Feh. I never got a message at all. Thanks a heap, SDMB. These annoying ads just might be enough to help me break my waning addiction…
To those still unlapsed, think about doing an additional year and stay ahead of the curve.
Me sad, too. I was on vacation when the notice came. 
Did you pay by e-check? That takes a few business days to process – a lag on the side of PayPal, not us – and when the transaction is finally released by PayPal and registers on our side the system will reinstate you to your former glory.
Please contact me off the board if you don’t see this in a few more days. Hang on to your receipt in case we need to show it to Jerry.
Sorry for your inconvenience but this is PayPal’s doing and we have no control over it.
I got the message, while on vacation. There was never a deadline in the e-mail. The e-mail reads:
Your access to the paid subscription “Straight Dope Board Charter Membership” is about to expire.
If you have selected a recurring subscription you will be automatically billed for the renewal, else to renew this subscription you must visit http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/payments.php
If you do not extend your subscription you will revert to Guest status. As a Guest you’ll be shown banner advertising and will lose some of the privileges of your current membership status.
All the best,
Straight Dope Message Board
The e-mail was received on 5/20, and I logged in on 5/24. Not a lot of time in there to renew, especially without a deadline in the e-mail itself.
When was the deadline I was supposed to have met?
Really burns me to lose my Charter membership without any warning. I don’t mind paying the $14.95; but I was really attached to that Charter Member status. Petty of me, I admit, but it was cool to have that cachet.
Eli
Yeah, like the rest, I’m irritated about the short notice that they give. Although I did notice it on the 21st, so I did have a day to re-up it. It’s honestly not the extra $, it’s losing the “Charter Member” tag. I’m hoping that there’s something they can maybe do about the tag (again, not worried about the raise in price) so I’ll wait until tomorrow to re-subscribe just in case.
DSYoung, are you trying to alienate people or make them leave? This is uncalled for, and this isn’t the first thread where you’ve made these kinds of comments.
We’ve had an announcement posted about it for a while, but I know the emails went out earlier in the past and that more notice helps. Sorry about that.
I’m sorry, Marley. I dislike whining in all its forms. I deal with students every day who have come to expect that deadlines are meaningless, thanks to way too many teachers (and other aspects of society) who act as if a deadline is nothing more than a suggestion (part of our continued effort to delink choices and consequences).
When that whining starts to get snarky, more than just a “dangit, I missed the window, is there anything that can be done?” I get cranky about it.
Meet Mighty_Girl, former Charter Member, also de-chartered by the evil machinery behind the Dope mailing system.
I will go away now, wearing my sackcloth, my head covered with ashes.
Same here.
I didn’t get the notices to resubscribe.
I think I missed it by a few hours. Darn.
This is getting so, so sad. I don’t remember so many ex Charter Members bemoaning their fate in previous years.
No, this happens every year. But I think the subscription emails went out later this year.
I also did not get an email at all. Not sure I’m grouchy enough about it to not pay $15 a year instead of $8. But I’m a bit irritated at the fact that a bunch of people, all of whom are presumably loyal dedicated consumers of your product, all simultaneously failed to do something they intended to do and have done in years past, and the attitude seems to be “hey, it’s not OUR fault you people can’t deal with deadlines”.
I got no email at all. None. Zero. No warning.
“A great deal of success in life is derived from paying attention to detail”
-Brolenteen of Arisia, Moulder of Civilization
We’re really sorry. We’re aware of it and I’m not sure why people are getting less notice, or in some cases, none. We’ve done our best to post notices on our own. While I don’t think the staff has been giving people that kind of attitude, I hope our posts haven’t come off that way.
I actually never got a notification. It’s a shame, but such is life.
But if people got no notice, there is no recourse?
In discussions with the The Powers That Be, it appears that the e-mail was sent on 5/20, and my registration expired on 5/22.
Not even 72 hours to renew.
That’s a shame.
Eli
This makes my day.
Not the least for understanding what Arisia is. 
Some of you are acting like the deadline was some sort of arbitrary date that appears out of the ether. Every year it’s either the same as the prior year or a few days later because of outages. Any reminder sent is just a courtesy. You should be able to keep track of it on your own.