Upgrade Your BP.net Experience!!!

[JLC]

Have you ever wished you could upload more pictures into the BP.net gallery? Wish you could store more Private Messages? Want a custom title like the mods and admins have? Have you ever wanted your own forum?!?

The time has come for Ball-Pythons.net to step into a new phase of our existence, and that will include lots of fun benefits for our members! As I'm sure you all know, the site is now growing exponentially, and along with that our costs of operation are also growing. And rather than adding "Google Ads" or more flashy banners scattered across the site, we are appealing to our members to help support the site, to help us keep it growing and running smoothly.

Please understand that the owners/admins of the site receive no monies from BP.net at all. The mod staff is not paid. Everyone on staff, from the newest mod to the most senior admin are strictly voluntary. Every single penny brought in from the current advertisers, and future subscriptions, go toward keeping the site running and growing.

So...with all that said, please allow me to introduce our new Membership Subscription Program! Grab a drink and get comfy...this may take a few minutes of your time....

First and foremost, 100% of the content of BP.net will remain 100% free. No one will ever have to pay a dime to participate, search, learn and grow here. However, there are lots of benefits we can offer to financial supporters while still maintaining an excellent and entirely free service to all Registered Members.

What follows is a benefit chart and a break-down of what each benefit is. There WILL be some changes to our current "Registered User" benefits. All changes will be explained below...so keep reading!

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Explanation of OPTIONS:

Custom Avatar: The ability to load an avatar image of your own choice, rather than choosing one from among the BP.net "library" of avatars. (See * note at bottom for more discussion on this change)

Avatar Size: This is the maximum size your avatar can be in order to upload. width x height

Custom Profile: Customize your Profile Page by adjusting the color scheme and fonts!

Profile Pic Size: This is the picture that shows up on your Profile Page.

Custom Title: Where it normally says, "Registered User" or "BP.net Veteran" under your member-name...you can select a title of your own choosing. Titles must be family-friendly and abide by all BP.net TOS/Rules. They may not be used to mock or demean another member.

Private Messages: The number of messages you can store in your PM box. (This includes the total of incoming and sent messages) (See ** note at the bottom for more discussion on this change)

Gallery Space: All members get a certain amount of free gallery space for hosting pictures right here at BP.net. While we can't compete with Photobucket for the amount of space we offer, it IS nice to have a selection of special images hosted right here at "home".

Free Ads: These are the ads placed in our For Sale/Trade/Adoption or Wanted Forum. The limit on ads allowed to be placed are annual limits. (See *** note at the bottom for more discussion on this change)

Canned Replies: This is a new feature in which you can type up certain answers, phrases, groups of questions...whatever you find yourself typing over and over again. You save them and give them a name, then whenever needed you can insert them right into a post without having to type it all out again.

Member Forum: Another new feature offered to our Platinum Members. We'll have a new section of forums where members can host their own forum for "Off Topic" discussions, sharing pictures, or whatever catches your fancy. All BP.net TOS/Rules will still apply.

Subscription Icon: Show your BP.net Patriotism by sporting one of our nifty new icons above your avatar!

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As you can see, we have LOTS to offer! But there are three changes that will affect our current members that we need to discuss:

* Custom Avatars -- As things stand today, any member of the site has been allowed to upload their own custom avatars. The staff has decided to make this a perk for financial supporters as well as those who have earned the BP.net Veteran rank. We have a huge list of "canned" avatars to choose from and have plans to expand this list in the very near future.

This change will be "grandfathered" in somewhat, as we have no desire to penalize our current members. Registered Users who already have a custom avatar uploaded will be able to keep it. And we'll leave the ability to upload up for one more week from the posting of this announcement so folks can make sure they have an avi they are happy to keep. After that week, Registered Users won't be able to upload any new avatars and any changes will have to come from the BP.net collection.

I hope that makes sense...please feel free to ask for clarification if necessary.

** Private Messages -- The number of messages our current members can store is being increased regardless of whether or not anyone chooses to subscribe. Registered Users go from 100 to 150 PM's and BP.net Vets go from 200 to 250.

*** Free Advertising -- This will be the most difficult thing to explain, so please bear with me.

Our "For Sale/Trade/Adoptions or Wanted" Forum has long been something we wrestle with. We want to provide this service to our members, and yet we don't want to turn BP.net into just another "classifieds" or sales venue. We also don't want to be taken advantage of by having outsiders come in and utilize our free ad space without giving anything back to the community. The Membership Subscription Program allows us to bring even more balance to these concerns.

Up until today, the policy for free advertising has been that any registered member may place up to 15 new ad threads annually. While the rest of the Rules for Advertising will remain unchanged, this one limit will be changing for most members.

BP.net Veterans will still be able to place 15 new ad threads annually, so what follows doesn't apply to them.

Subscribed members will receive an increase in that limit, according to the level of subscription they choose. The number of annual ads placed will be calculated for them as they currently are for everyone, by counting the threads created over the last twelve months.

Registered Users are the most affected by these changes. The number of ads allowed to be placed by Registered Users is now FIVE. This still allows for newer members to place the occassional ad as needed...while making it far more difficult for the "seasonal" advertisers to take advantage.

As with the avatar changes mentioned above, it is not our desire to penalize anyone...so to help with this change, all ad counts by Registered Users to this date are "zeroed out". (No, we're not deleting anyone's ads! ) Regardless of how many ads one may have over the last twelve months, all Registered Users will get a fresh count of five starting from today.

Once again, I hope this makes sense. Please ask for clarification if I've been muddled about any of this.

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And that is the extent of my discussion on the changes! I realize some folks will complain or find some facet of this to be unfair. I wish with all my heart there were a way to please everyone when we make broad changes to the site. All I can say is that we are committed to always giving our utmost to do the very best for Ball-Pythons.net and her community.

Sincerely,
Judy and the entire BP.net Staff

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TERMS OF SERVICE FOR SUBSCRIBERS:

1. All subscribers are still bound to the original TOS/Site Rules they agreed to when registering for BP.net.

2. If a subscription upgrade is made, the member will be refunded the prorated difference. (ie: If a Silver account is upgraded to Platinum right away, the member will be refunded their original $25. If the account is upgraded after six months, the member will be refunded $12.50)

3. All subscriptions are non-refundable. (Except as mentioned in point #2.) In the unlikely event that a member finds themselves banned from the site, they are not entitled to a refund.

4. Current online subscription is payable only via PayPal in $USD. Checks or money-orders in $USD may be snail-mailed to JLC - PM her for more information.

To Subscribe, click on the link and choose your level of support!
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/payments.php

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!