Thank og. Someone to defend our great President’s honor.
/fence sitter.
I’m off I think.
Not likely…I’m a lurker here anyway so I probably won’t be missed.
Plus, I’m a member of a satallite board of the SDMB…and it’s free. 
I’m not really sure what I’ll do. I’ve been away from the boards for a few weeks, and haven’t really missed them. I’ve got work and what little social life I can rustle up to occupy much of my time right now.
And while there was a time when the occasional drama here intrigued me, I’ve come to realize that the drama of late has become pretty tedious. Very tedious, rather. RL has enough drama without me trying to keep up with all the crap going on here.
Plus-- and I never thought I’d say this-- the boards just kind of bore me lately. More often than not, I’ll find myself saying, “Happy, why do you really care about [insert Board drama here]? Get back to the real reason you’re online. Porn.”
I probably won’t renew, but I paid up in January (maybe December, don’t remember exactly), so I’ve got a while. I was recovering from being sick though and had a lot more free time when I joined back up. Already my workload is starting to pile up, and I have less and less time to read or post. By the time my membership expires, I proabably will be posting so infrequently that no one will miss me or notice I’m gone, anyway. No biggie.
I have noticed it’s not as fun as it used to be though. I don’t know if it’s the board, or me. Either way, I don’t find as much I’m interested in reading anymore, much less taking the time to reply to.
I’m staying. While I do have some reservations about the administration of the board (No offense, TubaDiva, but I think it’s time someone else took the reins), I have found this place to be a haven of comfort and a place where I can ask anything, no matter how taboo. Plus, the price is mere pennies a day. Even my broke ass can afford it.
I for one will particularly miss CrazyCatLady and alice_in_wonderland, if you are indeed leaving. 
Adam
I’ve been counting up the reasons for non-renewal and find that many of them apply to me in varying degrees. So far the reasons against staying have been;
1.) Tuba-gate. While it’s disturbing to realize that your anonymity isn’t inviolate, this one bothers me not at all.
2.) Nothing to contribute. I can relate to this pretty well. If I died tomorrow, while my RL friends and family would mourn, unless I posted it posthumously (in MPSIMS, of course), I doubt anyone here would even notice.
3.) Where’s OpalCat lately? (Hi!)
4.) It’s cutting into my real life. Very true. Since I set up my tool shed with broadband, I spend WAY too much time here instead of on the work-related projects piling up beside me. OTOH, it seems to me that if you spend that much time here, wouldn’t that be a reason FOR renewing?
5.) No credit card/PayPal account. No problem there.
6.) Too much vitriol. That’s true enough. The Pit has been way OTT of late. I have seen more civilized discourse on the Springer show.
7.) Too many good posters have left. True again. Many of the Great Names of years past are MIA. Not to say that the calibre of the posters on the boards has declined, just that a number of people that I really enjoyed reading are no longer with us.
So, for all those reasons and others , I renewed my subscription about 20 minutes ago. This place is just too damn entertaining to walk away from. YMMV.
(On Preview) Jinwicked, I’d notice if you left. Same for Anaamika, Alice_in_Wonderland, Abbie Carmichael and any of the other posters who offer their views and opinions in an intelligent, polite manner. Even if I disagree with your point of view, you’ve helped broaden my understanding of things, even if it’s just a better understanding of the point of view of people I disagree with. To those posters who just like to jump into the Pit and abuse anyone that doesn’t see things EXACTLY the way you do, - Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?
I’m out of here. One too many Mods reacts rather than thinks .
And I know nothing about Tubagate.
I’ve already renewed. Tubagate bothers me not at all. I don’t go into GD, and the Pit amuses me even though I don’t post there often. I would renew just for the discussions in CS.
If anybody is still on the fence at the end of the membership drive, and just need a bit of a push…go post in ATMB that you need a sponsor. I’ve got a few pennies that could be wisely spent that way.
I won’t be renewing.
I ain’t leavin’. Jin, you are giving yourself short shrift if you think you wouldn’t be missed. Same goes for the rest of you crazy bastards. I’ll be sad if you don’t come back.
Yeah, I’ve already renewed too… not that anyone would notice. shrug
I did get pitted once… 
Time for me to be on my way.
Oh, bull. I didn’t post for months after the board went pay and I hardly post now. I’ve had the same email address since 2001. If it’s important, anyone that needs to find me, can.
I’m looking for an alternative, but most of the ones I check out have like five members. Care to send a recommendation via email?
Probably won’t renew.
I still enjoy the boards and find them to be the most entertaining and informative ones around. I just feel that I don’t really contribute all that much. Most of my posts go unnoticed or die a quick death and I doubt anyone would really notice my absence.
Admittedly, I started this post with a list of the reasons I’m not re-upping come April. But, as I wrote more and more, I realized I had something more important to contribute–for once!–than a rehashing of what others have already said. Here it goes:
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To those Dopers who’ve opened your homes to my husband and me during the past four years, thank you. In all honesty, meeting the fine people of this community is the number one thing I’ll miss after I let my subscription go. From the day I put on my purple fairy wings and walked up the stairs of Jonathan Chance’s porch and was greeted by Weird Dave’s big smile, I liked you guys. Thanks for enjoying beers and party games with me.
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To those who shared the joy of my brother’s adoption and the scare of my apartment fire, thanks for being there for me. I’ve a copy of the former thread saved on my hard drive and will some day share it with that darling kid and have never properly expressed my appreciation for the chorus of people who offered up their couches to me in the latter. You’re a class act.
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To the folks I’ve been watching “24” with, your’s is the one thread I know I’ll continue to lurk in. Those threads continue to epitomize something that is truly Dope to me.
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To the Doper who paid my way last April, many thanks. I’ve appreciated my “bonus round” of SDMB time and all it’s offered me.
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To everyone who answered a question about modern and contemporary art before me, thanks for letting me know in a subtle way that I’m not alone in my obsessions.
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To CandidGamera: Your thread on tabletop roleplaying actually not only gave me an active RPG group, but also some swell friends. Thanks for that.
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To threemae: I’m not a tremendously popular or prolific poster, so I wouldn’t start my own “outta here” thread. Thanks for this opportunity.
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Finally, there are a bunch of you who I’ve not mentioned specifically who have been important to me. You’ve introduced me to your families, bought me dinner…heck, even invited me to your wedding! Good times all around. Some folks I know on a less personal basis, but have made me laugh or think or provided a link that’s amused me for untold hours. Thanks again. Others I know I’ll wish I could thank some day in the future. Jonathan Chance comes to mind; I know I’ll be thinking of him (as well as Calvin and Velocity) when tdc and I finally are able to adopt a greyhound or two.
So, yeah, that’s how I think I’d like to leave things. I don’t want to give the impression that I’m all disgrunted or crochety. I’ve enjoyed my time here and am appreciative of everyone who’s made it possible and so enjoyable, from the mods and admins, all the way down to the Pit.
moi
If I had been asked two months ago, I would have said renewing was a sure thing for me. Now I’m not so sure. My hesitance isn’t really based directly on the Big Issue, but on several other things:
o Obviously, a lot of well-known Dopers are leaving.
o I don’t contribute much. I hardly ever post in the Pit or Great Debates, and anything helpful I post in General Questions (unless it’s my own question, o’ course) could easily be supplied by dozens of others. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy participating in other forums, particularly Cafe Society, but I have to weigh whether posting things of minimal value in these forums justifies renewal (especially since I could still read them without renewing).
o I don’t know if the board has gotten more cynical lately or if it’s just my imagination, but it seems that every other thread these days is nasty, inflammatory or just plain depressing (e.g. most news/politics threads), and I think it may be affecting me in real life. Perhaps it’s irresponsible to avoid or ignore undesirable things like that, but right now I’d rather be happy and slightly more ignorant (I know that sounds trite) than depressed and knowledgable.
o Quite frankly, there are several posters whose posts I can hardly stand to read anymore, whose arrogance and hatred make me want to punch my monitor or club a baby seal. I can’t bring myself to utilize the ignore list because I don’t want to miss part of a debate, so I put up with them.
o Putting aside the Big Issue, I feel that the administration could do a better job with some smaller issues (bannings in particular).
All that said, I’m still probably leaning towards renewing. It’s cheap, after all, and I would miss not being able to participate. The SDMB really is one of my primary time-wasting mechanisms, and I’m not at all sure that I could skip renewing and not come crawling back a few weeks later.
$7.50. It seems such a paltry sum, less than the price I would pay for a six-pack, and yet it has become the dividing line for so many. Not so much the amount, for even for those that are unable to pay, there are many kind dopers out there who will sponsor memberships, but rather what contributing that amount means. I could easily go without buying one six-pack a year, but can I justify spending that sum here?
Several months ago, I would have been on the fence. I’m a lurker here, deleting 80-90% of all posts I begin composing, and an equal number that begin in my mind never make it that far, but I have had questions answered, and I have recieved some great information on topics for which I would not know where else to turn. So I would have weighed the likelihood of having such questions again against the amount of information, enlightenment, and enjoyment that can be gained simply from reading the threads that others start. In the end, I do not know which way I would have gone.
But then the Tuba/SM fiasco, and all the bitter aftermath, happened. And while I have expressed no opinions on the matter, I have read the back and forth on the board, watching the story (or at least the public aspects thereof) unfold. Suddenly my decision became easier. The choices made by the board administration and, to a much lesser extent, the reactions to these decisions among the membership have led me to decide that the SDMB is not a place that I want to spend my money.
Normally, I would have quietly let my membership expire. I sincerely doubt my absence would be noted, and it is not in my nature to make such announcements in any case. However, I think it is important that the administration know that their actions are costing the SDMB members, even if they are chronic lurkers.
Ooh, another reason I should probably not renew; everytime I come to a post that says “I’m staying” or “I already paid”, I’m all, “Why the fuck are you posting then? It’s a thread for people who are leaving. GAH!!!” and then I kick a puppy. I get way too irritated way too easily here these days. Still on the fence though. :rolleyes: