As everyone knows this place costs money to run. Money which up until recently was funded by both advertising (Our Traders) and from my own pocket. Now this was fine when everything was relatively small and cheap, but now we're massive and we chew through the resources like it going out of fashion. Which, is unsustainable.
So how do we balance the need for income yet keep with the original ethos of keeping all our information free for the masses? It' was not an easy question, but here is how we've solved it... We now have two user groups, Users and Members, which I'll break down for everyone:
Everyone who joins the site is added to the "User" user group by default. Everyone in this group is able to access all the general, off topic and regional areas with absolutely no restrictions. All attachments are downloadable, and all the technical sections are searchable and readable. Just like our classifieds section, members of this group will not be able to create new threads in any of our technical sections. No restrictions are in place in regards to replying.
The "Member" group is replacing our Donators user group. This group has access to the entire site, for searching, reading and downloading like the "User" group. However, only the "Member" group can create new threads in all our technical sections. This group also has access to a Members lounge, along with access to other features yet to be released.
Anyone may become a Member via the automated payment system located in everyone's user control panel, which is now called Settings.
Now please bear in mind, this is just a brief run down on how this new system will work and I'll explain more in the weeks to come, but really, you should all get the gist of it.
Feel free to ask any questions, I'm heading back into the guts of this place to help finally get it back online!
Steve and the OZVR4 Admin Team