paid pligg support

[r3ddr]

hi there,

is there a possibility to add paid/priority support to pligg (for a certain fee/year) - the SMF way? :blush:


thanks,

[AnAlienHolakres3]

This is difficult. Support is a service which should be described and measured before it is purchased. This is possible to do it in company - you hire a programmer who is payed for a time or completed tasks. This is possible to do it between business and IT department also - SLA (Service Level Agreement) is written down,service metrics are monitored and it works.

But what does it mean "priority support"? How can it be measured? How much support is "normal support" and how much is "priority support"?
I do not say there is no possibility to do it. The only thing I mean is that these questions must be answered before contract is arranged...

[psymatix]

I wouldn't have used replying as a means to ask a question, but it seems to be the only way out. I can't find a link for me to submit a new thread. Please let me know how to do so? The old forum was easier for me to use. Thanks.

[r3ddr]

@Alien

ok, let me rephrase it; support as in SLA can be difficult to achieve in an open source project where developers are more like contributors than fully employed staff

still, SMF example is encouraging. how are they doing it?

basically you contribute a certain/fixed amount of $$/year (as in "donate") and in exchange you get access to a private support desk where staff is answering your questions; you can test/preview beta versions before they are open to the public and you can request SMF assistance in the public forum if you have some question there that no one has time/idea to answer

so,
support in OSS world is the public forum (you might get it, you might be waiting a lot)
priority support in OSS = access to bug tracking interface, helpdesk and warnings by email (lovely to have) when a security problem is discovered/fixed in the product you are contributing/donating to...

[AnAlienHolakres3]

Well I think it is worth taking into consideration. Ask Yankidank, who can tell you definitely more.

[Yankidank]

Originally Posted by psymatix

I wouldn't have used replying as a means to ask a question, but it seems to be the only way out. I can't find a link for me to submit a new thread. Please let me know how to do so? The old forum was easier for me to use. Thanks.

View the appropriate forum that you want to post in and look at the top before it lists the recent threads for a "New Thread" button.

As for the thread topic ...
We already provide a lot of free support for an open source project. We already offer email updates whenever there is a major release or security release. We have developers frequently answering users threads with solutions, a helpdesk for Pligg Pro support and a lot of other features for no cost.

By switching to a subscription model for premium support we would have to be able to make enough through subscriptions to employ at least one person full time to take care of all of the issues that come up. I would also not want to risk alienating standard members. If we offered a paid and non-paid support, I imagine some people would get pretty upset. We considered this idea a while ago, but we chose not to pursue it because of these issues. Since then the project has grown quite a bit and we are always looking for a solution that would allow us to employ our lead developer AshDigg full-time.

I would really need a definition for what would be covered in premium support. Would it be basic Pligg install and server customization to get things running? Only a private forum for priority support? If someone could come up with a basic plan and a dollar amount they are willing to pay each year for that plan I would be glad to listen.

[r3ddr]

err, I'm quite new here... and I haven't seen/noticed this email list for announcements; is it so that all forum members receive announcements or should I/we subscribe for it? where?

paid support/membership or donor/contributor status might allow you (i.e.):

+ access to a help desk app; this forum is great, but sometimes you might want/need immediate attention or an authoritative answer in a certain matter
+ 1 basic site/pligg install per year
+ 1 site tunning/optimization per year
+ some discount for the PRO shop :D
+ license removal for as long as you're a contributor; lets say you want to customize your site and remove all references to pligg.com and still be a good citizen
+ other ideas? B)

lets say a donation from $30/y to $100/y would grant one this contributor/donor status; $100/y IMHO is quite high and it would place pligg more like a commercial product rather than open source (community driven)

still, pocket sizes are different; one might be willing to donate $50+ and get a pligg representative to install/optimize the software on his server; or other might be willing to pay upfront $30 in order to get 10% discount on any pligg pro product; etc

[formula]

Yankidan,

I understand where r3ddr is coming from... Lets look at it this way.. open source is open source.. theres the code, you download it, install it, and run with it..you come over to the forum for help suggestions, advice.. etc

the other option is... Membership / Donations as you have it removes the adverts from this forum.. sorry but the adverts on the forum mean jack sh*t to me.. pardon my French.. My main goal is A. My website.. and B. the support I can get for my website. if you state 2 levels of support, 1. Free when and as is from the forum... or 2. Member support with some sort of time frame to review the issue..

Lets be honest here, some people are technical, and some only just about know what FTP is.. but both types of people find the site and see how good pligg is... same as there are people willing to pay for things to be done, and there are otherts that know how to fix and resovle issues on their own.

[r3ddr]

Originally Posted by Yankidank

We already offer email updates whenever there is a major release or security release.

err. how can I join that list? or is the announcement sent by email to all forum members? :sleep:

[PliggOut]

I really like the idea of paid "premier" membership with a priority help desk and perhaps other features.

If you are using Pligg on a site that is large enough or making a little money through ads then $50-$100 is not really that much.

Perhaps other services could be added "a la carte" where a person could purchase an install or an optimization for a fee.

Pligg pro already sells add-ons and themes so I don't think this is really that different. It would allow the developers to focus more of their time on development.