Damn, but this thread is movin’ fast!!
Opal, you’re right. And I do know that not everyone has access to credit cards. I apologize for that remark, I guess i was caught up in the other aspects of the discussion. I think the board should seriously consider that point and try to offer alternative payment options. Again, in my defense, I offered, and maintain that offer, to help people with registration issues by using my card to pay for registration if people send me the amount. I know I’m not the only one willing to do that, as I have talked to others today who would be willing to do the same.
Why not? That would be much better business, in my opinion. I doubt they want to keep people like you away, racinchikki. Many people would balk at $50 at a time (including me, although I would pay it). And it would be much more appealing to a wanna-be newbie. I wouldn’t give up hope.
Thank you for trying to illustrate this better. I’m not sure what a professional would equate to in the US per se, as that might range from a $13/hour accountant to a $54/hour lawyer.
Rent here in my city (a very low-cost city in the US) ranges from $500 to $900 a month for a 2-bedroom flat. So, 1.5 weeks’ worth of rent is about $175 to $275. $50 will buy about 1 weeks groceries.
Let me ask this: How much is a Big Mac value meal (sandwich, fries, and medium drink)? Seriously? It is $3.49 here, and IIRC 2 pounds 98 in London, and 14 Zlotych in Poland. All of which are close to equating to the exact exchange rate. Now, life is not made of Big Macs (oh, but if it were…mmmm, boy!), so this example may be worth nothing more than to make me hungry…special sauce…drool…damn stupid diet…
Anyhow. My point is not to tell you how much $50US is worth to you in your country - you know that more than I will, and can tell me to get stuffed. I’m just trying to understand this better.
Iv’e seen quite a few sites that charge per month.
I really don’t see how Demo is being a jerk or judging or anything else. If you saw judgment in Demo’s remarks then I would say you are being overly sensitive. You were the one bitching about the condition of your life (“can’t afford what I want”) and Demo (and, I guess, myself) said “too bad, that’s life”.
I used to know the denominations of food stamps by color. I know from experience that government cheese wasn’t all that bad. I had a single mother who had three kids by the time she was twenty and worked in Portland’s sweat shops to make ends meet.
I know the difference between “can’t afford” and “won’t afford”. Most of the people here saying “can’t” mean “won’t”. In many cases I agree that it is a very obvious choice, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a choice.
However, I agree that the quality of the board in many ways will go down if subscriptions are instituted. In many ways it will improve. I imagine that many of the people who come here only for social reasons (don’t leave MPSIMS or IMHO) will wander off to Fathom or elsewhere so maybe the flirting and other high school behaviors will go away or be diminished. Maybe there’ll be more focus on the most important fora here – the ones that actually deal directly with knowledge and learning. Trolls will be a thing of the past, but when someone does flame out it will be spectacular.
It’ll be a mixed bag and SDMB may very well not survive in anything like its current form. Too bad, that’s life.
racinchikki
Either I or Demo would accept your $4.17/month re-payment for our having fronted you the money.
Whatever it takes…
Mod thing:
Okay, folks, this has purported “discussion” has broken waaay out of the boundaries of MPSIMS. I just signed on and haven’t had time to catch up reading the whole thread. This 3rd page is dismal enough. Anyway, first priority is to get this brawl moved over The Pit.
As a general reminder, we don’t encourage flaming, we just tolerate it—in The Pit. And limits pertain even there. This most emphatically is NOT the place for it.
BTW, the whole point of the SDMB is fostering a place for bright, articulate, opinionated folks to hash things over–but to do it on points, not personalities.
TVeblen,
“mod on the roam” for SDMB
Anthracite, here is a site with international “hambuger standards”. Not exactly what you were looking for, but probably something along the same lines. 
As have I, but they always pay more in administrative cost, which means higher fees. Most that I’ve seen, where they’re actually trying to keep costs down use the semi-annual or annual subscription. If this site goes pay, and Chicago Reader wishes to keep even a fraction of SDMB’s members, they’ll have to keep fees as low as possible, and you know what that most likely means: Pay up front.
I’m very much in several mindsets about this.
A pay for post thing simply wouldn’t work.
A subscription fee really depends on relative value. We’d lose a lot of lurkers who only occasionally contribute, since I presume that you could still read the boards for free.
And before anyone goes off on me about being a college student trying to budget :rolleyes: I don’t know if I’d be willing to pay. In terms of how many people we’d lose…
I usually post two times a day: during the hour dinner break I have between when I get off school and go to work, and when I should be sleeping.
Isn’t it enough for us to say that we can’t afford it? Must you make all sort of assumptions about our social lives and question us? Must you call us pathetic and accuse us of having “disappointing” lives? Must you be rude, inconsiderate, and cruel?
Here it is, folks: I DO NOT have $20. I know where every cent of my paycheck will go for the next year. If you made $8 an hour, would you be willing to spare $20?
I say I can’t, you say I won’t: all that matters is I’m not. From what I’ve read of this thread, I think I’m actually making a good decision.
When I was in high school, I was absolutely, unconditionally FORBIDDEN to get a job of ANY kind. Nor did I get an allowance from my mom.
I am not a web designer/administrator.
That said, my experience with the web has been that each transaction incurs a set minimum fee. I would assume the Reader would want to avoid that and make the minimum payment a yearly fee. I am somewhat ignorant in these matters though.
Veb:
(Since this is the Pit now I can complain about moderator actions, right? :D)
I disagree, perhaps things have been heated, but I think it is still a “discussion” and not a “flaming”. Moving this thread to the Pit does a few things that I am very uncofortable with, as a very active poster in this thread:
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It assumes that the thread content is not just a discussion, but a flaming, and will attract flaming responses.
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It moves it away from the “community discussion” part of the board, where it bears its most significance.
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It takes away from the deliberation that has occured so far, which, again, I think is very significant.
Actually, it is exactly what I was looking for.
So, you Australians are only paying the equivalent of $1.55US for a Big Mac??? Now that’s purchasing power - you rich bastards!
And Canada. For shame - you have more purchasing power too, if I read the site right. Your dollar is much more powerful than the US dollar.
For Big Macs.
Has anyone actually refused to pay “on principle?” (Pardon me if I missed it.) To me, it would be worth $20.[sup]oo[/sup] per annum to participate in this board. (Although I do oppose credit-for-profit on principle. Where’s Fightin’ Jesus[sup] tm[/sup] when ya need him?) My concern is that a board that charges for membership will be qualitively different from this board. I think most people join spontaneously, when they have something to say… and then they’re hooked.
Wow, this thread is being posted to like mad. I doubt it’ll get very far down the page for a while yet.
Anthracite: The relative cost-of-living discussion is kinda interesting. I notice you keep coming back to the Big Mac Index – You might want to take a look here. 
[sub]Damn, Kayeby beat me to the Big Mac index link. Faaaast thread.[/sub]
Oh, great, we’ve been thrown down into the Pit. Maybe I’ll go check out what that SDMB Armed Insurrection thread was about.
That all depends on how they handle it. I know a lot of sites that use services to handle memberships (can you say… porn sites? I knew you could!) that handle everything including rebilling. They do take about 12-15%, but it is fixed… however you set it up (and most sites have options for ‘yearly’, ‘monthly’ ‘monthly with rebilling’ etc)
Gaspode’s on to it. Much the same thought drove my seconding of danalan’s earlier posted idea about offering 500 free posts. The hook has got to go deep enough if it’s going to bag its quarry.
The ease of access has brought us the diversity that has heretofore made the board what it is. While I’ve made many friends here, GQ is the center of gravity that brought me here and keeps me here. And no matter what you ask, some astronomer, engineer, hair stylist, waitress, geologist, cab driver, masseuse who knows the answer is liable to pop in and reveal truths that may well remain outside the responses if they have to ante up to offer that answer.
And that is not good.
This response completely ignores the social aspect of the board, which can be pretty intense. In an earlier thread (many months ago) many of us indicated a desire to donate what was needed to keep this going, and Ed et al delivered to us their reasons for not accepting that. I understand what Ed had to say then, but perhaps it should be reexamined.
It’s been a phenomenon. I hate to see it go. Maybe the '60s are over.
Yes, me. On the principle that we’re being lied to about the fact that they’ve “tried everything,” when clearly they have not. Don’t lie to me and then ask me for money to support you. Sorry, that just won’t fly with me.
I reserve the right to change my mind at some future date, depending on feedback and circumstances. But if they say tomorrow we have to ante up or we can’t post, then I definitely won’t be posting. On principle.
Ok, so that means all the H.S. students that post here are under the same rules? I don’t quite understand why you told me this. I would understand if you were still in school and wasn’t able to have money of your own.
If that is the case for some of our current members, then I’d say they fall under the same rule as posters like Arden that well and truly can’t afford it, rather than those that just don’t want to give up a new DVD to be able to post here.