# "Guest" **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 14, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127 "2019-03-14T15:10:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StraightTalk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straighttalk/32/9982_2.png) [@StraightTalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StraightTalk)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/1 "2019-03-14T15:10:03Z")
What do I have to do or how many posts do I have to have before I am no longer labeled as a “guest”? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/2 "2019-03-14T15:12:22Z")
Buy a membership. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/3 "2019-03-14T15:12:34Z")
You need to buy a membership. Look under User CP for how to do so. Post Count doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/4 "2019-03-14T15:12:49Z")
Buy a membership. ---
**Author:** ![StraightTalk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straighttalk/32/9982_2.png) [@StraightTalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StraightTalk)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/5 "2019-03-14T15:26:48Z")
Thank you! So, the benefits of membership are: no longer labeled as “guest” and no banner ads? Anything else? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/6 "2019-03-14T15:30:13Z")
> [@StraightTalk](#): > > Thank you! So, the benefits of membership are: no longer labeled as “guest” and no banner ads? Anything else? For the initiation ceremony, the squid they use is smaller. Believe me, smaller is better. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/7 "2019-03-14T15:30:43Z")
> [@StraightTalk](#): > > Thank you! So, the benefits of membership are: no longer labeled as “guest” and no banner ads? Anything else? You will no longer be dismissed out of hand. You will be…one of _us_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/8 "2019-03-14T15:34:33Z")
> [@StraightTalk](#): > > Thank you! So, the benefits of membership are: no longer labeled as “guest” and no banner ads? Anything else? Paying members also get privileges for posting in the Marketplace forum. And of course you get the warm fuzzies of helping us keep the lights on here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/9 "2019-03-14T15:36:24Z")
You’ve inspired me/prodded my guilt. I’ve only been on here since 2005, time I paid up. EDIT: Done ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/10 "2019-03-14T15:37:27Z")
Oh what? Just ‘Member’? What do I have to do to be a Charter member? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/11 "2019-03-14T15:39:06Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Oh what? Just ‘Member’? What do I have to do to be a Charter member? Invent time travel. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/12 "2019-03-14T15:45:32Z")
Gutted. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/13 "2019-03-14T15:52:11Z")
If you became a Member right when we first started offering paid subscriptions, and kept it paid up continually in all the time since then, then you’re a Charter Member. Aside from the title, and I think a lower cost, the privileges of a Member and Charter Member are identical. For the real prestige, there are the 99ers, who have a join date some time in 1999 (the first year of the board’s existence). Which isn’t even an official status at all, beyond what significance users have chosen to attach to it. ---
**Author:** ![StraightTalk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straighttalk/32/9982_2.png) [@StraightTalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StraightTalk)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/14 "2019-03-14T15:52:12Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > For the initiation ceremony, the squid they use is smaller. Believe me, smaller is better. Squid?!? I heard it was a large trout. Unfortunate. I think the tentacles would tickle. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/15 "2019-03-14T16:11:29Z")
> [@StraightTalk](#): > > Squid?!? I heard it was a large trout. Unfortunate. I think the tentacles would tickle. Trout are only used in Cafe Society. For Schubert fans. 😉 One of the advantages of having a family with classically trained performance musicians in it ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/16 "2019-03-14T16:18:08Z")
> [@StraightTalk](#): > > Thank you! So, the benefits of membership are: no longer labeled as “guest” and no banner ads? Anything else? Don’t discount the advantages of no ads. My membership lapsed once, and OMG, the horror. I don’t know how you guys do it. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/17 "2019-03-14T17:19:08Z")
I’ve been a charter member since we went pay to post, but isn’t another benefit that members get to use the search function? I know Google searching has somewhat replaced the search function on the message board, but I still often use the search function. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/18 "2019-03-14T17:20:33Z")
OMG, the no-ads makes so much difference. As far as I can tell there is nothing else remarkable about being a member. I’m stll dismissed as the wacky over-poster with one too many stories about the lil’wrekker. I’ve heard tell of goats and such. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/19 "2019-03-14T17:30:53Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > OMG, the no-ads makes so much difference. As far as I can tell there is nothing else remarkable about being a member. I’m stll dismissed as the wacky over-poster with one too many stories about the lil’wrekker. > **I’ve heard tell of goats and such**. There’s a backlog due to the last surviving goat being old and tired. Count yourself lucky. For now. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127/20 "2019-03-14T17:41:02Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > OMG, the no-ads makes so much difference. As far as I can tell there is nothing else remarkable about being a member. I’m stll dismissed as the wacky over-poster with one too many stories about the lil’wrekker. > I’ve heard tell of goats and such. That smaller squid thing was the deal maker for me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest/831127.md?page=2)