# How much $$ would you take to stay away from the board? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728 "2007-02-18T18:59:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/41 "2007-02-18T23:01:22Z")
well considering… 1. I get a lot more out of reading than I contribute. And much as I love the option of adding my two cents and interacting with people, it’s not like anyone would suffer without it 2. My account is going to expire soon and there’s about a 90% chance that I won’t be able to pay for a second year anyway 3. $500 may not be much to some of you, but it’s TONS to me. 4. The internet is a big place and there are ways to keep in touch with people outside the SDMB I’d say the answer is yes. Maybe not for $20, but for $500, absolutely. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/42 "2007-02-18T23:07:23Z")
How about paying my Internet access bill ($26.95 a month) for as long as you don’t want me to post? Oddly enough, that turns out to be just under the first number I thought of, $700 for two years. (The idea behind that, was that it would cover rent for just long enough that I could focus my paychecks on my living expenses and paying off the last of my debt.) > [@monstro](#): > > But if the person offering me the deal was an ideological opponent and he was paying me off to shut my pie hole, whether or not to accept the offer would be an ethical dilemma, not a financial one as would be the case if Paul Newman simply wanted my house. That’s a very valid point, but personally I don’t think the SDMB reaches enough people for me to consider myself silenced just because I didn’t post here. > [@astro](#): > > So we’ve got to decide what our “whore” price is. Shove it in your ear. It’s a damn lucky–and rare–person on this planet who has never had to be inconvenienced or give up a certain amount of pleasure and/or time for money. You can get all high and mighty about people who steal sandwiches from the breakroom fridge at work, too, but my only response to that is “I hope you’re never in a situation where you have to eat somebody else’s sandwich to make it through the day”. > [@What Exit?](#): > > many of us consider this place a community or at least a local pub/club to hang out at I do, too–but you could convince me to leave my “community” for enough money (how much money that is, depends on what exactly “community” means) and you could convince me to stop hanging out at a particular club for a lot less money. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/43 "2007-02-18T23:14:01Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] What if someone told me they’d give me a 10 million dollars if I killed someone? [/QUOTE] Depends. Who is it? Do they have it coming? What are my chances of getting away with it? As for leaving this board, it’d have to be an absolute shitload of money. Life-changing money. $500 is nowhere near. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/44 "2007-02-18T23:17:00Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] Ah, but you’re assuming **PRR** didn’t want to do it. But he was not forced, was he? Did someone go to his house and twist his arm? [/quote] I was speaking in general, not about **prr** specifically. If he wanted to leave anyway, there’s nothing whorish about the whole deal. I don’t like the idea of members here offering each other cash to leave, but that’s a different thing. [QUOTE=samclem] How about 2 million, cash? 5 million? If Bill Gates offered you a lock billion, would you do it? [/QUOTE] I’ll be honest and say I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_C](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Captain\_C](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_C)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/45 "2007-02-18T23:26:36Z")
So I take it changing usernames and anonymously posting is out? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/46 "2007-02-18T23:28:58Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] How about 2 million, cash? 5 million? If Bill Gates offered you a lock billion, would you do it? [/QUOTE] Yes to all of the above! Tell Bill to just leave the account number with my secretary. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/47 "2007-02-18T23:30:04Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I was speaking in general, not about **prr** specifically. If he wanted to leave anyway, there’s nothing whorish about the whole deal. I don’t like the idea of members here offering each other cash to leave, but that’s a different thing. I’ll be honest and say I don’t know. [/QUOTE] Best anwer anyone could give. You 'da man. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/48 "2007-02-18T23:49:49Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Nonsense. The thing you’re being asked to do is not post. [/quote] Aw, bullshit. “The thing you’re being asked to do” is to _not_ do something. Therefore you are not being asked _to do_ **anything**. You are, in fact, being asked **not** to do something. Obviously. > [@](#): > > ‘Whore’ is being used metaphorically anyway, so it doesn’t matter if you’re avoiding something for money instead of doing it. Were you under the impression someone thought there was _actual_ whoring going on? I get that it’s metaphorical; it’s a bad metaphor. Since whoring is having sex (an affirmative act) for money, and the Deal with the Devil involved _n_ doing something, it only works as a metaphor is you’re paying your whore _not_ to have sex with you. Which is why it’s a stupid analogy _And_ it is unnecessarily insulting to those of us who can actually place a dollar amount on what it would take to get us to leave – as is your implication that if we can do so, we don’t have consciences. How’s the air up there on your high horse? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/49 "2007-02-18T23:54:19Z")
I dunno. I really don’t. I like the SDMB a lot, and I consider many posters here friends of mine. There’s another board I frequent for news and political discussion, but the thing is, political discussion is all they do. There’s a good bit of politics here, but that’s not the whole enchilada. I read things, and sometimes I just can’t let what I read go unanswered. I’d like money, and I’m sure that I’ll need it a lot more as I get older and start taking my financial burden from my parents, but… For a million, probably; almost certainly. For several thousand, I’d seriously consider it. For five hundred, maybe, but I kinda doubt it. The point is really moot, as I don’t think anybody would want me gone enough to pay me. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/50 "2007-02-19T00:10:56Z")
$2,500 a month for life and I’ll be goner than the fuzz on the last dandelion of summer. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/51 "2007-02-19T00:41:13Z")
It’d take more than $500, but not a whole lot more. A few thou and I’d be outta here. This is the best message board I’ve ever found, but the internet’s a big place. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/52 "2007-02-19T00:47:21Z")
You fools! This thread is just going to convince the Reader they can jack the fees up without anyone leaving. Me? I’d leave for a dollar. Really, I would. Honest. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/53 "2007-02-19T00:47:53Z")
I love the SDMB and derive a lot of entertainment and edification from it. I’d miss it like hell if I had to stop posting for some reason. That said, I’m going to be spending a LOT of money in the next 6 months and would have a hard time justifying turning down $500 for something as frivolous as posting to a message board. To me, it’s a lot of fun and the best place on the Internet that I know of, but the time I spend here could be redirected to other things, and that money put to good use elsewhere in my life. If that makes me a whore… whatever. ---
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/54 "2007-02-19T00:58:29Z")
As much as I enjoy posting here, and the information I learn has no value. I may be going away for nothing. I’ve returned to college online and my time is limited. With my current bills and expenses I don’t know if I will renew my membership when it expires. I can’t say how much I’d have to be offered to stay away for ever and I doubt I could do that. I’d say a cool million would do it but really 500 thousand would help me the same as a million and 250 thousand would help me the same as 500 thousand and really anything over 50 thousand would let me not worry about anything but work and my classes so I’d leave for that. On a related note if anyone had suggestions on how to get 50 thousand people to donate a dollar to me I’d appreciate it 🙂 (just kidding) ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/55 "2007-02-19T01:04:51Z")
[QUOTE=Rubystreak] I love the SDMB and derive a lot of entertainment and edification from it. I’d miss it like hell if I had to stop posting for some reason. That said, I’m going to be spending a LOT of money in the next 6 months and would have a hard time justifying turning down $500 for something as frivolous as posting to a message board. To me, it’s a lot of fun and the best place on the Internet that I know of, but the time I spend here could be redirected to other things, and that money put to good use elsewhere in my life. If that makes me a whore… whatever. [/QUOTE] Well, let me amend my OP. I don’t think accepting money to stay off the Dope necessarily would make one a whore. But if I’m in a debate with someone and the exchange is getting heated and my opponent offers me a sum of money to shut me up, I would feel dirty if I took him up on his offer. Basically I would feel like by taking the money, I would be conceding whatever argument I was defending so passionately. I’d be selling out. So if someone started a thread in IMHO, offering to give the first poster $500 if they stopped posting, I wouldn’t hesitate. But if I’m in a thread in GQ arguing with a Stormfronter, and he offers me $500 to quit gracing the board with my niggerish presence, then no, I would not take the money. Or at least, I hope I wouldn’t. However ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/56 "2007-02-19T01:07:41Z")
[QUOTE=Rubystreak] That said, I’m going to be spending a LOT of money in the next 6 months and would have a hard time justifying turning down $500 for something as frivolous as posting to a message board. [/QUOTE] Ah, but where is your cutoff? Howabout $200? $100? Me, I feel pretty similar to **Qadgop** , except that I’m much cheaper :p. I post less that I used to, but I still like having the option and I don’t need $500 that badly. Now pay my substantial credit card debt ( stupid hardwood floors ), plus a little extra for a household project or two and I’d happily take a one year posting ( not reading ) hiatus. For a permanent departure it would have to take a substantial bite from my mortgage for me to agree to such a petty-seeming deal and compromise my comfort. Say low six figures. And just in case **Gorsnak** is worried, this ISN’T the same as how high of subscription fees I’d be willing to pay ;). I would consider someone paying me not to post to be silly and unreasonable and would price myself accordingly. But I also wouldn’t pay $100 for an annual membership here - there are all sorts of different kinds of unreasonable. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/57 "2007-02-19T01:51:00Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] Were you under the impression someone thought there was _actual_ whoring going on? [/quote] Shouldn’t’ve got my hopes up, I guess. 😉 > [@](#): > > I get that it’s metaphorical; it’s a bad metaphor. Since whoring is having sex (an affirmative act) for money, and the Deal with the Devil involved _n_ doing something, it only works as a metaphor is you’re paying your whore _not_ to have sex with you. Rather than go around and around about this, I’ll just say that the whore > [@](#): > > as is your implication that if we can do so, we don’t have consciences. > > How’s the air up there on your high horse? I said and implied nothing of the kind. I specifically said **pseudotriton** isn’t a whore for leaving, and I thought I was pretty clear in that I was talking about myself, not what I think of other people. And for all of that, I said I could imagine leaving if somebody offered me a staggering amount of money. I could use a billion dollars as much as the next guy. The point was that I want to be here, so I would feel like a whore if I accepted money to leave. Not that anybody else who would take the money is a whore - and even knowing I’d feel like a whore, I might take the money. This is being on a high horse? ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/58 "2007-02-19T01:55:37Z")
I agree with **Quadgop** et al. Give me enough to retire, and I’d consider leaving the board. (Although I’d take a lot less to relinquish my posting privileges while still being allowed to visit, since I don’t post much anyway). I’ve been lurking on and off since 2000, and I’ll probably still be here the day the Reader decides to pull the plug. Odd as it may seem, I have a relationship with this place, and it’s hard to quantify that in monetary terms. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/59 "2007-02-19T02:16:31Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] But what about my love for my family? What if someone told me they’d give me $10 million dollars if I estranged myself from them permanently? [/QUOTE] People pay me to assist them in estranging themselves from their families. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2007, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728/60 "2007-02-19T02:20:43Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] I don’t think accepting money to stay off the Dope necessarily would make one a whore. But if I’m in a debate with someone and the exchange is getting heated and my opponent offers me a sum of money to shut me up, I would feel dirty if I took him up on his offer. Basically I would feel like by taking the money, I would be conceding whatever argument I was defending so passionately. I’d be selling out. [/quote] Huh. If someone offered me that money to shut me up, I’d take it as a sure sign that not only had I categorically won the argument with them, but that they were categorically not worth arguing with ever again. (Note that I think Lib has denied that he offered the money to shut prr up). Taking the money would be partly a boon to my wallet and partly a way of showing utter contempt for the person making the offer > [@](#): > > But if I’m in a thread in GQ arguing with a Stormfronter, and he offers me $500 to quit gracing the board with my niggerish presence, then no, I would not take the money. Or at least, I hope I wouldn’t. Now that’s interesting. In that case, for some reason, I’d agree with you. I’m not sure what the difference is, but putting it in those terms changes the tenor sufficiently that I wouldn’t accept it. Maybe it’s the historical Jim Crow resonance, a resonance lacking from a debate about atheism, that’d make the difference to me. As for the ethical dimensions of the situation, though, I tend to think that ethical situations involve harm or boon to someone. Posting on a messageboard is pure entertainment, and it has virtually no ethical dimensions to it at all. (Excepting, of course, posts such as death threats, consoling sick people, etc.; I’m talking about posting in general, not specific posts) Daniel [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-would-you-take-to-stay-away-from-the-board/392728.md?page=4)