[RubyTuesday]

I'm an admin on a smaller forum. We charge $5/year for operating costs and use any leftover to help forum members who go through challenging times (after a vote by the forum members). We've helped buy groceries, pay mortgages, pay medical expenses, send flowers, etc. On that forum, that people pay for, ALL are considered "owners". Admins just do the techie stuff.

Paying implies a sense of entitlement and freedom to say what's on your mind. After reading the numerous threads here, I'm going to propose to the other admins of our board that we set up a widget and do donations instead because times are getting hard for so many financially and we won't have to keep track of who has paid, who hasn't, send out warnings to pay, or ban people from posting.

What bothers me about paying to be here is what this forum will lose. There are MANY people here who don't post a lot but will, from time to time, post a fantastic nugget of info. Many who mostly read won't pay. In return, we lose the information they *could* have provided. It's a very limiting model imo. We won't know what we're missing.

What's wrong with putting up a widget? Sure, people could donate now but why would they if it's still being debated? Some of us are waiting for a decision to be made before we decide to donate. I personally don't want to donate and then find out that people are being shut out for not paying. I wouldn't feel good about my money going towards that.

It's easy peasie to set up a widget. Put the dollar amount and the money will come. If not enough is raised then suspend all posting for a day or two with a message on the front page explaining that operating costs must be met first. I don't think it would come to that, though. I think the money would be raised pretty fast and nobody would feel that they have to beg for someone else to pay their way and others will feel good that they have been able to contribute financially. Win win.

Looking at all the controversy surrounding this issue it seems to me that it's pretty obvious that a paid subscription doesn't "feel good" to many. On a spiritual level I understand that very well. Many of us listen carefully to how we "feel" and avoid that which makes us feel uneasy or just doesn't feel right. This controversy doesn't feel right.

I would also like to say I was a member of another board (a fertility forum) that instituted a paying system- then the mods got heavy handed and were deleting people's posts, even suspected of reading private messages which resulted in banning paying members. Lawyers got involved and many people were refunded their membership dues. Ugly situation for all involved and that site ruined their reputation.