How were we supposed to find out about this (now-expired) policy?

[VinylTurnip]

I got an email on the 14th, six days before the expiration date. In 2010 I got one on the 20th, the day it expired.

I’m not sure about 2011, 2012 or 2013. Either I didn’t get a notification or I deleted the emails. I think I may have renewed early in those years— not sure whether the notification is still sent if you’ve already renewed.

[hajario]

There was definitely a thread in ATMB when the policy of getting your CM back became an option. I’ll try to find it later.

As for why we can’t anymore, that was announced as well. When we upgraded to a later version of vB, which we had to do when one of the Admin accounts was hacked, some of the add ons were lost. While Jerry certainly could put them back, the people who employ him don’t want him spending time on that. No one else has both the skills and the access privileges to do it.

[Inner_Stickler]

Yeah, if Jerry’s getting paid anywhere close to what I’m thinking, it’s quite possible that the time spent restoring 10 charter members a month is not worth it when you take into account the value of his time against the potential income.

I would be really curious to see what would happen if the board portion ever got divorced from the Chicago Reader and stopped being treated quite so much like a red-headed stepchild.

[hajario]

@hajario

There was definitely a thread in ATMB when the policy of getting your CM back became an option. I’ll try to find it later.

As for why we can’t anymore, that was announced as well. When we upgraded to a later version of vB, which we had to do when one of the Admin accounts was hacked, some of the add ons were lost. While Jerry certainly could put them back, the people who employ him don’t want him spending time on that. No one else has both the skills and the access privileges to do it.

Here is the announcement thread from 2010. It’s was stickied at the time.

[MikeG]

If I lost my charter status I would probably die.
Oh wait…no I didn’t.

[Duckster]

I propose a Charter Member amnesty. It happens once a year about the time of a significant event in the Board’s history. Make it a two-week period around a particular date. During that period former Charter Members can apply to get their status back, for a small fee.

But here’s the kicker. The actual date will vary from year to year. The announcement about the date appear during the first full week in January, for one week, and then the announcement is gone. No further announcements during the year, not even during the two-week amnesty window.

:o

[Lord_Ashtar]

@ZipperJJ

Charter Members pay half the normal rate, I believe.

Okay then, so it’s about squeezing out that extra $7.50.

[VinylTurnip]

Good luck with that. You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.

[samclem]

@VinylTurnip

Good luck with that. You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.

… too easy.

[Musicat]

@Siam_Sam

Is it really all that difficult for people to remember to renew? You can renew anytime, you don’t have to wait for a reminder or until it gets close to the expiry date.

And you can renew more than one year at a time (up to 2, I think). It’s not like you have to put up hundreds of dollars in advance.

Come on, people. Get your shit together. How much babysitting and backtracking should the mods do with you whiners?

[Siam_Sam]

Perhaps the Dope could offer an “automatic renewal” option like some websites do. You check the box, and payment is automatically charged to your credit card when the time comes.

Of course, I don’t know if that’s possible through PayPal. They might have to set up a merchant account to accept payments directly. But again, businesses do this.

[dropzone]

@samclem

… too easy.

You know he’s been waiting YEARS to use that.

[Doug_K]

@hajario

Here is the announcement thread from 2010. It’s was stickied at the time.

I’ve got no dog in this discussion, but that was a limited time offer only good for one week. The stated deadline is long, long past.

[Icerigger]

Can you use the Custom Title Member Subscription to say you are a Charter Member?

[Cicero]

I have always received impending membership about to expire notices and I doubt I am special in any way.

Nevertheless, it would be great to get a consistent policy.
I would also add Tubadiva and Jerry were great in fixing a recent subscription issue I had.

[CannyDan]

Back in April I started this thread noting that I’d received less than 48 hours notification of my membership expiration. Yeah, I know it’s only Member, not Charter, and renewal even after expiration resolves it completely. But it still seems like a poor business model for retaining members, especially when guest status and adblock are so easy.

In my field (charitable organizations), retaining members is critically important, and retaining long term members is most important of all. We go out of our way to make it easy, not complicated, obscure, and unforgiving.

And I’ll further note that the only staff member who replied at all said:

@samclem

I’m not in the inner circle, so take what I say as my opinion only. Hopefully, an Admin will be along to comment more authoritatively.

The renewal system has never been a great one. In the past, I can remember notices going out even later. :eek:

This is one of the worst features of the Board. I don’t know if it will ever be remedied.

Just be thankful you weren’t impacted.

On the plus side, tubadiva has quite often been able to overide the system and make sure people aren’t penalized when these things happen, even after their subscription expired.

Apparently even this rather low level of “customer support” has now been withdrawn. Foolishly, IMHO.

[RTFirefly]

@TubaDiva

For many years once you lost Charter Membership, it was gone.

And then there was a chance to get it back and that went on for a couple of years. There were announcements about it at the beginning and there were notices in ATMB. I helped as many people as I could.

And now that door is closed.

If there was something I could do to fix it and get it back, I surely would. But that’s not an option as things stand now.

It’s important to check for announcements – how else can news get out to the board? If you don’t read the announcements what can we do?

You’ve mentioned notices in ATMB. So are we obligated to check ATMB on a regular basis?

I read the announcements in the fora I frequent. I suppose it’s possible that an announcement may have come and gone during the period after my wife and I adopted the Firebug - for about 6-8 months, I simply didn’t have time to go online for recreational purposes, as it were. That would have been back in 2009.

People also get email reminders that their subscriptions are expiring.

Tru dat. But the point of this policy change was that there was something you could do if you missed the notice.

[RTFirefly]

@hajario

Here is the announcement thread from 2010. It’s was stickied at the time.

I was still a charter member then. I’m guessing I lost my CM status in 2012, give or take. But it sounds like TPTB only just closed the door on regaining it.

[choie]

@RTFirefly

You’ve mentioned notices in ATMB. So are we obligated to check ATMB on a regular basis?

No – only if you have an interest in and want to find out about news & special information about this message board. They were doing busy/lazy/forgetful/momentarily broke ex-Charter Members a favor by creating the clemency offer: it’s not exactly to their financial benefit to let people pay $7.49 forever and ever until the sun dies.

So if they were going to make a good-faith offer to allow folks to return to that special status, it’s probably not going to be blasted all over the forum. Only the people who pay attention to community goings-on will notice, and they’ll be the ones to reap the rewards.

Now you know it’s worth it to check in ATMB once in a while. Live and learn.