Hi Katie,

Depending on how much it costs, I could be interested in a life membership. (Too bad I'm not 23, it'd be a better deal than with the 59 I currently am...)

Best,
Melody

Hi Katie,

Are the current membership rates posted anywhere on the TW site? If not, can you include them when you launch the Lifetime Membership option?

Thanks,
Melody

"Annual Membership paid for by cheque or UK Postal Order in UK Sterling costs UK £61.99"
There are various other options if you don't want to pay for a full year in one go. I'm not sure offhand if annual membership costs the same as the above when paying by credit card, but it sounds about right.
To upgrade click on Membership FAQ's on the Member Services drop-down menu, all will be explained.

Katie, I'd go for lifetime membership, but any more than a 4 or 5 year's worth charge would be pushing it for me.
xx

Thanks, Lucy.

I was looking in the wrong place.

For the USA:
Annual Membership paid for by check or Money Order costs US$121.99.

I think your 4 or 5 years membership for a Lifetime Memberships sounds about right to me.

Best,
Melody

Hi Everyone-

Sorry for the belated chime in here, but I've spent the last few days ruminating on this...yes, like an old cow. Personally, I think the idea of a Lifetime Membership is a good one, but as everyone has pointed out, paying a large or relatively large, lump sum in one go in these trying times can be nearly insurmountable for many of us. Of course, dividing it up into installments would be helpful but defeats the purpose of raising a large amount of money quickly in the short term.

As anyone can see who looks at my profile, right now I'm at a Basic level, though for quite a few years I was at a Full Annual. Due to various personal circumstances, a job change for my wife and our relocation, my retirement and so on, we have been fiscally challenged and have cut back on all sorts of things such as magazine and online subscriptions and so on. Personally speaking, while I would love to be back on even a yearly basis, I don't know that that will happen anytime soon, let alone a Lifetime Membership. Sorry, don't mean to be going on about personal things.

Anyway, I do think a Lifetime Membership is a good idea for those who can afford it, or an Annual or Monthly subscription, whatever is doable on an individual level. TW is worth supporting and is undoubtedly the best run site on the web.

Hugs...Joni Mari

This is probably a stupid suggestion, but a previous comment made me think!

Shouldn't "life-membership" be cheaper the older you are?? For me it could last for 60 years or more, some of our more mature members may only get 10 years or less, for the same money would that be fair?

Just a thought.

Huggles

Becca

Life memberships have nothing to do with the life of the member, they have everything to do with the life of the organization. Therefore a good start would be for more of the FREE basic members to support the site and at least be paying members to ensure TW is around for years to come.
Hugs,
Marsha

Hi Becca,

I was just joking about Life Membership being a better deal for the young than for old broads like me.

Sad truth is, most young folks probably couldn't afford a LM that would bring in enough funds for TWs transition to [name to be determined]. I'm not rich but I can afford to purchase a LM so long as the price isn't too dear. Sometimes the old have a responsibility to provide for the young.

With luck, I'll be around to enjoy TWs successor for a long time to come...

Best,
Melody

Does that mean that even after death "Life-Members" will remain members until the site folds???
Will they still be able to post in the forums?
Is there going to be a ouija board in the chat-room?

Huggles,

Becca

ROTFLMAO. Will all non-corporeal members please remember to take their ectoplasmic residue with them when they leave the chatroom? Thank you.

Hugs...Joni Mari

Hi Katie.
I will proberbly won,t be doing myself any favours by putting my view forward . I am a firm believer in "you get nothing for free in this life" and in this current reccesion and its fallout a lot more busineses will go under and you as a a business woman must be feeling it .
To me looking from the outside everyone is paying to use your site!! "but" the only problem is you are not the one getting paid from every member , the broadband providers are though, i presume people paid for there PCs , i presume they pay for the electricity that runs it! .
I believe however hard it maybe for some members that the word "free" needs to be very very basic such as cutting down on being able to communicate as much IE: Limit time allowed in chat to 30 mins per day , limit messages ect . I know a lot of members will not like that but like i said they pay for other stuff in life it may just make them think what they are being provided with.
I have been on a few TG sites and i don,t mind admiting "being removed from one" as i watched it go down hill as it turned into basicly a porn and pickup site and that is what happens when the word "free" is mentioned on google ,maybe you should consider limited time say 30 days for people to decide if they wish to be part of your site before deciding wether they wish to stay then pay .
I am sorry if this offends anyone but it is a fact of life paying for a product or a service . I cannot comment on life time membership as i have not been here very long .
Hugs Julia x

Hi Rebecca,

I could probably afford a "Life Membership" but suspect the hook-up charges for "After-life" Internet access may be way to prohibitive for me.

Hugz,
MichelleLynn

Hi Katie .
Thanks for pointing that out i am still finding my way around your site and did not know you had been running it for over 3 years , as you say "it is not high profile enough" .

What you have here is top class site and i personaly think it is discusting that less than 1% of members pay for that , you cannot continue to run with a take up like that and that should be made clear to every member (if not already) and i think my point that the other services they get from life do not come free should be made clear to all of them or other examples of a similar kind .

I called this a top class site! there is a reason for that , on other websites where TG-TS-CD is mentioned it attracts instantly others looking for sex so you should promote the fact more that this is not a pickup joint .All members should be proud to be a part of TW and use it as a place to be proud of there gender .

Before i dig myself a deeper hole i would just like to say that i have noticed that a lot of non paying members seem to be on here more therefore getting more for less (i mean nothing) and also i have not been here long but another thing i have noticed is some non paying members seem to be able to pay for professional dressing and makeup services for there photos so putting it accross to others that they are well off and that is proberbly the case .

One thing that has got me through life is i learned the only way to hurt a rich person is to take there money (i don,t mean steal it) that realy is true' i discovered that in my teens and it has helped me through life on many occasions , i cannot tell anyone what i do for a living as it comes under the data protection act but i see things that would prove my point and shock the knickers of anyone.
Hugs Julia .

Well Julia, you sure know how to make friends.

Becca

Katie, just curious, out of the 30,000 registered members how many could be classed as regularly active? If the number of members active is the figure you qouted, then less than 1% take up rate is very poor and there would be a number of reasons for that. I suspect the percentage of paying members amongst regularly active users would be higher. And, to be honest, that would be the figure I'd be using!

For those who may feel the site should be pay only, that is your perogative. However, do try and remember that there will be a percentage of people - particularly in the TG community - who are experiencing very difficult financial circumstances. Are you really suggesting that they should be disenfranchised from what may be a lifeline to them? Perhaps, even, some of those who are on here frequently 'getting lots more for free' are not in full-time employment due to age or infirmity? Are you really saying, because you are ill and on a low income you are unwelcome at TW? That you'd like to close the door to them?

Rae.

Hi Becca.
I find it better than having enemies which you seem to have in plenty but i don,t want to join them so i won,t respond to anymore of your remarks this is a one off . You can,t hurt me it is not possible! knowone can they can try but it just won,t happen .
Bye bye Julia .

Hi Katie .
Its ok i said won,t respond anymore .
Julia x .

Julia,
Well done, I'm sure you've made friends with 99% of the members by calling them "free-loaders" That's 29,700 people (Katie's stats- see above) that you are trying to do harm to by suggesting access to the site should be further restricted or terminated if they refuse to pay.
I don't wish or need to harm you, your doing a fine job of that all by your self.

Becca

Very heartfelt congrats to the first lifetime member - may many more follow suit!
I don't like to see disparity. TW unites us. It's current perception that tries to divide.
And - sorry, I can't resist - one swallow doesn't make a summer, but it can make a guy smile...
Rae.
[As someone who has suddenly found themselves relying on the state I appreciate the free bits of TW...]

Katie, how do I go about looking into this?

Hi Girls,

Well, I've been a Lifetime Member of TW for almost a full day now. I believe I am the first, I'm sure I was the first one to e-mail Katie that I would upgrade.

The process was a little clunky, in the US we IT folks have a saying, "You can always tell a pioneer by the arrows in [HER] back." I'm sure that the bugs will be sorted out for others.

Katie, one suggestion: it would be nice if there was an additional membership level to add to Basic, Full Monthly, Full Quarterly and Full Annual. How about "Full Lifetime."? That would show that the LM has made a commitment to TW.

Speaking of commitment to TW, I hope everyone will consider upgrading their membership, be it Basic to Full or Full to Lifetime. If TW is to survive, it will take many more of you to take action and take it now. I realize some are not in a position to do so at the moment, but before you dismiss upgrading I would hope you ask yourself if that's really the case. Also I'd ask you how important TW is to you. It's obviously very important to me.

Best,
Melody

OK so now I'm a lifer. It's not about being able to come here for ever, though I hope TW will be around for a long time to come.
It's about the good that came from being here when I needed it & wanting it to be here for others when they need it.

Hi Karen,

Congratulations!

Best,
Melody

Hi,

I am concerned about the sums with life membership. I dont know what members pay and how long they tend to pay for but I would say, for Life Membership to be both benificial to Member and bring reward to the site the cost of life membership should be more than the time the average member spends.

For example...

Say an average member stays with TW for 10 years while they go thro transition and then move on as their life returns to normality. if the cost of life membership is less than 10 years then the site will lose out, however, if people only tend to stay as paying members for 5 years, then it would work if the life membership costs more than 5.

A tranny who has no intention of transitioning can be a member here for say 20 years. If this is a paying member then if the cost of the life membership is less than the cost of 20 years the site will lose out.

I'm sure Katie has looked at the figures and worked out the threshhold point between the site losing money on life membership and the site making a little extra for life membership whether the member remains a life member or not.

Regards
Penny

Hi Penny,

I don't think long term profitability was the primary reason for offering Life Memberships, at least not from the membership itself. Rather, the idea is to raise funds now for the transition from Trannyweb to [name to be determined.] The new site would then be hopefully able to get revenues from things like Google ads and using PayPal for transactions. (Katie, if I got this wrong feel free to send me to my room without supper.)

Even if there is some loss of money in the long term, the real problem, it seems to me, that we have 30,000 members and less than 1% are paying members. If even 10% became full members, the Life Membership down the line costs would be dwarfed by comparison.

Just how I see it,
Melody

The key here, as has been mentioned previously, is TW's ability to attract advertising dollars....and we're getting killed with the ways things are now...the name change will be a good thing and certainly a necessary move to survive...good long term vision I'd say! Thnx Katie!

Traci