Well, I’d go back to Utah in a New York minute if I could live in SLC and avoid the snow. 
But who knows, maybe this summer I will go visit my grandparents, and while there, take you up on your offer.
And thanks, I’m gonna miss you too. I’m not giving up though. Things look dismal now, but hey, Jaime is looking for another job. And if he does, that ole entertainment budget will get a much needed influx of cash.
You better! 
I think we can give the professionals at the Chicago Reader the benefit the doubt that they’ve looked into the advertising possibility and found it an unviable option. They don’t have to look at every single exhaustive possible option. I’m sure the thought occurred to them of prostituting Little Ed, but it just ain’t gonna happen.
I’m a Democrat. Does that count? 
Actually, in this context I’m just a price-conscious shopper.
TANSTAAFL
I don’t like it, but it’s a fact.
Ghods, next thing you know, I’ll be saying how great a Pres. ole Dubya has been. :rolleyes:
Are you trying to insult me? They’re “professionals” and I’m not, so they know better than I do? What the FUCK is that? For the record, not only am I currently a “professional,” but I used to SELL ADVERTISING. I do know what the fuck I’m talking about, even if I’m not employed by the holy Chicago Reader.
And I never said they had to look at every single exhaustive possible option. I merely quoted ED’s OWN WORDS they they “have tried everything”. Let me say this s l o w l y, so you get it this time.
They. Have. Not. Tried. Everything. In. Spite. Of. That. Claim.
I don’t know how much of MY reason is the Reader’s reason. I do know that there are a lot of costs involved in drumming up internet advertising, and the last time we tried something like Burst, as you suggested (and we did try something like that) we got advertisements that we had no control over. We got ads for PSYCHICS. It was embarrassing. THespos told us of a way to control the ads, and I think that the Reader is looking at that, too.
But MY reason for liking pay-to-post is not necessarily the Reader’s reason. I’m just saying that this will be a benefit to ME, personally, as an administrator who spends entirely too much time and energy ferreting out trolls.
I’m also somewhat offended that you keep saying that the Reader hasn’t looked into these other revenue sources. I know that the Reader has, indeed, been looking at various schemes. The problem is that most non-porn banners want click-through rates, and don’t pay enough to even cover the cost of administrating them.
Again, most of this is my personal opinions and experiences. We talk about revenue occasionally in the mod mail loop, so I do know more of what’s going on than the average poster.
Lynn
Lynn’s comments are sort of what I was trying to get at in my post in that long thread on this topic.
It seems to me that we must find a way for new members to post (especially in GQ) without paying for these initial posts. If it’s too hard to charge only for specific fora, the idea of 50 free posts seems to be an excellent one.
I’ve heard people say that they were amazed at the responses they got to their initial questions, and that this is what hooked them on the SDMB.
Frankly, though, the people who stay are in the minority. It is my understanding that the vast majority of SDMB members have less than 10 posts. In other words, they posted a question (probably in the wrong forum :D), got (hopefully) good answers, and left.
If I’m capable of responding intelligently to one of these newbie posts, I do so. I like doing this–it’s fun to share what you know. And I’m willing to pay $20 per year to do this. But I am concerned that the source of new questions will dry up. (You know, even veterans are inspired to start threads based on discussions started by newbies.)
For those who have indicated their willingness to pay, $20 seems to be the consensus amount. I agree with those who have said that if the price goes much higher than this, membership will drop to almost nothing.
(To continue the comparison to a magazine subscription, I subscribe to Newsweek, which is a good magazine that I only pay about $20-25 a year for. I’d like to get Time as well, or possibly instead, but they want about $50 a year. Result: I don’t get Time.)
I agree, and hope that posting to “Comments on Cecil’s Columns”, “Comments on Staff Reports” and “General Questions” remains free, since that seems to be a good way to get newbies hooked.
Fenris
Shayna Jesus, who pissed in your cheerios?
Chill the fuck out.
That’s a noble suggestion, but I don’t think it will work out. There are a lot of people who spend most of their time only posting in GQ and Cecil’s Columns and Staff Reports. I myself don’t really post in GD, MPSIMS, IMHO, and CS. It may just end up shifting the posting patterns of people, without providing the revenue required. I agree with you 100% there needs to be a “hook” of some sort, but am uncertain if this idea would do it.
My apologies. There was a problem with the full content of the SDMB Subscription Pre-Registration Form rendering correctly under certain versions of Netscape. The introductory text was not showing up. I’ve modified the HTML and verified that the complete form is now viewable under Netscape 4.72.
Jerry
What robby said.
EXCUSE me?? Fuck off. I’ll state my opinion if I damn well please, as THAT is what this forum is for.
And you want me to PAY for this shit?
“Jesus,” yourself.
I couldn’t let this comment from the other long thread go by.
That’s like saying, “Why should I pay for a car? I can bum rides from my friends for free.”
Just because you are not paying the bills for a service doesn’t make the service “free.” That is the point that people are making when they say that there is no such thing as a free lunch. SOMEONE IS PAYING FOR IT!
Look, hosting a website costs money. You have indeed been getting a free ride at the SDMB up to now. And if you insist on continuing to get a free ride, you can go elsewhere, where you can sponge off someone else.
However, it’s not going to compare to the SDMB. Also, you are only staving off the inevitable. No organization can provide a service like the SDMB, with the volume of our membership and the quality of the administration, mods, and support staff, without some positive cash flow. Any comparable board is going to have to charge as well, or cut back, or eventually go under.
Finally, I fail to see how an organization that is calmly explaining that they can no longer continue to lose money is issuing “threats.”
I am extremely grateful for the Chicago Reader to foot the bills for as long as they have.
With regards to the accusations that Ed and the SDMB administration has “lied” because they said they investigated every option and yet we do not see banner ads floating around on every page:
Banner ads don’t pay for shit. It seems to me that you do not actually have to implement banner ads in order to be able to do a bit of basic research and figure this out. Presumably this option was investigated and found to be somewhat wanting.
Banner ads are annoying as fuck, and I for one will gladly pay $10-20 per year (less than I spend on Coke products – hey, there’s an idea, "Stay healthy! Spend your Coke money on the SDMB! but I digress) in order to be able to NOT SEE BANNER ADS. I am very, very happy that the SDMB has not implemented banner ads. Popup ads too. Do we have to put every single annoying-as-fuck ad concept that has failed pretty much every other site out there up on the SDMB before we decide they aren’t viable options? Hey, let’s not and say we did. I like that when I hit this site, I don’t have to look at 50 million spinny flashy blinky ads that give me a headache, and that every time I hit a page on this site, 15 popup ads don’t spawn in the background. I’ve spent time on sites that have gone that route in order to pay for costs. Very little time. It’s so annoying as to make the site practically unusable. Let’s not implement it here.
And just to reiterate something I already said in the ATMB thread on this topic: I think that the idea of leaving GQ and the Comments forums free to post is a great idea. The “social” forums are the ones that seem to get the most posts and therefore are probably the biggest drain on resources, so it seems like a good idea to just have people pay to post in those. That way we still draw in new blood, but we gain revenue as well. I’m all for it.
Like, three weeks of posting for free, during which time you can cancel your scrip without charges appearing on your card. You still have to give a valid card number to get in, but then if you decide it’s not worth your while you cancel before the charges are incurred. Or a completely free one week period, before you are asked to pay.
I have some idea what the mods and admins go through, so this development is in no way a surprise to me. I’m just happy it’s not going to be 300 bucks.
One of my friends just told me “Fuck them. You can go to another board for free- I would never pay for something like that” While there are free boards, you get what you pay for, mostly, and this guy has subscriptions to about seven magazines he hardly ever reads, always drinks one or two swallows out of a can of beer before letting it become a science experiment, and wastes far more money than this will ever cost on the most worthless bullshit imaginable.(collectible Star Trek christmas tree ornaments?). What a dipstick.
I can understand if you have real money trouble. I’m gonna guess, if you have a real problem, and you send a personal email to one of the mods or admins, they will point you at someone who would be pleased to “sponsor” you, and if you have the ability to Sponsor someone you should contact a mod and offer to do so.
Unless, of course, you’re Fenris.
::d&r::
b.
[sub][Dr Frankenstein]KIDDING! I’m KIDDING! don’t you people know a JOKE when you hear one!! HAHAHA!![/Dr Frankenstein][/sub]
I am 16 in the same situation. I am with you.
Don’t you remember the “change your password” thing a few months ago? The security on the message boards is lax.
I know that municipal zoos used to let people in for free, and when they started to charge a nominal fee, their attendance picked up. I know that a message board is expensive, we have 1.7 million posts, and 92k registered users.