Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by The Mystic Glen on April 18, 2010 at 12:12pm

I would like to know this as well!!!! Can you provide a link?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by United In Spirit on April 18, 2010 at 9:22pm

I am moving my free site, United In Spirit to http://grou.ps.. Theres additional services such as activity ranks,link directory,games etc and free. It's beta at the moment so has some bugs at times,but I'm impressed, I can see this platform rivalling Ning very soon. As for our VIP client, their site will be located on Soical Go,basically because it caters more for business and our client is wanting to consolidate business with a social network.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by JenSocial on April 18, 2010 at 11:03am

Hi Jodie,
Wherever you land, for a Social Network or Group, feel free to use your page here for promotion and links. Hi to Shade, and keep me posted. Hey, sounds exciting about the who's who of Hollywood. ;-)
Best to you,
Jen

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by DoPeace on April 18, 2010 at 10:40am

This move by Ning to charge everyone for premium service absolutely sucks! This is "bait-and-switch" in its purest form.

As a small national grassroots political activism group, we were looking last year for something that would help us organize our state and local campaigns as an extension of what was then possible on Facebook. Thankfully, Ning provided that platform and we spent a good deal of our precious, limited volunteer resources developing the site and working to build the on-line community on Ning. Eight months later, we have over 1,200 activists from all 50 states (and more than a few international supporters) collaborating on how to reduce violence in the U.S. and abroad. With the new direction to charge for premium service, Ning has effectively killed this on-line campaign.

It would be great to see Ning make an exception to the premium service policy for underfunded nonprofits and educational groups. Continue to fund these groups through ads.

The Ning management team has chosen the easy way out of their management challenges by burdening their users. The history of the web is littered with unimaginative sites that have tried to do this and failed. Ning is destined for the same heap if they don't find something more creative.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Nyack on April 18, 2010 at 10:43am

Isn't it enough that we have provided NING with a space for FREE ADVERTISENT to their advertisers that take up nearly the entire right hand column of our sites? How greeedy does it need to get, recieving payment from cooperate sponsors as well as every individual seeking friends??

low... just really, low, and greedy!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by 2oedjmhn4ub20 on April 18, 2010 at 11:06am

nyack, this is a very small worl. I live probablly right around the corner from you. this is a very small world. It had been my hope to start a meet up group here in the lower hudson valley for the pagan community.

maybe there is still time.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jaap Verduijn on April 18, 2010 at 1:57pm

I wasn't really thinking of partaking in this rather comical forum, but since the idiocy is now rising to a truly unbelievable level I decided to join the fun after all.

"(...) Isn't it enough that we have provided NING with a space for FREE ADVERTISENT (...)"

Matey, you have provided Ning with nothing. You don't own the site, you don't own the server, you don't own the bandwidth, you don't own the code, you don't own the advertising space, in short: you own nothing, so you "provide" Ning with nothing.

"(...) that take up nearly the entire right hand column of our sites (...)"

Here we go again. It's not Nings advertising that takes up the right hand column of your site - it's your stuff taking up the remaining columns of Ning's site.

"(...) How greeedy does it need to get (...)"

How greedy do you need to get, believing that you have a right to somebody else giving you what you want for free?

"(...) payment from cooperate sponsors as well as every individual seeking friends?? (...)"

Not from "every individual seeking friends" - only from the Network Creators. You freeloading lot whine and holler that your very valuable, popular, dearly beloved and extremely worthy networks will be taken away from you. Oh dear! Really? Then how on earth can you have been so stupid and cheap not to safeguard (by paying a few bucks a month) all that extremely worthy, dearly beloved, popular and very valuabe stuff so that your visitors don't have to go without it?

That's your responsibility. If you really provide such an enormously valuable service to your visitors, a service that according to your wingeing and whining they absolutely can't do without... then you should have taken care to avoid situations like the present one. You should have taken care that your visitors can not be suddenly deprived of what they can't live without. But if your "service" in fact is so shitty that it never was worth a few bucks to you to keep it safe, then don't come weeping here how valuable it is. It certainly is not valuable to yourself. You want it cheap - even stronger: you want it only when it's free.

Don't blame Ning for wanting money - blame yourself for not wanting to spend it.

Jaap Verduijn.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by JenSocial on April 18, 2010 at 2:08pm

I don't know Jaap. Although you've made some valid points - - so are others. I understand completely what both sides are feeling. It's great for most premium, and what most of us (premium sites) bought into, way back. However, I definitely understand the confusion and difficulty for many.

You call the opinions here "idiocy". Compared to most forums I'm reading, I'm pretty impressed that folks are keeping their stories within a reasonable and respectful boundary. Granted, some have shown total disgust and anger. However, most are simply sharing their stories, and how this effects them.
Respectfully,
Jen

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Hot4hire.com on April 18, 2010 at 9:40pm

You're missing the point Jaap.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by FRIENDS AND LOVERS on April 18, 2010 at 11:07am

HI EVERYONE,,I FOR ONE HATE TO SEE THIS HAPPEN.."NING" DOSEN'T STOP TO THINK OR CARE THAT IT WAS THE FREE SITES THAT HAVE MADE THE "NING" NETWORK WHAT IT IS TODAY..THERE ARE MANY TRULY GREAT SITES THAT CONSIST OF MANY,MANY GREAT PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE, THAT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO COME TOGETHER AND MAKE MANY FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIPS THAT MOST LIKELY WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPEN IF IT WEREN'T FOR ALL THESE FREE SITES..AS ANYTHING IN LIFE THERE ARE ALWAYS A FEW ROTTEN APPLES THAT SPOIL IT FOR ALL THE REST,,BUT WHY PUNISH THE WHOLE FOR THE FEW..I FOR ONE OWN A SITE ON "NING",,BUT BECAUSE OF THEIR CHANGES AND GREEDINESS,,MY SITE WILL HAVE TO END,LIKE MANY AFTER PUTTING IN LOTS OF HARD WORK TO MAKE PLACES FOR PEOPLE TO COME TOGETHER..I AM DISABLED,MY SOLE INCOME IS SOC.SEC.DISABILITY INCOME,,WHICH IS A VERY SMALL INCOME..BECAUSE OF THAT I AM UNABLE TO DO OR AFFORD ANYTHING THAT IS NOT FREE,,THAT COSTS IN ANY WAY,,I'M LUCKY IT GIVES ME ENOUGH FOR A PLACE TO LIVE AND BARELY ENOUGH FOOD..I KNOW THAT I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE THAT IS IN THIS SITUATION,,BUT NOW WE HAVE TO GIVE UP SOMETHING THAT GIVES US ENJOYMENT AND A PLACE TO SHARE SO MUCH WITH GREAT FRIENDS..I WISH "NING" WELL,BUT THINK THEY HAVE CUT THEIR OWN THROATS..THATS MY OPINION AND WHERE I STAND..I THANK ALL THE GREAT PEOPLE AND FRIENDSHIPS THAT I HAVE MADE ON MANY TRULY GREAT FREE SITES,,I WISH EVERYONE THE VERY BEST..WITH LOVE,,RESPECT AND MANY BLESSINGS,,YOUR FRIEND ALWAYS, " SKIP " "NING" I HOPE YOU RETHINK YOUR DECISION..

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brilliant Essence Blog on April 18, 2010 at 11:16am

Thank you Jen for having sent the first news out. I immediately took action and looked around for what was available. Brilliant Essence is trying out www.spruz.com

Mercury retrograde hit us early! But like all Merc retros, it's the best time to re-think our ways, especially to communicate what is important to us, what we want to share and how we want to do it.

Ning I heard is firing 30% of their staff for financial reasons.
We are all figuring out how to grow on a small budget and to each his/her method.
What I have found in my 2 or 3 years on ning is that social networks work best through word of mouth. You can get a ton of followers through automated systems, but to have loyal ones blogging every day comes back to business 101: serve your clients well - and they will serve you.
Brilliant Essence grew from a very small group who were thrown out from another going-for-profit platform and wanted a very safe place to share their most intimate life stories. Security, trust and loyalty became priority # 1. The amount of members doesn't matter to me since Brilliant Essence also has radio shows, facebook pals etc. All followers who choose their own preferred way to stay connected.

I don't have time to copy and paste a whole bunch of information on the blog, although many times I've wanted it to be more informative. Today, with this change, I'm able to revise my goals whilst keeping my promises to my dear bloggers and together we're making it happen.
Bottom line is that together we become much stronger.

I loved the ability to send out global event posts over all my ning networks. Haven't quite figured that one out on spruz yet! But perhaps we can put up a post with who goes where, we'll be able to stay connected globally to everyone's advantage.

That said, I would love more comments on what other sites work and which ones don't.
Spruz free only offers 40 elements per blog to be inserted, which for me right now is perfectly fine.
One fun feature I really appreciate is that the chat on spruz actually dings when you enter and post. Big difference from ning. (unless it was only my chat which didn't have sound!)

Looking forward to more thoughts,
~Astrid.
www.brilliantessence.com
http://brilliantessence.spruz.com

P.S. Jen, anytime you want a reading, let me know!
If anyone else wants a free reading, call into my shows anytime.
And since I'm plugging now, if anyone wants to be a guest on my show (or any other show on my media networks), give me a buzz in the blog! There's a special forum there all ready for you!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by JenSocial on April 18, 2010 at 11:26am

Thanks Astrid (lovely name, BTW),
Truly, thank you for the offer of a reading, most kind of you. I'm not a reading kinda Gal, though. I like surprises. ;-)

My pleasure on getting the news out.

Also, I want to make sure you know about our Group for Alternative Solutions to Ning. You may want to share your spruz experience in the Group.

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• …
• 14
• Next ›
• Page