It appears to work if you cut and paste the entire url
https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/sdmb/subscribe.bat?subscriptionid=1&userid=XXXXX&amount=14.95¤cy_code=USD
and change the XXXs it does work. If you try to hyper-link it won’t work.
Wow, I just checked his post and he’s now listed as a member. Thank you so much Lok!! If there’s anything I can do for you, please let me know. He’s not at his computer right now (he’s working out of town) but I know he’ll come in to thank you himself when he can. Thank you Risha for being willing, and thank you everybody for helping! You are all wonderful!
Edit to add, he didn’t know that I posted in this thread asking for help. I only told him a few minutes ago on the phone. I did it because I knew his guest status was going to expire and I knew we couldn’t do the signup right now, and I didn’t want to see him go away. Thank you again!
Thank you very much, Lok!
By way of introduction, I am Equipoise’s husband of 25 years. Currently I work in computer support (Windows and Mac) and audio-video (home theater and sports bar installation) and spent years working in computer animation, audio engineering and video editing.
May we never find ourselves on the opposite sides of a debate and make you regret sponsoring me. Thanks again.
No worries, I stay out of Great Debates. Those people are vicious! 
And Rick’s method is what I used. It works with a little extra effort.
Whaddaya mean, Rick’s method? :mad:
Better press agent.
I’m still willing to sponsor an impoverished Doper wannabe. Email me and I’ll send you a check.
Subject: Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!
Date: 03/11/2008 12:10:07 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
To: TubaDiva@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)
Dearest TubaDiva,
I humbly request a Doper sponsorship, so I may continue to <s>astound the masses with my wit and wisdom</s> post my insignificant thoughts so that I may perchance amuse one or two of the regulars. I had a membership, but it has tragically lapsed, due to general under- (and un-)employedness, and lack of a credit card. I have been lurking about for upwards of ten years, and the old Straight Dope keyword is my only memory of AOL that does not involve a lot of swear words and my parents once again calling up Billing or Technical Support. In short, you lot have been warping my mind since I was a young teenager, and I would love to have my membership back so that I may once more search for all the posts that made me laugh so hard I snarfed soda out my nose. I pledge, in turn, to donate WAY more than $14.95 in winter clothing to Winter Woolies, which takes knit blankets, scarves and sweaters for children “living in orphanages in Russia, Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia and on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge tribal reservations in South Dakota.”
Sincerely,
Arabella Flynn, you’re in.
SDMB2008031108343805942001
Thank you for your pledge.
Oh, no, thank YOU! I can now return to my regularly scheduled Doping activities, such as showing people with nutty families pretty much anything Sampiro has ever written, and relaying the warning tale of what happened when Scylla bought an elephant-proof pool cover instead of a cow-proof one. The orphans shall receive their blankets soon!
Subj: Membership expired, looking to rejoin
Date: 03/16/2008 09:53:35 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
From: mouse_maven
To: tubadiva@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)
Dear TubaDiva,
My SDMB membership expired and I would like to rejoin. Is this possible?
I apologize if you are not responsible for this sort of thing. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Kim (aka Mouse_Maven)
Covered
SDMB2008031623261205654601
zoogirl could use some help, please see this posting:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9724497&postcount=32
Thanks.
Done. SDMB2008042321394001702901
Wheeee! I’m still in! THANKS!!!
Uh, sorry for shouting…QED, check your PM’s.
TubaDiva, it’s rather unseemly for you to be funneling more people through this thread when what is actually being purchased is completely unknown. Did QED just buy her 2 months of posting until the board goes free? One month? If Ed decides to extend subscriptions to not let anyone lapse, did QED just give you money for absolutely nothing? Did he save her coveted “Charter Member” title now?
:rolleyes:
Was there a point to this post, or are you just experiencing a little RO here?
:rolleyes:
I doubt that TUBADiva is threatening posters with being banned if they don’t pony up for someone else. Nobody is forcing nobody to do nothing, so what business is it of anyone else? If you don’t want to pay for someone else, don’t, but you don’t have to criticize those willing to help others out.
What the hell are you guys talking about? My point is rather clear and has to do with what is actually going on with OUR subscriptions and that it is a little screwy for Tuba to be actively shilling them when Ed is planning on nullifying them within a couple of months. Sheesh, calm down, cheerleaders.
It’s rather unseemly for you to be misrepresenting the situation.
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The staff of this board has zero control over any element of the business, including when the mode of operation changes. We also have as much information as the rest of you and we have no idea about Charter Member status or much of anything else.
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Ed already said it would be June or July at the earliest before free posting starts. In the meantime it’s business as usual and that means if they want to post they have to be a subscribing member.
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There’s still people who for whatever reason can’t swing subscribing themselves and they need help. Zoogirl asked for help so she could continue posting. QED helped her out. Simple as that.
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After the free posting period starts what a subscription buys you is minimal ads. I don’t know what else might be in that package – and I cannot speculate – but that’s what Ed said.
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It’s everyone’s choice to make – to choose to be a subscriber, to choose to wait until the free window opens, to choose to pay for someone else. Or not.
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As of the moment I type this posting that is the situation that prevails. I have no control over any of it, including the scheduling.
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Finally, I note that I do not personally profit from any commercial action on this board; none of the SDMB staff are paid. I do receive a stipend for other work I do on the Straight Dope site but all the board work is gratis. Oh, we do get comped the subscription fee, so I guess that means staffers get paid a whopping $14.95 a year. Man, we’re living large!