Well, for what it’s worth, I’m another that’s out. I don’t post that often, and it’s usually in GQ to answer computer related questions…it seems a little odd to pay for that, no matter what the cost is. Perhaps if I miss it a lot I’ll reconsider but I also suspect the board will slowly die. It’s a shame really.
** Fear Itself **, irony on the side, what I meant is a choice has been made. A choice between simple advertising and switching to a paying service. A choice between an free and easy TV-like access and a more elitist and private club. A big strategical choice. I respect that.
But when I see it’s only for $40K, I feel that the decision makers’ goal was more short term and technical than promoting the SDMB. This decision is going to make the users numbers drop and then will solve the technical problem. Done.
I won’t come back on the numerous threads on the SMDB about the freedom and easy access knowledge carried by the SDMB, etc. but I can’t keep but feeling ostracized. I liked the freedom side of the SDMB.
But hey, it’s not my forum, nor my newspaper. Business is business.
Ostracized? You sound as though someone is preventing you from joining the rest of us, with all the privileges of subscription holders. It’s your choice french frog, nobody is ostracizing you. $5 is a pittance for what we receive in return; I just don’t see how that infringes on your freedom. I would like to be able to sashay into Starbucks and pull myself a latte without having to pay too, but I don’t see their insistence on payment as any infringement on my freedom.
I predict a much healthier board, with 5000+ paying members (and another 2000+ guest members) after six months or so, and steady growth thereafter.
Hell, I don’t receive any earned income. (I’m retired.) But count me in, though. It’s a principle thing.
If you don’t receive any earned income, it would have to be an interest on the principle thing.
(Ba-doom, kssssh! Hah! I slay me! Wocka wocka wocka!)
Nice pun, but not necessarily so. You haven’t heard of Social Security, pension funds, and retirement benefits? Not to mention dividends. All unearned income, according to IRS.
Forget it ** Fear itself**.
Just ask yourself : is only $25 to $40,000 worth the risk that is taken, knowing that there is other easy solutions to get income out of the traffic?
For me, I believe this solution is a wicked way to restrict the number of users. Not a solution that gonna promote the SMDB. I hope sincerely that you predictions will be true, but I also sincerely doubt it. We’ll see… Meet in a year.
Over and out.
They finally did it - I wondered how long this place would be free.
I’m not even all that active these days, but I only hesitated about 10 seconds before subscribing. I’ve gotten a lot out of the SDMB, and I can certainl spare $5 for a year subscription.
Hey guys I almost never poke my head in here these days, but I still know this is the best board on the net and I’m going to lock myself in at this low, low rate 
Ditto.
Even if I never post again after this one, five bucks is worth the past four and a half years for me.
This is bollocks.
Even 6.50 Canadian is a good deal. I don’t post often, but thoroughly enjoy my visits here. Now, I just have to check out my options…
Hi everybody.
I’m one of those who won’t be paying the subscription. But don’t worry about me, I was not someone you will be missing.
I’ve once found Straight Dope by chance, and participated in one thread, the one about the most embarrassing foreign language mistakes http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=139952&page=1&pp=50 , which is still in my bookmarks and I still send some friends to read a couple of gems there, for a good laugh.
As for me, I’m not the message-board-guy, who spends hours participating in online debates and so on. I’ve got other things to do. Don’t take that personally, I know some very close persons who spend hours on the boards and they’re really enjoying it. So for me, the “trial membership” of 30 days would have been enough for participating, as I did, in the mentioned thread.
I just wanted you to know this, because I’m sure there are plenty of casual users like me. And we are not going to make the difference. However, it’s still good to know that one can read and jump into a discussion without paying, exactly as I did. I would hate it, if the board was not even open for reading if you are not a subscriber.
my 2€cents
By the way, french frog, advertising is, in fact, one of the moneymaking ideas which has been tried. It didn’t work. In the heyday of the dotcom bubble, advertising sold for a lot, but not any more. The Reader ended up paying more for the overhead of having advertisements than they were able to bring in, so they stopped. Sorry.
I was depressed yesterday, but I’m better now. I’ve changed my mind. I think I will subscribe. With the pound so strong against the dollar, and the recent budget increases, it’ll cost me less than the cost of a pint in the pub anyway. I still think that this won’t work and the board will close but I hope I’m wrong…
Anyway, I’ll sort it this weekend with my friend’s paypal account.
New SD motto:
FIGHTING IGNORANCE SINCE 1973 FOR ONLY $14.95 A MONTH
THE STRAIGHT DOPE
FIGHTING IGNORANCE SINCE 1973
(IT’S TAKING MORE MONEY THAN WE THOUGHT)
I don’t want to read through all twelve pages of this thread, so answer me this: After subscription, how long does it take to be a Charter Member? I just subscribed about an hour ago and the posts I have made so far still say Guest.
In the interests of fighting ignorance, I’d point out that you’re wrong by a factor of twelve (actually since you’ve already signed up, you’re paying less than than two cents a day)
Actually, you are the kind of guy we’ll miss the most.
I find that the most interesting and unusual questions come from the one-time posters. These are the people who aren’t embarrassed to ask questions about sperm, or farts, or death, or combinations of them. They don’t have a reputation or a Charter Membership to worry about.
Now, the best answers do seem to come from the long-time membership.
However, without good questions, the board will slowly decline.
And, there’s another problem. I’ve noticed that many newbies questions are answered by a quick comment like, “That’s already been discussed. Here’s the link.” That has always been kept to a minimum because people could search for answers before posting the question.
Now, however, guests will not be able to search before they ask a common question, leading to a lot more duplicates.