Now that we have gone to free-to-post, it seems a lot of past posters are coming out of the woodwork and are posting again.
I would expect some of that, but the number of past poster that have restarted posting is quite astonishing.
Is $15 a year really all that much to so many people? Or is it the principal of the matter? (i.e. why pay when other boards are free?)
I guess for me it was kind of a combination budget/principle thing. No, $15 isn’t much, but I weigh entertainment and other nonessential expenses very carefully, and I just couldn’t justify the expense. I do better if I’m disciplined and don’t allow “just this one” to slip through, just like I know I’m not likely to eat “just one” cookie or “just one” cigarette.
I don’t know about in this particular instance but it seems people in general are reluctant to pay for intangibles online.
The $15 was better spent on other things.
(and at the time the board was running very slow, if at all)
There are some folks who cannot afford $15/year. Sad, but, I think, true.
Not so much about able to afford, more about willing to sponsor the Reader for a haphazard service.
I re-registered about three months ago, knowing that free posting was coming. I thought it would be kinda dickish to jump back in only after it went free.
Guess I was wrong.
Principle.
Much though I missed many people here, I wouldn’t pay a penny for the opportunity to provide free content to someone who isn’t making me any money by taking that content. Once upon a time, I would, but then things changed, and those things are for discussion privately or in the Pit (which has really lost most of its appeal to me anyway).
If they can’t afford $15 a year they shouldn’t be wasting their time posting on the SDMB.
So many assholes.
It was principle. If you can afford an internet connection, you can afford $15 a year. And it was more like $7 a year if you paid from the first cycle on. My wife kind of laughed/rolled her eyes whenever I paid because she thinks messageboards are stupid (gotta say I kind of agree with her but I’m a complicated guy :p), but to me it was worth it. I’ve gotten my money’s worth through entertainment and knowledge gained here. I’ve taken long breaks from the boards, once for about 9 months straight and many, many times for a few weeks at a time, but I never seriously considered not renewing during pay to post.
Combination of budget and principle – but mostly the latter, based on events on the board. I’m going to take 'punha’s lead, though, and say that’s not really for open discussion.
Let me just say that for whatever reason, I’m glad to see a number of “oldsters” come back. Who knows, maybe the ads will annoy some of 'em enough they’ll pay up. If not, I hope most of 'em anyway stay. We shall not discuss who because you know who you are. 
So much time.
I paid because $7 wasn’t a lot. Even though I don’t post a lot, and what I do post doesn’t contribute much anyway, you know, the board had to keep going. I could afford $7 for that.
That, and I wanted that shiney “Charter Member” tag. 
Well, as a non-paying member, they can’t ban me and keep my money. They are welcome to ban me as a non-payer, and I don’t feel ripped off. That and why should I provide them copyrighted content and pay for the privilege?
$15 for something I don’t particularly need? Yes, that’s too much money.
Paying $15 for the SDMB isn’t much money. Neither is buying fresh pasta instead of dried, buying an americano from Starbucks ($2.85) instead of a double-double from Tim’s ($1.53). Supersize my fries? Also not that much money. Personally I don’t need to supersize, thank you. And I don’t need to spend money where it doesn’t need to be spent.
If you consider the SDMB to be an essential part of your life, $15 really isn’t that much. But it’s not the center of everyone’s universe.
No, the money isn’t all that much, and I paid it a couple of times.
But it limited the influx of new voices and became a country club where dissent was starting to be unwelcome. I think easing the barrier to posting will improve the board. I was right when I said pay-to-post would suck the board dry. Let’s see if I’m right again.
What we post is free content for the website. Damned if I was going to pay them for the privilege.
During the pay to post years I read the site occasionally, now that it’s free again I’m back with a New Improved Name.
I went the opposite direction. I paid to post each year, but then never actually got around to posting much. But, ehhh. Seven bucks a year is a lot less than I waste on other stuff. Now that I see a lot of familiar names back, I may actually post more. But probably not. I’m pretty lazy that way.