I support the new policy in charging $5 a month.
The costs in starting & maintaining a service such as this are considerable, both financially and in terms of time. I don\'t expect it to be done for free.
I don\'t feel cable TV is worth the expense, so for over 20 years I have been using rabbit ears. I believe Starbuck\'s is a rip-off at around $4.00 a day plus the time wasted standing in line. I don\'t have an iPod and rarely buy music because the quality of the offerings is poor. I don\'t wear expensive jeans. I don\'t buy video game consoles and the games to go along with them. I can go on and on with examples of luxuries I forgo that a very large portion of the population consider to be necessities.
I do give generously to my church, both financially and with labor.
Five dollars a month is a bargain. Five dollars isn\'t that hard to come up with for something I enjoy and find informative.
If I knew someone with limited financial means, and doesn\'t have luxuries like cable TV, iPods and video games, and wanted to be active here, I would seriously consider buying them a subscription.
For those suggesting that a donation model be used, why should 10% of the people carry the load for the other 90%? I feel my 10% number is probably a high number.
My main request now that they are going to charge a fee is that they buy a SSL certificate so we can have secure log-in.
Using this service is a luxury and is voluntary. So the way I see it the $5 a month is also voluntary.
At no point did I expect this service to be offered for free forever. What I did fear was a business model that depended on advertising. If obnoxious bells-and-whistles-and-sirens-pop-up advertising were to appear, I\'d be outta here in a second. A five dollar a month model is a relief.
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