Ed, think you could charge Quint Essence extra if he changes his mind?
I for one think this might work out rather well, if it gets his kind of the boards.
Hell, that’s worth $4.95 right there. I’m in.
I say that we get the option to edit our posts.
typos make me cringe. :smack:
I was shocked to hear that I need to decide whether I want to keep here or not in the next two days. Now that I re-read it, I noticed that you said 21st of APRIL and not March. That’s a relief then, more than enough time to ponder.
I have a suggestion though: Since this is in a way a change of terms of service, I’d appreciate it, if e-mails about this could be sent out. This way, inactive dopers will hear about it too and won’t be put off by “having to pay more”, just because they didn’t see this in time.
I plan on subscribing, but I certainly hope that “you guys” don’t go overboard if you choose to give extra-extra special features to all of us paying customers. I don’t want avatars slowing load times and cluttering the page. I don’t want people posting images all willy-nilly throughout the boards. And, this is of great concern to me, I really don’t want post editing. If you post something, you should have to live with it. Typo? Too bad. Screwed up the coding? Have a mod fix it. Post editing allows people to change the past, and on a board like this one, that’s not good at all.
I’m not opposed to all potentially considered extras, of course. More smilies would be just grand.
I’m on a fixed income due to a disability. But $4.95? Hell yeah, I’m there.
BTW, to everyone worried about the Reader/SDMB having access to your credit card number / address / real name: they won’t.
The way PayPal works is that the purchaser enters his/her credit card or bank info into a secure PayPal form. The info/moolah is sent directly to PayPal, which then deposits the funds into the seller’s PayPal account. (Minus a very small fee per purchase, which is how PayPal earns its living.)
Thus, the Reader/Sdmb folks – or any other online sellers through which you make a purchase via PayPal – will never see any of this private info.
Hope this helps. 
That’s assuming they pay with PayPal. I believe the option to pay directly with CC is also going to be offered, and there are a number of ways that can be handled.
I too hate seeing my own typos, but there is no way to preserve the intergrity of the debates if the self-edit function is activated.
Preview, preview, preview…it’s our only defense.
vB allows for time-based editing. At fathom, for example, you can edit your post for 24 hours. I think that the SDMB could set theirs to, say, 3 minutes or something–enough time to say “oh crap!” and fix coding or typos, but not enough time for a debate to continue along and someone decide to go back and change what they said.
I hope that the SDMB gives a free membership to the Google - bots. If nothing else, it will take some pressure off of their own servers.
Notwithstanding my concerns about the health of the board (whether the month is too short or whatever) - those who say it can be adjusted if things go wrong are correct - I’m still very concerned about the payment options.
I too want to keep my anonymity. And I am VERY uncomfortable with allowing a company like PayPal direct access to my bank account. I have heard too many bad things about them involving mismanagement and apathy to allow that.
I know we have a little over a month to get these answers, but I would like to get them. If anyone can think of a solution for folks like me (and others who’ve posted similar things), that would be great.
Though if this allows us to get Smashie here, it’ll all be worth it…
This sounds fine by me and it will certainly weed out the bored trolls and cranks who want to stir up trouble.
However, I also am concerned that 30 days is not long enough. I know that the software probably won’t allow it, but it’s too bad that there couldn’t be a restriction like, “30 days or 200 posts, whichever comes last.” That way, occasional visitors won’t lose out on posting before they’ve become hooked, but those who can crank out over 200 posts in a month would obviously hooked (or not) enough to subscribe. I know that it took me several months to become hooked on this board.
I also think that $15, while extremely reasonable, doesn’t have the cheap sound as say, $10 does. I guess we all have our own internal limit on “how much money you are willing to piss away,” but for me, $10 would be it. Not that subscribing to SDMB is pissing away, mind, but for a newbie who hasn’t really gotten to know this place, it might feel that way. I think that a lot more people might be willing to take the plunge if the price were $10. Though, I fully acknowledge—$15 is very cheap and reasonable and I don’t fault the SDMB for coming up with the price. I’m just wondering—would $10 bring in more people overall? So perhaps the board would make more money in the long run? I don’t know. I’m sure that the Powers tht Be have considered all of this too, of course.
Re: privacy concerns. I’m not worried. I am not exactly a controversial poster, but I am very protective of my privacy. I don’t want anyone to be able to deduce who I am just by reading my posts on this board. (I’m not saying I’m 100% successful in this, but I try.) My concerns (such as they are) are that the random nut-job takes a dislike to my opinion on something and decide to bother me personally. As long as the admins always keep our private information private and secure so the random nut-job can’t have access to my identity, I have no worries there.
Aldebaran, if you want to subscribe without giving out personal information, I can assist you. Ed has suggested subscription by proxy thus:
If A wants to pay for B, B gives A his/her password.
A logs on as B and subscribes using credit card or PayPal. There’s no limit on the number of subscribers per credit card.
A logs off. B logs on as B, changes his/her password.
So you could mail me a five dollar bill, no return address, with a note saying “For Aldebaran” and your password. I do the deed, post in an agreed-upon thread that I’ve done so, and you change your password to keep me out. We can resubscribe you this way every year, and I’ll have no way (let alone desire) to track you down. I can promise that I’d make no use of your password other than to subscribe you.
I make this offer even though your posts often have me foaming at the mouth with rage. The Board wouldn’t be the same without you.
(Oh, and also add my concern about credit card security. I mean, this is just a sideline for the Chicago Reader that’ll generate little profit - how much time and money will they actually spend for security in such a situation?)
I agree with Hugh in that the rules should be solidified> I got no problem with being banned because you "cross the line’ but the line here is invisble and seem to be in a different place for different people. Of course, the vast majority of banning don’t just step over the line- they bound way over it so as there is no doubt.
I am also a bit concerned that Donatiosn have been tried first. Yes, I know that Ed says they were discussed, but seeing is beleiveing.
Opal- you run your by donations, right? Does it work?
That’s “donations have NOT been tried first”
If it comes with an edit feature, I am in. 
Note- I feel the $5 fee is minor, and I have no problems with that.
This is a big relief. Consider me a starter for next week. Hope my credit card’s one of the accepted ones.
I agree with dinoboy (whose post is probably a few hundred in back of this one). Yes, let’s stop saying how cheap it is.
$4.95 a year ??? That is highway robbery !!! I am outraged !!!
What a sleazy way to grab people in. Sure, give people a 5 year “free” trial period and then slap them in the face when they least expect it.
I feel short-changed too. I have been a “Doper” for less than one year. I didn’t even get to enjoy 20% of what others had availbale to them. 
Well, maybe I’ll sign up for that one year subscription. (Don’t worry - grandma didn’t need that operation anyway )
Seriously------- what are you joking ??? Sign me up !!!
Once a Doper always a Doper.
I lost count of the suggestions people have posted so far so I’ll guess at what number it is now:
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I agree in keeping this board clutter free - no avatars, no moving graphics, no editing posts either.
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Is there a possibility of a user name change? I’d be willing to change my name simply to “wolf” even if it means my posting count will go back to 1.
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Bring back the “smack-the-head” icon.
…and proclaim this the Biggest Thread Ever.
the one that says presidents can be named before they actually win anything
That’s exactly my point: they’ve been considering stuff like this for years. Thought experiments are great, but real ones, when feasible, are far better. The CR’s been considering this problem for over three years (here’s a post from Ed Zotti, dated 12/5/00, in response to one of the earliest attempts of SDMB members to try to pay for board improvements), and there’s something to a ‘measure twice, cut once’ ethic, but there were a number of alternatives where there was nothing to be lost by trying them, and others where the risk of trying them was pretty minimal.
Oh yeah, here’s what Ed had to say about one revenue-raising option in November 2001:
AFAICT, there was no reason not to do this, even though it would have only been a partial solution. Between then and now, by Ed’s calculation, that’s $27K that’s gone untapped. And that’s not including any estimate of increased revenue due to the vastly increased traffic here over that time. I’m just sitting here, shaking my head in cluelessness. Why???
OK, so there was a partial solution. Then you try something else, and see if it can pay another part of the load. And so forth.
From that same post:
That might be because they’ve never tried.
Let’s face it, however well Slug Signorino’s drawings complement Cecil’s columns, they’re really not very aesthetically pleasing. I don’t want a T-shirt or a coffee mug with a Slug drawing on it, and most people I’ve talked to feel the same.
I can’t remember how far back I first suggested a distinct line of SDMB merchandise, but it was a long time ago. CafePress was around even then, so it would have been a cinch to do: we have a contest to get some good designs, the winners sell the rights to the designs to the CR for $1, the designs are turned into coffee mugs, T-shirts, mousepads, and all the other usual stuff on CafePress, and money comes in. A little? A lot? Who knows until you try?
Look, I’m one of the all-time champs when it comes to staring out the window and considering stuff while doing nothing, but even I know there’s a time to choose, and act. And there was lots that could have been done. Instead, the years have slipped by.
I think this subscription system is far better than continuing to drift, but we had three years to see if some voluntary alternatives could have done the job. And if they hadn’t, the CR would have still come out tens of thousands of dollars ahead of where it is now. And that’s what has me shaking my head in retrospective disbelief. I’m not asking that anything different be done now; I’m griping about the failure to use time that we once had to work on this problem. But the time’s gone, and this gripe is over. Let’s move forward.