# I want my "Charter" back! **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 28, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604 "2005-04-28T19:59:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![InkBlot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5e925/32.png) [@InkBlot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InkBlot)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/21 "2005-04-29T03:39:16Z")
I’m a bit surprised too. I noticed earlier this week that my sub was to expire today, and saw I was elligible for the lower price. I didn’t notice there was an exact time, I just saw Ed’s post about “On or before April 28th.” So, I thought anytime today would be fine. I’ve re-upped at the full rate _mutter_ and still show as “guest” _mutter mutter_. I suppose when the system sorts itself, I’ll be just a “member” _mutter mumble_. So, was there an exact time today I needed to reup by? Did I miss this? I don’t know which I miss more, my $7 or my “Charter Member.” InkBlot :eek: p.s. I know what Strunk & White have to say about punctuation around quoted speech, but what about when using asterisks to simulate vocal sounds? If they want to slow the degredation of English on the Internet, we really need these questions answered! Strunk & White’s Elements of Internet Style? ---
**Author:** ![Ooner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Ooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ooner)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/22 "2005-04-29T04:33:46Z")
I know I’m a day late on my renewal, and I paid the full price, but I’d really like to have my Charter title back too. I’ve been a member for since February 2001… ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/23 "2005-04-29T05:27:56Z")
I still think you all need [signs (see post 46)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314233) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/24 "2005-04-29T06:32:18Z")
> [@The Sonoran Lizard King](#): > > One nitpick, TubaDiva, It doesn’t matter when you ‘joined up’. It seems to go by when you paid. > > My profile preceeds the cutoff, but I’m just a member, because I only paid within the past few months. > Signed, > > Just Another Doper. It’s when you subscribed to the board, that’s the date that pertains here. I do apologize if I did not make that clear. your humble TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![SLingshot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@SLingshot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SLingshot)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/25 "2005-04-29T08:36:31Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > Wow, that’s quite the delurk. > > **TubaDiva** , anybody that’s posted 10 times in 4 1/2 years and is still willing to pay should not only have “Charter Member” under their name, but a gold star beside it! I’ll be patiently waiting in the wings for my gold star too! Except that I paid under the deadline by about an hour so I got to keep my Charter Member. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/26 "2005-04-29T12:58:01Z")
I don’t want to sound to harsh, but this really is a serious problem. Most message boards on the internet are free. If you want people to pay for the SDMB, then the process shouldn’t leave such a bad taste in people’s mouths. I got no warning that my account was going to expire. I log in today, and discover that I have to pay double and lose my title?! It’s tough enough to just get people to pay for the service. You shouldn’t be adding insult to injury by doubling the payment for people who didn’t know their year was up. There should be a 30 day (at least) grace period for renewing charter members to be able to use the old rate and keep their title intact. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/27 "2005-04-29T12:59:27Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Hey! Mine doesn’t say “Charter Member” either. Mine does. Want to trade? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![NothingMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b77776/32.png) [@NothingMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NothingMan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/28 "2005-04-29T13:20:54Z")
I was under the impression that “charter” may be going away anyway. I could be wrong. And yes half the reason I’m posting is to see if I still have mine. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/29 "2005-04-29T13:30:34Z")
I think I got in under the wire… can you preview your own status? nope, well, here goes. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/30 "2005-04-29T13:34:52Z")
I said this once before, when we first went to pay, and I’d like to take this opportunity to say it once again: I think the whole “Charter Member” vs. “Member” distinction is an Evil Thing. ☹ It’s divisive, and prone to promote disharmony, pointing up, as it does, the difference between those who happened to get in on the ground floor of a bargain (and who will be rewarded for their good luck by getting halfies off their subscription in perpetuity), and those who–the Fates conspiring against them–did not. I for one would be happy to have us **all** be just plain old “Well, hey, **I** ponied up” Members. Or else switch over to custom member titles, then we can _all_ be Intergalactic Overlords of whatever universe takes our fancy. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/31 "2005-04-29T14:07:45Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > At the risk of seeming like a moron . . . I just didn’t know about it. Same here. At the start of April, I saw a sticky about renewals that mentioned “the end of the month”, but it didn’t give a date. The reminder email said: > [@](#): > > Your access to the paid subscription “Straight Dope Message Board” is about to expire. To extend this you must visit [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/subscriptions.php](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/subscriptions.php) > > If you do not extend your subscription access will be removed. > > Yours, > Straight Dope Message Board team Since no date was given here either, I assumed once again that this referred to Saturday at midnight. It wasn’t until I was unable to log in yesterday at 1:00PM CST that I saw another note that stated the deadline that I had just missed. It’s not a big deal, but I think that I did make a good faith effort to renew on time and I would like to be listed as a Charter Member. ---
**Author:** ![gommsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@gommsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gommsn)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/32 "2005-04-29T14:53:37Z")
Exactly **DDG**. What about us poor Canuks who have to pay with play money. It took me three days to pan-handle $17(plus a few windshields). I think we should be entitled to be " Grand Imperial Nice People Who Live Way Up There Freezing Their Asses Off", or something like that. Just my opinion. You already got my money. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/33 "2005-04-29T15:58:23Z")
I put this in another thread, but I guess it bears repeating. We do appreciate all our members, our subscribing members most of all, and we’re sorry to see some of you missed the cutoff date. Let me explain what we did to make you aware of the situation. 1. A thread on the subscription renewal situation was posted in the About This Message Board forum approximately 1 month ago. The thread was “stickied” and ran at the top of each and every page in ATMB. 2. An announcement linked to the subscription renewal notice was posted in all the forum areas. The announcements run on top of every page of threads. 3. Another announcement on the subscription renewal situation was placed on the top of the Straight Dope front page – as we got closer to the expiration date, the notice was marked in bright red. 4. In the last week, all Charter Members who had not yet resubscribed and who also had indicated it was okay for management to send them email was sent a resubscription email. If you checked “no, I don’t want the administration to send me email” you didn’t receive anything. but that’s an individual choice. Many people have indicated they finally found their notices in their spam filters. We cannot control how our users sort their email. 1. As we got closer to expiration (which was Thursday, April 28, noon CDT, Chicago time), we indicated time was ticking away in the announcements on top of every forum page and on the Straight Dope front page. Again, the notice on the Straight Dope front page was in bright red. It’s very frustrating to us, too; we hoped everyone would read the announcements, look at the email and act on it, etc. BTW, you can check your subscription status at any time by going to the User Control Panel and clicking on “Paid Subscriptions.” You can even renew from there. I’m sorry this didn’t work so well for you this time and I hope we all do better next time around. Please check the board for updates on this situation… your humble TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/34 "2005-04-29T16:10:46Z")
**Duck Duck Goose** and **Debaser** both make good points. I would like to see the “Charter Member” vs. “Member” distinction completely abolished. Charter Member was initially used as a marketing gimmick to get people to subscribe when the board initially went pay for play last year. We no longer need this meaningless badge of status. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/35 "2005-04-29T16:28:19Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > Come on, my membership lapsed four less than for hours. I already paid the inflated rate, isn’t there any way to at least get my “Charter Member” status back? That “Member” just looks so darn lonely sitting under my username all by itself. ☹ Please see [this thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314377) ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/36 "2005-04-29T17:11:39Z")
I stumbled upon SDMB in December 2004. Had I known its existence ten years earlier I would have jumped on the bandwagon right away. I claim Charter Membership. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/37 "2005-04-29T17:23:39Z")
I like the Charter Member/Member difference. It’s like those who have the join date of 1999. Or those with high post counts. It’s just one of many indicators of how long someone’s been around, how often they post and whether or not they carefully read the flippin’ stickies. So there. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/38 "2005-04-29T17:40:27Z")
> [@neuroman](#): > > **Duck Duck Goose** and **Debaser** both make good points. > > I would like to see the “Charter Member” vs. “Member” distinction completely abolished. Charter Member was initially used as a marketing gimmick to get people to subscribe when the board initially went pay for play last year. We no longer need this meaningless badge of status. What’s the difference between “marketing gimmick” and “lie” in this scenario? Just wondering. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/39 "2005-04-29T18:02:08Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > I don’t want to sound to harsh, but this really is a serious problem. > > Most message boards on the internet are free. If you want people to pay for the SDMB, then the process shouldn’t leave such a bad taste in people’s mouths. I got no warning that my account was going to expire. I log in today, and discover that I have to pay double and lose my title?! > > It’s tough enough to just get people to pay for the service. You shouldn’t be adding insult to injury by doubling the payment for people who didn’t know their year was up. > > There should be a 30 day (at least) grace period for renewing charter members to be able to use the old rate and keep their title intact. I hope my original post didn’t come across to others the way this one came across to me. I actually disagree with **Debaser** ’s apparent sentiment in a couple of ways: First of all, I don’t think the fact that most message boards are free is particularly relevant – after all, most message boards also don’t have the same operating costs as the SDMB. And I’m under the impression that even with the membership fees, they’re not making a profit. Surely no one thinks the Straight Dope is under some obligation to provide this board at a net loss to themselves? Or for that matter to provide this board at all? (I appologize if that’s not what **Debaser** meant, but it seemed like he was suggesting that even expecting us to pay at all was somewhat unreasonable, regardless of how it was handled.) With regard to this “got no warning” business, they clearly made their best effort to notify everyone. I just want to make clear that I wasn’t trying to say in the OP that it was anyone’s fault other than my own. Clearly, if I don’t read the announcements for over a month, I’m taking my chances. To be honest I’d expected the answer to be more like “you snooze, you lose” – the fact that they’re actually going to let us get our charter membership back is a welcome surprise. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/40 "2005-04-29T18:03:59Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > What’s the difference between “marketing gimmick” and “lie” in this scenario? Just wondering. What “lie” are you talking about? You sign up sooner, you get designated a Charter Member. That’s what they said, that’s what happened. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604.md?page=3)