[Raion]

So it's been a topic of discussion with our staff regarding what we want to do to add value to our userbase. Weblacky had suggested a Premium user lounge area, where people who are patrons or other contributors could get access to a premium-only forum. 

My primary concern with this, as well as Dodoid and Kaigan's concerns are to be paywalling of content, namely any guides or information that would be useful to the wider community. So such a premium lounge would not have that kind of exclusivity, since it would be unfair to users who can't pay for it, or won't. 

So what would a premium lounge entail?

1. Access to any beta features for the site, more direct input/feedback on site changes (Everyone's feedback is important, of course) as they come out, access to early Nekoware II packages (when they're ready) etc. 

2. Potentially guest appearances if we decide to go Youtube to discuss IRIX related content, as well as mentions. Defaultrouteuk and others have discussed us having a youtube presence. I myself wouldn't be opposed to some kind of podcast. 

3. A corner for users to discuss topics that may be drowned out from high signal-noise ratio, or where they want more serious discussion. 

4. Any other suggested features. One of them was to somehow give users a small geocities-like page they could put up basic html for via FTP using something ala akin to armory.com

5. Potentially user email addresses for irixnet.org or something. This one may be hard to implement, but I'm not opposed to it. 

And it would be something like a $10-20 tier on Patreon, or via a Paypal billing agreement or something. 

Of course, the big purpose of this would be to support the site and make it better. We have a lot of ideas in the pipe that I've been wanting to get started on but cost capital.

Please discuss below. If you feel passionate one way or the other, I want to hear. If you think this is a good idea, bad idea, or whatever, we need to know! 

Also, you'll notice that there's now the chartreuse developer class, and the dark red sponsor. These are user classes made to identify people who have contributed. The Sponsor one is currently exclusive to DefaultRouteUK, but the others here are welcomed to join the Developer class if you wish; just let me know.