I didn’t get a renewal notice and today I notice purty lil ads peppering my Straight Dope. The depths of hell are not low enough for such things, so I have this question: did the ads pop in due to my not renewing?
Having read Liberal’s thread, I see I am stuck with PayPal, which puts me on the horns of a dilemma–do I put up with annoying ads or take a credit risk?
small potatoes to the SD, I’m sure, but it’s thrown the back out of my Thursday and it’s only 0701.
And now I’m in PayPal hell–they say I have an account (which I do not) and won’t let me proceed. Now they are sending me confirmation, but I have to go to work. There is no Dope at work, nor access to PP.
Also, the SD needs to change its wording on the subscription page. It says to choose an option, when PP is the only option. I know the Reader et al has much bigger fish to fry and all, but does this have to be set up this way?
No need for a PayPal account – when you click the button on the subscription page you’ll go to a page with two forms on it. The right-hand form is for people with PayPal accounts. The left-hand form is a typical web payment form that does not require a PayPal account to use.
One thing that came up once when I used PayPal – make sure you click the continue button instead of hitting return. I think the page’s default action is the login form, which may have pushed you into the particular circle of hell you’re experiencing. (In my case it just used an old PayPal account and my stuff got sent to a place I haven’t lived in since 2002.)
Just make sure you don’t do anything that would let PayPal save your information, and (IMHO) use a credit card instead of a debit card just in case they fuck everything up.
This is what comes up when I click on the only thing I can click on:
There is no other option. 
I’m too tired to deal with this tonight.
I just went to do the same thing and noticed the same thing. Didn’t I pay directly with a credit card last year instead of through paypal? Is that still possible?
eleanorigby, you are required to pay for the membership through the Paypal site. However, you do not have to log in and use a Paypal account to do so. When you arrive at the First page that the Pay with Paypal like takes you, you have a choice: Log in to a PayPal account, or enter a credit card number, and payment information.
Use that option, rather than the PayPal account you are trying to set up, to pay for your membership.
I just opened a thread on this a couple days ago. Someone said they’d do something or something.
Here it is: Can't renew membership --- button missing - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board
Nobody said they would do anything, except that Ed Zotti said he would get around to posting a sticky at some point.
Posting a sticky is something, isn’t it? Or did you have an important point to make?
Suggestion:
I’d reword that thread title to something like, “You can subscribe with a credit card.”
Someone scanning the forum page might see the title the way it is and assume they can’t subscribe with a credit card, and leave without giving the board a try.
Doubtful, seeing how posting is free now, and ads are minimal with the right browser/software installed.
At 3:21 pm yesterday, Ed Zotti promised to put a sticky up “by and by.”
At 2:13 am today, not even 11 hours later, you post “Somebody said they’d do something or something.” There is an implication that there is a failure on the part of the “somebody” to do the “something.” The tone is also somewhat snarky. Given that the promise was to do something “by and by,” I didn’t think that getting snarky about the situation a mere 11 hours later was justified.
Ok, this is frustrating and I’m trying to be patient but I am also very tired and didn’t have the best day at work…
PayPal will NOT LET ME PAY WITH A CREDIT CARD–IT INSISTS THAT I HAVE AN ACCOUNT THAT IT (and I) CANNOT ACCESS AND REQUESTS I CHANGE MY PASSWORD AND THEN DOESN’T EMAIL MY “CHANGE” TO A PASSWORD THAT NEVER EXISTED IN THE FIRST PLACE. In other words, I did follow the instructions provided by PP–to NO AVAIL.
God, that felt good. Thank you all for trying to help, but it doesn’t work for me. I don’t know why. I am on a Macbook, using Safari. The ads are intrusive and the pages to a long time to load now, and they jump around when the ad changes. I don’t know or care why. End of story. A very decent Doper has offered to pay for me and I reimburse him. That should solve the problem for this year, anyway.
Truly, this is not meant snarkily. I am just done with this day and this week. The Dope is no fun to surf with these damned ads. <need emoticon banging head on desk or looking completely resigned to the vagaries of the Fates here>
I’m not sure what inference you expect me to draw. Are you saying that whenever you have a random thought, you feel compelled to post it?
Ok, I took a deep breath and tried again. Bupkus. This is what I get from PP:
I don’t have an existing PP account. I am not about to open another credit card account/email account just to subscribe to SDMB. PP also won’t let me “log in” because I don’t have a frigging account. This is the same message I got last night, but I didn’t post it here. It’s ridiculous. I’d be mad, but I’m so tired, I’m almost crying with frustration. I am off to find a glass of wine or straight hootch and going to bed.
I was telling you you were, in my opinion, complaining without reason. Clear enough for you? :rolleyes:
I’m uncertain from what you are saying, but I am assuming that you clicked on the link, and were presented with the page at PayPal where you have two choices: enter a credit card and associated information (name, address, etc.), or log on to PayPal. I am assuming you attempted to enter a credit card number, and associated information. I am assuming that it is in response to this that you got the message from PayPal.
It would appear that one of two things is true: either PayPal thinks that that credit card number has been associated with a PayPal account before, or that your email address you are entering has been associated with one.
You might try this web page: PayPal Help Center which includes online help, an email address, and a telephone number, to help sort things out. Maybe you have tried all these already; if so, forgive the duplicative and perhaps useless information. 
Is it permissible to pay for membership via a cheque drawn on a UK bank?
May I suggest that when you feel compelled to complain about me, you do it in some other forum.