It’s been almost four event filled years since the website we now know as V-Flyer was first launched into cyberspace, and we think it’s time to stop for a moment’s reflection about where we’ve been and more importantly where we’re going. From modest beginnings V-Flyer has grown into the largest UK website dedicated to any airline – and all the while remaining completely independent of Virgin Atlantic. That expansion has been made possible by the dedication of a small band of willing volunteer moderators, but more importantly by the active involvement of YOU! The website isn’t the only thing to have grown – so have our social networks. Members and their partners have got together on numerous occasions both in the UK and further afield and as V-Flyer grows so does the diversity of the occasions!
As the site grows you can probably appreciate that the costs of running it grow too. V-Flyer isn’t meant to generate huge wads of dosh, but it would be nice if it were at least self funding! Paid up memberships go some way towards helping with this as does the occasional advertising campaign. So we can either fund the expansion by more adverts, or by getting more paid members!
With this in mind we’ve been doing lots of behind the scenes brainstorming and we think we’ve reached consensus on a way forward that is affordable and more importantly fair – because fair is important to us.
What we intend to do can be broken down into three main areas :-
We’ll add extra forums for our “paid up” “Clubhouse” members – including (at last) an “off topic” discussion forum in recognition of the social aspect of the site; where members can chat about anything and everything without worrying about whether a mod will lock it down as “Off Topic”.
We’ll be cutting down on access for current non paid up members. They’ll be able to see less of the “value added” forums – and eventually they’ll become purely spectators at the feast. They will still have posting rights in some forums up until 31st March 2007. People who join V-Flyer from now on will need a paid membership in order to post.
The costs of membership have been designed to make it affordable for those that simply want to join the site for a short period of time to ask questions about a flight in the near future, but also rewarding those who sign up for longer periods with big discounts. We're also changing the membership colour bands (Red, Silver, Gold & Black) so they reflect the commitment to the site rather than simple number of posts (which have, in the past, potentially been open to abuse!)
We’ll also be increasing the forum scope to deal with other UK based airlines. One of the strengths of V-Flyer is the depth of specialist knowledge, so we’re hoping to start to apply this to British Airways with scope for other UK airlines. This isn’t a move away from Virgin Atlantic, rather a pragmatic understanding that whilst what brought us together is an interest in Virgin we don’t always get to fly Virgin and it would be nice to have access to the same depth of knowledge for those times. This particular task is a biggy so might not happen in its final form immediately but we wanted to give you a “heads up” on where we’re trying to go.
These changes will happen very soon, but as always with software development (since that's what a website is), there will always be the odd gremlin as the new system is rolled out. As a “Thank You” to current paid up members they won’t be asked to re-subscribe until the first quarter of 2008.
Other improvements, many suggested by site members, are also in the pipeline. We are always looking for ways to improve the site and hope that the community that has been created will continue to grow well into the future.
The Mods.
As the site grows you can probably appreciate that the costs of running it grow too. V-Flyer isn’t meant to generate huge wads of dosh, but it would be nice if it were at least self funding! Paid up memberships go some way towards helping with this as does the occasional advertising campaign. So we can either fund the expansion by more adverts, or by getting more paid members!
With this in mind we’ve been doing lots of behind the scenes brainstorming and we think we’ve reached consensus on a way forward that is affordable and more importantly fair – because fair is important to us.
What we intend to do can be broken down into three main areas :-
We’ll add extra forums for our “paid up” “Clubhouse” members – including (at last) an “off topic” discussion forum in recognition of the social aspect of the site; where members can chat about anything and everything without worrying about whether a mod will lock it down as “Off Topic”.
We’ll be cutting down on access for current non paid up members. They’ll be able to see less of the “value added” forums – and eventually they’ll become purely spectators at the feast. They will still have posting rights in some forums up until 31st March 2007. People who join V-Flyer from now on will need a paid membership in order to post.
The costs of membership have been designed to make it affordable for those that simply want to join the site for a short period of time to ask questions about a flight in the near future, but also rewarding those who sign up for longer periods with big discounts. We're also changing the membership colour bands (Red, Silver, Gold & Black) so they reflect the commitment to the site rather than simple number of posts (which have, in the past, potentially been open to abuse!)
We’ll also be increasing the forum scope to deal with other UK based airlines. One of the strengths of V-Flyer is the depth of specialist knowledge, so we’re hoping to start to apply this to British Airways with scope for other UK airlines. This isn’t a move away from Virgin Atlantic, rather a pragmatic understanding that whilst what brought us together is an interest in Virgin we don’t always get to fly Virgin and it would be nice to have access to the same depth of knowledge for those times. This particular task is a biggy so might not happen in its final form immediately but we wanted to give you a “heads up” on where we’re trying to go.
These changes will happen very soon, but as always with software development (since that's what a website is), there will always be the odd gremlin as the new system is rolled out. As a “Thank You” to current paid up members they won’t be asked to re-subscribe until the first quarter of 2008.
Other improvements, many suggested by site members, are also in the pipeline. We are always looking for ways to improve the site and hope that the community that has been created will continue to grow well into the future.
The Mods.
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