charge for data???

richrich · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 10, 2005 Posts: 14

Hi,

have just come back to get speed camera update and have found you now have to pay. Why is this. When i did my last update, about 2 months ago, the data was all free.

Why are you now charging??

richrich · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 10, 2005 Posts: 14

Shame that the site has decided to follow the net and "charge for everything" I though this site was really good as it was run on donations and advertising slots which really did make it a site especially for the users.

You maintain the speed camera database by all the users sending in updates. Do you expect me to still send you updates now I have to pay for the data in the first place? Or are you going to in return pay each user for the data they send in?

By charging for your database and still expecting users to give you the data to put in it, we are lining your pockets. We do the work for you and you profit, along with advertisers income as well.

If you are going to follow the rest and charge, fair enough but do the work yourself.

Darren · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:29 pm Post subject:

We have had a long debate on this subject over some months and I don't wish to start yet another one.

Yes we are charging as of February, we have invested much time and expense in collating and preparing the data, it does not miraculously jump from an email into a multitude of database formats all checked by hand.

The upside is everyone who made a donation prior to the launch or submitted camera data prior to our announcement on 1st January 2006 automatically qualifies for a free lifetime subscription, do you fall into any of those groups?

We have already launched a download system that allows you to choose the database to suit your device, we are now verifying camera sites and subscribers can enter competitions (with £3000 worth of prizes this month alone) and have access to retailer discounts which far outweigh the £2 or £19 subscription fee.

At the end of the day the reality is we spent nearly 18 months preparing and collating our own data before the database was launched three years ago and maintaining it is now a full time job. It is our strong desire to improve the service and the quality and the vast majority of users have come on-board and support us.
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Darren Griffin

etters · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:37 pm Post subject:

Well I dont know what to say to you except I suggest you change you sign in to Moan Moan you have only made 3 post and your at it already, I suggest you read the other posts on this site and you will find out that the moderators have said that if you have sent in camera site you will be made a member and not pay for your updates.
Please think before you open the mouth and also try and connect the brain
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Takara GP56 igo primo 1.1
Dont rely on them use your brain as well

etters · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:39 pm Post subject:

Sorry Darren you were being to polite I think
_________________
Takara GP56 igo primo 1.1
Dont rely on them use your brain as well

Ako · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:44 pm Post subject:

etters,

So because richrich doesn't agree with you he is a moaner eh? Maybe Darren should go so far as to ban anybody who disagrees with YOU. If you had read the 50 plus pages of debate when it was first anounced YOU would know that the majority of them were negative. Maybe we are too polite with you.
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Holux231, XDAII Copilot 6, 1Gb Lexar SD Card

Darren · Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:58 pm Post subject:

richrich · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 10, 2005 Posts: 14

I have just read the big long thread on this so as Darren says, I will say no more, it has been done to death. When I posted this thread, I had simply noticed that what was free is no longer. I did not realise it had caused a huge discussion already.

R.E Etters comments - I appologise for living in your world, I would be grateful if you would allow me to continue breathing as you seem to think you own the place... NOTE - last time I checked, a forum was for expressing thoughts, opinnions and questions. If we all thought like you i.e your right and everyone else is wrong, there would be little point! I also appologise for only having posted a few comments, I did not realise that counts against me. Maybe that is becase other than the matter of the new charges, I thought this was an excellent site and I had no reason to post anything...

Ako - Thanks for your comments, at least some people believe that everyone else can have an oppinion.

etters · Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:34 am Post subject:

Hi ako

Thanks for that, I would like to say that I did not say that richrich should agree with me, I dont care one way or the other, what I was trying to say is that he should have looked at the other post regarding this situation before making his statements, and he would have known what the problem was.

With regards to the other thing you said about the 50 pages and most of them were negative, I did read them and followed the debate very closely, although it does not effect me in any way as I cannot down load the data base anyway.
I did notice that very few of them only had 3 post before they started to moan about it ( most of them have been on the site for a long time and I can understand how they felt) although I did not agree.
The need for a profesional team to handle this kind of data base is very important and takes a lot of work to keep it going, so you have to pay, or get a life membership by uploading a camera as has already been said.

Richrich said ( do you still expect me to send you updates), or words to that effect has he sent any in after only being on site for three post I dont think so or maybe he or the moderators will tell me different. If he has he can get life membership and download to his hearts content for free.

As far as being too polite to me, dont worry yourself you can be as rude as you like I have been around to long to worry, and am able to take all that you can throw at me.

Read, research, connect brain, then make a statement, and you may be right.

Regards
Etters
_________________
Takara GP56 igo primo 1.1
Dont rely on them use your brain as well

etters · Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:42 am Post subject:

richrich
I appologise please lets leave it at that and get on with a happy site.
regards
Etters
_________________
Takara GP56 igo primo 1.1
Dont rely on them use your brain as well

richrich · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 10, 2005 Posts: 14

Darren,

As you tolerate users like Etters who think they own the place becasue they have made losts of posts, you have just lost a customer.

There are plenty of other sites offering the same thing. Your site is good and £2.00 for a download of cameras is still good (I was just surprised as they always used to be free)

But as you have idiots like Etters who want to abuse and slag off people just for expressing a thought, I will go elsewhere.

I know my purchase may only be a drop in the ocean but if Etters talks to eveyone else in the same way, your gonna loose a lot of trade. Lets hope no one else disagree's with him.

Thank god he is in France and not in the Uk, i expect he thinks he owns the roads as well!!

Ako · Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 1:34 am Post subject:

Darren wrote:

Darren · Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:33 am Post subject:

I was referring to the opinions of people prior to the charge who were vociferous in their desire to keep it free. If they had never contributed then I stand by my opinion that they did not deserve to be heard, why should they?

Those who had made an effort to take part were rewarded for their effort but the number of complaints from people along the lines of 'you've used my data and now are charging for it' etc etc that were posted by users who had NEVER contributed was galling.

As I say, it's a done deal now and we're working to justify our charge and demonstrate it is value for money.
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Darren Griffin

Darren · Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:38 am Post subject: Re: Bye

Ako · Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:52 am Post subject:

Darren wrote:

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