I go to a bar and pay a $5. cover charge before I even know if the band is good. I go to the movies and pay $9., same deal. I can’t even imagine whining about $5’s a year for all the good information and entertainment available here. I don’t count on 100% accuracy on any information I receive. If it’s that important, I double check the sources myself. I’m in. Parsecs, I’ll pay your $4.95 if you’ll stop complaining. 
[hey I agreed with Aldebaran for a change, woohoo]
My US$0.02:
“Don’t be a jerk” is a meaningless standard of behavior that is unlikely to survive a chargeback dispute. Once you adopt a fee-for-service model you can arbitrarily ban people only so long as you’re willing to refund their subscription fee: if you expect to keep their money you will have to be able to show that you banned them for cause, otherwise the aggrieved customer can turn to PayPal or his bankcard issuer for a refund and will almost certainly get his money back.
Banks hate to be embroiled in such disputes and won’t tolerate more than a few chargebacks before discontinuing service to a troublesome merchant, so this is a policy I’d consider very carefully in light of certain administrators’ penchant for banning first and rationalizing later.
there is too little content given to justify an annual fee. Make it a one time fee and you will catch more members.
I have been around for a very long time, started in the old AOL board with
Cecil’s brain pulsating in a jar. Over the years I have come to regard SDMB as my online home and family even though I don’t post very much. When I bring up the board every day and see the familiar names and vigorous debates, occasionally making a comment I feel like part of a community, I feel at home. The price of $5.00 is not great I would very likely pay ten times that amount to save my “home” but I am saddened that so many members who I have come to respect and look forward to reading their comments will decide to leave the community. I will stay but I fear much of the heart and soul of the board will be gone forever. This has kept me awake all night.
OK, Ed. I don’t like it, but I’ll send a $10 MO to you- Payable to Ed Zotti? What address do we use- c/o the Chigaco Reader? What do we do- put “Membership fo DrDeth” or something like that? I use Paypal- but ONLY for eBay, and nothing else.
I’ll make it $10, and I’ll pay for some one else who can’t afford to pay. OK? or would you rather us make it just $5? or hell, I’ll make it $10 and you dues can have a drink on me- you certainly deserve it.
But I agree with Koalabear- that bit about “we can ban anyone at any time for any reason that WE can claim is “being a Jerk”” won’t fly with Paypal or any Bank. Besides- you KNOW there are dudes out there that have such grudges against this and/or it’s Admin that they’ll pay *wanting * to to get Banned- so that they can sue. How many $5 does it take to pay an Attorney just to file a denial?
I would assume that when we shell over our 5 bucks will agree to some sort of terms that indicate that the board can ban us for whatever damn reason they like. I would guess that’s what they’d do, just to reduce the hassle and cover their butts. If we don’t like the terms, we don’t have to shell over our 5 bucks.
I am willing to take the chance that they won’t ban me because they don’t like the color of my shoes. I know that some bannings have been controversial, but still—this is not a huge amount of money they’re asking. If someone were banned a few months after signing up, for instance, I daresay they’d probably already gotten their $5 bucks worth of enjoyment out of the boards. Also, if they are officially warned beforehand so they know what’s coming, they are aware that they are at risk of blowing that massive $5 investment.
Thursday night, I learned sometime during the next 3 months I’ll have to buy my apartment or move. Friday morning, I learned I’ll have to pay $5.00 to feed my addiction to this place. At least the latter was an easy decision. Heck, I spent $5.00 on flowers for the apartment before a date last night.
I would, however, be in favor of setting up scholarship funds. Among other things, I know that for one of our more respected posters, $5.00 is a major hardship.
CJ
Well, here in CA at least- you can’t sign away your rights. So- that agreement might be nice & all, but even though IANAL, I’ll bet it won’t make the Judge simply dismiss every suit with predjuice, and especially I doubt without the SD even having to file a denial at least. Sure, it will be a defense for them, but hardly ironclad.
Note- IANAL- but I do suggest a “binding arbitration” clause. That might work…
I certainly see no problem with the changes in tems of recouping the costs involved in running this place.
However, I should quite respectfully ask that SDMB throws in some more concrete information and what it is and isn’t going to allow. Avatars and signatures would be a a great start for personalising a subscription service.
Hey, look, this might help get rid of some of the riffraff.
Ed’s already outlined what we KNOW we’re going to be able to offer. Basically, the subscription is going to allow us to keep running the message board, instead of shutting it down because the Reader is not giving it away for free any longer.
For paying someone else’s membership, the suggested procedure is to receive that person’s password, use the password to sign them up, and then instruct them to change the password.
My question is: why do I need their password? Why can’t I, in a fit of altruism, sign up ten members of my choice merely by typing their usernames and my credit card number (one by one, if necessary)? Surely this would make it much easier for people to help out minors and other people with difficulty paying. And I can guarantee, there are far more people here willing to pay a sub for another member than there are members who will have difficulty paying. The gift could be entirely anonymous. The system could be set up so that payment would not be accepted more than once on the same username.
Is there any objection in principle, or technical difficulty with this suggestion?
Hmm.
I post, on average, once a month. I don’t even lurk on a regular basis. But I still find this place fascinating - enough so to pay £2.70.
The problems:
I’m 16, and I live in the UK. I have a Solo Card, but I find the likelihood of it being accepted to be low.
So, I can either a) sign up for PayPal, b) find a friendly UK doper who’d be willing to accept £3 and a password in the post, or c) put off doing anything until I can’t be bothered
This ~ 25p per post had better be worth it… 
4.95 a year?
LOL! I pay 45 bucks a MONTH just on our household’s 3 EverQuest accounts plus another 30 a month for my DSL…when my e-mail service went to paid, I signed up to pay the 13 bucks a year cause it’s easier than changin my e-mail address and gettin it to everyone who needs it.
5 bucks? Hell, count me in. =)
As a mother, if I found out a strange adult paid my child’s user fee for a message board, I would be extremely pissed as well as highly creeped out. I know that teenagers visit these boards, but I personally don’t think that this board is a place for kids. Feel free to disagree, however I don’t think you can dispute that as a parent it is my right to decide what is suitable for my children.
So a word to the wise, folks: if you’re going to sponsor someone, I’d make sure they are over 18. The fact that they can’t get mom or dad to pony up $5 for a subscription may very well mean that they don’t want mom and dad to know they’re visiting this place. Don’t circumvent parental control.
Lisa, stepping down from my soap box
I agree with the concerns expressed over the vagueness of “don’t be a jerk,” although I suppose that if Zotti is correct that just about everyone will get a warning, it will be less of a problem. Even so, if poster A gets warned and banned for an offense that poster B does not get banned for, it still could create problems.
And I agree that banks won’t want to get involved in such a dispute. I imagine that the subscriber will win most of the time in a chargeback dispute. As I recall, the merchant gets hit with a $35 fee, win or lose.
Another issue, IMHO, is that posters may become less tolerant of jerkish behaviour by moderators. I for one will not bite my tongue the next time I see coldfire abusing somebody – assuming I’ve ponied up my 5 bucks. Yes it’s not a lot of money, but when I’m paying for a service, I’m paying for a service and I expect that service to be provided in a respectful manner.
I also think it’s a mistake to give permanent advantages to folks who sign up by April 21 – e.g. “charter member” and permanent 50% discount. It’s a great way to encourage current members to sign up. It’s also a great way to discourage folks who miss the deadline. And the disparity will last forever.
One other thing: Earlier in this thread, somebody alluded to that thread I started in MPSIMS a while back with a number as the thread title. If you e-mail me, I’ll explain it to you if you agree to keep the explanation to yourself. But believe me, it’s not very exciting.
Entertainment wholly created by a company you should pay.
I got a bridge you might be interested in, actually to keep an email address I think you money is well spent but hey I have my own servers which earn me money so I wouldn’t pay.
I’ll go to a bar and pay a $5 cover before I know if the band is any good also. I often go to a movie or PPV on TV and same deal. I follow what your saying. Follow me for just a little here…
And nor should you but if the catch cry around here is “The Straight Dope” You are going to get people who will demand accuracy. Especially the guy/girl of say less than average intelligence, who really has a question and can’t find an answer and comes to “The Straight Dope” and pays his $15.00 and get a wrong answer and this ends up costing him. This person is going to be pretty pissed. And let’s not argue that well they should have confirmed it arguement because if I am enticed into paying $15.00 for “The Straight Dope” then why can’t I get “The Straight Dope”. You say it’s only $5. Will the price still be five dollars in six months?
What “rights” exactly are violated by being banned from an internet message board?
Has any case ever been brought to court over someone demanding their money back from being banned from an internet message board?
If “CA” means “California”, you might want to refer to the Uniform Commercial Code and the terms and conditions allowed for software, software use, and click-through licenses, refunds, etc. and see some examples. If “CA” means “Canada” I have no pointers for you.
On a larger subject, I think what PunditLisa said:
…is something pretty important to note. IIRC (my legal files are at work, so I can’t point to the cite) there was an “investigation” that shut a board down over an adult buying memberships for strange minors, along with all the accusations of quid pro quo from a pedophilia aspect. I would strongly suggest that gift memberships only be allowed between legal adults. I know that might make a few minors unhappy, but there is a bigger risk at stake here.
Sounds reasonable to me. I think there is more than $4.95 hiding under the cushions of the sofa.
And this relates to a paid information service how?