The AI Engine

Well I think that would be a great idea! Though I am not sure I would be able to do it even if I wanted to! I live in Australia which means that I would be spending about $50 instead and at 17 I really don't have that sort of cash Maybe we could have special FoF memberships for minors like me or overseas ppl so they can still make the contribution to the Forge. It is an equal opportunity thing

By special FoF memberships I mean one that costs a little less or something with fewer incentives.

Sounds very reasonable and follows the natural progression of most websites that are still running.

Too many membership levels wouldn't be such a good idea I don't think. You don't want it to become a status thing... You wouldn't want people at the top of our honor list just because they have money - personally, I think we've got plenty of financial status symbols around us. Although putting a price on honor points would definitely be an incentive.

Perhaps just donating whatever you can could be good enough for the special membership. IMHO, even if you just have a few (currency) to spare, that's no reason not to become a member and want to donate to a what one may choose to consider a good cause.

You can donate now if you want. It will not change your honor points. I don't think Prof believes in that.

Yeah, I already donated and will again in the near future, but unfortunately, it won't be enough to pay off all the profs server bills. That's why I figured some kind of incentive would serve a purpose. I don't believe in changing honor points because of donations either.

Also, let's not forget, if the special membership was in place, it would have that beloved "ripple effect" which would get more and more people donating and consequently give the prof more freedom to improve this site.

I've considered something similar to that before. I had a whole list of incentives, such as the ability to pop up a chat window for your bots on a remote site, custom pictures for your bots, import/export (since it's CPU intensive).. The Honor boost and FoF mark also seem like good ideas. Annual payment is a better idea than my original monthly. That way you can pick the amount. Maybe even a fund drive of some sort, where I can price out what I need, then try to reach it. I see local parks somehow making millions this way, and there are as many people here as would use those parks.

This would help the current cost of the Forge, but wouldnt be enough to upgrade it to its full potential.

I agree on the one hand that it shouldn't be too much of a status thing, on the other hand I've noticed that at another site that I go to where the only thing you get for donating is a little symbol by your name, people are more than happy to keep donating.

A number of people here seem to have a different picture for themselves or their bot. How do they do this? Maybe, like you said, it could be only a bonus for paying members.

Finally, one thing that I think people would pay for is the ability to have more control over their bots. If you could get your bot to log on whenever you wanted, and to speak to whomever you wanted, then bots would get a lot more practice with real people.

I'd LOVE to have a personal, individualized icon for my bot. That perk has been in my thoughts since the moment I joined and couldn't find one suitable enough. If I could design my bot's icon and it be for he alone- I'd give my right eye tooth for that. I'd be willing to buy into a membership for that ability, and I bet other people would, too.

Or maybe staying away from the pay-to-play theory, the donation bin is still open, maybe a requested fee for certain things?

Well, that's a good idea as well.

If I was able to donate, I woulda done it long ago, with or without incentives. Sounds like a good idea though, as long as ppl who pay don't get REALLY cool features like more complicated emotions or syntax recognition or whatever. I think the actual quality of the bots should be equal regardless of how much money their creators have. Or at least the potential, heh. I also think it's almost imperative that free users be allowed to use import/export too because on a 56k that stuff lags to hell, which is why my bot's just sat there for the last 6 months. All the other ideas are cool though. And maybe even the voice option could be a "premium" thing.

Oh yeah, what about an option to clear old transcripts? Otherwise past a certain point regardless of how good the server is, there's gonna be tons of useless clutter on it.

Anyway back to the subject...I wonder, if users formed a "PF fundraiser" group or something, how many random ppl interested in AI but without the time to create a bot would donate to keeping this place going? Maybe not many, but then you might get lucky & find some guy with money burning a hole in his pocket who joins up & donates megabuckage too.