# PAY for the SD? Is nothing sacred? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 24, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177 "2004-03-24T19:56:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/1 "2004-03-24T19:56:49Z")
You mean to tell me that the Chicago Reader ownership is so cheap that it won’t support this bbs? You mean that after having discovered this bbs in its infancy, after being one of the original readers of Cecil in the Reader - you mean now we have to PAY for this? What the fuck? Now I HATE the goddammed board. All those wonderful people who were part of a community of learners - now they’re paying customers. The community? Doesn’t exist if people have to pay to be members. This is worse than anger-producing. It’s discouraging. In a time when we need more than ever to band together to fight ignorance, stupidity and close-mindedness, we find we have to pay to be part of the process. Crap on it. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/2 "2004-03-24T19:59:23Z")
> [@](#): > > The community? Doesn’t exist if people have to pay to be members. Could you come speak to our homeowners association? ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/3 "2004-03-24T20:01:48Z")
Oh, for the fucking LOVE of GOD! ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/4 "2004-03-24T20:02:21Z")
What’s all this about paying, then? ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/5 "2004-03-24T20:05:53Z")
> [@JuanitaTech](#): > > What’s all this about paying, then? I know I didn’t pay. A little blue fairy showed up on Monday morning and turned me into a _real_ Charter Member! ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/6 "2004-03-24T20:13:49Z")
For someone who’s been around as long as you claim to have been **CC** , why didn’t you check to see if there was a thread about this already? I understand that it is easy to miss them, since there’s only about 1,284 of them already! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/7 "2004-03-24T20:18:26Z")
Well, a couple of years ago the Reader started charging $2 APIECE to read Jonathan Rosenbaum’s old reviews, which enraged me no end at the time; I haven’t read an archived review since, and I have no intention of ever doing so. But the board charging somehow doesn’t bother me. First of all, $5 a year is NOTHING, compared to $2 an ITEM. I spend $5 on a cup of coffee a couple times a week fachrissakes. If I can skip one cup of coffee for A YEAR of SD, then I’m happy to do so. However, some things, that have no inherent value on their own become more valuable as other people begin to share the technology; your phone wouldn’t be much good if no one else had one. That’s what’s always been the Dope’s greatest asset, I believe: it’s vast pool of participants; the teeming masses. If this fee results in a reduction of the size of that knowledge pool, it’s a bad thing. And as the Dope’s value diminishes, it seems likely to me that even MORE people would abandon it at that point; that this could theoretically snowball, until there’s no one here but me and Libertarian arguing about who’s more liberal.\* It remains to be seen how this development will change the board. \*Me, btw. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/8 "2004-03-24T20:20:07Z")
You might also check to see the status of all the people who have replied to you. Many of us have subscribed as soon as we saw that subscriptions were available. The good news is - -You can **read SD** as much as you want without paying -You can join \*other \* free sites The bad news is - -Everybody who has actually been active on this board has seen enough whining about this subject that even the people who **agree** with you probably want you to have yourself a nice big helping of shut-the-fuck-up. Bubba ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/9 "2004-03-24T20:20:07Z")
I saw in another thread that the cost of running this board was put at roughly $20,000 annually. Is bandwidth free in stupidworld? If it is, perhaps you should offer to host it. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/10 "2004-03-24T20:24:59Z")
We just oiled the hinges on the exit door. Be real careful of that ass of yours. Haj ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/11 "2004-03-24T20:39:24Z")
> [@SkipMagic](#): > > I know I didn’t pay. A little blue fairy showed up on Monday morning and turned me into a _real_ Charter Member! Hey, I thought I was the only one the fairy visited. You know I would _never_ pay to post here.\* \*its a joke people, I did pay ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/12 "2004-03-24T20:41:38Z")
Let’s see. What, exactly, have I done to incur wrath, disdain, and attempts at ostracizing? I did not search the board sufficiently to discover that this issue has been discussed elsewhere. I complained about having to pay for something that has been free for years. I complained that the ostensible sponsor of this board, a widely circulated newspaper, has refused to support it. Mea culpa. Let this be a lesson to me. If I have something to say, I’ll frame it in terms of a general question and hang out with the more civil folks over there. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/13 "2004-03-24T20:42:58Z")
Attention, shoppers: Whips and clubs are in Aisle 5. Dead horses are in the deli case. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/14 "2004-03-24T20:49:12Z")
:sigh: STFU. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/15 "2004-03-24T20:54:32Z")
> [@](#): > > It remains to be seen how this development will change the board. Way to go out on a limb. Maybe it doesn’t remain to be seen. How can you be sure? ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/16 "2004-03-24T21:06:15Z")
> [@CC](#): > > I did not search the board sufficiently to discover that this issue has been discussed elsewhere. Understatement of the year. > [@](#): > > If I have something to say, I’ll frame it in terms of a general question and hang out with the more civil folks over there. I thought now you HATED the goddamned board. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/17 "2004-03-24T21:11:29Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > Is bandwidth free in stupidworld? If it is, perhaps you should offer to host it. bwhahahahahaha. In addition to bandwidth, servers are free, disk space is free, backup tape is free. Jerry doesn’t get paid either, but the reason the board is so slow is he has resorted to eating the hamsters. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/18 "2004-03-24T21:12:20Z")
> [@](#): > > I did not search the board sufficiently to discover that this issue has been discussed elsewhere. Have someone show you all the little squiggly things up and down the page that look like these. They can be decoded by people who read. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/19 "2004-03-24T21:13:13Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > It remains to be seen how this development will change the board. I predict that, in the short term, it will lead to more whining. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177/20 "2004-03-24T21:18:31Z")
> [@](#): > > The community? Doesn’t exist if people have to pay to be members. Homeowners associations. Bowling leagues. The ACLU. Yale University. Johnson County Community College. Little League. The United States of America. All require fees, memberships, taxes, etc. to be a member. CC, get off the goddamn fucking cross and stop being a whiny little bitch because you sound absolutely pathetic. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pay-for-the-sd-is-nothing-sacred/236177.md?page=2)