- This topic has 21 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 3 months ago by
7h3h.
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August 2, 2015 at 5:02 pm #16173
Kate H
ParticipantFirstly I want to say how much I love GPLDL and agree totally with your ethos and why you set this site up.
Just one small niggle… Like most members I am sure I went straight to the category that interested me in the Repository and started to merely downloading only to then be informed that I had reached my monthly download limit of 100 downloads!
Capping the downloads if fine as I do appreciate if everybody downloads everything then the cost of GPLDL would not stay for free for long but…
Could this not have been linked to or announced on the homepage? Apologies if I’ve missed it but I have just been through the whole site and can not see any information regarding a 100 download cap per member.
Personally it now means I am unable to download anymore plugins or themes until September. Had I known this I would have chosen my downloads according to my immediate needs.
I did donate and was going to donate before hitting my download limit and will donate again in the future but why not have the donations linked to the download limits.
For example – each member gets 100 free downloads per month but if you wish to download more than 100 you need to donate to increase your download limit.
100 downloads = free then each 25 downloads would cost a $5 donation.
It is then left up to members to decide if they wish to donate and download more or just stick with the 100 download cap.
Just an idea.
Regards,
Kate H
August 3, 2015 at 2:32 am #16174Azlan
ParticipantYeah… I think I agree with Kate idea.. the donation option for downloading more than 100 downloads in a month can keep this site alive..
August 3, 2015 at 4:05 am #161757h3h
KeymasterKate & Azlan: First of all: Thanks for your kind words and support for GPLDL. This is highly appreciated! I totally get your point regarding the 100 files/month limit. We will come up with a solution for users who need more than this asap.
August 3, 2015 at 2:08 pm #16178KeymasterKate, we have introduced a new user level and increased your download limit. Please try and let us know if you have any issues. Once this is tested we may roll it out to other users as well.
August 14, 2015 at 7:00 am #16213Ed
ParticipantI think that idea is good… a simple information like “Downloads: X of 100” can resolve that.
And a way to obtain more download… like a 10USD donation to more 100 downloads or a cheap montly plan to unlimited access. =)
Haaa… I want a way to donate with Bitcoin. ;-)
August 17, 2015 at 4:09 pm #16223KeymasterEd, if someone makes a generous donation and has hit his monthly download limit, we will extend the limit manually.
August 20, 2015 at 1:14 am #16232Dave N
MemberI know it’s semantics… but allowing people to download more by “donating” is charging a fee which is not what I read this site was about. It goes against the ethos.
I’m not sure why your costs are so high, but I’d either change your ethos or change your plan. And make your decision public.
August 20, 2015 at 2:33 am #16238KeymasterDave, you are right. It is against the ethos to charge for downloads at all and we do believe that we add value to our users and donations will allow us to keep the site going. Having a “forced donation” when someone reaches a certain limit is something we do not like.
Since 99% of our users do not reach the technical download limit anyway, we decided to leave it how it is for now and those who do reach the limit can contact us and let us know. We have means to extend the limit individually.
August 20, 2015 at 3:08 am #16239ParticipantWhilst I do agree that charging a membership fee goes against the ethos to charge for downloads but I still feel having the “option” to donate and receive a larger download limit instead of waiting until your download limit resets is a good compromise.
At the end of the day human nature and experience tells us whilst it is great to offer things for free realistically there are expenses to be paid and I for one would rather have the option to donate and receive the “bonus” of a larger download limit than see this site shut down in 6 months because the owners are unable to keep paying the expenses out of their own pockets.
The option of donating is a purely voluntary and if you don’t want to, don’t need to, or don’t have the means to then you can stick with the original structure.
Also the donation is to help with hosting/server expenses so by doing it this way you are not going against the ethos as you are still not paying for downloads but for the service that brings the downloads to you.
The figures really speak for themselves as I’ve been a member since the 2nd August the the donations received are still sitting at 28.09% which is the same as it was after I made my donation.
Torrents and private trackers have been using the method of donate and reward for years and on the whole it works very well.
After all you could argue if this site is completely free when why do you need to register then login to download, why not have the site completely open?
August 23, 2015 at 6:14 am #16245KeymasterKate, thanks again for sharing this very insightful analysis. Your thoughts are very much appreciated!
We agree with a lot of points you have raised here. Indeed it is not the easiest thing to strike a balance between the ethos not to charge for downloads and receiving donations to grow GPLDL.
We have had a lot of discussions in our team about how to organize memberships.
We are crystal clear that the mission of GPLDL is to make free software free for everyone. This especially includes people who neither have the financial means to buy directly from the developers nor are able to make a donation. With this particular group of people in mind, we cannot imagine to charge our users (in general) and therefore hope that those who can afford to give something back will also cover the expenses for those who cannot.
We also will keep donations completely voluntary and reject the idea of “forced donations”- or “donate and reward”-models. We believe that this is not a true, genuine donation but a “hidden membership fee”.
Instead we would love to hear from our users who need more downloads or additional services to manually increase their download limits or improve and extend GPLDL’s services in other ways. We are curious to learn about their particular needs and see how we can add additional value for them.
Since we have just started out – actually we are still beta! -, we are very excited to see that a lot of users have registered and are enjoying GPLDL and we are grateful to those who instantly made donations.
August 26, 2015 at 9:07 am #16254MemberTo be honest, 100 downloads in a month should be adequate. After downloading a dozen items I’ve been wanting to try (I paid for BackupBuddy yesterday), I can only see myself downloading new items not here that I want to try and updates for things I haven’t paid for yet. I’ve made a small donation here for now, and will make additional donations as funds allow.
December 15, 2015 at 10:28 pm #16508Jack Matier
ParticipantI too hit this number, and all because I had got excited and started downloading all the extensions (though I did try finding the rate limit). My use-case was that I’d keep a local repository on a server that I could grab from. I’m sorry.
The rate limit of 100 per month does make sense. My only hope is this could be made more clear, I don’t think anyone wants to kill a free service.
As for the above, I really don’t see the ‘ethos’ being harmed by offering a monthly cost tier for a higher rate of downloads for greedy people – so long as the free (99% of people) remains free. Having these paid plans could even increase the download limit for free as well.
Alternatively, maybe they can mirrored to github, that way it’s just a git away?
I don’t know about the legal repercussions of this, mind you.
February 18, 2016 at 12:54 pm #16738Rui Pacheco
ParticipantI really don’t see the problem in this.
Before GPLDL, you had nothing.
Now you have 100 free downloads of premium plugins and themes per month, seems to me you have 100 reasons per month to be grateful.
Anyway, why would someone need more than 100 downloads per month?February 21, 2016 at 6:14 am #16762KeymasterThanks Rui for the Feedback and you appreciation. Downloads are limited to 50/month though. But anyway that should meet 99% of our users demands and for those who need more we can arrange higher limits for a reasonable donation.
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This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by
May 22, 2016 at 12:10 am #17141T
ParticipantI love your site and think it’s a great resource for many people. I know many people appreciate the service that your site offers.
One thing though, I guess you changed the download limit to 25 now without any notification. I have downloaded 25 and it says I have reached my limit. Your previous post says 50/per month so I guess the limit is half that now huh?
I only download the 25 because I knew I was under the 50 limit you stated and I wanted to test some themes and plugins out before I used them on an active website. I wanted to test some and see if the function and operate like the ones from the developers before I decide to use them on my websites.
Maybe have some kind of announcement board so members will know the limit is now 25 downloads and also put any other announcements. I didn’t see anything stating the new limit was 25 anywhere.
May 22, 2016 at 7:55 am #17143KeymasterT, thanks for your feedback which is very much appreciated. We are still beta testing GPLDL and try out various user levels which we change from time to time. If you need a constant number of downloads each, please get in touch with us and we can arrange that.
May 22, 2016 at 8:07 am #17147ParticipantHello,
Thanks for getting back so quick. I don’t need a constant number, but I was going by what you had said in this thread and that was that members get 50 downloads per month. I was only wanting to check these out and the 50 that you stated would be fine.
Next month I wouldn’t even need a lot because I am just trying to see how these work. Once I know everything is good then I would probably only need a few each month. I have been telling friends in the webmaster and other related communities about this site and I have told them that you get 50 but if you need more then you can make a donation. This makes me look like I don’t know what I am talking about and that your site is not honoring what was said.
It’s not a big deal but it would have been nice to get the 50 that you stated. I was planning on being a regular member and making donations once I knew everything was good. That’s why I even downloaded the 25. I had a few more that I wanted to test before I started donating.
I had planned to donate from the beginning as soon as I know these would be ok. I don’t know what to think now since things are changing without notification. I based what I did on your own words.
May 22, 2016 at 8:14 am #17148KeymasterThat is exactly the idea: You should be able to try out what you need and figure out the value it has for you and decide if you want to buy a license from the developers to honor their work, support GPLDL or maybe do not need anything at all.
May 22, 2016 at 8:22 am #17149ParticipantYes I should and that’s why I was planning on using the 50 you had stated. The 50 would have been fine. I wasn’t going to test them so I could buy them from the developer, I was going to be a donating member here. I was wanting to test to see if these here function exactly the same as the developers do.
Since you are no longer honoring the 50 that you stated I won’t be able to test some that I was wanting to test. Once I knew the ones I want were good here, I was just going to donate and start getting things here. The developers are sometimes crazy for the prices they ask so donating and getting them here would be better.
If I would have known that you were no longer honoring the 50 that you said then I would have made sure to be more selective with what I downloaded. Since I didn’t know that you weren’t honoring what you stated I downloaded a couple that could have waited.
May 22, 2016 at 8:28 am #17150KeymasterWe have temporarily increased your downloads to 200/month to help you out. Tell us what you found out ‘testing’…
May 24, 2016 at 7:06 am #17158ParticipantThank you.
What information would you like to know about?
So far I have tested several plugins and a few themes and all seem to be working and functioning exactly as the developers versions of them. I thought that they would but since these are offered as free there is always a little doubt as with anything that is free.
I have more testing to do but afterwards I was thinking about doing a review on one of my blogs about your site. I would contact you here first before I published anything. I don’t do review articles without consent of the site/product/service first.
I’ve been very busy lately or this would have been discussed a couple months ago…
May 26, 2016 at 11:05 am #17172KeymasterGood. Any review is highly welcome.
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