When was the pay-to-post era on the SDMB?

Just curious when it started and how long it lasted.

There were also temporary guest memberships, IIRC. Was there a huge drop-off in posts and activity in general?

It was in effect when I joined in June, 2006. I paid for a year, but it went away either shortly before or shortly after that year subscription expired.

Looks like it started in March of 2004.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=269127&highlight=credit+card

It reverted in September of 2008.

Thanks. Much longer than I thought.

I joined in November 2006 but don’t recall having to pay to post. IIRC, I went ahead and signed up as a paid member at a later date after having posted as a Guest in the meantime.

We don’t pay any more? I just sent $7.98 to the Chicago Reader. Hmm…

I think the OP means when did they start allowing people to post without paying again? Because if you’ll recall, when it first went pay, there was no “guest” option – only a thirty-day trial option. And even when they did start the guest accounts, you still had to pay to use the search engine for awhile.