I thought I was automatically renewed but cannot find anything about it, and now I’m getting ads so it looks like my membership has lapsed. How do I check? What happened to it going automatically?
It says guest under your user name.
Yeah, I saw that, which means my subscription expired since 4/12, which is when I got the email about it. Perhaps the PTB no longer want me… 
I don’t believe subscriptions ever were automatic. You may get a reminder that your subscription is about to expire, but you do have to pay for another year manually. It isn’t just automatically deducted from your credit card or bank account, or whatever.
It says right in the email "If you have selected a recurring subscription you will be automatically billed for the renewal, ", which I was sure I had. Still seems odd that there was only a few days warning as well.
OK, I see. I hadn’t noticed you could have a recurring subscription. I withdraw my comment, then.
Am you’re around, curlcoat. You’re an interesting person.
Just couldn’t bring yourself to say you are happy?
[sub]I keed, I keed[/sub]
What does this even mean? I would like to claim someone had hacked my account.
According to my account, I’m good through May 2013. How’d I do that then?
I thought you could pay for one or for two years. I just checked, and those are my two options. No “recurring subscription”. I suspect that reference is boilerplate that didn’t get changed, even though they don’t have the recurring option enabled.
ETA: if you had a recurring subscription, wouldn’t they bill you once a year, for a year?
The line at the bottom of the subscription page says this:
Since there are no subscription options marked with an asterisk, nothing is automatically renewed.
Also, I just checked the subscription set-up in the Admin section of the board and none of the subscriptions are set to recur.
Thanks for this thread, curlcoat, it served as a gentle reminder that my due date was just a fortnight or so hence. All done and dusted now till 2012.
Like I said, I hadn’t been aware of that. I had already stood corrected by curlcoat.
I don’t seem to be getting any answers as to why I’m no longer on recurring, nor why I was dropped in only a few days. How/who should I contact about this?
Your membership is not recurring because there is no option for recurring renewals.
Membership ends on the day your subscription expires. There is no grace period.
Go to UserCP. Click on Paid subscriptions. Choose 1 year or 2 years. Click on Order.
There was, and so far no one in the know has dropped in to say anything about it.
I have no idea when my subscription was to expire since the email I got didn’t give a date. All it said was “Your access to the paid subscription “Straight Dope Board Membership” is about to expire” then it went on about recurring subscriptions. So I didn’t do anything.
Do I start over then? Post counts, etc?
Do you remember setting up any sort of recurring renewal? To the best of my knowledge, the dope has never done that. As far as the email text goes, big whoop. There’s strictures in the rules about avatars despite the board never enabling them. The email is autogenerated based on the board software. And no, your post count continues to increase. In fact, you still have it, it’s just relegated to your profile page.
SkipMagic wrote: ‘Since there are no subscription options marked with an asterisk, nothing is automatically renewed.’
I haven’t received a renewal email*, since I re-up early, but I don’t remember ever reading anything on the last one I got mentioning automatic renewal. I would have opted for that.
You don’t ‘start over’. You’ll keep your post count.
- If I did receive any, I deleted them because I’d already renewed.
There are no automatic renewals. There have never been automatic renewals.
If you reup, your ongoing post count will be displayed, there’s no reset button, no matter how short or long the lapse in active membership.