What's Happe-NING?

[XLFD]

Ning has broadcast to all NING sites that they are no longer going to offer the NING platform for free.  Here's their introductory paragraph:

 

Announcement

In July, we will roll-out three new pricing plans and begin phasing out our free service. Many of you chose the Ning Platform to build your communities because it’s the easiest to use, has the most reliable performance and easily scales to hundreds of thousands of members. Our shift to a paid service model will enable us to focus to a greater degree on enhancing the features, performance and services we offer to our paying Network Creators. You’ll immediately see greater control over your network branding, design and member experience. All three plans offer an incredible value relative to our current premium services offerings.

 

We at the Torch love free things, whether it be free people, free will, free speech, or a free forum to exchange our ideas and images.  The plans for sites who wish to continue existing after July, come in monthly fees of $3, $20, or $50.  We would lose some of our favorite features if we choose the $3 pack, and gain some more features if we 'upgrade' to a $20 pack. 

 

About Ning - Pricing Plans.mht

 

We have a couple of months to make a decision on what to do.  We could choose one of the plans, find a NING alternative which can save our content and features cheaper, or consider shutting down.  If we 'purchase' the $20 plan, we could even consider to "consolidate" with other existing NING sites like Dave's, Sheila's, Coco's, etc.  Any thoughts on what would be best to do?

[Mary A.]

I was disappointed about that, too, Aqua, but at least The Torch is still alive and well!

[XLFD]

I took a tour of the Ning creator's site, and apparently this feature was lost in the Ning Plus choice, a fact I hadn't noticed, as well as many others who lost a bunch of songs.

My apologies, but there may be a way to bring music back to the Torch through a backdoor route. It is being investigated.