# "The Internet should be free" MY ASS! (Mildish) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 24, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-should-be-free-my-ass-mildish/236178 "2004-03-24T19:57:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-should-be-free-my-ass-mildish/236178/41 "2004-03-26T04:46:27Z")
> [@beajerry](#): > > The day I have to pay for participation in a discussion group/message board is the day I quit that group/board. That would be April 22nd. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-should-be-free-my-ass-mildish/236178/42 "2004-03-26T05:10:05Z")
As I said in those other threads, this board means something to me. I use it and enjoy it. _Somebody_ has been paying for it, and losing money on it. That shouldn’t be. Look on it like Public Television. Those who watch regularly should be ponying up the dough if they can afford to. Otherwise, they’re kinda like a leeches. Those who have been paying are tired of losing money on it. It’s either a) pay for what’s important to you or b) watch it die off. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-should-be-free-my-ass-mildish/236178/43 "2004-03-26T05:16:21Z")
The topic of whether or not the internet should be free is a fine subject for GD. The whining about the subscription plan should go into the thread I’ve opened for it. Some history: The Straight Dope Message Board was originally on AOL, and before AOL went to a flat rate, the SDMB was in a premium area…which meant that on top of the AOL connection fee, people who wanted to read and/or post there had to pay per minute. The Chicago Reader got a commission on that. Then AOL went to a flatrate plan. I THINK that the Reader lost the commissions that it had been getting then, at any rate, it was soon after AOL went to all-you-can-surf that it did. AOL still paid a basic fee to the Reader to host the SD, because the SD DID draw customers, but this wasn’t very much compared to what it had been paying in commissions. AOL grumbled that the Straight Dope and its associated message board were not really family-friendly, and not in keeping with AOL’s basic image. After a while, AOL decided not to continue carrying the Straight Dope columns or the message boards associated with it. Those of us who were regulars at the AOL SDMB were frantic, worried about where we would go. There were a couple of newsgroups, alt.fan.cecil-adams and alt.fan.urbanlegends (or something like that) that many people were looking at, seeing if they were the right fit. OpalCat petitioned to have a new newsgroup formed, misc.facts.straightdope, and was successful. Some people went to that newsgroup. However, none of those newsgroups were OFFICIAL Straight Dope message boards. Someone had the [straightdope.com](http://straightdope.com) domain. I’m not sure what, exactly, he was doing with it. But he was tired of running unofficially, and the Chicago Reader managed to get it. The SDMB, in its (more or less) current incarnation, was never intended to be completely free. The Reader wanted to make money from it from the start. Advertising proved to be less than successful, unless they wanted to sell mailing lists or use popups or do something equally objectionable. Frankly, I’m amazed that they paid for this message board for this long. To those who complain that they already pay an internet connection fee, let me point this out: NONE of that fee finds its way into the Chicago Reader’s pockets. Lynn For the Straight Dope [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-internet-should-be-free-my-ass-mildish/236178.md?page=2)