Over the past few days, several people have outlined various ways to categorize the SI populace. Perhaps it would be useful to the thread if someone could also identify which groups get which bennies. It certainly would be useful to me.
Am I the only person here who didn't know SI was charging for membership? I only discovered that when someone on one of my threads introduced himself by saying he was taking advantage of the free trial membership. Am I the only one who didn't know that others where looking at ads? I assumed everyone else saw what I saw. Never gave it a thought. In retrospect, I still don't know how I could have known. When you sign on every day to the member page, click through all your bookmarked threads, and then exit, you could go on for years, as I did, and never know. Perhaps there are others who don't know.
I infer from the various snippets posted that all members, regardless of category, get access to the bookmarks, get to post, and avoid ads, and visitors do not have those bennies. Is that correct? Or are there further subcategories of benefits?
On the subject of membership fees, I certainly have financially benefited from my exposure to SI far, far, far more than the $0, $45, $75, and $125 fees combined. Had I been asked to pay, I would have been willing to do so. Still would be, if need be, assuming the deal's the same. Not sure what all the fuss is about. (Since I'm vague about what the terms of my membership were, there are limits to how exercised I can get about SI honoring its commitment.)
On the other hand, avoiding bandwidth-hogging ads, that's something to make a fuss about.
Karen |
