Ok, so another new upgrade, and another attempt to force more people to sign up for premium membership. All attempts so far have not really worked as there are still only a small handful of people signed up, however this latest attempt may have actually worked.
Before i give my reasons for this line of thinking, i should mention that i believe making the whole site premium would be better, but thats a different topic.
Previous benefits that premium members enjoyed were not really worth the fee, by this i mean changing chat colour and being able to withdraw at $25. This latest upgrade is different. Players who are not premium members are now at a distinct disadvantage to premium members.

Lets look at the cash games, non premium members now have to pay a rake on the $5/$10 tables and over, and are only aloud to sit with 50% of the balance. How you can have players playing in cash games where some are paying a rake and others not is completely beyond me, and as for the limit on 50% of balance, well i heard it explained as 'bankroll management', i nearly dropped my laptop when i heard this!! Why not just admit its part of your attempt at making more people pay for premium. Also surely its up to the individual to decide how much they sit with.
Another feature is the statistics. This again is only available for premium members, and again leaves non premium players at a disadvantage. Of course the information can be collected by yourself, but takes a while to do.

I still think this latest effort at making more sign up will again fail. If you look at the cash tables now most players are playing on the lower stakes tables, thus avoiding the rake. The bigger tables that have been introduced like the $100/£200 and £200/$400 tables have been dead. As for players sitting with only half their bankroll, yes they will moan for a few days, but they will learn to accept it, rather than pay the membership fee.

So why are players not willing to pay the membership fee? Simple it is to expensive when you consider how much they win. Lets take the annual subscription, $71 i believe, thats 7100 freeds. Now lets look at the money winners list. I think my point is made. There are only `118 players who have won 35000 freeds and over. Players under this amount you are asking them to pay more than 20% of their entire earnings, and some have taken years to accumulate this amount. Lets say someone who has 35000 freeds has been a member 2 years, premium membership is now 40% of there winnings, nearly half!! If you look at position 323 on the list 14000 freeds thats now 50% of winnings if you sign up for the year, and looking at the names around this area of the list, some have been playing over 18months, maybe 2 years, now your talking about premium membership costing you all your winnings!!

The site needs to be a subsciption site, where everyone pays, the payouts increase, and everyone is playing on an even playing field.

Just a foot note here, but maybe you should let everyone have a 2 week 'free' trial of the premium membership, if its as good as you say, people may be inclined to sign up after it runs out. Also do the moderators get free premium membership? if so maybe you should think about putting a limit on the length of time they are able to remain mods, in order for others to be able to get a chance.

We have had a few people grumble about only being allowed to bet half their bankroll. A lot of those grumbling are the same ones that grumble that they were at a cash game and lost their entire bankroll and now are flat broke. So, in a sense, nopay is doing these players a big favor. If you lose half your bankroll then hopefully you'll have enough sense to think it's just not my day and keep the other half and go play a freeroll or just log off for the day.
I have yet to see any player complaining about the rake and the big cash games you mention have had lots of players in the evenings (California time).
No one is forcing the members to become Premium members, the choice is still the players. Some do become premium, some don't. Matters little to the players that I see on a day to day basis. Many of the nopay regulars are there simply to have fun and could care less about the money. They also seem to enjoy the chat with their friends in the lobby. Heck, some of these people spend all their time in the lobby and don't even play on some days they enjoy chatting so much.
As for the Mods, the job is a volunteer position. There are a few spots open that nopay seems to be having some trouble filling so that should tell you the players are not that anxious to become a Mod. If you are interested in becoming one, here is the link [nppmods.50.forumer.com]
Enjoy your time at nopay. The site is a great place to not only play poker but have fun doing it without risking a single cent of your own money

bonebag...
lets first address the 50% bankroll issue. I was on npp the night of the upgrade, and the mod called 'admin' who i assume is just that, admin, came into the chat room to answer questions. He or She did actually state that this new feature is an attempt to get more people to sign up for premium membership. I believe he said 'npp is a business'. I have no problems with this, but please bonebag do not insult my intelligence by telling me i need to be told how much of my bankroll i can lose in a day.
As for no one moaning about the rake....hello.......where have you been!! You dont play the cash tables do you bonebag, so you wouldn't know anyway. People no not to moan in the lobby because a mod will just chat ban them.
The higher stake cash games, i accept your point, i will check them out at cali evening time, see if you are correct.
I also realise npp is unique regarding the lobby and the chat. I would argue that most players are trying to win a few dollars rather than chat in the lobby, if i wanna chat to my mates i use facebook or msn, or even go down the pub!!!
You still didnt answer my point regarding the free premium membership for mods. You yourself are a moderator so you can tell us, is it free if you are a mod? When you spam the lobby with your constant advertising for sign up here, or benefits for premium membership, maybe you should mention that mods get 'free premium membership'...who knows you might get those available slots filled.

You;re correct, I did not answer the question about whether or not mods are Premium members because they are mods. I didn't answer because I already was a premium member before I became a mod. I signed up fairly quickly as I like only having to reach the 2500 mark to make payout. Although I do enjoy the chat lobby I am there to make a few bucks too. If you truly desire an answer to the mod question, I suggest you contact SmokinHott the head mod.

I was not present when Admin was in the lobby so I did not realize that. I do realize that NoPay is a business, and like any other business they'd always like to make more money and promoting premium membership will make that possible. Although we still are reminding people that it is not mandatory, they can stay free if they like

No, I do not frequent the cash tables as often as some but that's because I am not that good of a poker player. I suppose if I were I'd be playing for dollars somewhere. In the meantime, while I continue to learn the game, I generally stick to the freerolls and the occasional bounty games that are cheap to enter.

YES. All mods get free unlimited premium membership. ALSO how a site can charge a rake on free dollars beats the heck out of me. It seems like they are money hungry thieves who care little of thier so called business.

Basically, I think it reduces the amount of RealD they have to pay out. They may care a lot about their "business", but it may be other things they don't care so much about.

your right axman.
the rake is simply introduced to reduce the amount of freeds or 'realds' they have to payout.

Bonebag for fuck sake (sorry about language) get over your self.

you;re correct I did not answer the question about whether or not mods are Premium members because they are mod

What sort of an answer is this, your a moderator on a penny poker site, not part of the CIA or MI6. I know its free premium membership if your a mod, you completley missed my point. How many 'different' people do you speak to in the lobby every day?
Hardly any is the answer, its the same group of guys day in day out, all chatting complete bullshit to each other. NPP is desperate for new members, how are the going to get new members with moderators like you?
Now don't get me wrong, NPP has alot of good things going for it, and a few bad things that could be improved. Since any mention of a negative word in the lobby is meet by a 'chat ban' (it's literally like being in north korea) drcheckraise is a good forum to air opinions, but please bonebag if you are going to coment here, please bring your own opinion.

Also bonebag i have been on NPP at 6pm cali time for the last 3 days and there has not been a single person on the $100/£200 or $200/$400 tables.

When I think of "rake". I think paying money to the house for using the table, chips, or website, bandwith ect. What I dont understand is how a site where you dont actully pay any money other then subscriptions and bonus chips, the dollars are totally free, the site is gonna charge you these "free dollars" to play at the site. Its like saying "come over to my house for free cookies, but im gonna take a bite out of every one you eat"

That's right. They're keeping some of your FreeD for the privilege of playing their FreeD games. Unless you beat the rake, you will have less FreeD to convert to RealD. Sweet!