# Email from the SDMB, circa March 2004 **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 27, 2007, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862 "2007-11-27T01:32:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/1 "2007-11-27T01:32:56Z")
> [@SDMB](#): > > The Straight Dope Webmaster \ wrote: Excuse the spam, but we’ve got some good news for you: The Straight Dope Message Board has switched to paid subscriptions. Why is that good news? > Because it means we’re serious about maintaining the SDMB, one of the best > boards on the Net. Now for some even better news: For a limited time you > can subscribe for the first year for an unbelievably low _ **US $4.95.** _ In > addition, you get a 50% discount on subscriptions for later years. If you > DON’T act now, a subscription will cost you a still pretty reasonable US > $14.95. If you haven’t stopped by the SDMB in a while, why not do so now? > Full details are available at: > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=245825](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=245825) I remember at the time I got this mail, I followed that link, but it wouldn’t load. Things haven’t changed much in three and a half years, have they? ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/2 "2007-11-27T02:02:40Z")
Well, there’s more fucking whining than when it was free. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/3 "2007-11-27T02:17:01Z")
Wouldn’t you expect people to whine more when they’re paying for it? ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/4 "2007-11-27T03:24:32Z")
[QUOTE=Mosier] Wouldn’t you expect people to whine more when they’re paying for it? [/QUOTE] No, I would expect them to stop paying for it when it becomes obvious that the complaints fall on deaf ears, or at least on ears that can’t do anything about it. Haven’t we done this topic to death? ---
**Author:** ![initech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/439d5e/32.png) [@initech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/initech)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/5 "2007-11-27T04:02:28Z")
This board’s performance is much better than it was back then. I think people forget just how bad the SDMB was before it went pay. It seems a lot less interesting, though. Maybe the performance increase should be credited to the lack of people… ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/6 "2007-11-27T04:30:11Z")
[QUOTE=initech] This board’s performance is much better than it was back then. I think people forget just how bad the SDMB was before it went pay. [/QUOTE] Seconded. I remember the only way I used to be able to read the dope was to try and open every thread I wanted to read at once in seperate windows (this was before I had a tabbed browser) and then go get a snack, because the load times were so huge that opening them one by one would take forever. Granted the glitches now are sort of annoying, but it’s still an order of magnitude better then it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/7 "2007-11-27T06:51:20Z")
Another bitch about the boards. Is it Monday already? ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/8 "2007-11-27T14:16:36Z")
[QUOTE=Turek] Well, there’s more fucking whining than when it was free. [/QUOTE] Nah- The sheer volume of people evened it out. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/9 "2007-11-27T15:30:19Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] No, I would expect them to stop paying for it when it becomes obvious that the complaints fall on deaf ears, or at least on ears that can’t do anything about it. Haven’t we done this topic to death? [/QUOTE] Perhaps, but wouldn’t you rather that they whine about it and keep subscribing? I mean, that would be a lot of people leaving. How many threads get started in a week? I see maybe one thread a week on this, on average, and I usually don’t open it. I would rather have a thread bitching about board performance labeled as such, though, **Mosier**. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/10 "2007-11-27T15:37:05Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] Perhaps, but wouldn’t you rather that they whine about it and keep subscribing? I mean, that would be a lot of people leaving. How many threads get started in a week? I see maybe one thread a week on this, on average, and I usually don’t open it. I would rather have a thread bitching about board performance labeled as such, though, **Mosier**. [/QUOTE] Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/11 "2007-11-27T18:03:39Z")
[QUOTE=Malodorous] Granted the glitches now are sort of annoying, but it’s still an order of magnitude better then it used to be. [/QUOTE] Thirded. The SDMB used to be like loading a Youtube video on dialup. These days, it works for me better than Flickr. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/12 "2007-11-27T18:56:34Z")
Had I opened that email, I’d have been a “Charter Member”. I can’t remember just when it was, but after a bit of a break, I came back and the board software was some cheesy text on white background and I wasn’t going to pay for that. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/13 "2007-11-27T20:09:23Z")
Yeah, it works better, but the board is far less diverse and interesting. It’s pretty much just like any other somewhat incestuous, self-involved web community now. Pretty bland and boring, with not much left to contribute to the wider world, and very little new blood. It’s a shame. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/14 "2007-11-28T05:40:56Z")
There can be no doubt as to how fucking awesome the world used to be. I bet we all used to think “this shit is awesome”.I could point out the lameness of the fuckers covering me at the moment, but what’s the point? ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/15 "2007-11-28T07:36:46Z")
[QUOTE=CarnalK] There can be no doubt as to how fucking awesome the world used to be. I bet we all used to think “this shit is awesome”.I could point out the lameness of the fuckers covering me at the moment, but what’s the point? [/QUOTE] I’m sure that if I understood what you were trying to say here, I’d be impressed by the subtlety and eloquence of it. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/16 "2007-11-28T07:40:59Z")
[QUOTE=Mosier] I’m sure that if I understood what you were trying to say here, I’d be impressed by the subtlety and eloquence of it. [/QUOTE] Don’t worry. I’m sure there’s other things you can understand and enjoy, at some level. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-from-the-sdmb-circa-march-2004/427862/17 "2007-11-29T06:50:37Z")
I’m bumping this thread to say that I am witholding judgment on the new banner ads until I can see whether they seem to be having a positive effect on board stability. I know nobody gives a fuck about what I think about the banner ads. I just wanted to point out that I’m a reasonable guy, and I’m actually pretty optimistic.