I would be interested in your logic, if you are willing to present it.
I’ve never had a problem receiving emails from the SDMB about thread subscriptions or PM notifications, so I think not all the notifications went out as planned due to some board glitch or something.
I’ve asked about it a few times in the past (when this topic comes up - people complaining about not getting the notice), and always got some vague, “Oh, some posters may not have been notified. We’ll check on it and fix it before next year” kind of reply.
For the record, some people have had problems receiving emails from “straightdope.com”
A lot of people find their notices go to their spam filters and unless they check that depositary they never find it. Those are the fortunate ones; that’s easily fixable.
Some people find these emails are filtered out for them at the ISP level – for some reason, there’s some domains that consider “webmaster@straightdope.com” to be some sort of spammer. The Straight Dope has zero control over that situation, it happens at the domain level. It’s those folks that block those emails and it’s up to the individual to talk with their ISP and get that address off the list. (In fact ISPs won’t talk to us so the only way that situation gets reversed is when the user works with their carrier to get that turned around. And sometimes it doesn’t stick, we’ve had people that had to do this two or three times.)
I’d be willing to bet there’s a lot of people who don’t have accurate email addresses here – even though it says in the rules “you will keep a valid email address.” I get requests every day from people who have old email addresses and then can’t sign in because they forgot their password, they want to change a setting and they can’t get that done, I have to go in manually and change that around for them.
It’s not a perfect system but I suspect those are your main causes of problems here. Oh, and if you check the box in your settings that says “Receive admin emails” to NO you won’t get anything from us then, either.
Like I said, it’s only the subscription reminders I’ve never gotten, and it’s really not that big a deal. I always get thread subscription and PM emails, and I’ve checked my spam box, so it’s not going there, either.
::shrug:::
It’s not that hard to remember when it is, and you can easily check when it’s due from the CP.
Actually, there may be one thing you can do to help get your email through some spam filters. Not you as in you, but you as Jerry.
There is a simple change you can make to your DNS record that may help reduce your spam score, especially with the larger free mail servers like Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo. The change costs nothing with all the registrars I’m aware of, except for the hour of time involved (which may be high cost, obviously).
The change isn’t technically required, but is recommended for all domains with mail servers. And although it isn’t your fault that some ISP’s spam filters incorrectly identify the straightdope domain as a source of spam, this may help to improve your rating with some ISPs. And although it’s likely Jerry is aware of this, I do know it’s not currently implemented in your DNS records. It’s quite possible he’s purposely not done it for reasons I’m unaware of.
I won’t go into the details here, but let me know and if you want I’ll shoot you the information via email. It’s a snap to do.
I’ve never gotten a reminder to re-subscribe either, but I’ve always assumed it’s because I typically re-up way early, like in March, which these days means I’m about eight weeks ahead of the cut-off.
So I just figured that when the process runs to create the emails, it skips me because I’m not due to expire anytime soon.
I didn’t even think of that. I’ve always done it in plenty of time, so that makes sense that it just skips me.
How much lead time do the reminders get?
You know I thought I’d seen TubaDiva say something about two weeks but now I can’t (quickly) find it. So I’m no help at all. :smack:
The basic premise of “Renew before your membership expires, or else you lose your Charter Member status and the half-price discount forever” hasn’t changed that I’m aware of. Whether you renew by PayPal, credit card, or someone else’s donation is immaterial.
I think people should be responsible for their own obligations and accept the consequences when they don’t, and that makes me egocentric? Yeah, I’d like to hear the explanation for that one too.
I thought that meant that your work was done in this thread. No such luck, I guess.
well hell…didn’t get the email, and now I’m stuck…
You and I disagree and that’s ok. But I’m really curious about your answer to the following question(s):
Did you ever see the movie Little Miss Sunshine? If so, did you think the people that were 5 minutes late to the registration of the show, should, or should not have been allowed to register?
Yeah, I know, I meant to stay out. Ah well . . .
Nope, didn’t see it. Were they adults who were told in advance, in writing, that if they were not present by X time, then they would not be allowed to register? And would not being allowed to register have almost no effect on their lives?
Hm, I just checked out the IMDb entry. So you do equate yourself to a 5-year-old then . . . I mean, really, do you think this is the same? Do you really have so much drama and emotion tied up in your charter membership on this message board? This is your one life’s goal??
Well then I have to feel for somebody whose life is so empty.
After you’ve met this year’s deadline, why not just make it a habit to re-up at New Year’s?
Sometimes I behave like a 5 year old, and some times I have an endless supply of self-control, maturity and wisdom.
No, I think they are at the opposite ends of the spectrum of this type of a situation. I was really just curious where you personally draw the line and I had just seen that scene recently and it popped into my head.
I don’t think I was ever a charter member, but I’m not sure, I really don’t pay too much attention to that. I know that when I signed up in 2002 I didn’t have to pay, then later I think there were optional payments, and then required payments, or maybe the reverse, I’m not really sure.
You’re post makes it sound like you are upset. It’s ok if we disagree, we each stated our opinion and that’s it, no big deal.
The entire position of those who whinge about the Charter Member status, and the fact that they weren’t catered to by someone holding their hands and telling them “now don’t forget to make your payment…” is, in my opinion, an egocentric position.
Egocentrism isn’t about being catered to, it relates to the ability to cognitively understand that different people have different points of view and to analyze situations from many different perspectives.
I used the word because Scarlett67 appeared to be thinking that his/her world view was the only valid one (e.g. track all of your bills like I do, don’t rely on having the bill sent to you).