Would you use a membership-based MazzleUI site?

[Kaomie]

Originally Posted by joive the underwear of the Developers, etc.

silly but this made me laugh out loud

[VincentSDSH]

It seems to me that a pretty simple point is being missed... If Mazz puts up the site in this manner -- mind you, I strongly disagree with this; however with all the "legalese" being bandied about I wanted to throw this in -- and charges for access to the site to have a) bleeding edge code, b) quick fixes, c) support on the compilation then there's little reason to stop him for mod authors with the proviso that what you are paying for is Mazzle's work and attention sooner than you'd get it for free. This is used by a lot of sites to navigate the same kind of waters without sinking anyone's ship.

If there's a, say, 3-4 week delay between "gold for premium members" and "gold posted to wowinterface"...that's rather a different affair than it being the only way to obtain it and the compiled mods.

It's also a quasi-marketing scheme since new folks can still nab the thing, even if a bit out of date. And, face it, for the most part being a month downstream doesn't hurt much.

[agshadowman]

My thoughts as a fairly light player of WoW - maybe a few hours a week - $5 to $10 per month is a bit steep. I've got to imagine that there's 100's (thousands?) of users of your UI that would be willing to pay $15 to $25 for a one time (maybe yearly?) fee. I would. If that brought in several thousand dollars at $X / hour I wonder how long that would sustain your efforts to maintain/improve the UI. Do you have any idea how many users of the UI there are? Working backwards perhaps a lower subscription could sustain your efforts?

[Doubleaxe]

Well, seeing how people pay way more for less fun IMO, I would be happy to keep this awesome project alive. I will pass the word around my guild as alot of them have switched to Mazzle, maybe for the Mazlegasms not sure but I hope it works out

[Shadowed]

Originally Posted by VincentSDSH It seems to me that a pretty simple point is being missed... If Mazz puts up the site in this manner -- mind you, I strongly disagree with this; however with all the "legalese" being bandied about I wanted to throw this in -- and charges for access to the site to have a) bleeding edge code, b) quick fixes, c) support on the compilation then there's little reason to stop him for mod authors with the proviso that what you are paying for is Mazzle's work and attention sooner than you'd get it for free. This is used by a lot of sites to navigate the same kind of waters without sinking anyone's ship. If there's a, say, 3-4 week delay between "gold for premium members" and "gold posted to wowinterface"...that's rather a different affair than it being the only way to obtain it and the compiled mods. It's also a quasi-marketing scheme since new folks can still nab the thing, even if a bit out of date. And, face it, for the most part being a month downstream doesn't hurt much.

I'm not a lawyer, but.

Theres a big difference between a premium membership on WoWI and a premium membership for Mazzle, when you upload a mod to WoWI you're (essentially) giving them permission to redistribute your mod, if you disagree with something they do then you can get it removed from the database.

Meaning, regardless if permission was asked or not they can have the addon removed from being distributed.

And something to remember, theres a lot of authors who don't like compilations they're opinions for the lazy in general and we're blamed when something breaks, Mazzle's attitude regarding money doesn't help it much either.

[Flarin]

I like the idea of paying for access to a site run by Mazzle where said membership allowed access to a download area where I can download Mazzle's code.

I would have no problem then going to a couple of other download sites and downloading mods from other authors thereby completing the compilation. RDX runs this way - you do not get access to their download area's until you pay for membership to their site first.

I have read and understood your intentions Mazzle.

Have at it - sign me up.

[joive]

Shadowd, " a lot of Authors who don't like compilations"? Maybe they don't like chocolate ice cream also.

There are WoW related sites that offer memberships to give you advise on how to level your character. There are WoW related memberships for a lot of things. Some valuable some worthless, from my particular perspective. I choose if I want to pay for, like the title of this thread says "Yes, I would pay $5-$10 per month for regular and continued feature additions and updates." That's all!! Plain and simple!!!

All this copyright stealing software world war that some people are writing here is off-topic. We can make a new thread with a poll like "What do Mazzlefist, Magneto, Sauron, Darth Vader, Dr. Von Doom, Voldemort and Dick Cheney have in common? But for me THIS was a decision of having the UI I like updated or not? With the possibility of new features and support for the moments I need it. Skins, Button layouts, add-ons, in-game faq, options, Mazzifier, etc. etc. etc. are valuable to me. Anyway, I want Mazzle Compilation to continue, be with a membership or without it.

[Shadowed]

Originally Posted by joive Shadowd, " a lot of Authors who don't like compilations"? Maybe they don't like chocolate ice cream also. There are WoW related sites that offer memberships to give you advise on how to level your character. There are WoW related memberships for a lot of things. Some valuable some worthless, from my particular perspective. I choose if I want to pay for, like the title of this thread says "Yes, I would pay $5-$10 per month for regular and continued feature additions and updates." That's all!! Plain and simple!!! All this copyright stealing software world war that some people are writing here is off-topic. We can make a new thread with a poll like "What do Mazzlefist, Magneto, Sauron, Darth Vader, Dr. Von Doom, Voldemort and Dick Cheney have in common? But for me THIS was a decision of having the UI I like updated or not? With the possibility of new features and support for the moments I need it. Skins, Button layouts, add-ons, in-game faq, options, Mazzifier, etc. etc. etc. are valuable to me. Anyway, I want Mazzle Compilation to continue, be with a membership or without it.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/compilation

MazzleUI wouldn't be anything without the authors who did the work of all the addons that he included, you realize that of course? Pissing off the people who you have to thank for making you the money in the first place isn't typically a good idea.

[Layrajha]

Originally Posted by Shadowd Pissing off the people who you have to thank for making you the money in the first place isn't typically a good idea.

Did I hear "Microsoft"?

[Mazzlefizz]

I have nothing but respect for other authors, and I have no desire to piss anybody off. And I don't think I've done anything to do so. If anything, I think I've increased exposure for constituent add-ons, especially among people who would normally not try so many new things, and lightened their support load. And I've put a lot of effort to help educate users about the add-ons themselves, both in the forum and the extensive in-game documentation.

And your argument that it's nothing but a compilation, hence does nothing except what the constituent parts do and hence has no independent value -- which I'm guessing was your intention with the link to a compilation definition -- is simply not true. Not only are their many independent features that have absolutely no link to other add-ons, but the value-added aspects of dynamic configuration, coherency and consistency is something that I think is of great value to many people and is a general thing people strive for in HMI. And while it is true that none of those attributes are possible without the many constituent components, achievement of them is often a difficult, and time-intensive task, especially if you want to do it in a general way. IMO, that does have value. Not everyone needs or wants it, but it does have value to many and is a pain in the ass to achieve well.

While I understand why you want to simplify it to that argument to be derogatory, I don't think it's an accurate characterization. You should just attack me personally. There's all sorts of fertile ground there!

Anyway, I'm going to lock this thread now, as it's turning into a random vent fest of things unrelated to the original post. Thank you for all the feedback. I think there is enough interest. And the feedback has shown me enough people have issues that it would be smart not to distribute other add-ons other than my own and the ones I've already gotten permission for on an independent site.