# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/41 "2005-04-29T22:06:40Z")
Its not like everyone thinks the Charter members are betterthan us Members. We’re all members, here! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/42 "2005-04-29T22:15:00Z")
There probably wouldn’t be such a fuss if the title were “Old Farts” instead of “Chartered Waters” or whatever. Note that, we hope, you will soon be able to pay a li’l extra and have a custom title, and then all animals will be equal again. ---
**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, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/43 "2005-04-29T22:29:52Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > What’s the difference between “marketing gimmick” and “lie” in this scenario? Just wondering. I’m not quite following you here. I guess that the SDMB did originally promise subscribers a year ago that they’d have ‘charter member’ in their title, and if they eliminated it now they’d be going back on their word, if that’s what you mean. **C K Dexter Haven** , that’d be cool. Although in that scheme I presume certain words would be filtered out, like “moderator,” “admin,” “SDSAB,” and “Perfect Master.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/44 "2005-04-30T01:29:56Z")
Shoot. I was going to have my custome title be C K Dexter Haven. Back to the drawing board. ---
**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 30, 2005, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/45 "2005-04-30T09:45:34Z")
How about “Imperfect Master”? Maybe that should be Ed’s title. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/46 "2005-04-30T14:56:16Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > There probably wouldn’t be such a fuss if the title were “Old Farts” instead of “Chartered Waters” or whatever. > Note that, we hope, you will soon be able to pay a li’l extra and have a custom title, and then all animals will be equal again. I’d rather not be called an “Old Fart”, I get enough of that in real life. ☹ Maybe those who missed the deadline and all the notices should get the title “Terminal Procrastinator”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/47 "2005-04-30T15:11:20Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > 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. In **neuroman’s** scenario it would be rescinded, hence the lie. If I promise you something just to get your money and then take it back, I have lied to you. I am not claiming anyone has lied, merely pointing out that referring to such a transaction as a “marketing gimmick” is obscuring its true nature. ---
**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 30, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/48 "2005-04-30T20:14:41Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > In **neuroman’s** scenario it would be rescinded, hence the lie. If I promise you something just to get your money and then take it back, I have lied to you. I am not claiming anyone has lied, merely pointing out that referring to such a transaction as a “marketing gimmick” is obscuring its true nature. If they promised to let people become charter members with the intent of taking it away, that would be one thing . . . but if they promised to let people who subscribed at a certain time become charter members, and then followed through on it, and then more than a year later they decided to abolish the Member/Charter Member distinction, is that a lie? I would call it something more like “changing their minds.” Maybe if they had guaranteed that the Charter Member designation would never, ever go away – but did they guarantee that? I can’t remember how it was phrased when it was initially offered . . . ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/49 "2005-04-30T21:40:37Z")
If anyone wants to know why I didn’t pay mine sooner, it is because my computer got so it would not load SDMB (along with lots of other things). We went on a planned trip to South Africa and I finally took the CPU in for fixing. There are still problems but SDMB loaded and here I am having to pay $14.95. I am now testing to see if I also lost the “charter member” listing. If I did I am not one of those that says “So what, I don’t care.” **I DO CARE!** ---
**Author:** ![spiralscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@spiralscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spiralscratch)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/50 "2005-05-01T12:08:49Z")
I’d also be grateful if I could get “charter member” status restored. I thought I had until the end of April, but it didn’t work out that way it appears. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/51 "2005-05-01T19:08:10Z")
Testing to see if my ability to post has been turned on yet… ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/52 "2005-05-01T19:10:07Z")
Great, now I can post again! I can’t possibly see why the SDMB re-subscriptions were handled like this. It should be so simple: When your subscription expires, you then renew it. You should not be punished for not re-upping the subscription in advance. This is a mistake that will cost the board members. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2005, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/53 "2005-05-02T04:12:36Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > I can’t possibly see why the SDMB re-subscriptions were handled like this. It should be so simple: When your subscription expires, you then renew it. You should not be punished for not re-upping the subscription in advance. Excuse me? How was anyone punished? I am interested in hearing how you think this should have been handled. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/54 "2005-05-02T04:16:03Z")
I too had Charter membership, but my account lapsed without me knowing, and now I’m back to “Member” and I’d like to get back charter status if possible. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/55 "2005-05-02T04:25:33Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > 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 I don’t really see how this matters much. This is a minor cosmetic change your customers would like, and I think deserve. I don’t see any reason, or any good business sense in blaming the consumer for not placing SDMB at the top of its priorities when you can clearly fix the problem with little difficulty. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/56 "2005-05-02T05:58:29Z")
> [@Qwertyasdfg](#): > > I don’t really see how this matters much. This is a minor cosmetic change your customers would like, and I think deserve. I don’t see any reason, or any good business sense in blaming the consumer for not placing SDMB at the top of its priorities when you can clearly fix the problem with little difficulty. I don’t see this as the staff and administration of the SDMB “blaming the consumer” for anything. They warned folks a month out from the deadline. They kept putting up warnings. All over the board, at the time, there were threads started : “Are ya gonna stay??”, “Are ya gonna go??” thanks to a controversy. It’s like a supply of pears. The supply will run out in a month’s time, because the pear seller has to leave the country. If there are notices up, all your neighbours are talking about the pears (“Are these pears _really_ juicy enough to eat rather than Sam’s apples?”) and you didn’t get to the seller in time before he stopped selling the pears – that’s the way it goes. The folks who missed out because they had computer outages, life-changes etc. – I hope they get satisfaction. But just to have a moan because you didn’t (a) check your profile and subscription information, or (b) didn’t take in all the broo-haha over the last few weeks – eh. That’s just the way it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/57 "2005-05-02T12:58:18Z")
> [@Ed Zotti](#): > > Excuse me? How was anyone punished? I am interested in hearing how you think this should have been handled. People who didn’t renew ahead of time were punished by having to pay double and losing thier “charter member” status. Here’s what I said about it in the other thread: > [@](#): > > It should be a simple process: When a membership runs out, the person loses the ability to post. Then they pay up the fee and are a member once more. No punishement fees or pre-pay reminders should be required at all. I have no idea why they would be. It just makes the process overly complicated and results in hard feelings from people left out. If the process were set up like this, then it would save the mods and admins work as well. There need not be reminders posts and emails at all. Simply let people renew when their membership expires without a penalty, punishment, or whatever you prefer to call it. I don’t mean to be snarky about it, but this was rather poorly handled. I hope that going forward the system will be improved because I want to see the number of posters on the SDMB grow, and this is the wrong way to go about doing that. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/58 "2005-05-02T13:59:10Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > When a membership runs out, the person loses the ability to post. Then they pay up the fee and are a member once more. No punishement fees or pre-pay reminders should be required at all. I have no idea why they would be. It just makes the process overly complicated and results in hard feelings from people left out. Our subscription system operates as you describe, except that we send people a renewal reminder shortly before their subscriptions expire. You seem to have confused the regular renewal process with charter membership, which was a special offer to which special rules applied. These have been abundantly explained elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/59 "2005-05-02T14:17:15Z")
Most members are charter members. The “special rules” actually apply to the vast majority of posters, do they not? ---
**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:** [May 2, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604/60 "2005-05-02T15:00:32Z")
Not so vast. I haven’t asked Jerry to do a count, but by my rough calculation, about 1,060 of our 3,185 current subscribers paid either $14.95 or $9.95 - almost exactly a third. Of that number, 180 paid after the 4/28 charter member renewal deadline had passed. I’m guessing most of the 180 are ex-CMs, whose CM status we’ve decided to reinstate. As time goes on, however, regular subscribers will constitute an increasing percentage of our user base, and probably within the next couple years will account for the majority. Regular subscribers are subject to the don’t-pay-don’t-post rule you advocate, so we expect complaints like yours to diminish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-charter-back/301604.md?page=4)