The site (wnxx.com) has become a subscription based site and consequently access to some of the content now requires visitors to subscribe with the site to access this content.

When did this occur?

Monday June 3rd 2013

What parts of the site need to be subscribed for?

The news & information, data & reference sections, some parts of images & video and resources.

How much does this cost?

Full site access is available in four payment tariffs set at £10/year, £6/six months, £3.50/three months and £2/month. There's also a news area only tariff at £1.70 per month.

How will I be able to pay?

Payment can be made via PayPal if you have a PayPal account. You can pay by debit/credit card via PayPal (you will need to create a limited account) or by debit/credit card via a WorldPay payment gateway. There's also the ability to pay by cheque but payment by cheque is for the annual tariff only though.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT TARIFFS & PAYMENT OPTIONS

Why has the site gone subscription based?

The webmaster (I wish there was a better term for this) was made redundant in 2012 and has been working towards the site going subscriptions based since then. Things got somewhat behind schedule though.

Why didn't I know?

There was a notice on the news page for a while last year and there's been a notice at the bottom of the site's home page since August 2012.

How come it got behind schedule somewhat?

The rebuild and expansion of the site was started during the summer of 2012 and continued on into the autumn. Subscription/membership software was purchased late in 2012 but wasn't installed until early 2013 because improving the revenue stream from the advertising and other more invasive forms of advertising were looked into first.

The plan was then to go subscription based around the end of February 2013 but the software failed to function correctly when tested.

Replacement software, more expensive but loaded with many more features, was acquired and installed. The integration with WorldPay for card payments took several weeks to set up as a number of requirements have had to be met to use their services. PayPal was upgraded to business level in February 2013.

Is the advertising staying?

Yes. There is a plan though. The revenue from the advertising is used towards funding payment for photographs reproduced on the site.

Paying for photographs?

That's the plan. Photographs displayed on the news page, the photo features, in the nostalgia bit and on the home page are being paid for. The adverts revenue will be pooled into a pot and divided up by the number of photos published. There has been a test database in place since the start of 2013 to see how this will work out.

PHOTOGRAPHERS TEST DATABASE

A new database, put in place during June 2013, is in place.

How do you know there will be enough revenue?

I don't. It's a step into the unknown. It all depends on what percentage of daily visitors to the site opt to subscribe.

How many people visit a day?

The stats from the web host tell me the average daily visitor count for April 2013 was 14,980. This count dropped when the subscriptions came into force on June 3rd. Google Adsense (tracking only the pages with adverts) informs me that just short of a million pages were served during April 2013. 

What happens if there's loads of money?

Then the site will be expanded into new areas because I'll be in a position to be able to pay other people to bring extra content into the site.

I thought there was already a team running the site?

The team is everyone who sends things in for inclusion in the site. Ultimately all the content has to pass through one person when the site is being put together.

What if I'm not happy about this?

Whilst canvassing opinion, the majority, especially once presented with the situation, were happy with the prospect of subscriptions, especially with the annual rate being set so low. I appreciate there are a number of people who are not happy with this, something that is perfectly understandable, but things could not continue as they were. The ad revenue was not enough to live on alone and the redundancy pot has been exhausted.

So, this is the plan moving forward with the site?

Yes. Running the site is now a full time occupation and hoping to move into a position where things can develop to make the site bigger and better.

Have I seen you since the 3rd?

I hope so.

Where do I go to sign up?

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE SIGNUP PAGE