If you haven’t read the new announcement, do it.
I’m not sure what forum this belongs in, maybe ATMB, but it’s not like I have a question about the board, I just wanted to establish a thread for dopers to talk about the subscription thing. Mods - feel free to move this.
So, what’s your thoughts?
I’d be tempted to subscribe if I was sure that enough regulars were also going to go for it. If the usual gang of idiots started dropping like flies, I’d be worried.
I don’t have any problem with paying for something I use so much. I probably spend half an hour a day at a minimum on the boards; and since I pay about a dime an hour for my ISP connection, I wouldn’t have a problem with paying substantially less for access to this groovy board.
Corr
Nope. I don’t like it. I won’t pay to post. Sorry.
Part of what makes any message board so interesting is the turn over in posters which will slow to a halt if they start charging a fee.
I was a long time lurker who finally got sucked into thread that I couldn’t resist putting my two cents into. I wouldn’t have felt such a need if I had to pull out my charge card first.
Many of the most active posters will probably be willing to pay a fee. Many of the major lurkers/sometime posters probably won’t bother will go back to complete lurkerdom. New members will probably be few and far between.
I understand why they are considering it. But, I don’t think that in a year the board will be a virtual ghost town.
I’m a businessman.
I understand it.
The Reader has considerably more resources than I have. And I’ll be unemployed soon. Oh, well. Maybe I’ll spend more time doing other things.
I understand it as well, but I’m thinking that the price needs to be very reasonable.
This message board is unlike almost every other board out there. But new members really don’t know that. They see this message board, they see it looks similar to other message boards, but other ones are free and this one charges. So why bother getting to know about this message board, why bother to stick around and see what makes this board so good, when they can just drift over to the next one and post there?
Also, a question: it says “Only one pre-registration is allowed per registered user and per computer”
Does this mean that if we use multiple computers to access the boards we now won’t be able to?
I understand the motivation. It costs a great deal to host a site, and quite a few of the bigger pages are starting to go to fees. The ones that are not are asking for donations to keep them running. Maybe this is something that the SDMB could look into. If people want to pay into the system, let them. I’m sure there are those who will.
I’m with Zumba though, I think that the new member population would drop to nothing. I wouldn’t have begun posting if I had to pay to do it.
–==the sax man==–
I knew this was going to end up just like my crack dealer and the lady who lives in the trailer at the end of the street. Nothing in life stays free forever.
::sigh:: If SDMB goes to a pay-system, that’ll probably be my motivation to leave. I’m a poor student and I can’t nearly afford $20-50. I probably spend too much time here anyway… ::sigh::
I can see why this is nessecary, and I can totally understand wanting to charge for access to the archives of Cecil’s column - cos you want people to buy the books & not just read the column online like poor shmucks like me do - but the prospect of a SDMB fee still makes me sad.
I would be more likely - much more likely - to pay a fee if it was considerably less, say, in the $5-20 range. I just can’t swing more than $20. I don’t subscribe to magazines because I can’t afford it. I don’t buy new books because I can’t afford it. I probably won’t subscribe to the SDMB because I really & honestly could not afford it. And I know that I’m not the only one.
::sigh::
I understand their reasons.
BUT…
I have exactly $18.43 in my bank account,
$5 in my wallet,
and my $300 credit limit won’t even cover my books for next semester.
And I don’t have a job right now.
I probably can’t afford it.
I would in a heartbeat.
For all the amuement alone, if not for the fact I met two of my best IRL friends here.
It goes against everything I like about the internet. Plus I never would have begun posting, had I been asked to pay up front. The new member turnover will drop, and this place will become less interesting.
If they were to ask for voluntary donations, I’d contribute in a heartbeat, because I like this place as it is…chaotic, effervescent. But I doubt you’ll see me pay a mandatory subscription.
I guess I’ll never see 2000.
You’ve got a great point there. I was also sucked while lurking and I definitely would NOT have joined up if I’d had to pay first. I also understand the need to charge a fee to support costs, so here’s my proposal:
Allow members 50 free posts. Once their post count hits 50, ask for the subscription fee. This encourages the influx of new members and fresh ideas (and may hook some members enough to get subscriptions).
Give free lifetime subscriptions to the 85th percentile of members, judged by number of posts. This would be a good way to keep the established core of witty, enthusiastic members participating on the boards.
I know that I fall in neither category, and I would be among the willing to pay a subscription fee to remain here. I can’t afford it all at once, but even $50/year is just $4/month (although I really hope that the yearly fee would be closer to $20, because I’m also very broke)
$20.00 a year? Oh, yeah. That, I could find in my budget.
$50.00? Yikes. Can’t do it.
I know a $30.00 difference doesn’t sound like much to a lot of people, but I’m a simgle Mom supporting 2 kids. Believe me, I can’t do $50.00.
Unfortunately, if the board went pay, I would force myself to cough up the $20-50.
I’m a poor student too, and I sure as hell hope the board stays free.
I completely understand the need for charging a yearly fee but I don’t really support it. I know that I wouldn’t have ever started posting here if I had to pay for it. But, after saying that, I’d have to say it really depends how much the yearly fee would be as to whether or not I’d stay. It says that they’re thinking of charging in the range of $20-$50 per year and then later down the page it says “The proposed fee is roughly what you’d pay for a magazine subscription.” Well, I don’t know about you but the magazines I subscribe to cost me between $9-$12 per year. Anything more than $20 per year is too much IMO.
I think a lot of the regular posters are going to stick around for awhile but there won’t be as many new posters so the board’s going to get stale really quick! Just have to test the waters and wait and see I guess.
I hope my post count gets to 1500 before I have to stop though!!
Well, he did say if we pre-registered we’d receive a substantial discount. Whatever THAT means. 
BTW, I’m with the rest of you. $20 sounds reasonable. $50 a year is excessive, IMO.
I used to get all bent about stuff that was “supposed” to happen. Then I realized that sometimes they don’t happen at all, or when they do, they’re not as bad as I may have imagined them to be.
Unless I missed something, the message said:
if and when you mercenary bastards ever start to charge.
Perhaps the days of free SDMB will be over soon. Perhaps not. The announcement is simply an invitation to sign up for an existing customer discount, should they go that route.
I also have not seen any indication of what the fee may be. Who says it would be prohibitive? Maybe it will only be $10 a year. Maybe it will be $30 or more. The point is, it hasn’t been announced yet, so I see no point in getting all bent right now.
As for deterring new registrants, my guess is there would be a free trial period of sorts. C’mon in, get acquainted for 30 days, no charge. If you like, you pay. If not, you can’t post, but you can still read. Maybe they will even offer a student discount, who knows?
As far as the Reader having resources, it’s my understanding that they don’t support the SDMB, so that’s not really a valid comment.
Whether it’s the SDMB, or software downloads, or getting music, the days of free stuff on the Internet are drawing to a close. We live in a world where there are very few free rides. Paying for bandwidth and vB registrations, database administration, hardware support…it all costs money. A small subscription fee isn’t a whole lot to ask.
I’ll pay a fee, since I would guess that part of it will go towards hardware upgrades, which the Board sorely needs.
I have to wonder about those of us who have two family members living in the same household registered. (We have two now with a thrid thinking of joining ) Will we all have to pay? I know there is no way we can do that at this point.
But I do understand why a fee may start being charged and can see some good coming of it. I mean how many people are going to have several socks if they have to pay for them ?
$20-$50 is nothing if you think about much other sites coughporncough cost some people every month. 
I’m all for it. If it gives management the money to buy better equipment so the board won’t time out on me or go down, I’ll pay it.