# Going to subscriptions? Oh NO! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 18, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069 "2004-03-18T19:30:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![grisham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@grisham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grisham)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/41 "2004-03-19T02:46:27Z")
Well sorry to say folks but this will probably be the last you hear from me. As much trouble as I have even bringing the pages up to read or post and just the general slowness even if I get them to come up make me think that it is not worth the five. I thought this was just a forum to spread intelligence not make money. If the board doesnt just die due to subscriptions, I doubt it will be anywhere near what it once was. I am now seeking other messageboards. It was fun though. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/42 "2004-03-19T03:35:21Z")
> [@grisham](#): > > I thought this was just a forum to spread intelligence not make money. Yeah, I heard Cecil’s putting the downpayment on his new Ferrari Modena with the proceeds from the new subscription based board. (Sorry, don’t really mean to offend. I’m just feeling sarcastic and grumpy today. But c’mon, the upkeep of these things cost money. Nobody’s gonna make any money off it.) ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/43 "2004-03-19T03:50:25Z")
I kinda get the feeling that what will happen is not that they’ll be making money but that they’ll be losing less money then before. The vast majority of those nearly 45,000 members are long gone and probably posted less then a dozen times before then. ---
**Author:** ![Lando\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f17d59/32.png) [@Lando\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lando_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/44 "2004-03-19T05:04:56Z")
> [@DeVena](#): > > But “Charter Member”? Could be a cooler name, like “Those To Be Eaten First” or something. 😃 How about “When The Revolution™ Came, We Were Spared” ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/45 "2004-03-19T05:09:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yes, and pretty much everything (with the exception of a few free professional message boards) I’ve seen out there is crap. I’ll gladly pay the five bucks so I don’t have to wade through streams of thoughtless drivel to find real content. You’re creating that real content, and so is everyone here. The Dope doesn’t offer anything to all of us that we couldn’t get elsewhere for free. It’s developed into a nice community, but put fences around it and charge for admission, and it can’t stay the same. Perhaps it will develop into a utopia, but odds are it’ll degenerate quickly. One of the nicest things about this board has always been that, when a question comes up, an expert would be by. Sometimes they were already a member, but often they just saw the discussion, and joined in to help out. Sometimes they stayed afterwards, contributing their knowledge. I even recall one discussion where we were talking about a product, and the owner of the company stopped in to answer our questions. Once we start charging, those days are over. There’s nothing here but the community. The boards are a nice format, but it’s just a format, and the same format is available for free elsewhere. The staff of the Reader have chosen the only business model that can disperse the community. All that’ll be left then is the empty boards and a few old codgers reminiscing about the good old days. I’d much rather go help build another community elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/46 "2004-03-19T05:32:11Z")
Wow. That’s the biggest response I’ve gotten outside of a Trek thread. Hell, it’s worth 5 bucks to be picked on for another year. Somebody has to stand up to those Ravens thugs. I don’t have a credit card, and haven’t used Paypal. I’ll send a check to anyone who will set me up. Send me an email if you would like to help. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/47 "2004-03-19T05:50:26Z")
> [@MrVisible](#): > > I’d much rather go help build another community elsewhere. You do that. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/48 "2004-03-19T06:06:07Z")
> [@MrVisible](#): > > I’d much rather go help build another community elsewhere. Buh-bye. Don’t let the door hit ya where God split ya. This “old codger” will still be here if you change your mind. ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/49 "2004-03-19T08:35:03Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > You do that. > [@Airman Doors](#): > > Buh-bye. Don’t let the door hit ya where God split ya. This “old codger” will still be here if you change your mind. Well, I just hope that you guys are nicer to the paying customers. Wouldn’t want someone paying good money to be here to feel unwelcome, now, would we? ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/50 "2004-03-19T08:52:36Z")
> [@MrVisible](#): > > I’d much rather go help build another community elsewhere. Let us know, in five years’ time, what you have. As for the responses you got from **Airman** and **QED** , consider how very touching this sentiment is: > [@](#): > > All that’ll be left then is the empty boards and a few old codgers reminiscing about the good old days. If that’s your honest impression of what’s going to be left, then I don’t think I want someone here who’s going to be so pessimistic about the future of this place, and what its members do in their time here. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/51 "2004-03-19T09:10:10Z")
All right, folks . . . that’s enough. Every member is entitled to make their own decision to stay or go. There’s no need to be rude. **Cajun Man** for the SDMB ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/52 "2004-03-19T14:51:18Z")
I can’t believe that some people feel they should earn special privileges as a paying member. If I drop fifty bucks to go to a Red Sox game, I expect the following: 1. A seat 2. The right to yell and complain as much as I want 3. To be thrown out if I act like an ass Why I should expect more from the SDMB for $5 a year I can’t imagine. **Mr. Visible** has been arguing that we would be paying for something we created. This seems to ignore that we created it on the backs of someone else’s resources. This is not a coffee klatsch. It requires hardware and personnel to manage and run it . ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/53 "2004-03-19T15:38:35Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Oh yeah - anyone who wants to send me a check and have me Paypal their subscription, when you email me, make sure ‘SDMB’ is part of the subject line, to keep it distinguishable from the spam. All _ **right** _…FREE RIDE! RT, you can pay for me! 😃 Seriously, as a circulation guy the only real objection I see here is the lack of snail mail system for payment. That’s what jumped out at me at first (other than ‘give someone your password and they’ll pay for you!’)(Ugh) when I read Ed’s announcement. That, my friends, is what we in the publishing field call an ‘easy fix’. If the accounting fiends at the Reader can’t handle a certain amount of checks and coordinate with the tech guys to flag someone as ‘paid’ then new accounting fiends are called for. Really, that SHOULD be implemented…and I’d be astonished if it wasn’t. And remember, folks…nothing is static. If the first year ends and things aren’t going well there’s always the option of changing the model and seeing what happens. Flexibility…it’s what’s for dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/54 "2004-03-19T16:43:57Z")
> [@fruitbat](#): > > **Mr. Visible** has been arguing that we would be paying for something we created. This seems to ignore that we created it on the backs of someone else’s resources. This is not a coffee klatsch. It requires hardware and personnel to manage and run it . Agreed. This is a familiar situation to us sports fans. It’s roughly analogous to labor disputes. The players play the game, but the owners retain the rights to everything else, and now the players don’t like what’s happening, not realizing that the only way that they can even play the game is because of the investment of time and money of the owners. Just like sports, it’s a case of sour grapes. ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/55 "2004-03-19T17:48:13Z")
> [@fruitbat](#): > > **Mr. Visible** has been arguing that we would be paying for something we created. This seems to ignore that we created it on the backs of someone else’s resources. This is not a coffee klatsch. It requires hardware and personnel to manage and run it . I’m fully aware of the costs involved in running a commercial web site. Enough so that I can tell you that trying to sell what others give away for free is going to be insanely difficult. This site has one thing going for it. The community. We’ve been begging to be allowed to help defray expenses for years now, and we’ve been turned down. Instead, the Reader has chosen to have us pay to contribute the only content that makes the site worth paying for. By the time they figure out that may not have been the best approach, the community will have shrunk to the point where the other options will not work either. I really appreciate what the Reader has done for us in the past; this board has been a wonderful experience, and it’s sad to leave. But there are other boards out there, and I think I can make a useful contribution to them. Without being hit up for money to do so. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/56 "2004-03-19T22:51:46Z")
**Mr. Visible** that brings up another issue. I haven’t found another board even remotely like the SDMB. Most message boards I have found have at least one of the following problems: They are populated by idiots Special interest boards like the Morningstar forums I participate in Don’t have enough members to generate critical mass Agressively unfriendly to new posters Half spam and mindless email glurge I don’t know of good alternatives, and I can’t assume they will be created out of thin air. This is entertainment for me, as I assume it is for you. As a capitalist I would rather keep my money. That is not an option any longer. I wouldn’t regret five bucks if I was banned next week. Staying seems like the reasonable alternative. And **Steelerphan** , I sure as hell know who you are and hope you stay. ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/57 "2004-03-19T22:58:08Z")
> [@fruitbat](#): > > I don’t know of good alternatives, and I can’t assume they will be created out of thin air. This is entertainment for me, as I assume it is for you. As a capitalist I would rather keep my money. That is not an option any longer. I wouldn’t regret five bucks if I was banned next week. Staying seems like the reasonable alternative. The Straight Dope boards are the result of an entire community pitching in and building a place that we like. It didn’t happen out of thin air, it happened because people worked to make it happen. I’d rather go elsewhere and hope to help another community grow in the right ways than stay here and watch this one die. You can already see the insularity beginning. Take a look through all these threads and count the “Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out” type of responses. Adding the cover charge changes the nature of these boards fundamentally. And I don’t like the change. So I’m going elsewhere, and hoping to help craft another utopia on the net. Those who stay, I wish you luck. Just make sure to be really, really nice to anyone on their 30-day trial period, or they’ll never pony up the dough to stick around. ---
**Author:** ![sperfur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@sperfur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sperfur)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/58 "2004-03-20T16:26:19Z")
**MrVisible** , I just want to say that I don’t want you to leave. I enjoy your posts. I agree that I’d have preferred that they try donations first. But I’m staying. **withaK** is staying. I know these boards are just a community - but its _our_ community. Please don’t go. ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/59 "2004-03-20T17:47:30Z")
> [@sperfur](#): > > **MrVisible** , I just want to say that I don’t want you to leave. I enjoy your posts. Thank you. Seriously. > [@](#): > > I agree that I’d have preferred that they try donations first. But I’m staying. **withaK** is staying. I know these boards are just a community - but its _our_ community. Yeah, it is. That’s why I’m leaving. The staff of the Reader had any number of chances to realize that, and trust the community to voluntarily support the site. Instead they chose to restrict access in the only way that could kill off this place. I don’t want to hang around and watch the boards die off. There are other communities out there, and if they’ll have me, I’ll join up and try and help them grow into something as good as this one was. But the day they put up walls and gates and barbed wire around my beloved city is the day I move elsewhere. > [@](#): > > Please don’t go. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069/60 "2004-03-20T21:53:36Z")
I can’t find the thread where people are offering to pay for other folk’s $5 subscriptions, but I am stepping up to offer to pay for someone. My e-mail address is in my profile. I’m happy to do it, just send up a signal, I’ll throw you a line. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-to-subscriptions-oh-no/235069.md?page=4)