I can’t really disagree with that. There’s no question, for example, that MPSIMS has become a useless cesspool of Bush hatred; in fact, I only popped into this forum because I saw your name on the front page as the last poster in the forum. So yeah, that’s kind of sad – no more dopefests, no more contributing to causes along with other dopers, etc. The social aspect of the boards is essentially over for me; I’m just grateful that I was able to find so many great friends before the window closed.
But there’s still the occasional “shoe polish holes” quality thread in GQ that makes it easily worth the seven bucks. Besides, every time someone goes because of the political bent of the boards, it gets bent further. So you have to stick around.
Well, shit. Fixed link. Whist I’m confident that message board posting has a moderating effect on GDP growth, that isn’t really what I was going for here.
Nope, I won’t renew. The moderators are too strict. I don’t mind spam being filtered; anything else is excessive. I’ll stick with usenet and go back to just lurking on the SDMB.
I don’t think I’ll renew because I don’t think I make a big impact here. I mostly just read threads and I can do that without paying money. I also don’t have a credit card or anything of the sort.
I’m a zero-impact kind of guy myself, but that’s not my major consideration. The money isn’t a problem either. (If it’s just a method of payment issue for you, flamingbananas, shoot me an email and I’ll pony up for you.)
I am also undecided, and well aware of the (non)impact of either decision. I usually avoid the American political threads and stick with some of the GD and, of course, the martini threads. (It’s Bombay, Martini and olive brine, damn it!)
On the plus side though, I would never have gotten past that crappy intro for Firefly had it not been for this place, nor would my son and I have gotten into the Disc World books. There is gold in them thar hills, and it is only $7.50 US, which in the current economy is around $8.50 CDN not a bad exchange.
However, the servers here do suck ass, and I have killed as many threads as I possibly can. Time will tell, okay only 9 days, yes, but time will tell.
I’m not renewing. Not because of the money, or because of the Mods, but because I need to simplify my life, and I’m spending too much time here. I went from 2,000 to 3,000 posts in a frightenly short amount of time.
I’ve seen enough Usenet flame wars to appreciate how the Mods keep things relatively civil here. They’re human, but they do a great job overall. Some of you guys should appreciate them more.
I don’t agree with the way the boards are being run, so I’ll take my leave. Note that isn’t a knock on the mods, but rather the rules and regulations that the mods are trying to enforce.
I don’t want to beat a dead horse here, in fact I am sick and tired of the whole mess. But I would like to point out that this is not true. If any other poster had done what TubaDiva did, there would have been no banning. What she did was done off board. Had she not been on staff here, it would not have been an issue.
I see a lot of name of Dopers who say they won’t be renewing and that kinda bums me out. Some of them I recognize and some I don’t. I am still constantly amazed at the sheer diversity of us.
I will miss some of the posters who say they are not renewing and hope they will reconsider. No matter what, I know that I will be staying. I said in the past that I’ll probably be here to the bitter end, and I meant it. I have always considered myself an observer and I’ll be damned if this place doesn’t offer the best view anywhere. Sure there are personal conflicts and petty things that boil over into huge OTT spectacles, but that is what makes it great.
I don’t watch and I don’t understand the obsession with ‘reality shows’ on TV but I sometimes read threads on them. Then I realize why I don’t need to watch them. The same petty jealousy and bickering that goes on in these TV shows happens here. Who needs a reality TV show when this interactive reality is just as good or better?
In my time here there have been weddings, divorces, people coming to terms with their sexuality, births and death. There has been one fiasco followed by another. There has also been one positive experience after another. I feel like I have the corner stool in a cool bar in a cool section of cyber-space (does anybody still say that?) and I am not getting up for anything.
I figure it’s not up to me to decide, as I have had a problem with billing and have expressed my desire to have a two year membership as opposed to a refund, well… I got my refund and now have no way to renew with no c.c or debit card.
Okay. Even though I have indicated previously that I was not renewing, I probably will. I have spoken to a few other members whose views I value, and together we hope things will change. The cost for has not been an issue, rather it is the content of the boards that has been a concern. Unlike Voyager (above) I don’t think all the mods have done an effective job. Popular threads have been closed for no othe reason to me than to show how they can exercise their power.
So, I will be looking to see if the administration does anything about the real concerns voiced trough threads like this. It is about the only forum members have to demonstrate real concerns.
