Our free membership with survey has brought in many members, some of them actively participating. To an active member, I asked: Why don't they pay? (It's a lot less than a big bag of good dog chow and lasts longer). The response I got:"They don't pay because they yet don't realise what Barking Mad is!!! They live in a take-your-dog to the beach paradise, and it hasn't entered their minds that they might go to the beach one day and find it covered in 'no dogs' or 'dogs must be on leash' signs (as happened recently just 1/2 hour away) and rangers hiding in the bushes, on a public holiday, waiting to pounce on people/dogs!!! They haven't read the whole Barking Mad site and haven't thought about discrimination of rentals to pet owners, or think it's something one must put up with."
To those folks who live where dogs are still welcome - enjoy; we hope it lasts.
To those folks who live where dogs are still welcome - enjoy; we hope it lasts.
And another view: lots of good people who volunteer struggle financially, lots of good people who have terrible health problems depend on their pet for companionship and joy. Our free membership makes sure we can include these passionate people in our pack.
2 comments:
hi, i cant say why people wont pay for something as common sense as what you are trying to do here except perhaps that they like alot of people have had issues with direct debit and charities etc and so are wary rather than stingy about paid relationships with organisations in general. On the comment about the website it is a little chaotic to the first time visitor. I also think that some of the tone of writing, or portrayal of barking mad making in roads with councils and ministers etc while reflecting an obvious passion for responsible pet owner issues is at times unnecessarily antagonistic and so a little off putting. That is not to say that the frustration etc is unwarranted just not an ideal first impression, especially to those people you mention who arent YET experiencing the woeful state of affairs that is Sydney.
Points taken, thank you. Happy to announce we've been blessed with a web designer to help make the site work better. Thanks to Benjamin Robinson of Bourne Inc. for donating his skills and ideas. I will also move the more cynical writing to the members area.
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