Downloading PDF - I Feel As If Having A Paid Pro Membership Is Not As Important To IPVM As Customers Who Have A Group Membership

Sean, thanks for the feedback. I moved to its own discussion as its more appropriate than as part of the mobile surveillance trailers guide.

First, as a point of fact, as a personal member, you can still save the HTML page as a PDF or copy and paste any and all IPVM reports into your own word document. The only thing you don't get is a formatted PDF generated by IPVM. That and creating logins for co-workers is the only differences vs group members.

Think about how much money we lose by not structuring IPVM to favor larger businesses. We could charge extra fees for tests, for financial reports, for statistics, for the calculator, etc. We could do consulting, we could private research, etc. for large companies that would make us far more money. We know we can do this but we don't because our mission is to research information and share it with the broader public and the many small businesses that are out there.

By contrast, the opposite is exactly what IHS does where starting costs are $10,000+ a year for a fraction of the information, research, and tools we provide. Indeed, think about the IHS approach. Because they effectively block out their information from small businesses, they can justify even a higher premium because only a handful of very large businesses will get access to their reports.

I feel as if having a paid pro membership is not as important to IPVM as customers who have a group membership

This hurts me because we could do lots of things that would benefit large corporations and make us way, way more money. But we don't.

And just because you can't download a formatted PDF, you think IPVM is 'unfair'.

I guess it's a matter of viewpoint but here's my take:  IPVM could TOTALLY charge additional fees for many of the things they currently include in the individual memberships (calculator, testing reports, survey results etc. These all have stand alone monetary value).  Personally, I feel fortunate and somewhat amazed that I pay so little and get so much.  I keep waiting for an email from IPVM telling me that they are raising their membership rates or monetizing the calculator for an additional fee but that email never comes.  If it DID - I'd probably pay it and just consider that my "free ride" was over.  I think it's kind of human nature (not one of our more adorable traits) to be given an inch and then take a mile or at least expect the mile.  This is what I read from Sean and Geoffreys posts.  Point of fact:  I pay over $1000.00 a year to belong to a trade association in my industry (in fact, I pay this much for 3 different ones because "anyone who's anyone in construction/security must belong") and I don't get nearly the value from from any of those.  I get some networking and educational opportunities, many of which I have to pay extra for anyway.  And, many of you pay well over $1000.00 a year for some kind of Dodge Reports style database and all you get from that is a bunch of projects that MIGHT turn into a job if you put the additional time/effort into using it as a lead source.  But thats ALL you get and you don't blink an eye.  So to me, quibbling over a lousy couple hundred bucks for the MANY things IPVM gives us is just silly.  

Gartner Group is quite restrictive:

Most services have tiers of fees and services. I do not see the option. But it may be nice to offer the same features to those that are on a single membership.

I am not sure how or why the pdf function works. If I am not to share the article or post, why even have pdf option? Is anyone really printing these and storing them? I will admit I have a bookmarks folder for IPVM articles.

For me I just keep posting away and hoping I get enough smile and thumbs up to keep ahead of the bill collector!

I see both sides of this issue. Limiting the ability to PDF reports seems like a weird decision to me since it is just a call to an already-built software function, and there is an easy workaround by doing a print to PDF. Granted, the work around isn't formatted as nice, but all the info is there and it is more than functional enough for the purpose. People who want to share reports and violate IPVM terms of use likely can and will do this.

On the flipside, I see Johns point about the value-based pricing, and that restricting use of the PDF functionality is not really a make-or-break for getting your monies worth from an IPVM subscription.

I would probably just hide the PDF export option from any membership level that didn't have access to it. For most cases of people that feel slighted, they probably wouldn't even think of it if they didn't know it existed.

Semi-related, I have been reviewing some restricted materials via an online data repository lately. Their website has a nice layout where there is a background watermark-like image that puts "CONFIDENTIAL - undisclosed3@noemail.com - DATE/TIME" across the page background. Thus, any screenshots, PDFs, etc. make it very clear and traceable who was responsible for sharing the data.

Ok John, you got me.

I MUST have this amazing pdf feature with its richly formatted content and personalized copyright warning on every page!

Just the thought of relaxing after a hard day’s work with nothing but a single malt, a nice Cohiba, and a freshly collated sheaf of IPVM’s latest test results, puts my mind at ease.

Name your price...

or, get the free Print Friendly & PDF chrome plug-in:

Actual IPVM Gen PDF ————— Print Friendly PDF

Completely agree with you. This is such a great site however it comes with such a silly rule!

Well hello there, I just joined 10 minutes ago and was thinking the exact same thing but saw the thread before sending an email as if I was the first to notice! I've been waiting for 2019 to join so I could have the newest included content. Seeing this post made me instantly glad that I'm finally a member because it shows how open and honest the community is compared to a regular online forum with abusive moderation.

Both sides of the issue are relevant, while the workaround is adequate and sufficient it also defeats the value it has for group users when we can just do it anyway so why bother? It even looks like it makes more sense on the chart too (diagonal flow) and I highly doubt it will affect subscription rates at the end of the day. IP tracking and the threat of account termination plus the respect for this place as a resource for 10k professionals should be sufficient. I mean you're already getting the IP of the top 3 people someone would refer, which was very kind and to introduce the value to others already. I also appreciated the terms of service which was very fair, sensible and spoken in plain English.

However I'm more interested in receiving the industry guide! Maybe I didn't see the reason but why exactly can it not be sold separately but still be included free for groups?

There will always be incentive to upgrade to group because of the bulk rate but technically we pay more than groups if you group us individually but at the single rate. I do appreciate that you guys give us everything else the same but many other companies that license price only by user count and give everyone the same great experience. If anything this should be seen as an opportunity to monetize things a little better as your users want more more more!

I also second the idea of permanently tagging account details as headers and/or footers on shared content to control it better. I remember I wanted to share an eBook I had but because my information was on every single page I chose not to.

Argument Summary

IPVM: It’s such a minor feature...

PRO Members: Exactly.

Hi John, Whilst i get great value from IPVM and enjoy many of the articles and subsequent comments, it might just benefit your marketing if you have the right top and tail without watermarking showing it as an IPVM article/report that is the shown to others. I like the fact that you state clearly that the articles/reports are not be used as a sales device, however, your in depth comments ensure that we are aware of current views and trends within our industry. You are to be commended for the great work you and your team does, thank you. I would like to be able to print a pdf version as part of my subscription with your full details clearly shown as the source of the information. Enjoy your day.