Hellobee Boards

It never occurred to me to block the ads here. You guys have to get some kind of revenue for keeping this site running.

1) I love HB and would consider paying for the right features, although when I first discovered it I definitely needed time for it to grow on me.
2) How much? Not sure.
3) Features I'd pay for: knowing none of my posts will be archived to Google, private messaging (although this is complicated if you're trying to message someone who isn't paying) and private forums, consistently receiving reply notifications. So maybe a basic (free) forum and premium (paid) features? I'd be down with that.

i don't even know how to go about blocking ads =D you mean pop up ad blockers? or like the ones along the right and under the OP at the top? sometimes the ones at the top are funny- once there was a dating one and i kept thinking how i doubted they were getting their money's worth with that ad! haha.

to the questions:

1) Do you get value from Hellobee... is it something you'd pay for?
yes, i believe i get something valuable from HB, i would consider a nominal fee now that i'm hooked, but probably would not have joined if i had to pay upfront and hadn't become a HB addict yet.
2) If so, how much would you pay?
that would depend on what the difference between the paid vs free version was. honestly, i wouldn't pay for the blog portion. i don't mean to sound disrespectful to any of the bloggers and while i enjoy all the posts, i can read content on similar topics from 'experts' for free, so i can't see why i'd pay for it. board stuff, i would. maybe <$25 a year.
3) What kind of extra features would you be looking for in return: private forums? Private messaging? An iPhone/Android app? Extra blog content that's members only? Something else entirely?
if i were paying, i would expect the ability to send PMs. maybe something along the lines of what others have mentioned, where there is a free version and then a paid plus version. maybe paying members have the ability to post/view pics (we love pics! i think a lot of ppl for fork over a few bucks if it meant being able to access pics). i'd love it if the paid version had update alerts within the page- kind of like when you get an update on facebook when someone replies to you or send you a msg.

@mrs. bird: I do like your suggestion on getting on-site notifications of @replies. I like the @reply email feature but I also hate email. I get too many emails so I tend to gloss over emails. Or if I do read the @reply email, I don't have time to reply at that moment so it gets forgotten. If I saw those same notifications when I logged in (like FB has), it would be great. Maybe those notification could also be sent to my PM inbox so I can mark them as 'unread' or 'read.'

How do you even block ads? I love HB and am addicted, so I would probably pay a small annual fee. But only if I thought everyone else was doing the same. I would be so addicted if there wasn't as much activity, help and advice.

I agree 100% private messaging would be awesome.

Short answer, Yes I would pay. This community has become such an integral part of my parenting scheme, and sanity and daily interaction with other parents. I would gladly skip takeout two or three times for access to this site.

I didn't even know you could block ads! I am totally willing to have ads everywhere and to never block them and to even click on them every once in awhile to keep the site free. Although I really like hellobee, I don't think that I would pay unless the fee was nominal.

I don't personally like auto playing video commericals on websites (because I hate having the quickly mute the video so my coworkers don't hear it.) but what about a section of the site where we click to view commericals. It will be HB's own TV section. I could certainly view commercials to help HB.

Or what about a section to donate to HB? I've donated money to certain websites before to help support them. It doesn't have to be mandatory or for all member. If you want to support HB, you can donate. HB is a great site. I could donate a couple bucks.

At this point I would pay because I'm addicted and I see the value. As a new user though no way because there are lots of free baby blogs and free baby forums.

I don't block ads and would be interested to know how you could get more revenue via things like that.

I also would love an app and would pay for it. I wonder I there aren't certain things you could pay for like a 2 line signature on your posts or a mini blog platform (kinda like the profile on WB) or stuff like that. Keep the blog and basic forums free but have premium users with more features.

I would LOVE to see a chat feature and would pay for that.

I would pay now, but never in a zillion years would I have paid until I'd been on here for a few months. I wouldn't have even visited if it had been a pay site - I barely visited when it was the beta and I had to login to see anything!

I like @mrsmccarthy 's idea of commercials, I know babycenter does that I think?

I'd pay for an app that would keep the text more easily readable on my phone. I agree with @Thehistoryofus that a chat feature would be fun as a premium add on. So would more sophisticated classifieds - and then I'd feel "safer" buying/selling if the only folks with access had some type of identifier to site admin since they'd paid for access/membership.

I might pay (not a lot) for the site if I was pregnant, but not being pregnant, this is more like an indulgence until I get pregnant (hopefully.) I would definitely pay up to like $5 for the iPhone app though. If you did charge, having more privacy would be great. I always worry someone will google and find out details about my getting-it-on!

I found Hellobee through Weddingbee. I would certainly not pay to just use the boards, however I may pay for ungrades if they were inexpensive. Like I'm talking the cost of an app, like max $2.99.

Also- ad blocking?! I don't get that! I enjoy ads when they're tastefully done like they are on here. Sometimes they're stuff I actually need or would want to look into.

I have gotten some value from HelloBee, but I wouldn't pay to subscribe and use the boards. There are lots of other resources that I can access for free.

I wouldn't pay to use the site. An app that cost a few bucks would be cool, though--I would probably pay for that once I became pregnant. I also don't block ads.

I like the idea of paying for added features vs. a subscription monthly. No new suggestions but private messaging would be good!

I don't block ads, and I try to always click on ones I like. I would maybe pay a 1 time fee, but I don't think I could talk DH into a monthly membership. If we had to pay, I would like to see the boards become private and an iPhone app. Private messaging would also be nice.

I'd be happy to pay for additional "members only" features, or a one time admission fee. I would not be as interested in an annual fee for basic membership.

In order to avoid new members from being turned off by the paid upgrade, maybe offer the upgraded features *option* to users who reach a certain level like after they post 100- 250 comments. Like a "Welcome to the Cherry/ Apricot level, you now have an option of upgrading. Here are your choices:"

I think HB is valuable (the community/camaraderie, I think, is its biggest asset), but I would never pay for it. Like some others have said, I don't pay for apps (I get the free versions with ads, and I don't block ads on any sites) and I don't pay for memberships on any other forums/sites.

I also wouldn't donate to HB... I guess I consider you guys semi-ballers (even though I know personal wealth/your other job[s] has nothing to do with HB), so I would donate to more worthy causes.