Hellobee Boards

@Boogs: sorry I didn't even see yours until I saw anonysquire a post and it upset me a little cause I didn't want anyone thinking I was posting in gold just cause I could

As a side note: kinda funny we thought the same thing at the same time!

@Boogs: I said before (just above) that I completely support the Gold program and am fine with it since I think the site is valuable and deserves the price. I completely agree with you in regard to the program.

I just think posting an identical thread for the "gold only" crowd is a little... off putting. It makes people feel bad. I totally get it for personal threads that post pictures of kids, personal information, etc. But I just don't want gold to become it's own site and keeps the gold members from posting on regular threads. If we have identical "Gold" and "Classic" threads, gold members are automatically going to lean towards posting in the gold thread, and all the classic members will miss their contributions. Sorry if I came off rude.

I am sad by the people who want to leave. Mr and Mrs Bee need to make a living too, and they put so much time and hard work into this site, and if you think of how cheap it really is to become a gold member, it is silly to get so upset over it. I know we all have tight budgets (believe me, you have all seen my money related posts), but it is about 50 cents per week. To me, to get awesome advice and have the support of this community is well worth the money. HB is such a tight knit community, I feel like this is tearing us apart and it shouldn't be. I understand feeling left out with the gold posts, but honestly, they are mostly posts sharing photos to protect others privacy, it's not like we are posting about "non gold" members. Please just sleep on it and let things settle down, I know this is all new to everyone, and change can be hard. I love you bees!!

@Reese: She called me annoying. I said the attitude is annoying. One is a personal attack, one is not.

@Arden: I get what you mean. And like I said before, my intentions were not malicious. I appreciate the apology.

@Mrs squirreld: I like your idea about Gold threads only being visible to Gold members--especially if that makes Classic members feel like it is not cliquey.

Yes, I will Hellobee Gold: 1) to support Mr. & Mrs. Bee because this site has been invaluable to me 2) because I like the idea of being able to share more photos. I don't start that many posts and that will most likely continue, but it will be nice to share photos. I will continue to post on the threads that are of interest to me regardless of who posts.

I hope people don't leave!

Yes I will get gold.. Because I'm a blogger that makes my decision very easy!

If I wasn't my answer would still be yes. I would pay for premium access to any site I regularly use. It would come out of our entertainment budget!

I'm eagerly awaiting the day PMing arrives to hellobee!! I know it'll happen someday.. Hehe!

I haven't read all of the replies to this thread. I probably won't get gold membership, but I do think it's a bit odd to see the Gold posts pop up in the regular portions of the message boards. It just seems a little odd and disconcerting to see a post, click on it and then get told you can't see it even though you obviously haven't paid. I think it might be best to either have only Gold members see those posts or have a special log in or section for them.

I support Mr. & Mrs. Bee's decision to run their site as they wish. The fact is that this site is not a public service, but rather a business they are endeavoring to grow. Personally, it won't change my HB experience.

@yellowbird: Yeah, I'm with you. I love HB and would love to show my support with money, but this is just off putting. It feels like a secret club to which I'm not invited. I think that offering more features to people in exchange for money is a good model, but this feels like I'm just not invited to the party.

@MamaMoose: you know, the more that I think about it, I think it's mainly because people can see the gold posts even if they're not gold members. I can totally understand why it would be off-putting to see posts that sound interesting but not be able to read them, and I think making them only visible to gold members would go a long way toward alleviating that.

I will definitely get Hellobee Gold! I've learned so much from this site and want to show my support for Mr. & Mrs. Bee. The price is very, very reasonable for a year's subscription.

@Minnie_Girl: you're not excluded, come on over and join us!

@MamaMoose: Well they could always make a permanent post explaining the different levels of membership. I just think if you're going to have different levels of membership then you should make sure that they all feel welcome. If monetization is a priority, though, which I have absolutely no problem with, then the whole site should be subscription only, rather than having members feeling put out or pressured to pay by seeing interesting threads that they can't read. I think that just fosters hard feelings. I understand that there are growing pains whenever changes happen, though, and I'm sure it'll take time for things to settle/for the gold membership to reach its final format

Absolutely! I've been waiting for more privacy. I spend so much time on this site, that I totally value being able to share certain posts with people that I know aren't just passerbys. That's not to say that I don't already share so much with all of you, but having that OPTION is exactly what I need.

As for a secret click/club. It's not secret if everyone knows about it. There's no pressure doing it, it doesn't change any of the old topics and posts. I can understand that it may not be for everyone, but for some of us, including myself, it is well worth it!

I don't like seeing all the gold threads either. For those of us who don't have it in their budgets at the time seeing the gold threads feels like it's being rubbed in our faces, IMO.
I think there should be a private board, not gold threads mixed into regular threads.

I'd pay for an app, and I voted I'd donate but not pay an annual fee.

I don't think I'll be getting it. I do appreciate this site and I've been around since the early days but we just don't budget for things like this and our budget is fairly tight since we have to sacrifice a lot for me to be a SAHM (something that is well worth it to me!!!).

I will be sticking around the regular site though and am hoping to still get just as much out of it I just REALLY hope that the non-gold boards remain just as friendly and active as I've always found them to be.

Hmm. There are some features I'd probably pay for, but I don't think this is one of them. I'd likely pay a couple of bucks for PM, and would definitely pay for an iPhone app (like I do for all my other apps), but the cost structure of this strikes me as a little funny. The only website I've ever paid for is Angie's List. While I have gotten a lot of great info from HB and enjoy my time here, I'm not sure how this gold thing is going to shake out. Paying for a more 'exclusive' memership is not something that seems worthwhile to me.

I'm so excited about this feature! I think it's great way to help out the site that helps us all so much! And I don't think it'll be divisive, but rather an added layer of privacy that some posts may need in certain topics.

I respond to all posts that are relevant to me or if I can provide feedback and it won't be based on gold/nongold threads!

As much as I love this site and completely understand the need for it to be revenue-generating, I don't have the disposable income to justify joining. The main reason I come here is because it is free advice, and I cherish it. I do appreciate the new 'show classic only' feature, because I feel like that will take away some of the 'club' feel that many of us are worried about.