If SWAYLOCKS had a monthly subscription for a premium feature — what’s 1 thing you would be willing to pay for?
For a user like me all the good stuff is in the past discussions.
So if you leave the access to that free, I can’t think of something that would add additional value.
The one thing that comes to my mind , in the old forum there was a subsection where moderators linked good discussions about rail bands for example.
The ability to have either a very well moderated section with that condensed wisdom, or a tool that lets me kind of edit my personalized “book of swaylocks”, with excerpts from all the stuff in the discussions I’m after, that would be great.
I’m not sure if that’s doable…
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To preserve the old pre-Discord threads and “pictures.”
@jspr thanks for being the first to share some ideas. Appreciate it.
… or a tool that lets me kind of edit my personalized “book of swaylocks”, with excerpts from all the stuff in the discussions I’m after, that would be great.
Not quite a way for pulling in excerpts, but the bookmarking features in Discourse (the forum software) is pretty solid. You can bookmark and categorize posts:
Organize bookmarks into a category, and get a reminder if you want:
From your profile, access all your saved bookmarks, filter by category:
Being completely honest, there isn’t anything I would pay for on this web forum or any other. Sorry if that sounds harsh but that’s reality. If you need revenue, your best avenue is vendor ads and sponsorship. A paid membership model might have worked years ago but with all of the board building groups on other platforms like facebook you’ll not likely get buy in and may even drive people away.
Just to be clear – I’m not suggesting the subscription is for accessing the forum or anything that is CURRENTLY on the site – all of that will remain free.
The question is, pie-in-the-sky, is there ANYTHING related to the topics of surfboards, surfboard design, building, collecting, etc. you would pay a subscription for? Shoot for the moon here.
For example: Exclusive realtime webinars with industry veterans & luminaries? A monthly printed Surfcraft publication?
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That aré good ideas. Maybe the access to exclusive videos too, like the series allready on demand…
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Idea 1: Index all the archives into an AI and let me ask questions a bit more easily than having to wade through the archives.
Idea 2: Just reformat some of the best content into another format to make it a bit easier to read.
I don’t really like the subscription model though. I have about 40-50 on my shortlist to various services and currently have to pay for 5 for work and 4 for personal usage. It’s getting crazy.
I would pay for a “Swaylocks Journal” - a magazine similar to Surfer’s Journal, but focused on board making.
Swaylocks “store” with branded merchandise. You could also put links to affiliates in there for common services, tools, and consumables.
Maybe expand on the store and create a single place where people can shop for custom boards built by the people in this community.
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The community store/trading post would be an interesting idea. A spot for folks to sell their boards and also potentially any custom tools, stands, etc. sways gets a small % of each sale from the seller. No retail shops, just members selling/trading their wares.
Another thought would be like a AAA or Costco model where you pay an annual fee and get discounts on supplies, tools, software, etc. Other forums used to put together group buys as well on specific products (i.e. if we get 20 guys to buy a makita router we can get 15% off). I’m sure you’d get a better deal buying 40 rolls of glass vs 2. Simply pooling buying power. Negotiate discounts for Swaylocks cardholders to shows and events. Sounds like a pain in the ass to put together but might have some value. Typically with those things that work the user sees an easy path to cover the cost. So my $20 annual membership would get me a t shirt and $10 off the boardroom show for me and a friend that we are going to go to anyway.
These are KILLER ideas. I’m planning on slowly and steadily bringing in real value perks like these (and the other ideas in this thread) in '24.
Stay tuned and thanks for the feedback.
Mike
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Last paragraph is on point. Surfboard builders, like rock stars are the tip of the spear. Does that translate to the real world everyday dude who wants to just build a board, hell no. And most of the time never will. Having access to the pulse of an industry that has always been so mysterious about it’s ways seems like a no brainer to me. But then again who am I??? It would be cool to have actual discussions about technique, style, design etc. It’s very good to see the progression of the site. I’ve been away for some time and am stoked that everyone is still kicking. Just my 2. Cheers