Cafe Membership fee

[DonnieDarko]

Hi Cafe Members,

I just noticed that the Cafe membership fee has been raised to $50 bucks a year. I wanna know how all y'all feel about this ....

I have no problem with the $$$, as I believe in supporting the entire site and the cause. Having a world-wide site talking about what is illegal in all countries throws the middle finger at the so-called "leaders" and laws of the world.

On the other hand, I come to the cafe to exchange ideas and experiences with the 10-20 people who regularly read/post. If this fee hike drives you guys away, then I'll no longer be interested the membership.

Anyway, I'd like to hear from all of you .... Will you be sticking around ???

DonnieDarko Reviewed by DonnieDarko on 01-14-2006. Cafe Membership fee Hi Cafe Members, I just noticed that the Cafe membership fee has been raised to $50 bucks a year. I wanna know how all y'all feel about this .... I have no problem with the $$$, as I believe in supporting the entire site and the cause. Having a world-wide site talking about what is illegal in all countries throws the middle finger at the so-called "leaders" and laws of the world. On the other hand, I come to the cafe to exchange ideas and experiences with the 10-20 people who Rating: 5

[Breukelen advocaat]

Since I post a lot, mostly in the Politics section, I didn't mind paying 25 dollars a year as a courtesy, but I don't see any benefit to paying $50.00 for Cafe membership.

Maybe there should be different levels of voluntary membership, for example: a "green" membership for 10 bucks a year, "red" for $25, "gold" for $35, "Cafe" platinum for $50, "Cafe" sustaining would be $75, etc. Maybe this has already been tried here - but I don't know. My postings on the Cafe-only threads account for a very small percentage of my input, and are not worth 50 bucks a year - while many other people are using this site much more without Cafe membership and pay nothing. There are people getting free grow advice, that are making, or saving, money on their plants - which is fine, but I'm not one of them.

No, I will not renew my membership for $50.00 a year, unless EVERYBODY has to pay an annual fee to post - or there should be options, some examples of which I listed above. It seems like the vast majority pay nothing, and the Cafe members are pulling their weight, and that of others. I'm sure that other Cafe people will feel the same way and drop their support.

I don't know anything about the in's and out's of website economics, but I know the buck stops when prices are doubled for a "luxury" item like this.




Just my :twocents:

[HannabisTheCannabis]

hell i don't know...... i guess i depends on at the time of my renewal date i'm into it or not.... 50 seems a little steep... lets make a counter offer.... say $35?????


HTC

[budsbuddy]

I just signed up a few months ago so i will be around for a while. But I only paid to come here to get away from all of the natter on the other lists. But I do not have 50 bucks for it. I will have to find some where else.

[Cannabis.com]

The price was increased in large part due to the manual nature of processing memberships; further discourages troublemakers from joining.

Think of cafe membership as a donation of sorts that comes with some extra benefits.

Ron

[lemonboy]

Grr. Kinda disappointed by that response. One of those extra benefits should be the ear of the administrator from time to time. I just don't have $50 to "donate" to a site that tried to auction itself off for $1mil last year, sorry.

[robert42]

I think $50 is silly,

Not worth it really. Free membership is just as good. im not complaining, but what lemonboy says is true.

[BobBong]

Think of cafe membership as a donation of sorts that comes with some extra benefits.

A donation would imply that i can "donate" any amount of money for the extra benefits. when's the last time Salvation Army asked you to donate at least 50$?
People buy Memberships.. because they pay you a specific amount for specific services.

If 50$ is what you'd like it to be, then so be it. It's completely up to you. It's your site. Personally, I would've been a lot less inclined to "donate" 50$ for a year membership..But in a year's time when my membership runs out.. My social and emotional attachment to this site will be much greater.. so yea, i could see myself paying 50$ for a year.
That is.... if it stays @ $50.00

If you want to throw the word donation around then we should be able to "donate" any amount of money...

Bob.

[ScarlettCrush]

yeah I can't afford that much a year.
20$ is ok, I can go without takeout for a week or two, but $50 is like my whole entertainment budget for a month.

also dissapointed in ron's response.
it is the members that make this site cool so maybe chasing us off and ignoring what we have to say isn't as good an idea as you think.

[vaporhead1]

That price increase is definately not good, to present members, and especially to prospective members.
Look at it this way: Would you rather have 1000 memberships @ $25.00, or 300 memberships @ $50.00 ? I think that's the way it's going to play out, that the extra amount tacked on obviously is discouraging to many, as witnessed by many of the above posts. WHY doesn't anyone listen when members who have been here for some time speak ? And if anyone does listen and responds, surely
it could have been a much better response, something like "Yeh, our bandwidth has increased so much, and increasing rates by our web hosting company make this membership increase necessary", not some statement about donations....
L, if I wanted to donate something, I'd donate something; people BUY things for a specific reason; people DONATE for a specific reason.
That's what happens with most good freeware, it goes from freeware with donations to commercial software, because NO ONE DONATES ! So, flock donating anything. I don't mind paying for things, but I pay for a specific thing.
JMHO....