I like the proposed ideas but am not willing to spend a monthly fee to get something that is pretty much free - newsworthy content, I can get the same news from other sites but I choose to view WCF because I like its persona. I think I speak for many when I say this. And I don"t mind having ads on the site, its your means of revenue and I respect that.

Keep it rocking!

i agree

agree

Agreed, I love the site, but wouldn"t pay for the content.

+4

Just to clarify again, WCF would remain the same as now. A paid version of WCF with no ads plus other content upgrades would be IN ADDITION.

Hi.On what e-mail i can send letters with some questions for WCF administrators?

You can contact WCF at feedback[at]worldcarfans.com

There"s no way I"d pay any monthly/yearly subscription for an add-free website.

Ad-Block Plus in Firefox does the job for me!

The member profiles and avatar is a good idea though.

How about a vBulletin FORUM? with sections that allow us to share our own car photos and have our own car and non-can related discussions?

Video"s of car reviews would be fantastic. Also, high-resolution picture galleries.

Not bad,Also i think will be great if the WCF users will choose the WCF car,concept,eco or hybrid of the year. And section cool and not cool like the top gear board

This is also another great idea that is on the table. We recently did a WCF Readers Vote for the best stars of NAIAS as a beta test. http://www.worldcarfans.com/9090120.005/wcf-readers-vote-audi-a7-sportback-audi-r8-v10-stars-of-2009-naias

It went very well. Due to the positive response, we developed a new voting/survey system that integrates right into the article page. The survey you see above is our first deployment of this. It will allow us to do more polls and "reader"s choice" awards.

I think that charging money isnt the solution...yesterday, the top X blogs were announced, the top 4 being valued at 40 mil $ or more (the #1 being a conglomerate including the biggest rival to WCF:)

So my suggestion to INCREASING revenue is INCREASING the fan base...easy (and fun) way to do this is to make monthly (?) video car reviews - just get a camera and then its free and fun - or other "different" WCF-made material...

No to charging, yes to user profiles

I agree with both Geefiasco and ika595, I like the idea of having a user profile where i can display my own car and maybe people can vote on how much they like my car? and being able to vote anually on the years best cars is also a really good idea that wouldn"t take much work. And i also agree with 911fnatic on the advertisements.

NO i dont not wat to pay to visit WCF, the ads dont bother me ive learnt to block them out. If you make WCF a paysite youve lost me im sorry. I do like the idea of having a home page though BUT im not going to pay to use any of it, ill find another site to visit... Plus some of those ideas you have if we pay are things that we can still have now even if we dont pay eg. batch download of images. Maybe an idea to make more revenue is to make WCF T-Shirts and posters and stuff. You could even sell car posters.

Just to clarify, WCF as you see it today would remain exactly the same. No WCF content would be taken away.

However, for those who do subscribe as a paying member would get access to an ad-free duplicate version of WCF plus receive bonus features (mentioned in survey above) that would not be available to non-paying members.

Fees will drive users away. Competitive sites offer up-to-date info for free (ad-supported).

Wow, WCF is getting ambitious. They are supersizing ambition.

I have no problem spending just a few dollars a month for no ads. I would like to see a some actual reviews from WCF and not just news update.

All of our editors are really talented guys. We are itching to start doing some testing, if we could only get away from our desks. Processing the daily news is quite demanding and requires a certain tenacity to do it effectively. Especially when you don"t have an army of writers, researchers and copy editors. test drives are definitely on the table though.

WCF should stay as it is.... i"m guessing their trying to make an OPTION for people if they ARE willing to pay to access even cooler things such as High definition video, HD photos etc. that"s their choice. but def, don"t make this manditory and do not take away things if we do not pay. :D

It definitely would NOT be mandatory. The ad-free site would be a supplement to the existing WCF.

However, for those using ad blockers - they won"t be effective on WCF for long. There are ways around it. We have just opted not to implement them, yet... :D

Yet? Why would you purposely want to do that?

No fees !!!

no paysite and no to community bla- put your car pics on your facebook site if you must. I like WCF as a pure unbiased collection of news about cars and the industry. Comments are enough user interaction here.

Thanks for keeping it real- just because you can add sth. doesn"t necessary make it better!

But who from WCF is going to see your car on Facebook? How about your modifications, what shows or races you"re going to?

By creating our own WCF version of facebook, we can create a community of like-minded enthusiasts. Groups will be created and members can join the ones they like, customized WCF newsfeeds will appear on your personal home page. You"ll be able to subscribe to any news topics, read the discussions and reply right from your personal WCF home page.

oh one thing would be cool- please create an iphone version!

I"m use that version on iphone with no problems.

i just want the grey background back. aside from looking better, it will probably reduce eye strain

I love this site, its well presented, and always has all the top motoring related stories in one convenient place. That said, if you start charging for things that your faithful user base has previously been getting for free, users will go elsewhere, and that would be a shame.

funny thing is that i"ve never seen this "edit" button on comments... don"t know if i"m the only one with such a problem... :(

There is no shortage of free sites out there that offer minimal advertising, high resolution images (albeit not wallpaper size), car reviews, previews, spy shots, etc.

Leftlane News is a prime example, and it seems to have a much bigger following, looking at the number of comments each story gets. It offers reviews, high res images, etc. and the advertising isn"t intrusive. And, to be honest, their users seem to be much more knowledgeable and reasoned argument is possible (as opposed to the often immature/childish/fan boy/illegible comments often seen on WCF).

Paying just to have the ads removed and whatnot is not enough to get earn my pennies. It"s not like the advertisements are bothering to the extent that I"d pay to remove them.

Implementing a fee-paying system, even optionally, would see many find alternative sites. It"s the principle that we have to pay for something that is usually free that is a turn off.

I"m sure WCF makes enough money as it is? After all, there are six ads on this page alone.

And btw, the forum/social networking is a good idea!

You said:

"It"s the principle that we have to pay for something that is usually free that is a turn off."

I couldn"t agree with you more. But that"s not what has been said. It seems many have misinterpreting the survey.

All WCF content that is free NOW, will remain free. Nothing will change. All WCF visitors who do not wish to subscribe, will continue to see the same WCF site and content as usual.

No way, WCF has double the traffic of LeftLaneNews. Check out their Alexa traffic rankings:

LLN 14,000 WCF 7,000

But autoblog is like 2000

I understand that what I see now will still be free, but if a fee system is introduced, that would divide the users of WCF. Would the fee-paying users share the comment space with the normal users?

joeyramone, I stand corrected if that is the case. However, you"ll find that the demographic that LLN attracts is *usually* more mature. But I might be wrong, as WCF is "World" so it appeals to people whose first language might not be English - which contributes to the perceived immature/childish/fan boy/illegible comments that I mentioned earlier.

Don"t fall for that unnecessary "value adding" nonsense. Most of us come here to see quality reporting and quality pics, not to "interact". The ads aren"t intrusive as they are. If you"re looking for a reason to justify charging for access, just say so. I know moneys tight like never before but there"s a limit to how many paid website subscriptions we can all afford before we just don"t bother.

... and the quality reporting, photos will continue as always FOR FREE! For those who want more will have the choice.

Ads really don"t bother me, they can stay. Anyway extending the profile info about everyone is a good idea, as are all other ideas from the survey, it would be great to have them...for free. Just keep the ads, and improve the site without any additional payment. I think this is the best way. Anyway, keep Your job as it is, You"re doing great. I love WCF. Best regards!