I noticed this morning that I was back to seeing ads, and I lamented that I had missed the deadline on renewing. Oh well, I said, I’ll learn to live with the ads and without my “Charter Member” tag.
Then I got notice that my subscription was about to expire. I was allowed to pay the 7.48 rate, and presumably my CM status will remain intact (we’ll see after this post).
So they seem to have fixed the problem.
ETA: Yep, still a Charter Member.
I just got a very unhelpful e-mail telling me my subscription is “about to” expire. Haven’t decided whether to pay up.
$7.50 is not a whole lit of money to most people.
I don’t care about the Charter Member tag and the ads don’t bother me I paid because I like to help support things that I use or enjoy. I enjoy this message board a whole lot more than the 2 deli lunches at work I can skip to make up the cost.
Okay, screw that. I just logged out to see what the SDMB looked like without a subscription. Damn, I didn’t know there’d be ads in the middle of the thread. Guess I’ll drop $7.50.
I’ll join the chorus here. I’d been putting off renewing, waiting to see what would happen with the whole “free posting” switch and assuming I would get a reminder e-mail. I got the paid subscription “Straight Dope Board Membership” is about to expire e-mail this morning. On May 11, one’s Membership through May 10 is about to expire, apparently. And, fool that I am, I re-up while I see I can still get the $7.48 rate, and hope that my Charter Member status remains in place. Because Charter Members are the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.
Really, though, this is ridiculous… and that’s coming from someone slow to complain about this place.
Not like I’ll see them anyway.
Another promise with no delivery.
I just think it’s dishonest and sleazy to deliberately set the ‘free posting’ to begin 2 months after the vast majority of people are supposed to pay up for a year. It screams of a last minute money grab, which I have no doubt that it is. There’s no other plausible explanation for it.
Same thing here. WTF? There’s even a notice at the top that says we’re switching to free posting.
Wow. I reupped a couple days ago, so didn’t even think about the ads. After reading this, I logged out to see, too, and holy crow.
“No ads” though, should mean NO ads - we’re still going to have the Google ads at the bottom of each page?
Oh, my sides.
If you read Ed’s announcement and didn’t think “Free posting eh? Bet they won’t have their shit together to make it happen when they reckon” then you are inexperienced in the ways of the world.
But at least it is the traditional fix circumcision damage ad i have come to know and love …
I agree that this all seems like a last chance grab for money, but I wouldn’t not pay and have to look at that half page ad after every OP just because they’re doing whatever.
Thank you for noticing that for me. The form said I would be given “member” status. I assumed it was punishment for being late. My apologies. I’m no longer pissed. 
Ed should have added this to his announcement, a post he made a few weeks ago:
And then Ed said:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb...53&postcount=26
Dunno why notes that subscriptions were expiring were so late to go out – usually they go out a week or so before. For those of you who selected “No admin emails” in your choices, you probably won’t get one at all.
I just tried to post and was told my guest membership had expired. 
No warning for me, either, though I did still get billed half for CM and kept the tag.
I’m still confused. I paid $15 last July-ish. Why do I have Google ads at the bottom of my screen? I thought paid members had no ads, but if I wanted to post for free, then I would have ads.
Why are posters here getting cut off completely, and not just logging in to posts and seeing ads…just like me who paid? (scratches head)
Everybody gets Google ads at the bottom, from guests to administrators.
While we’ve got you here, any info on why we’re still seeing the google ads? Ed did say no ads, not ‘no ads but google ads’
Thanks
Again to quote from Ed:
Why am I still seeing Google ads . . .
“Subscribers don’t see display ads, the ones that explode over your screen and make sounds and so on - these were the cause of the uproar last fall. We’ve been showing Google text ads to subscribers for quite a while, have had few complaints (some people profess to like them), and figured there was no harm in continuing to show them. No doubt I should have been more precise about what ads you will and won’t see; my apologies. The plan at any rate was that, adwise, subscribers would continue on the same basis as before.”
The ads don’t bother me in the slightest. If I come across an ad for a movie trailer, I might even click on it. Some of the ads I’ve seen, between the OP and the first reply, have been on topic with the thread. It’s actually kind of interesting to see what comes up. Am I a freak?
But now I have to join if I want to keep posting, which I’ll probably do tomorrow. I’ve been waiting until the last moment. I’d feel like a sucker if I joined the day before the switch.