Just a itsy-bitsy bitch here. I find this morning that I have lost posting privileges and my “Guest” membership has expired.
I looked into my email and found a note on the 17th of this month that it is due. Today, the 20th, I’m out on my ear. I re-up this morning and find I still have a “Guest” status attached to my name. Just wanted to say it seems like very short notice compared to most anyone else that sends me opportunities to send them my money.
I’d just ask that notification of re-enlisting might be upped to more than three days.
Thanks. Carry on.
As of now (12:10 PM EST) you are a member.
3 days is a tad short. Every time I have computer problems I’m so busy backing up things that I don’t check my email. Of course if it’s too long, like my newspaper does it, I put off paying and don’t recall the notice until my newspaper doesn’t show up and I have to run out for one.
Members are responsible for tracking their own subscriptions, which you may check at any time by consulting the User Control Panel (User CP hyperlink over there on the left hand side.).
You may resubscribe at any time; there is no penalty for resubscribing early, you lose no time by so doing, any time added on starts when the old subscription expires.
I’d simply add that Guest memberships run for 30 days – I’m pretty sure that’s made clear in the sign-up process, but if it isn’t, that’s something that should be corrected. I would think that the prevailing attitude is, “I have a month free to decide whether I like this enough to pay $14.95 to continue” and to keep that at least casually in mind during that month.
Wow. An almost machine-like recitation of the company party line makes one all warm and fuzzy.
I point out that the Company has the capability and already decided to give us the courtesy of notification as demonstrated by the email I received 3 days ahead of plug-pullin’ day. My hope was that since almost every subscription I have, both online and IRL, have notification that allows ample time for users to send them our money prior to cut off. Since the Powers-that-be have consented to make a notice it’s policy, I had hoped it might be possible for that notice to arrive just a little bit earlier.
Thanks.
FWIW, Nic:
– TubaDiva doesn’t set policy for that sort of thing. My guess is that she’s passed the complaint along to Ed Zotti and/or the tech guys. And I suspect she’s obliged to “parrot the party line” simply because that is Chicago Reader policy on subscriptions, and as a board Administrator she has the choices of abiding by it or resigning.
– When renewal time for the subscribed membership comes around, it’s a Big Deal. Helen Keller in a sensory deprivation chamber couldn’t miss the notices they do.
– You’ve highlighted a problem regarding notification on guest subscriptions that are running out, and in my experience, they may be slow to react but react they will. The Reader management tends to ponder things for geological aeons, but they do react to complaints.
If **Nic **was a guest, how is it that he has been a member since 2004 with over 1800 posts?
Yeah, Poly, for Charter Members.
Not just for guests but for Regular Members whose re-up date can be at any time.
Good idea. Just took care of mine.
Poly, you and I have talked many times over the past several years and I am a Member since Feb. '04. The aforementioned email was the only message this Helen Keller received.
As to the “Parroting” I understand Corporate Policy and all. I was referring to the bland nature of the reply and the lack of consideration for a longer notification since a vehicle already exists.
Guest? Phht!
It only works out to, what, 600 posts per day? I am sure there are several people around here that do that. 
I suspect that the OP ment to write regular membership and had a brain fart and wrote guest instead.
I agree with the OP three days is just a tad short notice.
I fail to see the big deal… With a regular (not charter) membership, there is no penalty for being late with your payment. You just can’t post again until you pay. But when you pay, no matter whether that’s a week before your subscription expires, or five years after, you can post again. It makes sense to have extensive warning for charter members, since they potentially stand to lose their status, but for regular members?
[QUOTE=TubaDiva]
Members are responsible for tracking their own subscriptions, which you may check at any time by consulting the User Control Panel (User CP hyperlink over there on the left hand side.).
QUOTE]
Oh, so User CP stands for Control Panel, I never knew - CP always sounded vaugely communist. Anyways I just renewed my membership because I guarantee I do not track these things.
Why is it that, whenever anyone offers constructive criticism, or a helpful suggestion, based upon personal experience, regarding how this Board operates, people act as if heresy is being committed?
The OP offered an “itsy bitsy bitch.” That’s not exactly a flaming of the Board. The suggestion makes sense, and, so far, no one has suggested any good reason NOT to adopt it, such as, “we can’t send them out that far in advance,” or “if we did that, nuclear war would break out in Eastern Europe.” Chronos, he isn’t saying it’s a “big deal.” But it is annoying to have to wait while a subscription gets taken care of, and three days of notice is hardly substantial. If the notice went out a week in advance of lapse date, one would expect that the OP, and others like him (I was one this year!), would be less likely to have to deal with the payment post hoc.
The PROPER response to the OP would be, “Thank-you for your suggestion, Nic2004. We’ll see if that can be implemented without causing trouble elsewhere.” And others here could say something helpful, like, “Did you know you can pre-pay the membership extension without it changing the time covered by the payment?” Or something similar. :dubious:
Maybe TPTB forgot to add the 0 after the 3 when setting the pre-warning subscription value.
I think it’s a valid complaint. It’s not like a Mod or an Admin has to do the tracking for the customer, it’s an automated process, and if it isn’t it damn well better be.
You are certainly welcome. Always glad to mention something that may be helpful to other Posters like myself assuming it doesn’t cause a great deal of trouble.
Thanks to those taking time to understand the original comment.
You drew the short straw for reply, Poly.
Background: I am a periodicals guy (as you all probably know) of almost twenty years experience. Likely more than anyone at TPTB in terms of marketing and circulation. I started out in circulation and spent more than fifteen years climbing that particular ladder until switching to marketing, advertising, and launching my own pubs (two at the moment and three more on the drawing board awaiting financing). It’s been a fun and profitable career.
Part of me believes this is a downstream consequence of TPTB running a free weekly (which, I’m at pains to point out, I do as well). Free pubs, by their very nature, handle subscriptions and renewals and such poorly when they attempt to implement something that requires them. It’s truly a different way of thinking about publishing than the free, advertising-driven model.
That said, the implementation here (little notice, requirement for subscribers to monitor their own subscription status, and so forth) is seemingly designed to bring about a low renewal rate. By not reaching out to subscribers and giving them early and easy notice of subscription expiry they’re certain to lose more than they otherwise would, notwithstanding the fact of the apparent disregard of subscriber interest demonstrated upthread here.
This is only meant as constructive criticism. TPTB may do what they please. But I know that I, as a successful publisher and long-time circulation man, would handle it differently with a goal toward increasing renewals and eventually overall paying posters. And it’s my opinion that 90%+ of professionals at the Circulation Management Expo would as well. Take it for what you will.
Stuck between damned if we do and damned if we don’t and damned if we do anyting in between.
If the Moderators do not respond, we get pummeled for being unresponsive.
If the Moderators say anything like, “We’ve passed this suggestion along to the READER powers and we await their decision,” we become the whipping-post if they don’t decide. They have their priority lists, which moderators are not privy to and do not have input to. We are the police force, not the legislature and not the executive.
So, the best response from moderators (and our instructions, in fact, when dealing with issues regarding changes to the system) is to explain how the present situation works and how to deal with it. And now we get beat around the head for doing that?
So: TubaDiva has already explained how the present set-up works, and the Powers have been informed of your suggestion.
When a subscription expires the member status is set to “Guest.”
There also seems to be some confusion between regular ol’ subscriptions and their notices and the Charter Member rate, which has more conditions attached to it.
If a regular subscription expires, ain’t no big deal; it can be resubscribed at that rate at any time, no harm, no foul. It’s perhaps a minor inconvenience to renew, but no more than that.
Being a Charter Member confers a preferred rate that once expired cannot be renewed. Therefore it is incumbent upon Charter Members to be more attentive to when their subscription expires. As the name implies, offering “Charter Membership” was a one-time thing; if you didn’t get in when it happened originally you can’t get in now. **Once a Charter Membership is allowed to expire it cannot be renewed at that rate and any subsequent resubscription is at the going rate, which is currently $14.95. Charter Members receive a 50% discount. **
In the past we have made a bigger deal of this situation because we also had discount subscription drives at the same time. I can’t speak for the Reader but I currently know of no plans for a discount subscription drive. We didn’t have one last year, either.
I should also mention that if you do not have your settings checked to indicate it’s okay for us to send you email we take you at your word; you will not receive email from us. I do believe this includes subscription expiration. The system default is that we can send you email so if you indicate otherwise that is your personal choice and management cannot be held responsible for your choices. We also have no control over how you handle your email, so check those spam filters to see if anything we might send you goes astray.