raddevon

I've got no problem with sponsored quests. Since quests are optional, it's not really a huge deal. On the other hand, sponsored quests that request forum posts are bordering on reprehensible. 
 
On a related note, this post should complete said quest for me. Thanks, guys!

If only the US government knew about the infinite earning potential of merchandising! Instead of all this taxation mess, they could just have some shirts and coffee mugs printed up saying "U.S. Government" and watch the money to roll in!
 
Just because merchandise may bring in enough to keep your lemonade stand afloat doesn't mean it's a one-size-fits-all solution to all the world's money problems. Serving up video (among other things) to tens or hundreds of thousands of users is an expensive proposition not to mention paying the salaries and benefits for the people who are creating this content.

So, why would the staff be interested in doing this if they were already making enough money by advertising and selling merchandise (both of which they already do)? It seems you guys have a really low opinion of Whiskey Media to suggest they are already doing two things which would make them enough money to sustain the site and now are just suggesting this additional revenue stream as some sort of money grab. The reason we are seeing this idea being put out there is because the advertising and merchandise are not making enough money... not so Dave Snider can buy a Ferrari.

I'm a bit late to the party, but I just saw Kombat's excellent response to Dave Snider's tweet requesting ideas for a premium Whiskey Media. I have a number of ideas I presented the last time this came up, but I would like to reiterate those as I would love to pay money for them. 
 
This is a particularly timely question for me as I just paid another of my favorite web communities, reddit.com. I now have reddit gold membership which includes a "trophy" on my user page in addition to a few features and the promise of more features down the line. The gold membership is really little more than a donation drive right now. I paid $30 for a year, and I really don't care if I get anything else for it. In fact, I didn't pay to get the things they gave me in the first place. For me, it was a simple decision. Here's a site I love that is struggling. If I can pay the $30, and all I get is that the site survives, that is worth $30 per year to me. Maybe Whiskey Media needs to do something as simple as a donation drive like this even if only to get the ball rolling. Start out at a low price for charter members, give us some idea of what features you want to implement in the future, and hit "go." 
 
As far as the specific features I would enjoy, I definitely agree that existing features need to stay free. I believe the staff itself has stated none of the existing features will be taken away from users. The features I would most love are related to blogging. The Whiskey Media blogging platform is excellent and robust but needs a few more features to be complete. It would be really nice to be able to save drafts. There are many times I would like to start on a post and finish it later. Taxonomy features would also be helpful like tagging and categories. Here's a list of some other ideas for premium features not related to blogging: 

• user video hosting
• a VIP forum (This wouldn't eliminate all trolls, but, in general, people willing to pay are less likely to be trolls.)
• user blacklisting (with which I could never see content from my blacklisted users again)
• priority access to beta codes and giveaways

One of my favorites that never gets any love: 
    

I'm with trophyhunter. Just buy a PS3 or 360, pop in your Maya DVD, and render away! Use your Live Vision camera or PS3 Eye to capture textures and such. I would actually recommend PS3 since it has keyboard/mouse support. The pointer moves really slowly with the analog sticks.