Paid Subscriptions - What for?

The BBQ Pit
61

Look, moron, i don’t give a fuck what a T1 line costs, or how many gigs of storage you can get for 18 grand. Nor do i care about fighting your ignorance, because some battles just can’t be won.

In the end, whether the Chicago Reader makes a profit or a loss from these Boards played no part in my decision to subscribe. As others have pointed out to you and the idiot who started this thread, the choice was between paying a nominal fee and losing the Boards altogether, because the Reader wasn’t going to keep them going at its own expense.

I, and presumably plenty of others, decided to fork over the cash because the marginal value of the Message Boards to me was equal to or greater than the amount i was being asked to contribute. If this situation ever changes, and the cost of these Boards begins to exceed the value that i feel i derive from them, then i will cease to subscribe.

You obviously believe that the cost of the Boards is greater than their marginal value, and that’s fine. That’s the sort of economic decision that we all make in the marketplace every day. For example, i bought a new TV the other day, and it cost about $250. There were $500 televisions that i liked, and i do indeed have $500, but i decided that $250 was all i was willing to spend right now on such a purchase, so i bought the cheaper model and i’m very happy with it.

What i didn’t do was hang around the store and harrass the people who bought $500 televisions, telling them that they got ripped off and abusing them for daring to choose a more expensive model. You see, that would have made me an asshole.

62

Short answer: No. Because that doesn’t take into account the money the Reader has already lost running this place, nor paying the tech guys, nor the fact that the only revenue the Reader has ever seen from this place ARE the subscriptions.

63

That’s not how it works. vB isn’t free to anyone; the Reader has paid for their license. Not an expensive license, really; only $160 for a lifetime plus an annual fee for membership. But it’s not free.

That said, you and PorkChop47 don’t seem to get that this isn’t some personal site run by eccentric millionaires or wealthy script kiddies supported by their parents. The SDMB is owned by a company, and companies don’t spend money or give away their resources willy-nilly for the hell of it. As I understand it, the SDMB has been running at a loss for years now. For the Reader (the Chicago newspaper that runs this board) to justify the SDMB’s existence to its owners, the SDMB must at least pay its own way, if not start earning a profit – no matter how negligable.

Something that hasn’t been mentioned yet, I don’t think: Remember, the costs of this forum don’t just include bandwidth/server resources. It takes manpower – i.e., staff – in the form of Ed Zotti and other Reader employees, the names of which elude me for the moment (sorry guys). While the mods are volunteers, some of the higher-ups are paid employees. The time they spend on the forums is money spent by the Reader that counted among the SDMB’s expenses.

You don’t believe in paying money for internet communities? That’s fine. (And btw, a site like webhostingtalk.com can run for free because it’s supported by a shitload of advertising.) A favorite community of mine, televisionwithoutpity.com, nearly went under itself before it picked up a partnership with Yahoo.com and more advertising dollars.

SDMB has no ads. It has only a few “emoticons” (which I assume is what PC47 means by ‘emotes’) and no avatars or images. Instead, it’s a blissfully clean, lean, ignorance-fightin’ machine, and we – the thousands of Dopers – like it that way.

For me, I paid my $4.95 (got in early, woohoo!) and will gladly pay the higher price next year, if I can, not just because I want to be able to search the boards and post my silly thoughts that no one else cares about, but more importantly because I strongly believe in supporting a community that gives me so much entertainment and education.

If you don’t, well, that’s your prerogative. Stop bitching and moaning long enough to actually read the content here. (Reading’s free.) After a while you’ll see just how intelligent, funny and widely-read these folks are, and you’ll want to interact with them too.

Of course, if you continue this Whiny McSpoiledBrat behavior, I doubt they’ll want to interact with you.

64

<SHATNERSCHOOLOF ACTING>I…did not…need…this mental image. KHHAAAAAANNNN!!! </SHATNERSCHOOLOF ACTING>

pork pie’s just peeved 'cause he/she/it didn’t get to post spam here for his/her/probably its own board.

65

Damn! The only reason I paid my $4/95 was because I figured Pork chop would be here.
Oh wait, I paid because I like the site and thought it was worth, it . In fact, I don’t even know who the hell Pork Chop is. Nor do I care. Nor do I care what he wants to do with his money or the reasons he won’t pay for the SDMB.

66

First: Guys. P_T_ stays. He’d better, anyhow.

Second: You know what my favorite part is? PorkChop47 (hereafter referred to as “This Yaboo”) blazes in here with his Magical Indignance Ray set at “OBLITERATE!” apparently assuming that no one has brought any of this up before.

There are cheaper hosts. OMG GOD, there are? Rillyrilly? None of us had ever heard about them, despite the hundreds of posts made by people debating plusses and minuses when we learned that the board was becoming pay-to-play. Wow! Cheaper hosts! Who’d a’ THUNK it? Amazing.

You’re paying just to be able to talk. Well, no. We’re paying for the ability to post, respond, debate, argue, agree, plan parties, learn, organize and occasionally dispel misconceptions and broaden perspective. It’s a subscription to Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Motor Trend, National Geographic, Entertainment Weekly, The New England Journal of Medicine…and they print every letter you write to them no matter how inane, misguided, whiny, or blatantly stupid you’re being. In theory, of course. (Eh hem.)

There are no avatars or animated emoticons. Thank the fucking gods, wherever they may be. As This Yaboo pointed out there are HUNDREDS of bulletin boards ALL OVER TEH INTARWEB OMGLOL which allow avatars and more grinnysmileyfrownyfuckydumb emoticons than you can shake a faggot* at. This Yaboo is welcome to post there. This Yaboo has been cordially invited to NOT post HERE if s/he/it doesn’t like it.

We’re all puppets - tools of THE MAN. Hey, I’m willing to be a puppet, I suppose…but it’s pretty obvious to me that This Yaboo is the tool.

  • A bundle of sticks, duh.
67

After the endless hours (over several years) of entertainment and enlightenment I’ve gotten from this board, I figured it was well worth $4.95. Hell, I’d have paid the full $14.95 without arguing. I’ve spent more than that on books I’ve spent a hell of a lot less time reading.

stands with the chorus singing, “Just leeeave if you don’t liiiike it heeeere…”

68

I know the owner of Philosophy Forums and was a moderator there for a while. I never heard of any ranking system by post number. Anyway, the reason I pay to post here (and have paid for others as well) is because I feel like it is my home and that it is worth it. Incidentally, Paul at PF accepts voluntary donations, and those members get “Contributor” under our names.

69

Paid Subscriptions - What for?

To be able to post on this site after a 30 day trial. If you don’t think it’s worth it fine don’t pay it and lurk if you want to. The Reader and the people run this board have decided that’s the deal. They will sink or swim by their decision but it’s theirs to make. Now you have a decision to make.

I’m sure you familiar with that concept.

70

Ah yes. You know I did notice that after I posted, however the differences between this and the final release is minimal. The point was however that PorkChop was implying they were running an inferior piece of software. It is most definitely not.

As for you others, yeah, I’ll be sticking around.

71

For some of us, this is our favorite part of the show!

We’ve had endless entertainment from people like PorkChop and his ilk. Pre-subscription some of them entertained us for months with their cluelessness, outragousness, or whiney complaints. Now we just get faster turnover.

72

Hey, wait a minute! I just realized I’m paying to read this garbage!!!
WHAT HAVE YOU PEOPLE DONE TO ME!?!?!?!?

73

Of course all of you “charter members” or “i bought my way here” folks are going to defend yourselves. You’re hardly going to admit you were had forking out! Again groupthink is playing an important role, you’re just mindlessly agreeing with each others positions. What’re you so scared off?

You sit there and calculate my errors per sentence, make fun of my name. Wow you go ignorance fighters. I suppose if someone of a diffrent culture or sexual orientation came up to you and said something you’d poke fun at their individuality?

Listen to you. “I’m getting entertainment and getting educated” no you’re not! You’re breeding ignorance in this community, you’ve not got great minds in here, you have the same train of thought, and follow each other. What now you’re going to scare me away from your boards for shedding some truth on the matter?

You’re not even fighting ignorance you’re in denial . You don’t care what a T1 line costs cause you’re being overcharged on this forum. You’re right I’m not going to stop someone from buying a $500 TV set, but if they’re grabbing their bloody ankles and just paid $700 for a $500 television set. I would certain drop a clue. That’s preceisly what’s happening here. It’s your speech, you come up with this scholarly thought or ilk, whatever the case and you have to pay for that liberty. Oh yeah and i did read the stickies. Chicago Reader then owns your thought! Charming. Oh they’re making money from that in the process. mhendo thank you for the"how markets work 101" and also thank you for your decorative cursing. No one has directly addressed or even admitted that you’re being overcharged for the service.
Still no one has cited where one can pay $4.95. One user has kindly provided me to a link where I can get sponsored, thanks for that, but that’s not what i want. Did it not occur to you that your $4.95 subscription is going to run out soon and you’ll have to pay $14.95 Or are you still living in the past.

Wrong, go to
http://www.straightdope.com/ and look to the upper left hand side. Ahh it’s “some crappy banner ad”. The nice folks from straightdope are even kind enough to tell you it’s an ad. So much for no ads on the page. It’s already started.

Also if you don’t like emoticons or avatars, you can turn of images on Internet Expolorer or whatever browser you’re using. Suddenly having more emoticons and avatars (to enhance expression are an evil thing) Pls expand on that. What are you saying, anything more than your 15 emoticons is evil?. Oh but it’s ok to have allow php in your posts. No I’m not contradictory. YOU ARE! On one hand you chastise a new expression enhancer and on the other here we are using it. Why not crank it up a notch.

74

Do you see my title fucktard? Do you? Or do you not acknowledge anything that anyone with some coherant thought posts? Good riddance.

75

Cite, please.

AFAICT, that’s not the message board.
Have you calculated how much it costs to have a someone run this durned thing? I don’t know how much it costs to have someone maintain this thing. I’d guess that the folks who do make at least $25k. How many subscriptions does it take to pay for the operator?

76

Porky , I’ve been posting here since 99, & the term “groupthink” just doesn’t apply.

I guess your pitiful little board doesn’t measure up to what* we’ve* got here, huh?

Bitter, much? :wally

77

Jesus Christ. Read the thread! The 4.95 price is mentioned more times than you can shake a chicken at in there!

There is no current place where “one can pay $4.95”. That price is no longer available, as we’ve been freaking telling you! If you would just listen, then maybe you wouldn’t be so goddamned ticked off!

Urgh. Reading comprehension, kids. Stay in school.

78

But we’re not. We’re being undercharged. The best guess estimate is that the Reader has sunk $100,000 into the board over the last five years. 3800 charter members @ $4.95 = $19,000, still under the average yearly cost of providing us this board. OK, next year - the charter members get 50% off the going rate as long as they remain member - $7.48 = 28,500. Aha, profit! At that rate it will only take 12 years for the Reader to recoup the money they’ve already sunk into here. That’s discounting any upgrades they do make in the interim.

Here’s that history thing again. This has been discussed to death. If I had more time right now, I’d provide you some links (maybe later). The consensus of the owners, the administrators/moderators, and the users is that we don’t want them! Even the smilies have been the subject of heated debate. If you don’t like it, go find a board you do like. It’s really that simple. Just for crying out loud, stop whining about it. You’re not the voice of progress speaking in the wilderness of luddites, you’re the voice in the back of the movie theatre telling the whole house how he’d have done it better.

79

Spit-take! :smiley:

Thank you mhendo. That made my morning! :smiley:

80

How many times have you made this statement? It’s getting old. Look around the boards - at pretty much any thread in GD or the Pit, among others - and you’ll see that “groupthink” is pretty much nonexistent here. Yet everyone bands together against you in this one thread? The people who are responding negatively to your comments are, quite simply, those who feel the fee was a modest price to pay for access to the Board.

So you’re concentrating on the people who make comments about your name and spelling/grammar, and ignoring the numerous posts that have intelligently analyzed your accusations and inflammatory statements? Who’s avoiding the issue here?

I’m not going to dignify this with another response. Just see my first comment in this post.

No one has “admitted” that we’re being overcharged because the established members don’t feel this way. Is that too hard to understand? And what is this “Chicago Reader then owns your thought” tripe? Are you saying we’re mindless because we have forum rules to follow? Please explain.

I should have explained this in my first post. The $4.95 fee was a special deal for people who wanted to sign up soon after the Board announced they were going to switch to paid subscriptions. After the $4.95 deadline, the price switched to the (now regular) fee of $14.95. Charter members still have plenty of time left on their $4.95 subscription, but even next year when we have to pay more, you can bet nearly everyone will stay on board.

Does this ad bother you? Personally, I don’t even see the Straight Dope home page usually - I just bookmark the forum itself, where there are no ads. Even if there were, I’d still visit, because it’s worth the trouble to have access to some of the most intelligent, entertaining and sometimes weird minds on the Net.

True, some things can be articulated by using smileys, but overusing them crimps conversation. The main focus on the SDMB is coherent discussion; most of the time smileys aren’t needed at all - or if they are, they are used sparingly. And your suggestion to “turn off” emoticons or avatars within a browser just shows that you haven’t been paying attention to any of these posts. The people here DON’T WANT avatars. They DON’T WANT an overabundance of smileys. Why should the administration inconvenience the majority of Dopers to accomodate a select few?

You’re just digging yourself a deeper hole. If you have something meaningful to say, by all means say it. Most of the wonderful people inhabiting these boards won’t bite your head off unless you insist on saying the same ignorant things over and over…which, unfortunately, is what you’re doing now.