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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 5137899" data-attributes="member: 15538">First, while I don't want to discount the empirical evidence of the people who run the site, I do want to raise a flag of warning. I did not subscribe because the site went monthy. I subscribed because, between the time I decided to subscribe and a few months later when I had the money, the site switched to monthly subscriptions. I think it's possible you would have seen some drop in subscriptions, or just a lack of new subscriptions, during the same time period just because fo the belt-tightening effects of the recession. Second, I don't like the sig idea. I can live with the Search thing, because it restricts site usage, and because I can use Google to circumvent the issue. With sigs, though, you are charging a premium for someone to contribute something. However banal and self-serving some sigs may be, others are amusing, informative, advertising, interesting, and above all, connected to the rest of the 'net. Already, EN World has steadily degraded the non-paying experience to the point I wonder where new paying subscribers are going to come from. I know that when I check the site before I leave work, I log in, against my usual habit for a quick browse, in order to avoid my browser being nearly shut down by creeping banner ads.Third, the Internet is information and the flow of information is extremely low cost. I think it's bucking long term trends to try to generate revenue through restrictions, rather than through offering value that exceeds free options.Fourth, "It's my site and I say so," is not a justifiable approach to community leadership. I don't come here to visit with Morrus and the staff and shop at the ENWorld store front and so forth. I come here for the community. The community has formed around a valuable web site, but that web site should not take the community for granted. $3 a month subscription charges do not generate the hundreds of posts and users that make this site worthwhile. When I first started using the Internet, many sites actually cost their owners money to maintain, but the site was deemed an end unto itself. Obviously, not everyone is free to engage in such charity. Nonetheless, I don't like being viewed as a revenue stream. If I am to be expected to contribute financially to a website, I expect my voice to be appreciated by the people administrating it. I read a half dozen or more web sites regularly, and I'm not going to give them each $3 a month just to do whatever they feel like doing. The forums are the lifeblood, and charging for this or that feature is really distracting from that central purpose. I don't really want a lot of awesome features, I just want a message board that works and a long-term, stable community to invest my time with.</blockquote>

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