On May 4th, 2010 Ning announced they are raising their prices.

For those unaware, the Freeschool Community uses Ning.com as our platform for our online
community at Peace Communities.  We have over 450 members and growing faster every day.

We have paid the $20 a month now to keep off ads for a while now but Ning announced the
$20 fee will no longer cover video and music uploads starting around August 2010, and it
will not have access to API (which makes twitter and other applications so easy to integrate)
and worst of all you can't pay for extra storage... so some day Peace Communities may have
to pay $50 a month to ning. That would really be unpleasant. You can see the full ning chart
here.

Ironically, There is a Ning community discussing alternatives where ning communities can go
and it is here: http://theningdirectory.ning.com/group/alternativesolutionstoning

It would be great to hear feedback on whether our members think we should move and where
should we move to?

Have no fear. We will only move with plenty of advance notice. All your private date is secure.

This is an exciting time because there are many platforms with far advanced services than Ning.

For example, one of the platforms that we are considering is KickApps.  Their plans seem to
start at $9.95 per month.  You may also find their announcement (found here) about
Transferring from Ning to their service very interesting.  We found there service interesting.
Among other reasons because part of their service states that "You can even reward
your members with points and levels to promote engagement and highlight outstanding
contribution." 

In addition, their list of Customers who are in the Non-profit and education organizations
who have kickapps websites seem far more advanced than anything ning has as seen here.
They also have other customers (found here) such as National Geographic, Special Olympics, Stone Temple Pilots and a lot more.

KickApps also makes it easier for our members to custom design apps.  That way for
example, a freeschool class facilitator could design an app (or use an app that someone
else created) that uses Ustream.com so that people worldwide could watch their freeschool
class live while it takes place.... even way out in the beautiful forests of Olympia.

As many of you know, we have a Peace Points program that awards points and free gift
certificates (to places like Traditions Far Trade Cafe, AK Press, PM Press, The Beauty of
Barter, The Peace Communities Shop, Microcosm Publishing, the brand new Olympia Fundraiser shop  with over 120 Olympia Freeschool items and more for our members who write blogs entries
and more.  Currently members have to fill out a sheet of paper to redeem points.  But
the automatic point system would make it a lot easier.

Please peruse the below alternatives and share your thoughts below.

http://creators.ning.com/forum/topics/alternatives-1

http://theningdirectory.ning.com/group/alternativesolutionstoning

Also, for those who would like to donate funds you can do so by clicking here.

For those who would like to donate their volunteer tech help and time you can do so by using our contact page to contact us.

We love you all!

-Freeschool Community
-Peace Communities

To post comments on this discussion to the Peace Communities Online Community
please click here.