Bait and Switch at the SDMB

The BBQ Pit
1

HA! I’m on to you! We all line up and pay our $4.95 and the bank of servers hums mightily along. Threads pop open without a moments hesitation. Error pages are a thing of the past. But then, slowly, over a matter of weeks, the bank of Pentium4 2k MHz machines with 2 gigs of RAM, 10 drive RAID, and a battery back up the size of a 63 Chrysler Newport is whittled away. Piece by piece. So we won’t notice. Until the ultimate goal of running the SDMB off a Macintosh IIci between the graffiti remover and the DRYSORB[sup]TM[/sup] in the Janitorial supply closet is reached.

What’s up with the dog ass speed of the SDMB lately? I’m not usually one to whine, but it’s looking like the pre-subscription speeds. Can someone please reboot the server or something? It’s starting to effect the ten vanity searches I have running simultaniously.

2

Obviously they’re reserving processing power for people who paid $14.95 for their service. Cheapskate.

You should upgrade to the Premium Support Plan. There was an email about it a while back; you probably missed it because your mail box was full.

3

Nope, paid the 14.95 here, still waiting 1 - 2 minutes for most pages to load.

4

Ha! The conspiracy continues! The servers are no loner recognizing my ones!

5

Hey, somebody else has a Mac II ci?

6

I was working under the impression the goal was to run off aMattel Aquariusserver.

7

I’m still a bit perplexed by how many people seem to think the subscription fee was going to go to improving the speed of the boards. It’s been stated repeatedly by the powers that be that the money is NOT earmarked for better servers, or more bandwidth, or anything of that sort. No upgrades have taken place, nor is there any reason to believe they will take place in the near future, as far as we’ve been told.

8

Are they going to have a kegger? With hookers?

9

C’mon, this is the Straight Dope. Whaddya think they’ll spend the money on?

10

Don’t mock the Aquarius! I have the Tron cartridge for mine.

:stuck_out_tongue:

11

Ed said, on day one when he announced paid subscriptions, that there might be some speed-up in board performance due to a lower number of users. As the number of users grows, however, board performance would be expected to slow down.

12

So, the obvious answer is to hold a Tribal Council every few days and vote 50 people off the island. I know who I’d pick. :smiley:

13

Best marketing strategy I’ve heard in years…

14

[Eddie Murphy voice]

May I recommend using a nightstick, officer?

[/Eddie Murphy voice]

15

If there’s no increase in performance, and people are becoming unsatisfied with the results of the money they paid, what will make them pay again, especially at a much higher price?

16

I would gladly pay a higher subscription fee if that will make the board faster.

17

$3 more? :dubious:

I, for one, didn’t pay for faster board service. I paid… so I could respond to crap like this, instead of just reading it. Joy, joy.

18

Ah, but as Smeghead says, there’s no promise of faster servers, etc. involved; the only thing you are entitled to by subscribing is the privilege to post. And even that can be taken away if you Act Like A Jerk.

19

$3? Where’d you get that amount from?

I paid $5 for this year. Next year, the absolute least cost would be $15, which is not ‘$3 more’ it’s 3 times more.

I said I’d give it a year, and I figure that at the end of this one, considering that I’ve seen no improvement whatsoever in the operation, I’ll not renew.

Pretty slick of the Reader though. ‘Hand us your money and we’ll give you virtually nothing in return.’

20

Dear Ed:

Thank you.

Sincerely,
m.g.