Ahh… ok. Sorry I misunderstood what you meant by that. I agree 100% with you.
LilShieste
Well, my joke did not work out quite as I wanted it. I was expecting the next poster to play along and ask how I could buy the gas if I did not have $5 and then I would point out that if the world hated me so much no one would lend me $5 for something I really wanted then surely someone would hate me enough to give me the money for the gas. But, of course, some righteous, humorless, asshole, had to show that he is indeed an asshole who is willing to find offense anywhere where it can be found and even where it cannot be found. Some people like to take offense so I suppose we do them a favor when we annoy them.
Nope. I never said that I was never short on money, but even short I somehow found a way to get a hamburger, or see a movie. I’m sure I’ll now be called a jerk, asshole, etc., but I don’t know of a single person who doesn’t spend some infinitesimally small percentage of their income on entertainment. Hell, even some homeless people find a way to afford booze.
Like I said, if the SDMB isn’t worth spending the money on to you, fine, but when you’re putting the ice cream in your mouth, I want you to think about how much money you spend on things that aren’t essentials, and then tell me again that you can’t afford a $5 entertainment layout. There’s a vast difference between not wanting to pay it and not being able to pay it.
True, and there’s also the trollish louts who desperately resort to the “Garwsh, it was jes’ a joke!” when called on their loutish behavior. They’re always fun to annoy too.
That’a good point, as well. But if there were a lesbianenemanursesinbondageforfree.net, I would equally encourage the passholders of lesbianenemanursesinbondage.net to check it out, as it might save them some money.
BTW- how did you know I was a passholder? 
LilShieste
It says “Charter Member” under your username.
I am sorry if my post offended you but I do not understand why you were offended. Could you please explain to me why you found my post offensive?
You told poor people to light themselves on fire maybe?
You Sir are a prick. Grade A #1 asshole. I haven’t worked in over 2 years because of a medical condition, don’t have a bank account with my name on it nor do I have a credit card. What I DO have OTOH are 2 HUGE student loans that I’m paying 57 dollars a month on, 2 small children (one of which is disabled) that need food, clothes, medication, NUMEROUS doctors visits every month, a pair of broken glasses that I cannot afford to get fixed, a shut off notice for my lights and the miniscule paycheck my husband gets to pay these and other sundry bills. We recently finished paying off three MAJOR bills so this MIGHT be getting better soon but I’m not counting on it. We sold the car last year to pay off some medical bills so I have to take the bus or walk everywhere. No looking for loose change there. You want to talk about going out and “finding” money? Well the last 5 dollars I “found” went to a gallon of milk and some bread to feed my kids. IMHO you and other asshats like you need to think before you go spouting shit. Not everyone that posts on this site have the money to go out to McDonalds to eat or buy chocolates or even new clothes.
Yeah I have problems but that doesn’t mean I should
What I get from the SDMB is a little bit of sanity in my insane world. Sometimes, when I’m hurting and physically can’t walk out my door, I come here and can escape for a little while. I can have an intelligent conversation or just blow off some steam. I can get in touch with a LITTLE smidgen of reality.
5 dollars doesn’t seem like much when you have 500 or more in the bank but, when you have gotten all the change out of the couch and the piggy banks and your still broke, it’s a LOT of money. When it means the difference between feeding the kids or paying for online pleasures… Guess who wins. 
I guess this is a good a reason to delurk as any.
I guess I don’t really see what the outcry is, in the end its the Readers decision and they’ve taken it. I’ll return to the wisdom of that in a sec but there appears to be nothing that can be done about it.
I don’t think anyone is really complaining that they physically could not find five bucks, they’re saying that at this point in their life and with their situation that they are not willing to pay five notes for the priviledge or posting here or put more simply, to them this board is not worth $5. I really don’t see why people are so up in arms about this, it’s their decision, get over it, move on – stop being an ass about it all.
Frankly I’m stunned that the Reader didn’t at least try a donation system, or any other method of funding (and I’ve seen lots of good ones suggested over the years). Many of them would have required little or no effort and if they hadn’t worked then go to subscriptions – nothing ventured etc. I wish that the 30 days free was 100 free posts, as that seems much fairer given the vastly differing posting frequencies on the board. I hope that arguments about mod decisions don’t get out of hand no that people have something ‘at stake’ – I think making much more use of a ‘suspended’ status may be in order.
Ignoring all that, they’ve started charging, their decision, and I’ll pay and give it a year – I like the having the ability to post tho’ I rarely use it. I’m in the UK, I’ll save the five bucks by having one less pint next week (and, god, do I wish I’d had at least one less last night). I realise that the five note is too much for some people in other countries or that this board isn’t their priority, fair enough I understand and wish them all the best and hope they find somewhere else to spend time in cyberspace. You will be missed, some more than others.
A final question, if someone doesn’t register does their username become availble again ? I.e. could we be open to a bunch of people pretending to be other posters – or will all names be forever reserved.
Just my two cents ( ha ! ),
SD
I can and I’m sorry if my response made me seem that I was humorless and/or hypersensitive.
I think there are a number of Dopers (not many perhaps, but at least some) who really are going to be unable to afford to pay. I’ve been in that sort of financial situation (where you have to watch, quite literally, every penny) and, frankly it sucks.
I’d seen a bunch of other posts saying, essentially, “If you can’t afford the SDMB, you’re not working hard enough.” and I saw yours (which I understand is hyperbole) saying the same thing, but in a far nastier way.
It didn’t come across to me as though you meant it to mock the people accusing the less fortunate Dopers of being lazy, having bad priorities, of just not wanting to be better off, etc. and it sounded as though you were kicking these less fortunate Dopers while they’re already down.
Fenris
Fuck every single one of you who is saying “if you don’t have $5 then…”
Practically noone is saying they don’t have five physical dollars. They are saying the can’t afford five dollars. They can’t justify five dollars to this when they look at their budget. What the fuck difference to you does it make if they can’t afford it or not? Why this offended disbelief at other peoples financial situation?
Airman Doors then listed up (personally, I heard Homer Simpson when I read it) a completely unbelievable list of things that this “alleged pauper” would not be able to afford if they had such a limited budget.
Yep, check, that describes 2002 nicely, thanks for reminding me. Actually, I lie, we would buy a pack of chocolate biccies at the weekend, so we felt like we weren’t living like fucking animals. On the movie rental front, towards the end of every fucking month we would say “maybe next month”. I could have scraped 5 dollars together sure, but I would have used them for food, or for my bills, or for something that me and the mrs could enjoy together. And the same goes for ever 5 dollars after that up until the point where I could afford to join up. The word afford is about priorities, not about posessions.
Obviously nearly everyone has 5 physical bucks, but they have other things they need to pay for. Do I put five bucks on myself when I know my kid would get a big kick out of seeing Finding Nemo? If I do make that call, will I be kicking myself in the head when I run into some sort of problem, when my asthma medicines run out and I really need them now, but I am short?
You don’t have to understand, you don’t even have to believe what your fellow dopers are telling you. It would however be nice if you could stop being fucks about it, ignore it, jesus christ, just shut the fuck up and don’t comment.
Considering this is the same place that had a 5 grand whipround for two dopers who were on the verge of being homeless before christmas, I am fucking stunned to see these comments. Ya pack of shites.
Actually, it would be interesting. There is, after all, a market for police scanners by people who just like to listen. Television is such a medium, also. I’m not suggesting no one will pay. I am suggesting that it might change the dope in such a way as to not make it worth paying next year.
At any rate, compare it to all you want. The point is that some people notice that the only condition of posting is payment. That’s the direct link. It isn’t irrelevant, silly, or stupid. It is what CR put out there.
As one of the people who has been misunderstood pretty much in that same way, I’d like to say that I’m not saying that if you can’t afford it, then you’re not working hard enough. I’m saying that if you can’t afford it, then maybe it’s just not in the cards right now. Like you and many others, I’ve had times of poverty and struggle. Sometimes, during that time, my only choice was to let it go. I did always work to better myself as I’m sure everyone here is doing and, eventually, things began to open up. Now that I can do much of what I want, I see that there are others who can’t. That’s just the nature of the thing. Everybody just can’t be on the ins for everything at the same time. It’s good if those on the ins don’t flaunt that they’re on the ins and those on the outs don’t resent anybody that they’re on the outs. Sometimes the ins can help the outs. Sometimes they can’t because they’re only barely in. And sometimes the outs don’t want help. Even the most extreme liberal view wouldn’t say that posting at SDMB is some birthright entitlement, like food or housing. There’s just a lot going on here, and people are reading things with understandably preconceived notions into what other people mean.
I am speaking purely for myself, but I think no one would comment on it if we didn’t see so many people who feel they are entitled to have everything on the 'net be free, including the SDMB. Just because it’s been free from the beginning doesn’t mean they are now obligated to have it remain free for life. If one can’t afford it, however they define it, fine. But don’t whine (and I’m not saying you are doing so) that the SD or anyone “owes” you.
The way I see it is it’s useless to argue what would be “acceptable” methods of pay to play when they’ve already decided on one. Or argue what they should have done. Either you approve (for whatever reason: future content and/or past enjoyment) and pay, or don’t and don’t. It’s always been their way or the highway (with rules, etc.) and I don’t see why it should be a big shock that this is too.
Do I think the dope will the stay the same? No, I’m actually hoping it improves - it’s no secret that I haven’t been around much in the last… god, almost year, for a couple reasons. Do I think it will improve? I don’t know. If it doesn’t, or it goes in yet another direction I don’t like, I won’t renew next year. No big. And just because they put this method in place doesn’t mean that if it fails (by whatever standard anyone cares to measure) they can’t change their minds and try other, maybe “better”, methods.
Your musical input will be missed, **gex[/g], but I think you’re mistaken about the situation. I sincerely doubt that running the SDMB contributes anything at all to the Chicago Reader’s profits. Why the Reader does run it is beyond me. Anybody’s who’s stumbled upon this website in Chicago probably already reads the reader. Anyone outside of Chicago is not going to bother to pick up the Reader…why would they? While it does contain informative articles, it functions mostly as a “Time Out”-type weekly arts & entertainment newspaper. Most of us get the Reader to see what concerts are going on this week, what movies, what theater, and perhaps to browse the classifieds. The content is almost completely local – even the cover stories are predominantly local. There’s no reason anyone outside Chicago would pick up the Reader.
Add that to the fact that the vast majority of Dopers are not located in Chicago, the Reader has absolutely nothing to gain by having us here. In fact, they’d almost certainly be better off rid of keeping up this message board yet, for whatever reason, they continue to contribute to its upkeep.
What is with the sense of entitlement some of you people have? I’m really am sorry your finances are in such a shape that $5 is going to keep you from buying milk or putting shoes on your kids. I am sorry that you don’t have a spare dime to buy a Big Gulp or go to the movies. I am really sorry that you are homeless and post from the Library. I am not being sarcastic, I really am sorry.
I can’t afford to go skiing every weekend, so we go to the dollar movies instead. I really want one of those new Thunderbirds, butter yellow with a gold kit, but my budget only allows a Sportage. I would love to fly to Hawaii this week, but instead we’ll drive out to the Island for free.
That is how life works. If your budget only allows you to access free sites because you absolutely cannot afford the $5, then you deal with it and adjust things to make it work or you move on. Simple as that, pay or don’t pay just stop whining about how unfair it is. The CR owes you nothing, no matter how poor you are or how important of a role the SDMB plays in your life.
There have been offers to sponsor people who can’t afford it and offers to let others use PayPal accounts or credit cards when a person has no way to pay. So what’s the problem?
I, for one, am not saying that people are entitled to having “everything on the net be free.” I just think it is pointless for someone to pay a party to perform some services, when the same services can be provided – at no charge – by another party.
Like many other things, it all comes down to economics. It’s why the CR is doing this, and it’s why several posters probably won’t be sticking around.
LilShieste
And. . . . ?
What should the Chicago Reader do? Take a financial statement from each and everyone of us and make the subscription fee income based?
Well that’s quite a stretch of interpretation for that single post. I hope you are not mistaking me for someone with a history of being mean and rejoicing in the misfortune of others.
I have not read the threads discussing these situations because, frankly, they don’t interest me. I am not calling anyone lazy and I am not judging anybody’s situation or choices but, frankly, to make $5 sound like a huge problem is just silly. Yes, I know what it is to be short of money. I know it very well, but come on, $5 for an online posting board is a serious problem worth discussing for a long time? I don’t think so.
Is there anyone here who
a) Feels the SDMB is really important to them
b) feels they absolutely cannot take that money from anything else because everything else they spend money on is more important and
c) they cannot find any friend, any one at all, IRL or on this board who will sponsor them?
If there is anyone in that situation please let me know. Otherwise I have a feeling there is a lot of drama being played out here just for effect but, as I say, I have not read the threads.
My impression is that if someone posted a good justification explaining the SDMB is really important to them, but they absolutely cannot afford to pay $5 and why, in spite of being nice people with something interesting to say, they have absolutely no friends who can give them $5, well, the next post would be from somebody offering to pay the $5 and that would be the end of it.
I know I would pay $5 to read some people’s posts and i would pay even more to avoid other people’s posts. Come to think about it the SDMB could auction off some bannings and make some dough. For example, take, say, milroyj, the SDMB could price his posting privileges at whatever the rest of us are willing to pay to see him not post. So the SDMB auctions off milroyj’s posting rights. If he or those who are pro-him is the high bidding side then he gets to stay but if the cons are the high bidders he is banned. In any case the SDMB comes out ahead.
I’m only joking.
Well, not really. I would pay to see some idiots banned. I really would. And more than $5.