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TechRepublic membership benefits

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by Jay Garmon

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TechRepublic is working on becoming more valuable to our registered members, and to that end we're developing a "benefits package" that would provide exclusive discounts and opportunities for our member base.

Right now, new registrants get a free copy of a password management application. We want to do more. We're prepared to seek out vendors and organizations that would be willing to give special offers and benefits to our members, but want to know where our priorities should be placed.

What are the Top 5 TechRepublic member benefits you'd like to see us pursue. Post your thoughts in this discussion, and be sure to mention the vendors from which you'd most like to receive a discount.

To get the ball rolling, we're currently considering these possible benefits. Feel free to mention these or others in your Top 5.

--Discounts from specific hardware vendors
--Discounts from specific software vendors
--Discounted industry event admissions
--Air travel discounts
--Car rental discounts
--Discounted business/IT consulting
--Parcel shipping discounts
--Bookstore discounts
--IT training discounts
--Free software trials
--Preferential entry to hardware/software beta tests
--Discounted or pooled insurance plans
--Publication discounts
--TechRepublic merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, hats, etc.)
--Shared sign-on with other Web sites (no more "you must register" messages)
--Vanity e-mail addresses (john.doe@techrepublic.com)

Let us know what you want--and from whom--and we'll work to make it happen!

137 replies

by Jay Garmon

The logistical issues of international discounts have come up. Ideally, we'd negotiate a percentage discount, rather than a hard dollar-value, so it would transfer regardless of currency.

by oz_media

Regardless if I get 20% off Target stores or $1.50 USD, Target is a US company and offer would only be valid to US customers.

This is ALL over the web,20% off of this, a free day here and get 30 day bonus there, but all US companys.

I joined a 'global' Golf Partners offering last year and found that 99.9% of the member benefits were for US courses, US stores etc. Most don't even ship merchandise to Canada, so I quit and got my money back before joining a similar Canadian only club.

Now if there are free tickets to seminars that are all US based, there is no benefit.

Discounts from stores only in the US etc. is no help either.

BUT, if you found a multinational group OR someone willing to ship outside of the US, it isn't so bad even with additional shipping charges.

WHat always PO'd me, is that TR was SUPPOSED to have shirts, mugs etc. available for trade with member points. Never happened.

The TR Geek contest prizes, never arrived, never even asked for mailing info.

The TRI 'goodies', never happened.

So I don''t hold too much faith in offerings from TR, for obvious reasons.

I am sure some would find incentives available to them, they may even GET the incentives offered, but what about the rest of your user base?

by jdmercha

I'd eliminate the discounts right off the bat. The are never discounts I can't already get (or beat). They serve only as another annoying advertising link.

by oz_media

I can already get 10% of Hertz car rental, or a discount on Holiday Inn in L.A. or seomthing. Neither are any good to most users anyway and the discounts are never a SPECIAL discount as they suggest, just the same deal found all over the internet. Like some cheesy cupon that really isn't worthwhile UNLESS you just happen to be staying there at full price anyway.

by oz_media

>HP/Compaq, IBM, extended service offering/warranty or discount on a service offering.

>Free shipping on items from various manufacturers

>T-Shirts, Mugs, Hats etc. on a TR points system OR a discount based on TR points (like those club card deals where you collect points and buy crap). And I mean ACTUAL PHYSICAL merchandise you can see, touch and feel to verify it really exists.

Free memberships to TPG once a certain POINT level is reached, it only makes sense to offer your best contant to your strongest participants at no cost. OR the TOP 10 Overall would be interesting because everyone would battle to get top 10 positions, it would have SOME relevance to it.

>Vanity addresses, well it wouldbe neat but I have a bunch I never use already,it was quite the draw a year or so back for many others. But techrepublic.com would be kinda cool! AND it would offer a way for people to peer mail back AND forth using a TR email address.

Get some stuff donated to TR instead of offering it from the vendor and then YOU can see that it is shipped as needed to where it is needed.
Such as a mobthly prize for something, "NIKE has donated this Great Driver for use to give away to the member who..."

As for goodies when signing up, I couldn't care less, I signed up years ago. I am not interested in what will attract more visitors, I am interested in existing member benefits and give aways.

Get some vendors to donate stuff to TR and give it away as a monthly, weekly , best article or whatever prize.

DVD-RW, FLASH Memory, PC Cleaning kits, Mini Tools, External Hard drives, get APC to give away a few of those Power Cases (they seem to like giving them away) or notebook locks etc.

Get the suppliers to chip in some stuff, even t-shirts, mugs, hats etc. And give them away as monthly or weekly prizes, WITH TR PAYING TO SHIP THEM TO MEMBERS, regardless of location!!

P.S. Where can I download this password manager?
Or do we need to start a new account when stuff like that comes up?

by house

TPG for the 'other-other' members. ;)

I don't care about discounts and whatever else... all I want is friggin' polo and a mug - I'll pay for that. Currently, I am not a TPG member.

by tomsal

I think its nice that this "benefits" idea is being considered. Here it goes honest as I can be...

I don't care about the TR merchandise, unless you award it as prizes or it can be bought with TR points -- I won't PAY your company to give you FREE advertisement.

Insurance plays, reduced air fare plans, car rental deals ...I have this stuff through my credit card plans so I don't care if TR offers it.

I think the following would be nice though...

-Book Discounts (I mean at least 20% off) from more than just TR published books. I mean "real" publishing houses like QUE and their EXCELLENT IT book offers. No offense to TR but a lot of what I've seen in TR books is pretty much just a collection of the articles you find on the TR website and then you guys charge as much as $89 for the thing. For what? A rehash of what's on the website?

-IT training offers (Hint: TR could learn a lot from the benefits the IEEE Computer Society offers in this area -- of course I will admit CS membership isn't free its around $90 per year). Give discounts to training seminars, online training classes (like KnowledgeNet for instance).

-Have Q&A points be redeemable for REAL physical Merchandise or other real benefits that you can't get any other way (example: For x amount of points get a 40% discount on any TR book of x dollars or more)...the way Q&A is now, the points are just one notch above completely and utterly worthless in my opinion. Especially since folks just post questions in the discussion forums anyway.

-We all have plenty of email addresses these days with tons of sites giving them away for nothing, but it would be neat if you guys created a TR communication system for its members. What I mean is you have an actual "MESSAGE CENTER" within your TR account (it doesn't send to an external address like peermail does, but if you wanted to you could also send to the "peermail" address too). You could send messages to members, manage an addressbook of members, it would even allow members to instant message them and tell you if they were logged in or not.

I think it would increase the "community" feel of the site and would be a neat benefit of membership.

Just some thoughts...

later

by jdclyde

Concidering all the spam bombs that have hit TR in the last month or so, it is bad enought to deal with eight postings by some clown but to have to wade through a bunch of bogus messages would be a real downer.

Would need a way to monitor/limit this. Maybe you can't send more messages than the number of months you have been a member per day? Most of the people that would get any real benifits from this have been around for a few years.

by jdclyde

I get real annoyed with timed out software trials. Most times I am demoing something, it is around everything I am doing on a daily basis. Most times it times out before getting a good look so I end up deleting and moving on.

Book discounts, get a standard 20 to 30% off books anyways.

Webinars would be good depending on the time they are offered and the topic.

Always can use another nice looking polo though.

by tomsal

Good site for discussion among my "geek brethen" so to speak, but little else -- maybe an occassional white paper hits my fancy. I really have stayed with the site for 5 years only because of the discussion board.

Like you mentioned, they pretty much never carried through their initial plan of your points being worth merchandise and "other things". Which is all you heard for a few months at least, back when the site was new. I still get a kick out of it how today, when you ask this of TR staff they respond as if you are asking them to solve a quantum physics problem. "Huh? What? Can you repeat the question?".

That and the things you mentioned, I put extremely little faith in anything TR says in the way of benefits. Because in my world, how I was raised, when you say you are going to do something and then you don't -- that's called a lie.

;)

Anyway, just me venting.

later.

by admin

I would probably see your "discounts" as more junk advertising discounts to add to the pile I already get to be honest.

Way back you sent me 2 shirts and a coffee mug at three different times and I still have and use them all. My favorite T-Shirt is the "I won the Debate at Tech Republic" Shirt.

You should have a judged debate now and again. They were fun and kept everyone on the tech track. :)

by wordworker

Is anybody reading these posts? Since '99 employees and members alike have said, "Build a TR store and sell us stuff!" and why has it never happened? Most of the "old" regimen is long gone so why aren't the new folks figuring out there's a small fortune to be made selling polos, mugs, T-shirts, and the like? (Maybe some members won't buy them but the REST of us will buy them, wear them, and give TR all the viral marketing it can stand!)

by pmwpaul

I agree with several respondents; I can already get good discounts on the internet.

What you could provide to members is access to some test products. For example, if Checkpoint comes out with a new firewall, give users the opportunity to access the firewall remotely in addition to reading your review.

How about VPN products? Provide the users with a configurable ipsec or l2tp VPN client to access a reviewed product. Or let us compare a software VPN solution by providing a trial version with a functioning target.

If you make the benefit USEFUL, that would be great!

Thanks for asking.

by ni70

I remember when I signed up for TechRepublic, and I liked the idea of "buying" stuff for points. What ever happened to the listing of a members total points in their profiles?

As far as membership benefits.
1. IT training discounts - substantial 30%-40% off sounds good
2. TechRepublic merchandise - polo shirt instead of t-shirt
3. Substantial bookstore discount
4. Substantial publication discount
5. email @techrepublic sounds cool. Someone mentioned they have a lot of the free email accounts. I also have quite a few, but having an @techrepublic account would be nice to have. I could put it on my resume and use it for websites that require a valid email account instead of yahoo or hotmail.

I have been disappointed by the 2 TechRepublic publications I purchased, as someone mentioned just a rehash what?s on the website/e-newsletters. Would love to have a TechRepublic polo shirt and a hat (what kind of hat? baseball or beanie?) lol

Off the subject, but I think important to me is that TechRepublic or its parent company needs to update the way comments are viewed! There's better software out there, be it OSS or COTS, that let you actually scroll down the page to read comments posted by users. An example would be Mozillazines forums, it?s annoying to have to hit the "next" link to read the comments posted. For TechRepublic I just use the Discussion Printout feature, but on ZDNet it's annoying as hell to use the dreaded "next" link. And I know that both TechRepublic and ZDNet are both owned by CNET Networks. Oh btw, get rid of Jive Software and use something like phpBB:)

by itgirli

Merchandise! Merchandise! Merchandise! I want shirts and mugs. If we can't use points to get them, perhaps different number of points would be equal to free shipping or 20% off. I like the email address idea. I can never have too many email addresses. seriously. I use email addresses like folders. one address for this stuff, one address for anything I want to archive, one address for useless free garbage.
What I am really sick of seeing is TR's lame attempt to pacify us with worthless trash like trials and publication discounts. Beta testing is always fun. I want something tangible for my efforts.

by Jay Garmon

Stay tuned for a big announcement next week. There will be mugs aplenty--for the right people.

Oh, and ask yourself this question: "What is a TR-iPod?"

Answer (and goodies) coming soon.

--Jay

by oz_media

What ever happened to the TRI goodies, knew I should have given you an addy at the North Pole! :D

by itgirli

Isn't a TRiPod that thing with 3 legs that my telescope sits on? ha ha ha. I want mugs!

by jamesrl

I've been promised mugs and other paranphenalia before by Tech Republic writers who have interviewed me for stories. Once the story gets published, hmmmm what happens, no one follows up.

Are these mugs mythical? Do they exist only in some other plane of existance?

James

by jck

just by the capitalization...

A TRiPod would be a TR-labelled Apple iPod that will be the grand prize in a competition or something.

by apotheon

There are cases in which many of us would have no use for an offered discount or freebie, and as such I would like to see choices amongst several very different items rather than simply assigned items. For instance, while a free license for Microsoft Office might save someone $500, it would do me almost no good at all: in my work as a consultant, the consultancy has numerous Office licenses lying around unused because of a TechNet membership, and I personally haven't any particular use for MS Office anyway, preferring FLOSS office productivity suites when I deign to use bloatware at all. On the other hand, a complimentary one-year subscription to Linux Magazine, Linux Journal, or The Economist would make me do a happy dance. So would a t-shirt with the legend "I am the Linux Champion at TechRepublic!", but I certainly don't expect one-item t-shirt printings.

by oz_media

That's a nickname I got when I stepped out of the shower and found unexpected company in my living room.

Hey a guy can always dream ya know!

by oz_media

I try not to, too scary for most women and far to embarrassing for most of their husbands.

But if I must, I am parapalegic, lost my arms waving from the school bus (and they always say to keep your arms inside the window), why do you think my typing is so bad?

Flagging down a taxi gets me arrested, I'm not allowed in the supermarket anymore since testing for a ripe melon, I can't smoke in public, but most people are still in awe when they see me paddling my kayak around the harbour.

by oz_media

they did the same for the TR Geek contest,runners up got diddly.

Sounds liek Jay is gonna put his money where his mouth is though. Yet probably through some NEW competition.

by oz_media

How about Medical, Dental, Extended Medical/Life insurance and a car/gas allowance, lets not forget the quarterly profit share?

by dmambo

Got them as a reward for posts to Bob Artner's column. They do actually exist. Made in China, though.

by jck

What I'd like to see, if you get discounts for members:

- A percent deal that is off regular prices would be best. Not retail, but the regular price. This way, the vendor still has to compete pricewise with others in the same market while still giving us the discount.

- Shared sign-ons would be okay as long as you weren't sharing contact info. I can't tell you how many email accounts now I've created because of learning that if you give an email to most places that require it, they're gonna sell it for a profit. NOTE: I thank you guys. I've not received one junk email yet at the email I gave you. It is very much appreciated.

- I'm sure there are some that could take advantage of it, but things like travel, car rental, industry event discounts would seem to mostly benefit businesses rather than individual users of your website. Not to say that there aren't any business who use your site, because it's obvious there are representatives of those business which do. However, how many of us can afford $2k out of pocket to attend Microsoft's meeting in Orlando, even with a 25% off coupon, plus the hotel and rental car and meals and goodies? Not saying you shouldn't do those, but just don't forget the little guy in thinking about what discounts you attain, e.g.- Don't just hit up Microsoft for discounts.

Those are my suggestions. My 5 top things to get discounted would be:

Hardware
Books/Publications
Software
Training
Society memberships

that reminds me...I need to go look at your store. Thanks :)

by jck

will call your bluff.

Of course, I don't bluff. Big flaw...I can't lie well, so I don't.

by jck

You did ask: "What is a TR-iPod?"

The "a" is singular form, hence my supposition your answer required like quantification. :)

BTW, I would like to be the first to ask (beg?) for one of those in this thread. hehehe

by oz_media

not too sissy when you're 20' from a whale. Most people won't even take motor boats out here then. Yet many locals cash in on whale watching tours, I rpefer to hit one of the marine access camp sites on one of the many close by islands and hang out watching the whales from there though, the water drops really steep off the shores and they get within perring distance sometimes, it's actually pretty cool! Gives you a new perspective on the world and the all life we don't really think about too often. We are but one species after all, and definitely not the largest species by a long shot, even though we are the most destructive of all.

by oz_media

Where do you live that you can't get one? They sell 'em all over the place here in Canada. I figured mugs were pretty much available worldwide.

I could even make you one if you want? Would machine steel work or stainless?

Send me $79.95 and I'll send you a mug in 24 hours.

Sorry, just being a knob. :)

by cuteelf

For a minute i was thinking mugshots...eww.

Ok.
Back on topic:

DEEEEEEEP discounts on good hardware.
DEEEEEEEP discounts on good software.
as in enterprise level/ small biz not just the homeuser junk.
Like a discount on switchs/bladeservers ...

Ok, group pricing discount for vendor seminars.
Gp pricing for IT seminars/shows/stuff like that.
Discounts for tests/certs.

Save money on all this stuff...as geeks we need to keep up with the current info, and its bloody expensive.

CuteElf

by jck

$50 and I'll send you a "Hunter's Excuses" mug.

or you could go order a "I Love The Iraqi Information Minister" mug online. ;)

by oz_media

But a mug is like the most basic thing for any company to offer, besides a 30 cent pen.

How about a trip, one way will do, to England?

by jck

ITgirli, I'd send you some pics I took of myself one night when I was drunk.

but, those stay recessed deep on one of the 12 hard drives I have in the house :)

by oz_media

YOu live in the US I suppose.

Problem with discounts on software and vendors, as always, they are for US based products, seminars and companies that rarely ship elsewhere, and if they do it's at exorbitant costs. So while it may work for some, there are many thousands of TR members NOT based in teh USA.

Being a global forum, I would prefer to see TR offer goodies and be prepared for global shipping.

by oz_media

Do I feel privaledged now. ;)

Heard anything back from your prospects yet?

I wonder if I COULD get copies of my mugs, that would be neat to blow up and frame.

by cuteelf

one called me back and said no thank you

the ohter hasnt called me back at all yet..spsoed to hear on friday.

im going to call a couple contacts in town and see if they want to start internship..it's paid for by a university program. Pysses me off tbh, that I've got 2 certs, working on #3, and am an intelligent smart woman w/ no job.

Fracking stupid farkin snarfism grakfong.

CuteElf

by jck

now that's tempting...but for $50, I'd wanna see more than the mug ;)

by oz_media

You just have to keep your chin up and your eyes wide open.

The problem is, everyone else has certs and diplomas too, you just need to find someone looking for something unique that only you offer, in most cases these days it's a matter of 'fit' more than experience or training. You just need to be patient, hit hard and find that fit, it's there, not to worry you'll find it.

by jaqui

offer those of us that do not use ms linux benefits!

not try to force a violation of anti-monopoly legislation by not supporting linux, by only giving benefits that are windows based.

LinuxFormat,
LinuxUser&Developer,
Linux Journal.
to just list a few of the mags.

mugs, with Tux on them,
stuffed Tux. ( Thousands of versions available )
oh, for a real Linux Champion, a free trip to the
Linux World Conference. ( all conference related expenses, ( hotel, airfare ) included )
we can buy our own drinks and souvenirs.

but, if the benefit is for ms orifice, or ms winders, or any ms only software, it's useless.

by jck

I second the free trip thing...hehehe...I can buy my own drinks (and food if I stay conscious)...

I have a passport...when do I leave? :)

by jaqui

all you need to do is go to the companies site and there you go, free trial right there.
ain't not benefit to getting free trials through TR.
maybe a benefit FOR TR but not for us.

by jck

would be better, as long as they are for windows.

Most linux software is free anyways.

So when is that free trip, jaqui? :)

by jaqui

after all it would be a benefit for tr membership.
and only for being the top linux guru for the year.

by deepsand

We seem to be at the mercy of those who fail to grasp the fact that Form FOLLOWS Function.

So, we get "Less Funtionality with Great Looks," aka "It's not a Flaw, it's a Feature."

by tomsal

(Sounds like something from fantasy novel )

Anyway...of course the mugs exist...they are INVISIBLE....:) You mean you never got yours yet?

Mine is great....too bad it has a crack in it...darn thing never holds liquid that well.

by jck

tell ya what...next time you're in FL, let me know and I'll make you an 8x10 color glossy with my HP printer on photo paper...ok??

I'd further discuss terms, but I don't want to get too public with all this personal info.

Besides, I'm not the wild, crazy type until I am drunk and I'm with people I know won't be taking compromising pictures of me when I'm passed out (that happened once in New Orleans...).

by jck

CuteElf,

I know it's not the same situation...but...

When I got ready to graduate college, I sent out resumes to over 700 companies. Yeah, I dropped a few coins on postage and all.

Know how many job interviews I got out of 700 resumes going out all over the world? 1.

He's right...in the world of everyone and their dog with or without a degree having a cert or experience in something (like on guy I know...his ex had a MS in psychology...ended up a web developer)...everyone and their dog is doing computers...companies are looking for that exact fit...because they know that because of the overabundance of people who have some experience, that person is gonna be there.

You'll find something. It takes some time. I know all too well. You'll be okay :)

by jck

be careful...I might start saying "Sticks and stones..." and start pulling your pigtails in the sandbox... ;)

by smorty71

Actually, if you're able to find your disappearing posts, you can win a great prize... that we won't send you!

Seriously, though, we are just as frustrated with the recent issues we've been having with performance as you are. And we're working very hard to resolve them.

However, we've never tried to pass any of these things off as a feature. And while the looks have changed in the process, our first priority has always been providing solid functionality.

BTW, we are deploying some things this week that should help. We'll keep everyone posted.

sm

by jamesrl

In the Technical Q&A section Bfilm started the "where is James mug?" question. It says there are 24 answers, I've only seen 11 at one time, and after I posted my own response, it dissapeared for days.

In the end its a just a lark posting so no harm no foul, but if I had a serious issue to deal with, it might be very frustrating.

James

by smorty71

The disappearing post has been something we've been working to debug.

Out of curiousity, when was the last time that you noticed one of your posts disappearing?

Any more details anyone could provide as to the circumstances under which their posts have disappeared would be helpful.

sm

by deepsand

Not to mention duly rewarded - if, that is, I can figure out where & how to get the reward to you guys.

by jaqui

"However, we've never tried to pass any of these things off as a feature."

naturally not, you might be pro microsoft, but you don't have delusions of being microsoft.

by oz_media

TR is a FREE offering, not a paid one. Sure you CAN get TPG memberships but these 'site features' are provided for free and nobody is forced to be here. People do flock here by the thousands though so they must be doing something right.

Like my dad always said when I turned my nose up at dinner, "You'll get what you're given and you'll bloody well like it!".

But I still like to give the TR staff a hard time too.

Now, I just have to go and wash my face I think, I have this wierd smell on my nose now....kinda like.....s***

by av .

The last time I had a disappearing post was about February. One thing I had noticed was that even if I didn't see my post, the thread was still listed in my discussions. I had only posted once to that thread.

Anytime my posts have disappeared, its always been in a long thread.

by oz_media

...pulling your **** on the swingset.

Did you know they arrest you for that? The kids were even in school at the time, go figure.

by deepsand

I've had several recent incidents where I received e-mail notifications of new posts, but was unable to view them by going to the root of the thread.

I did, however, determine that if I used the link in the e-mail to go to the specific messageID, and post a reply, the invisible post then became visible!

by itgirli

I'm going to recommend that you seek serious mental therapy; however, as I am sure you have heard that many times, feel free to disregard it.

by jamesrl

was this week.

There was another thread in which I posted twice cause the first one didnt appear. That was this week too.
James

by jdclyde

Oh my. That would be something.

Polos and mugs are good too, but I want that calendar. Would go great in my new Guy Cave!

by jamesrl

As long as we don't have pics, all the women here are gorgeous and the men handsome.

I actually think that too much skin is not flattering to many women - many women look better in a one piece bathing suit than a bikini. And lingerie on a woman is often more sexy than nakedness.

But maybe thats just me.

James

by jessie

You're better off envisioning me as a beautifully pregnant fertility goddess... the reality... is something only a husband could love. :)

by jck

dismiss the idea that I'm handsome.

I'm tall...and average...

There...dream time ended, ladies ;)

by jdclyde

Ok, if not the babes of TR, there is always the server room of the month or the worst wiring nightmare awards.

Boy do I have entries for that last one.

by oz_media

The boys of TR! Sorry guys, but lets be realistic here, Jay and Shawn just aren't gonna be adorning my rec room wall anytime soon.

Can just picture Jay with his baby doll santa suit for December....shudder.

NOw I have to go and look at something nice just to get THAT image out of my head before I chuck.

by jdclyde

Oh I didn't need that visual. There WILL be retrobution!

I suppose Santa was spanking you telling you what a bad boy you have been in your visual there?

by smorty71

Thanks for providing more insight into the disappearing thread issue. We'll keep you all posted as we work through it... and, hopefully, you'll actually be able to see those posts.

by jessie

I would say that 60% of YOUR posts disappearing IS a feature!!! ;) I'd even be tempted to PAY for THAT feature! :)

by jck

I'm part Cherokee indian...so, I'm not a hairy beast...

And...you're right...my feet are a bit ugly...mainly from getting stubbed on things at night and dropping heavy objects on them...sucks to have big feet. ;)

by jessie

As for big feet... I wear a mens' 11(USA) or women's 13(USA). Keeps me from falling on my face when I try to stand ;)

by itgirli

And I thought I was the only one who had that dream..... (but in mine I was a bad GIRL)