After working on the project for several years, The Paracast+ debuted last November. The original concept was discussed by me and one of our former salespeople, Gil Bavel, but it required permission by our network, GCN, to post ad-free versions of that show.
When we got that permission last year, we went into action and, within days, we got the service running. Rather than build a whole infrastructure from scratch — which would have been expensive, or require several volunteer web developers — we used the built-in member upgrade feature of our forum software, XenForo.
We mixed that with a special add-on known as XenForo Resource Manager, for posting and managing the premium shows, made a few customizations to switch the setup from "resources" to "episodes" (although there's still some mentions of the former here and there), and set up permissions so only subscribers would see the premium content.
Within a few weeks, After The Paracast premiered. It's an open-ended premium podcast that features discussions and, sometimes, interviews that expand upon that week's episode of The Paracast. Or moves in an entirely different direction. There's also an open chat room, and we expect to expand that ultimately to include scheduled online chat sessions.
As some of you have made abundantly clear, subscribing to Paracast+ isn't quite as easy as it should be. It requires joining the forums, and upgrading your membership to one of our three subscription packages. The upgrade subscription is processed through PayPal since XenForo builds in support for that payment method.
This is where some of you have problems. If you want to upgrade, say, a one-month membership to a one-year or five-year membership, you need to cancel your subscription in PayPal so you'll no longer be charged for the service you no longer want. I wish it were easier, but that's how XenForo and PayPal have set it up.
Maybe you don't have a PayPal membership. Maybe you don't want one, but that's the only way we can set up automatic member upgrades and recurring subscriptions with our existing structure. If you want to join without PayPal, you may send us your payment directly, by a money order or direct deposit to our bank account. We do it for a year, minimum, because there's no way to automatically send out reminders when your membership needs to be renewed. So at the end of the year, when you no longer have access to the premium area, you'll have to remember to renew.
We have made improvements designed to make your Paracast+ subscription work better. All or most new or recurring members now receive a personal conversation message in our forum that explains how to use our premium service. That should answer most of your questions.
Right now the visible impact to the forum consists of the presence two new items in the forum's nav bar at the upper part of the page: Chat Room and The Paracast+ and a new forum board, The Paracast+ Discussions. You have to blink twice to see them, and they are only available to those of you who have subscribed. They provide direct access to the ad-free version of The Paracast and After The Paracast, along with a special area where you can discuss the shows.
We have also set up an authenticated RSS feed for The Paracast+ that works in iTunes and podcast apps that support this feed, such as Downcast for iOS. All you need do is login with your member name and password to see the latest episodes.
I realize the visual impact to our forum is subtle, but we're working on a way to make it work better. We're currently testing a new version of XenForo and the Resource Manager on another of our forums: The Tech Night Owl LIVE Community Forums Subscriber's to that show's premium service will also see a Latest Episodes list in the forum sidebar at the right. That should make it easier for you to find the episodes you want to hear. Since the software is still beta quality, we won't put it here until we know it's reliable. But it's no more than a few weeks away.
Response from members is off the charts, and we have an 80-90% retention rate, meaning most of you want to continue to enjoy the benefits of The Paracast+. As promised, we are working on video content, and we hope it won't be long before those segments appear.
We welcome your support and your questions on how to make the system better. Again, we are constrained by the structure of our forum and add-ons, but there are ways we can probably customize the setup further with some guidance.
When we got that permission last year, we went into action and, within days, we got the service running. Rather than build a whole infrastructure from scratch — which would have been expensive, or require several volunteer web developers — we used the built-in member upgrade feature of our forum software, XenForo.
We mixed that with a special add-on known as XenForo Resource Manager, for posting and managing the premium shows, made a few customizations to switch the setup from "resources" to "episodes" (although there's still some mentions of the former here and there), and set up permissions so only subscribers would see the premium content.
Within a few weeks, After The Paracast premiered. It's an open-ended premium podcast that features discussions and, sometimes, interviews that expand upon that week's episode of The Paracast. Or moves in an entirely different direction. There's also an open chat room, and we expect to expand that ultimately to include scheduled online chat sessions.
As some of you have made abundantly clear, subscribing to Paracast+ isn't quite as easy as it should be. It requires joining the forums, and upgrading your membership to one of our three subscription packages. The upgrade subscription is processed through PayPal since XenForo builds in support for that payment method.
This is where some of you have problems. If you want to upgrade, say, a one-month membership to a one-year or five-year membership, you need to cancel your subscription in PayPal so you'll no longer be charged for the service you no longer want. I wish it were easier, but that's how XenForo and PayPal have set it up.
Maybe you don't have a PayPal membership. Maybe you don't want one, but that's the only way we can set up automatic member upgrades and recurring subscriptions with our existing structure. If you want to join without PayPal, you may send us your payment directly, by a money order or direct deposit to our bank account. We do it for a year, minimum, because there's no way to automatically send out reminders when your membership needs to be renewed. So at the end of the year, when you no longer have access to the premium area, you'll have to remember to renew.
We have made improvements designed to make your Paracast+ subscription work better. All or most new or recurring members now receive a personal conversation message in our forum that explains how to use our premium service. That should answer most of your questions.
Right now the visible impact to the forum consists of the presence two new items in the forum's nav bar at the upper part of the page: Chat Room and The Paracast+ and a new forum board, The Paracast+ Discussions. You have to blink twice to see them, and they are only available to those of you who have subscribed. They provide direct access to the ad-free version of The Paracast and After The Paracast, along with a special area where you can discuss the shows.
We have also set up an authenticated RSS feed for The Paracast+ that works in iTunes and podcast apps that support this feed, such as Downcast for iOS. All you need do is login with your member name and password to see the latest episodes.
I realize the visual impact to our forum is subtle, but we're working on a way to make it work better. We're currently testing a new version of XenForo and the Resource Manager on another of our forums: The Tech Night Owl LIVE Community Forums Subscriber's to that show's premium service will also see a Latest Episodes list in the forum sidebar at the right. That should make it easier for you to find the episodes you want to hear. Since the software is still beta quality, we won't put it here until we know it's reliable. But it's no more than a few weeks away.
Response from members is off the charts, and we have an 80-90% retention rate, meaning most of you want to continue to enjoy the benefits of The Paracast+. As promised, we are working on video content, and we hope it won't be long before those segments appear.
We welcome your support and your questions on how to make the system better. Again, we are constrained by the structure of our forum and add-ons, but there are ways we can probably customize the setup further with some guidance.
