Like I said in the other thread in ATMB, I will probably go to.
I was going to post in MPSIMS that I might have to go anyway since my phone is gone and hubby and I are arguing over my online time and friends anyway so I was going to take a break for a while.
Oh, and the good news for the day is that they re-poed our only vehicle after taking the first one two months ago.
Yes, actuallly, I have.
I waffled at first, but then Mr.Visible posted somthing that made me think a bit more, and I’ve come down solidly on the “Won’t Pay” side.
See my first post on page 3, bottom half of the post.
Yes, but IIRC, most of those site aren’t too worried about keeping costs particularly low: They’ve got people knocking their doors down (am I wrong?). It’s the cost-per transaction thing. Every transaction has a cost associated with it, and if you’re setting a contract with a service, the more flexibble your payment options are, I suspect, the more you’ll pay in comission to the service.
If I’m mistaken, please educate me.
Oh, I’m not talking about the SDMB…I’m talking about those of you who seem * offended * by the idea that the SDMB would dare to charge you!
This has something that has amazed me since the birth of the internet…the fact that so much is offered for free. It never made any sense to me. I certainly enjoy it, but I would never in a million years * expect * it! What planet are you people on that you think you have a ** right** to the work and the resources of the Chicago Reader? Lemme clue ya: you ** don’t. **
I think it’s a very sensible idea, and I certainly prefer it to seeing the best board on the net ** close down.
**
I was once an extremely poor person. Extremely. If I were still that person, this would make me blue. But I still wouldn’t think that there was anything wrong with it. And in fact, I would probably cut out a few movie rentals and a couple of magazines to pay for it. After all, a couple of movies and magazines adds up to what…6 or 7 hours of entertainment? Hell, there are times when i’ve spent longer than that here * in a single day! * (No, I do not say that with pride).
A few people made the very, very, very smart suggestion that the initial posts should be free. Gotta reel 'em in… 50 posts free, then, when they are all hooked up and have to do that 51st post about what they think of “Citizen Kane”, they gots ta pay. I think it would be disastrous to make people pay before the very first post, that would certainly cut into the new signups, even stop them.
stoid
I would gladly pay for services rendered. I get much pleasure out of this board and it’s inhabitants. I hope to be around long enough to make good friends here, too.
I do agree, however, that the make-up of the board will change, and perhaps not for the better. One of the things that makes SDMB so special is the diversity of the Teeming Millions[sup]TM[/sup].
When I found Cecil, it took very little time to recognize that I was hooked on the SDMB. The free starting posts may be a good idea.
At any rate, I would have rather seen donations but if pay-for-service is the only alternative, then I’m in.
Beatle(It’s hard for me to call you Ringo. 
), I think a lot of people are forgetting about how many lurkers there are, and also, how many people were on the board a couple years ago, when it was STILL great.
Many of the people who eventually registered here have been lurkers, and I’m surprised that not many of them have responded to these threads (besides their lurker nature ;)). I don’t think charging a fee to post to the site would affect it that much, since they’d still be reading and would still want to post once they had something to say. Posting first is not the typical pattern of most of the long time posters here. Try to remember the threads when people described how they joined. Almost universally, they said that they lurked for a long time first, just reading posts. Also, this board was fantastic when we had half the posters we have now. I agree that diversity makes the board great, but I think it’s a fallacy to say that the number of posters makes it great since, as I said, the board was great a couple years ago, when it had far fewer posters.
Regarding the “First ‘X’ posts are free, then you pay” idea.
I’ve seen a couple of sites that do this. One site is Kovell’s auction site (You puch in an antique or anything into it’s database and it’ll spit back an estimated value of it). If I remember right, the first five estimates were free and then you’d have to pay.
It’s a nice concept… but it didn’t work, at least in my case.
In my case, once I’d burned through the first five estimates estimating the wrong item- and had used up my free trials- I simply went back and registered under a new name and… bingo! five new free estimates under a new assumed name.
I can’t see how that easy and obvious workaround won’t happen here.
Too bad, because it’s a cool idea. Without a ‘grab’ or teaser, I don’t see how this won’t get stale fast.
Wish I had an idea, but I don’t.
Larry Mudd said
Well, 2 out of the first 9 posts after you asked the question ID’ed themselves as such posters. I could search all the varied thread on the board and offer up a dozen more, but I would assume my point was confirmed?
As a side note, I would agree with the posters who would not pay if the board changed dramatically because half of the posters dropped out. It certainly would change the character of the board.
I can afford it and I wont pay to be on a message board, I will simply spend more time at Una’s board and Fathom where I can read all I want then post when I choose along with the other boards that I have enjoyed over the years, including the AOL boards.
My internet expenses are already out there as it is between my four domains and having two connections and a separate phone line. I just can’t justify it when I really don’t post that much compared to what I used to.
I don’t go to movies and rarely (maybe once a year) rent movies. I don’t go to bars, I would rather drink at home where I am safe. I eat at home because I love to cook and frankly, most restaurants can’t cook a meal. I don’t have cable TV because I get eight free channels of shit. Eight free channels of shit is much better than forking out $40 a month for 70 channels of shit. In short, I spend very little money on entertainment because I do have the internet.
(I can hear a few cheering from this following statement)
So, if the SDMB becomes pay, here’s a two year user that would go elsewhere for entertainment. I have made some friends here and a few I will just keep in touch with in chat, a few others I will see in at least three of the other boards. I lived without the SDMB before October of 1999 I can live without it again.
BTW, I can understand why they are doing this but on the same token I think this place will become stale like others said. I have stated in the past that I would donate, and I still would but to be forced to pay into it, naw, I just wont do it. A magazine or health club is one thing, an internet message board is 'musment for me.
Oh and encyclopedia.com went subscribe only, now I just spend a few extra minutes on Google and look up what I want. They lost a loyal viewer.
Hmmmm… let’s see… Mr Cazzle goes off to work each day, to support me and my cats. He comes home each night to find I’ve neglected the housework in favor of chatting on the Straight Dope Message Boards all day, and is forced to assist with the housework despite putting in a long day at work…
If I propose he now PAY for the SDMB, as well as wash his own shirts, he’s going to throw a party to celebrate me returning to the life of a housewife instead of chatting to invisible people all day. Hell, I think Mr Cazzle would pay real money to erase the words “The people on the Straight Dope think…” from my vocbulary.
So, as much as I love this place and you guys, until my health improves to a point where I can earn enough to pay my own subscription I’m going to have to be a lurker, not a poster. And I’m going to have to do the housework. D’oh!
I can understand and sympathize with bandwidth and server maintenence costs. My observation has been that when a site has to start charging sunscription fees, then it’s circling the drain already. For this reason, as well as many others expressed by other posters (loss of diversity, paying to allow Chicago Reader to use my content, etc.) I will not be ponying up. And if I can’t post, I won’t be reading either. It would be too frustrating to me not to be able to chime in.
I am appalled at the elitist attitudes that this has brought out in some. Just because someone can’t/won’t afford to pay whatever amount a year makes them less valuable and worthy to contribute? The boards will IMPROVE if said posters are “weeded out”?? My god. Unfuckingbelievable.
What planet is the Chicago Reader on when they think they’ve the right to charge me for license to freely use my content?
Yup, they’ve busted their ass on this board. And thousands of posters have rewarded that effort by providing their content free of charge to the Chicago Reader. It was a fair trade. Now, they wish to change the terms of that trade, and I’m not going for it. When the SDMB goes pay, I go bye-bye. Miss me, or don’t, either way, I’ll be gone.
Stoid, just to clarify to you, I don’t think I have a “right” to a free website to post on. Nor do I feel that the SDMB isn’t worth $20.00.
I guess I’m just pissed off that they’re holding their hand out to me, claiming that they’ve tried everything else and this is the last resort or we lose the board, when that’s not true AT ALL.
IF the Straight Dope had been running banner ads for the past year and came to us and said that revenues have fallen such that they cannot maintain the site without additional assistance from the members, I’d fork over twice that amount to help out.
But to dun me for money when there’s perfectly good ad space right at the top of this very board that they aren’t taking advantage of - well, that just pisses me off. And then to lie about it with the “we’ve tried everything” line? I’m insulted.
Perhaps in time I’ll get un-insulted and sign on. But at the moment, that’s how this whole thing makes me feel.
Yes, that is exactly what I said. Oh wait, no it wasn’t. That’s just you reading all kinds of crap into it. :rolleyes:
Yes, this is difficult… let me try to explain… I was trying to demonstrate that not all high school students have the option to work and earn money. I see how this could be a confusing concept, but I’m at a loss for how to explain it in simpler terms. I’m sorry that my posts are so bewildering to you.
$25 a year? That’s a beer or two in a pub a month. What an outrage.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Anthracite *
**
Ahh, yes, but flip it. If we order that Big Mac from the US, it costs us $4.96. If an American orders a Big Mac from Australia, it only costs him $1.55.
Straight Dope membership may cost as little as $US20, or as much as $US50, which means it will cost us between $AU39.00 and $AU97.00. That’s a big range. That’s a lot of Big Macs.
What if the situation, regardless of whether it is completely rational or not (as the business world is very often irrational), is this?
- People reject the payment option en masse, and then one day we try to read the Board, and get:
- About 200 people pay to post, the rest leave or go to read-only.
Which is the worse option? At least in (2), there is still a Board. What if there is a very real chance of the Reader pulling the plug, with no warning? Think it won’t happen? I’ve seen a $20M project that ended on one phone call, when a business found it too unprofitable to continue. Compared to that, ending the SDMB takes no effort.
At this point, without a payment option in place as a business plan, I have doubts seeing the SDMB lasting another 3 months. The choice may not be between pay-no pay. It may be between SDMB-no SDMB. Very sad, but possibly true. 
Amen to that.
Yep, sure if one is choosing between a beer or two in a pub per month and the SDMB. Although isn’t that an awfully expensive pub?
Some of us aren’t choosing between the SDMB and beer though.
I never really needed to get a job, because I’ve always had about 100 dollars or more in mp pocket since I’ve been 13, so I guess I could (i know I could) pay my way here, I just don’t want to. Convincing my father to use his credit card, that would be another story. So I guedd what I said in mo other post is just me being lazy.