Open letter to Moderators and Administrators

The BBQ Pit
1

Since this is

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the mods/admins for the great service they have provided to us all - for free.
[sub]yes, I know about the mugs[/sub]
It must be very hurtful to have worked so hard, giving up your free time to make this board the best on the net, only to have the very members you enabled, protected and worked so hard for to show such open disrepect for you and this party you have made available to them (as the analogy so often goes).
I have been off the boards for the last couple of days because reading all this has sickened me. I applaud you for your stoicism in this onslaught of childish attitudes regarding money. Like someone stated earlier some can’t pay, others offered to help - end of fucking story! If someone says they can’t pay (even if they could if they really, really tried) and someone else is still willing to pick up the tab, that’s their business. Everyone else - stay out of it (or start your own thread. Picking fights that don’t concern you is being a jerk in my book).
And I’m sure, humble care-takers, how dis-heartening it must be to hear valued posters suddenly develop this inflated sense of self-worth. As if every piece of drivel that falls out of their mouths is, all of a sudden, some hot commodity and how dare the CR charge them for their contribution to the party. But what do you expect, I guess, they are (mostly) Americans. Whos motto is ‘We desrve it’ (wheather we work/pay for it or not). Or like a friend of mine says, “More free shit!”
Worst of all must be this self-fullfilling lemming attitude everyone has. Jesus, everyone is practically telling each other goodbye already. Because as much as I love this place, even I’m not going to be here if it’s just me and Stoid. But what am I saying? You must know how many ‘members’ there are. And you probably have a good idea of the relatively small number of posters who have declared they are leaving. They must remind you of Jerry Falwell’s Moral “Majority”. I guess they’re hoping the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Surely, there are thousands of members who are just waiting to see where the chips fall, loyal members who are smart enough (as someone said) not to cut off their noses to spite their faces.
But there is time. And if enough ‘will pay’ folks come forward, we might turn the tide yet. I haven’t seen one problem brought up here that can’t be solved easy enough.
Hell yes, I’ll pay!
But if the dregs do bring the whole thing down, and we do lose the highest quality board on the internet, know that I appreciate each and everyone of you and the fantastic job you’ve done. And I’m sure there’s many more like me.
Sincerly,
Steven

2

Man, I feel like I should be saluting or something. Damn classy post, even with the bit about selfish Americans. :smiley:

3

Thanks, SPOOFE, and I guess I should have stated for the record that I’m American as they come.

4

Oh? What nationality are you when they’re done? :smiley:

5

Finnish?

6

I’d just like to say I agree with everything in the OP.

Apart from I have been reading the threads and there has been some heated discousions. It upset me to see so many poster I recognised getting upset.

I hope that the message board will continue to thrive as it has done.

This is the best board I have ever posted to (I know that sounded like brown nosing but hey it happens to be true). Due to the nature of the posters and the hard work of the Mod’s.

Things seems to have settled down now, thankfully.
Waiting to see what happens,

Gartog

7

Just jumping on the bandwagon here. I know I’d pay. I don’t even know any other message boards.

8

I Have posted on other message boards. Some were really bad full of jerks, others were not so bad.

Thinking about it I seem to have noticed some sort of trend, the best message boards I have posted at are those designed for enlightening people (The other two were computer related). The boards that I tried and left because of their nature weren’t.

Of my Top five favorite threads ever, I think 3 have been here. So I’ll pay.

9

Thank you.

10

Thank you, warmgun. I couldn’t agree with you more.

I’m a MPSIMS poster who lurks in the “brainier” forums every day. I’m not well-educated, and I have learned a great deal just by reading the threads here. I intend to get a college education someday, and the thinking/research skills I’ve picked up here will be very valuable to me. Worth wayyyy more than twenty bucks.

I’ll gladly pay if it will help keep this board up and running. The bickering of the last couple days saddens me, and I was frankly disappointed with people’s reactions to the announcement, but I’ll still pay, if and when the time comes.

—Kris

11

A slight comment.

The party analogy is a good one. I’m a college student. For those of you unfamiliar with college parties, there is a cover charge for most of them. (Usually $5) In college the cover is for beer.

We’ve been getting a lot of free beer.

Depending on the cover I’ll pay or not (or beg a subscription for Christmas) but that there could be one is how life goes. Beer isn’t cheap. (Well, okay, lots and lots of beer isn’t cheap.)

12

Thanks for the positive and thoughtful comments.

Try to consider the sound and fury this way: it’s obvious that this place means a lot to our users and that means we’re doing the good thing here.

They wouldn’t be fighting over it if they didn’t care about this site and our continued survival.

Instead of wrangling amongst ourselves we need to find a way to harness all that energy for the benefit of this site and the people that use it.

Besides, it’s one thing to say . . . what we do when it’s time for stuff to happen is when it really counts. The rest is words. It’s deeds that matter. Let’s see how that goes.

your humble TubaDiva
Administrator

13

Thanks, warmgun. I kinda needed that.

14

I owe the SDMB a lot - if for nothing else, because the SDMB is directly responsible for giving me Fierra. But think on these things:

I do not write this to convince those without funds and means, for those people are truly in a bind, and it would be cold and impolite of me to tell them to “dig up the money”. Instead, I direct this to those who simply object to a fee.

Have you, in the time spent since you registered, not received at least $50 in value from being here? How much is a concise, exact answer to a question that is troubling you worth? How much are 100 answers?

How much is it worth to be able to meet, debate, ask, and share knowledge with people from all over the World?

How much is it worth to be able to have more than 100 people wish you a sincere “Happy Birthday”?

How many times have you honestly laughed out loud at something you saw here? And kept laughing about it as the day went on, turning it over in your mind? Hellfire, laughs are rare enough for me; each one is worth nearly $5.

How much is it worth to post about personal problems, sadness, fears, and uncertainties, and have numerous intelligent, kind, and honestly caring people respond with advice, inspiration, or at least commiseration?

And come on, people. How many new friends, or people do you consider friends, do you have now as a result of the SDMB? How much is one good friend worth?

Or, if nothing else, think of it as TV. Compare it to the cost of Cable, or Sat. How many hours do you spend over the year on the SDMB? How much would that have cost on Cable?

Great Goddess, how much do I, myself, owe the SDMB?

Many of us - not all, but many - owe them. We owe them this chance. Sign up the first year, give them the benefit of the doubt. If for no other reason than thanks for the past enjoyment, community, laughs, love, and friendship that is, or was, here.

Give them a chance. One year at least. Even if I never post or read again after the paid period starts, I still will fund them that first year. Out of thanks.

And we’ve been chastised for assuming $50 - I’m not assuming $50, and I’m pretty sure that that amount is pretty much out of the question. My point is, and was, that I’ve received at least $50 in value, if not much more.

I even plan on sponsoring at least a couple of people, and have told them such. And no, I’m not taking applications, nor telling who they are.

15

I’ve heard of a couple figures, but what kind of fee are we looking at? Certainly a fee based system will make some aspects easier, but it will make banning people more difficult. I dunno. I’ve never paid for it before, so I’m sceptical as to how it would work. I’m not saying I’m against it though.

16

The problem isn’t the £ or $ to pay its who will be staying
when a fee is levvied , I would stay if others stayed since they are well informed and make killer arguements. But since there isn’t a list of who will and who won’t made public yet I am in two minds as to stay or not.

17

I’ve noticed something reading through the threads discussing the (possible) upcoming subscription fee. I noticed that most of those posters who checked in to say nothing more than “Well, if that’s the case, I won’t pay, I’m outta here!” had no more than 50-60 posts, despite having been a member for a year or more. In other words, the first to leave will be those who really don’t care about being active members (and who wouldn’t really be hurt by not being able to post anyways). Those of us who really care about the board and wish to see it succeed in the long run are prepared to sacrifice a small fee. Those who don’t, can lurk to their heart’s content. When they want to be a part of this wonderful community, they can show their support by contributing the the board’s well-being.

And to those who have been rallying against the CR and the mods and admins of this board: How dare you imply that the CR and its staff are lying to you, trying to wring dollars out of you for no good reason. If they say they’ve tried everything, and still can’t make ends meet, then dammit, that’s good enough for me.

18

I’ve been a member of this site for a long, long time and I’ve never taken the time to say thank you to the moderators and administrators. So here goes:

Thank you for keeping this site so cool and informative! I’ve seen people ejected, I’ve seen newbies arrive with attitude, I’ve seen the board lose valuable members to retirement, death, work pressures and apathy. Through it all, you (the moderators and administrators) have consistently demonstrated your immense value to this site. You’ve been fair, efficient, funny, hard working and generous. If this site needs a subscription fee to reward you for your hard work, I am 100% in support of it. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Standing ovation!

Now get back to work – you’ve got a message board to run! :smiley:

Powers106

19

…I’m supposed to have gotten a MUG?

20

Well, it was just SITTING there at the Upper West Side Dopefest earlier this year when I met you, and I kind of thought it was like a party favor for Dopers and so I kind of tossed it into my shoulder bag and brought it home and it was making for a really classy first-rate pen and pencil holder until the cat peed on it and I just want to say that I am really very sorry for this.

:smiley:

Cartooniverse