know, maybe to some such problems are non-existant, but to have a credit card in my coutry is fairly difficult. So OK, provide subscription, but give a chance to people. 5%? That's 5% with Visa or some other credit card. How many percent are out there who can pay other way?

And Carlitus, while free software does exist, it's not 100% of them really free. It might be that free is limited, lite version. Or Suse charging $995 for email server, which is built using open source, free software. Or RedHat's web server for $1000 (using apache, php, etc. all free software).

Virtually all Porn sites are "subscription" sites. Personally, I will only subscribe to a site that gives me something specific, that I cannot get some where else, freely, or something whose quality exceeds that available elsewhere.

Should Wincustomize start requiring subscription fees, I would have to go elsewhere. While this is the best site I've found, I will not pay to have access to less than high quality, faultless skins. >

After all the moaning is over, I would bet that a great percentage of site's will be subscription by the end of next year. So I think we'd better get used to it.