GOLD SUBSCRIPTIONS - Please read

[Brian]

Hi all,

I have been working with the hosts to identify the slowness and forum downtime, and at the same time noticed that the subscriptions link above is down.
After some investigation, there is a possibility that there has been some hammering of certain processes through the subscriptions system, possibly an attack or something else.
It seems as though certain blocks on processes may have brought the load down significantly, and I would like feedback on the speed and loading issues over the next day or 2...but there is a possibility I need to reconfigure some stuff and it seems that the subscriptions link is down.
This is of course a huge concern for fund raising, as we have been going down in contributions lately and without a method of adding subscriptions, forum bills will rapidly become a problem.

As a temporary solution, I am going to post the details of the various subscriptions here, and if anyone wants to take a Gold membership, I ask that you do the payment via Paypal manually, with a note of your username and the subscription that you are choosing to take or renew.
I will then manually add that subscription to your username, or extend your membership by that period.
 

I apologize for this, but it is temporary until I figure it out. Payments can be done by going to https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/japaneseswords

Put a note of your username and chosen membership. Or pm me that you have paid and your choice.
I really appreciate the support, and of course as always they are not compulsory, but are hugely appreciated.

The Gold Memberships are as follows:

 

Gold Tier Membership : $6 month to month, $30 for 6 months, or $60 for 12 Months.
Members who upgrade to Gold Membership enjoy the following benefits:

• Access to exclusive themes not available to regular members
• Up to 60 Posts per day instead of 25
• Private message limit of 500 messages (Regular members 100)
• Ability to edit your own posts for 14 days instead of 6 hours
• Ability to create polls
• Can view who reacted to a post and what reaction they gave
• Allowed to use a commercial link in your signature
• Can use search function with only 10 second delay between searches instead of 20 secs
• Can upload 10 attachments per post
• 7.5 Meg per post upload limit instead of 3MB
• Can use an image in signature (800x100px)
• Can have 2 links in signature
• Can send messages to someone even if their inbox is full
• 2.5 Gig total attachment storage instead of 1.5 Gigs
• More reactions allowed
• Support the forum

 

NMB Dealers Staus: You have your own sub forum/section
Dealer status comes with the following benefits:

• Own section of the forum that you can use as your own mini-store or display area for commerce.
• Ability to moderate all content in your section (along with current NMB moderators)
  This means you can add, delete and edit all posts indefinitely. You can lock topics, remove replies and edit descriptions or pricing. You have control over your section and what is posted there.
• You can control replies to your posts. Delete them or hide them. Lock the topic if you are only showing items.
• Post new item when they arrive, delete at any point or edit the price or description.
• Your own forum means you have maximum visibility to your customers and can treat your section like a mini webstore.
• $10 a month is easily affordable even to the smallest seller. 12 Month plan renews automatically if paid via Paypal.
• ONLY to be used for commercial listings. This is not a discussion area and debates or discussion should be limited to questions about items for sale or commerce.
• The $120 annual fee covers your store listing in the Dealer Section and the above benefits.
  Contributions on successful sale are (like regular listings) completely voluntary but always appreciated..
• PLUS all the benefits of Gold Membership ($60 value)

Payments to https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/japaneseswords

 

Thank you all, as always.

[Brian]

My huge thanks go out to those members who have responded with renewal memberships etc. I really appreciate it.
Having a slight glitch extending the subscription dates, but will make sure those who extended don't expire and the membership is actioned for the later date.
Thanks guys, couldn't do any of this without you. 

[Brian]

Edit to add: The Subscriptions link is working again, I had the hosts unblock it, but now we need to see if it is being hammered by bots and slowing down the entire site by using resources.
Let's monitor it, but the old subscription links are working and huge thanks to all that are supporting. You guys are amazing.

[ROKUJURO]

Brian,

just a short question: Will I be notified when my subscription runs out? Of course I will renew it then, but I don't remember my subscription date.

[Brian]

Yes, emails should go out a few days before they expire. Those that have automated Paypal subscriptions should automatically renew, those who have had it done manually, I'll either extend myself if an additional contribution was done, or they can just drop me a pm and I'll do it. The majority have subscriptions on, and it does it automatically unless cancelled.
Those that prefer to do it via credit card can just email or pm me their email address, and I'll send a secure credit card processor link that will be easy, and then you can use your debit or credit card without going through Paypal, who take a chunk anyways.

[ROKUJURO]

Thank you Brian!

[Mark S.]

My automatic membership processed today as normal… just in case anyone is concerned theirs might not.  

[Brian]

Thanks Mark. Appreciate everyone's support. It really has helped a lot.
As I mentioned, if anyone would rather pay with credit card not through Paypal, just message or email and will send you a very secure payment link to process the card directly. It's a once off so is renewed manually. 
Also, if you paid manually via Paypal and your subscription expires before the extension time, just drop me a message. I was unable to manually extend the time for those who had Paypal subscriptions as it won't let me edit those, but will make sure everyone gets the period they paid for. Thanks again all. We're prepping for the end of the year major software update, and that is going to be around $800, but we'll get it done.