# Why is "Boo!" Private **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 1, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-boo-private/598229 "2011-10-01T04:27:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-boo-private/598229/41 "2011-10-03T01:39:00Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > The sentiment is that users of online forums and social networking sites are product being sold to advertisers. Since paying members don’t see ads, it’s as if they’re paying not to be product. Glad I could clear that up for you. And since you are forking out to generate the very content that this site relies on for traffic, you are actually paying to be product. Don’t mention it. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-boo-private/598229/42 "2011-10-03T01:48:14Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > And since you are forking out to generate the very content that this site relies on for traffic, you are actually paying to be product. Don’t mention it. I didn’t pay for anything. And no, you can’t be paying to be the product if you aren’t the product, which as I already said, is people seeing ads. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-boo-private/598229/43 "2011-10-03T02:44:16Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I didn’t pay for anything. And no, you can’t be paying to be the product if you aren’t the product, which as I already said, is people seeing ads. People come here for the content of the site. That is the product that is being sold. If you pay to become a member of this site, as the word Member under your name would seem to indicate you have done, you are paying to generate the very content that you are here for. The existence of ads, and whether or not you pay not to see them, is a side issue, since nobody would be here in the first place were it not for the content of the site. And I don’t pay not to see ads because I use industrial grade electronic prophylactics to visit this site. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-boo-private/598229/44 "2011-10-03T02:51:25Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > People come here for the content of the site. That is the product that is being sold. If you pay to become a member of this site, as the word Member under your name would seem to indicate you have done, you are paying to generate the very content that you are here for. I didn’t pay for my membership. And even if I had, I would have been paying for the word “Member” to appear under my name, not to generate content, unless you count the word “Member” appearing under my name as content. And no, the content isn’t the product being sold. It’s being given away for free. It’s like saying that Facebook has a product that it sells to its users. It’s a free service. The users are the product being sold to advertisers. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-boo-private/598229/45 "2011-10-03T14:20:52Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I didn’t pay for my membership… Sneak brag. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-boo-private/598229/46 "2011-10-03T15:27:08Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I didn’t pay for my membership. And even if I had, I would have been paying for the word “Member” to appear under my name, not to generate content, unless you count the word “Member” appearing under my name as content. > > And no, the content isn’t the product being sold. It’s being given away for free. It’s like saying that Facebook has a product that it sells to its users. It’s a free service. The users are the product being sold to advertisers. You could also argue that we pay for the privilege not to be sold to the advertisers. But you’re right, you cannot argue that the content is what’s being sold, because you can get that content without paying a dime. Even when it was pay to post, you weren’t paying for content. As the name implies, you were paying for the privilege to post. Now that that’s free, you also aren’t paying for that. Finally, you must understand that a lot of people who pay do so just to keep the site itself running. So you can also say we are paying for the venue where the content is generated. In fact, that’s my favorite way to look at it. Note: I’m not talking to the poster I’m quoting. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-boo-private/598229/47 "2011-10-03T15:28:37Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Sneak brag. _Flex._ ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-boo-private/598229/48 "2011-10-03T19:06:01Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I don’t think it’s not asking too much for the mods to think to take into account whether the OP will be able to see their thread. And if that’s not something they’re thinking about, maybe they shouldn’t make private forums. It’s not like they’ve done this before. It’s the first time they’ve tried it, so there are growing pains. But they remedied it quickly and without fuss. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-boo-private/598229/49 "2011-10-03T19:14:46Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You could also argue that we pay for the privilege not to be sold to the advertisers. But you’re right, you cannot argue that the content is what’s being sold, because you can get that content without paying a dime. Even when it was pay to post, you weren’t paying for content. As the name implies, you were paying for the privilege to post. Now that that’s free, you also aren’t paying for that. > > Finally, you must understand that a lot of people who pay do so just to keep the site itself running. So you can also say we are paying for the venue where the content is generated. In fact, that’s my favorite way to look at it. > > Note: I’m not talking to the poster I’m quoting. I wonder about this. What’s the fee for one membership and what’s the actual price ad-wise of one guest? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-boo-private/598229.md?page=2)