BZPower Premier Membership Program

[Black Six]

BZPower Premier Membership Program

 

BZPower Store

What is Premier Membership?

Premier Membership is a way for the Membership to help defray the costs of BZPower's webhosting by donating to the owners of the site. In return, Premier Members get added benefits and perks as our thanks for their assistance.

 

Why Premier Membership?

After only being around for less than six months (January 2002), BZPower grew from nothingness to a site consuming over half a gigabyte (0.5 GB) of bandwidth a day. By July 2004, that amount had grown to over two gigabytes (2.3 GB) per day. At the time of this writing (June 2011) that number has grown to over sixteen gigabytes (16 GB) each day. That's a lot of data. Paying for a dedicated server that can hold up to that kind of strain isn't especially cheap. The Administrators use ads to help defray some of the costs, but rely on donations and our own pockets for the rest. Rather than take BZPower offline, the Owners decided that asking for donations would be the best course of action to keep the site running. The program has been working for close to a decade, so it would appear to be a success.

 

Are BZPower's forums members-only?

No, anyone can read the topics, posts, and blogs on the site. Additionally, anyone is welcome to join so long as they agree to the BZPower Rules & Guidelines.

 

Do I have to pay money to use BZPower?

No, Premier donations are entirely voluntary.

 

If I don't pay to be a Premier Member, am I going to get kicked off of BZP?

No, that's just silly.

 

What are the perks of becoming a Premier Member?

Some of the features of a Premier Member over a Member are:

• Premier Member group affiliation
• Custom member rank images (Masks, Tools, Discs, etc.)
• Exclusive "Premier Member" Indicator in forum view
• Your own BZPower Blog
• Ability to create quizzes
• No limit in between performing forum searches
• Increased Gallery space (10000 kB instead of 2000 kB, 5 albums instead of 1 album, 20 images per album instead of 5 images per album)
• Five times the standard Private Message storage capacity (1000 messages instead of 200)
• Ability to start a Private Message with up to ten members
• Forty-five (45) days between name changes instead of ninety (90)
• File attachments in all forums (up to 750 kB)
• Proto Energy boost
• More features in the planning stages...

But above all, becoming a Premier Member is a way to say, "I appreciate BZPower, and I am willing to do my small part to ensure that it will be around in the future."

 

How much does Premier Membership cost?

 

In a perfect world, every member of BZP would feel the need to support the community, and the Administration would only need about $1 per person and be set for some time. But as we all know, we don't live in a perfect world. Since Premier Membership is not a requirement, and some people simply don't believe in paying for access to any website, regardless of how much they might benefit from it, the price of the membership has been set accordingly.

 

Six Month Premier Membership: $10 Donation

One Year Premier Membership: $16 Donation

Lifetime* Premier Membership: $40 Donation

 

While all funds must be in USD, if you're curious what amount that is in your local currency, you can check this site's currency converter.

 

NOTE: Except for the Lifetime option, BZP does not establish Premier Memberships for a period of more than twelve months. Any amount sent in excess of a one-year membership, but less than a lifetime membership, will be absorbed as an additional donation and treated as a one-year membership.

 

How can I send my money?

 

Currently we only accept PayPal and ask that members pay an additional $0.50 to help defray the PayPal fees.

 

Just read everything carefully and follow all of the instructions provided. Premier Membership Processing Requests which do not provide all of the required information are subject to being rejected and returned.

 

BZPower Store

I sent my money. How long until I become a Premier Member?

With the new system, being promoted to the Premier Member group should be nearly-instantaneous. If you didn't get moved it means there was likely an error processing your payment. If you feel an exceptional amount of time has passed, contact Black Six or Dimensioneer so they can look into the matter.

 

I received my Premier Membership, but I haven't been given my Proto Energy boost yet. What's going on?

While the group-change process itself is near-instantaneous, being done through the BZPower Store, increasing your Proto Energy is still done manually. It can take up to a week before you see the increase occur. If you feel an exceptional amount has passed and you still have not received your proto boost, feel free to contact Black Six concerning the matter.

 

Thanks for your time!

 

PREMIER MEMBERSHIP DISCLAIMER

 

The BZPower Premier Membership Program is exercised on a strictly voluntary basis, and any and all funds solicited by the program are donations contributed and accepted in good will. Contributions do not represent any binding contract of goods or services, and should either party choose to terminate membership for any reason, Premier Membership status is non-transferrable and non-upgradable. Funds are non-refundable in whole or in part.

 

* "Lifetime" membership refers to the life of BZPower, not the life of the contributor.