I got an interesting private message from another user on the board. I checked his date of joining the board; he's quite new around these parts, and before he even made his first post, he opted to cancel his premium membership.
Now, what does that mean? Well, in the most basic sense, Mark lost $2.50 a month or possibly $24 for a year. It's just a bit of revenue, but considering how many more free members we have here than premium ones, that's quite a share of the profit margin.
I'm not claiming to know why this person canceled his premium membership, but I offer something for you flame war participants to reflect upon for the time being.
I've spoken in IMs with others who have noticed the increasing surge in flame war posts. It's nothing new. Our group has survived quite a bit of them, and we remain song. But, is it any small wonder that people use words like "immature," "bothersome," or "degenerate" to describe the level of activity going on around here? In the latest flame war thread, someone said that this place is supposed to be a support group -- and when I think of support, I think of people offering advice, perspective, or information to the betterment of someone else.
Are we all supposed to magically get along? No way. That just isn't possible.
Now, let's talk about that bandwidth again. If the LPSG is designed to be a support group and I'm on the right track about the "purpose" of this group, then it seems sensible to make the most out of Mark's investment in this place. If we're supposed to share information and stories and maintain a common level of interest in each other, then the more we do that, the better use we're making of this.
So, I say -- put up or shut up.
If you're shelling out the cash to help Mark keep this good thing goin' or if you try to bring revenue to the site through supporting those banner ads above, I think you have a privilege to say whatever the fuck you want to whomever you choose. Why? You're an investor. Class and economic politics aside, you're doing a good service to this board by chipping in your bucks, and for that, you are elected a certain amount of privilege. Mark gives you a little more bandwidth and I give you a little more leeway and respect to your content.
And to those of you who are essentially getting a free ride and are doing nothing better with it than calling each other coprocephalics and shitheads and bastards and fuckoffs and cocksuckers, I say... Shut the fuck up.
Really... all you're doing is wasting valuable time and bandwidth, nothing more than a oneupsmanship contest to see who can insult whom better, faster, harder, etc.
So, before you waste your keystrokes and waste more space and waste my time and the time of people who would rather read something interesting...
Ah, to hell with it. Shut up.
Now, what does that mean? Well, in the most basic sense, Mark lost $2.50 a month or possibly $24 for a year. It's just a bit of revenue, but considering how many more free members we have here than premium ones, that's quite a share of the profit margin.
I'm not claiming to know why this person canceled his premium membership, but I offer something for you flame war participants to reflect upon for the time being.
I've spoken in IMs with others who have noticed the increasing surge in flame war posts. It's nothing new. Our group has survived quite a bit of them, and we remain song. But, is it any small wonder that people use words like "immature," "bothersome," or "degenerate" to describe the level of activity going on around here? In the latest flame war thread, someone said that this place is supposed to be a support group -- and when I think of support, I think of people offering advice, perspective, or information to the betterment of someone else.
Are we all supposed to magically get along? No way. That just isn't possible.
Now, let's talk about that bandwidth again. If the LPSG is designed to be a support group and I'm on the right track about the "purpose" of this group, then it seems sensible to make the most out of Mark's investment in this place. If we're supposed to share information and stories and maintain a common level of interest in each other, then the more we do that, the better use we're making of this.
So, I say -- put up or shut up.
If you're shelling out the cash to help Mark keep this good thing goin' or if you try to bring revenue to the site through supporting those banner ads above, I think you have a privilege to say whatever the fuck you want to whomever you choose. Why? You're an investor. Class and economic politics aside, you're doing a good service to this board by chipping in your bucks, and for that, you are elected a certain amount of privilege. Mark gives you a little more bandwidth and I give you a little more leeway and respect to your content.
And to those of you who are essentially getting a free ride and are doing nothing better with it than calling each other coprocephalics and shitheads and bastards and fuckoffs and cocksuckers, I say... Shut the fuck up.
Really... all you're doing is wasting valuable time and bandwidth, nothing more than a oneupsmanship contest to see who can insult whom better, faster, harder, etc.
So, before you waste your keystrokes and waste more space and waste my time and the time of people who would rather read something interesting...
Ah, to hell with it. Shut up.
) and (ii) because I hope to save time by using some of the search features.
