Such a good question, it bears repeating. I assume they’ll get a fair amount of this, but it’s not so much different than banned members trying to post again.
The price seems right, the trial accounts will help keep new blood around, all in all, seems like a decent idea.
Well, I had just come from the other thread and both here and there, MsRobyn sounded an awful lot like LadyGrem, so I just couldn’t help myself… 
With the exchange rate the way it is, that means it’s costing me…well, less than a pint!!
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, not that it will make any difference. I think this is a bad idea.
Why? Primarily, it will make the SDMB look like an elitist group. For someone who has been hanging around for 5 years, I believe we have all benefitted greatly from the ease that anyone can and does join a discussion. This action will reduce that range of contribution and make the forums more inbred.
Serious offers (at least I think they were serious) have been made to provide Chi Reader with dynamite equipment, anonymously dropped off at the doorstep if need be, and I think the comraderie generated by people liking to help would be a good thing. Why these kinds of offers have been so cavalierly flung aside, I do not know. Misplaced pride, methinks.
Although I am not rich enough at the moment to endow a new, juiced-up server room on a charity basis, and $5 or $15/year won’t bankrupt me, I feel I have done my part over time. I have purchased Cecil’s books and various other items, encouraged others to do so, and even tried hard to get a local paper to carry his column (they declined, but I tried; their loss).
But a serious question. What provision do you have for paying if the applicant has no general credit card and no Paypal account? Will you accept macramé pillows or live chickens? (Yes, I’m serious, except for the pillows/chickens.)
At first, you stopped my heart with the thread title.
Then, I saw $4.95, and jumped with joy. That’s only 10 cans of Icehouse, for an entire year of this?! I can go with 10 less beers.
Right on! Even I can afford $5… how do you sign up for Pay Pal?
I asked this question several posts back, and I’m hoping it doesn’t get lost.
Can we send in money orders? I’m quite willing to pay, but what if I don’t have a credit card?
I admit…I fear.
Not the cost but the consumer response. But that’s why we try things.
Hell, I’m on record as being willing to make gift subs for people. I value this place above anywhere on the net. Anywhere at all.
Even the Baseball Prospectus. And you don’t really realize what that means.
Hell, it’s about time. 
Nice implementation.
The 30 days guest allowance functions as a trial period. People can read anyway. The only drawback is that guests can’t search. So, no “this has been discussed 10 times already” posts.
Such a deal! But we need gift subscriptions badly. There are some folks that this place wouldn’t be the same without.
Wow! Who knew those teachers in the anti-drug classes in school were right. They warned us that the dope dealers would give it to you for free, and then when you were hooked they would make you pay. I guess I should have listened to their advice. It’s to late now I’m hooked.
I suspect they’ll do it the same way they recognize and quickly ban sock puppets, which is I believe, via checking IP addresses.
Now however, instead of just checking suspected socks, they’ll need to be a little more thorough in their coverage of who they check (ie- all new guests).
By the way, I’m in like Flynn!!
Uh, so performance improvements are expected to come from decreased traffic rather than from faster hamsters? Not that I question how the Reader allocates its funds, but I had assumed at least some of the subscription fee would go towards upgrading the hardware.
I’m a bit confused.
Where do we click to register before March 22 ?
I’m on a really tight budget, but I think I can swing $4.95 for now.
Once again, I am a herald of change. I always seem to come around during transitional periods of everything. It’s spooooky. 
$5, though… that’s nothin. Compared to my webhosting fees, especially.
Well, I have to say I’m sorry to see this happen; I fear this will drive away new members, though the 30-day trial will allay that a bit.
On the other hand, the price is certainly right. There’s a photography site I subscribe to that’s $4.95 a month, and I consider that a bargain; I’ll definitely be signing up ASAP.
That’s good thinking; the abovementioned photography site has a link on everyone’s page saying “sponsor this person,” which allows you to pay their membership dues for as long as you want to.
I wonder if we’ll have some flameouts over the course of the next few weeks. You know, people who decide they’re not paying, have nothing to lose, and want to go out with a bang. Should be… interesting?
For now we’re figuring gift subscriptions can be handled privately, like so:
[ul]
[li]If A wants to pay for B, B gives A his/her password.[/li][li]A logs on as B and subscribes using credit card or PayPal. There’s no limit on the number of subscribers per credit card.[/li][li]A logs off. B logs on as B, changes his/her password.[/ul][/li]Giving a gift subscription anonymously would require an intermediary. Again, for now we figure this can be handled privately. Assuming this whole project doesn’t crash and burn, and there’s enough demand, possibly at some point we’ll try to talk Jerry and Sean into coding in a gift subscription feature.
As for an equipment upgrade, if everybody subscribes and service remains as sucky as it is now, at least we’ll have enough cash to fix things.