We'd pay for this

October 9, 2001 10:43 AM

Dammit, Matt, start charging us!!!
posted by jpoulos to Feature Requests at 10:43 AM (31 comments total)

I agree. I feel guilty. Make it easy on us, please.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:08 AM on October 9, 2001

Just do it.
posted by y6y6y6 at 12:10 PM on October 9, 2001

I'll buy it.
posted by walrus at 12:30 PM on October 9, 2001

Yep. The time has come.
posted by Kafkaesque at 12:31 PM on October 9, 2001

Got my credit card right here...
posted by briank at 12:42 PM on October 9, 2001

Y'all can still donate through Paypal -- but Matt, I'd be happy to pay on an "official" basis as well. Subscribe me, baby.
posted by metrocake at 12:42 PM on October 9, 2001

Yep.

Metafilter Pro?
posted by Grangousier at 12:59 PM on October 9, 2001

"I'd buy that for a dollar..."

Or even more.
posted by gleuschk at 1:16 PM on October 9, 2001

Count me in.

Of course, if Matt does instigate some sort of subscription, the question becomes what to charge and for what? Would would be a fair price for a subscription Mefi, and what would subscribers expect in return?

My initial thought: Why not keep it simple; free to read, pay to write?


posted by normy at 1:46 PM on October 9, 2001

Selfish comment follows: please don't charge, Matt. This is the
only cost-free, guilt-free, calorie-free and work content free pleasure I have. (*Sniffs, sobs*)
posted by Lynsey at 1:58 PM on October 9, 2001

I'd say $5.00 a month, easy. That's less than 20 cents a day. It's nothing but it's a start. Briank has the right idea. Create a temporary account where we can send our credit card numbers to ,and see how it goes. PayPal and Amazon don't do it for regular users. Why share with them? Make it something strictly MeFi and we'd be able to put something back into what brings us such pleasure.


Those who couldn't afford it(very few, I suspect)would simply not respond; so there would be no discrimination. Ideally no one would know or care - not even Matt - who actually contributed .

Hell, the WSJ and Inside.com charge that - for a small amount of chickenshit.

Matt paid $30 to Salon.com recently, figuring it cost him less than 25 cents an issue. Surely we can do the same.

It's becoming shameful for all of us not to help.

posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:12 PM on October 9, 2001

i'm in with the no-charging crowd. i am not sure paid subscriptions to metafilter would make you matt a living in SF, which means that operating metafilter would still be a huge sinkhole regarding matt's time to do anything in the day considering any other job responsbilities he has. in fact, it may be worse, because he would then have an obligation to his paying customers with metafilter to make sure the server is up and running.

if you must pay -- and, quite honestly, i think the only reason for paid subscriptions would be to keep out the hoi polloi -- it should be as either a one time or annual donation via amazon or something.
posted by moz at 2:32 PM on October 9, 2001

Matt, it must be hell to be out of work and have people begging you to take their money.

If only I was so lucky...
posted by fooljay at 2:34 PM on October 9, 2001

Miguel-- it sounds like you're suggesting voluntary donations. And we already have that.
posted by moss at 4:06 PM on October 9, 2001

I'd subscribe to MetaFilter immediately. However, there's a huge downside to charging for the site -- paying customers would raise a lot more grief when the server's offline, pages are slow to load, links are deleted for editorial reasons, and the like.
posted by rcade at 4:19 PM on October 9, 2001

I would gladly pay $5 a month, $60 a year for MetaFilter. I tend to agree with those who suggest that the quality of the site may go up as well.
posted by ztt at 4:47 PM on October 9, 2001

i will, however, pay a monthly fee if i can have an impressive looking penis gif placed next to my nickname in all comments and link posts.
posted by moz at 5:37 PM on October 9, 2001

this is one of the few places, if not the only, i would actually pay for membership on... i'd be more than happy to help matt out.
posted by lotsofno at 7:47 PM on October 9, 2001

rcade raises a good point. If MeFi ever becomes a pay-to-play enterprise, there need to be some ironclad terms of service laid down along the lines of "being a subscriber does *not* make you immune to link/post deletion, being called on the carpet in MeTa, IP banning, etc."
posted by darukaru at 8:22 PM on October 9, 2001

You're right skallas, I've been doing the PBS cheat here for too long without donating...soon as payday comes Matt!

Maybe the rest of you deadbeats will join me...let's all do five bucks each on Thursday.

Deal?
posted by Kafkaesque at 8:57 PM on October 9, 2001

Deal.
posted by Marquis at 9:49 PM on October 9, 2001

i vote that we do five bucks each on wednesday. shh...it's matt's birthday...
posted by judith at 9:49 PM on October 9, 2001

Of course we should pay, but I'd rather donate than have MeFi be a subscription service.

I really don't want to have part of my donation be taken by a collection service.
On the other would a subscription MeFi create bookeeping / IRS / SSA headaches for Matt?
posted by DBAPaul at 6:02 AM on October 10, 2001

paul: yes, because the money charged for metafilter would be profit.
posted by moz at 8:14 AM on October 10, 2001

moz: that's not quite true. You can deduct expenses for your "hobby" from any money you make out of it. So as long as he doesn't earn more than he spends, they won't tax it.

I think having MeFi telethons (or webathons) would be a good idea. That way, people are reminded that they can give Matt money, but there's not a sense of obligation on Matt's part that a subscription fee would create.

BTW, I keep typing telethons instead of telethong for some reason.
posted by EatenByAGrue at 12:20 AM on October 11, 2001

Uh, I meant telethong instead of telethons. See what I mean?
posted by EatenByAGrue at 1:46 AM on October 11, 2001

what percentage do amazon take?
posted by asok at 6:43 AM on October 11, 2001

15%

(If you'd ever donated - or even just clicked out of curiosity - you'd know this, asok, you cheap, lazy gudfernutin but yet surprisingly gifted contributor :-)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:35 AM on October 11, 2001

What are we who don't have credit cards supposed to do?
posted by Lynsey at 9:40 AM on October 11, 2001

You don't need a credit card, Lynsey. Click on "donate" and see. Besides, your attitude alone is worth millions, at least to people like me.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 10:31 AM on October 11, 2001

Thanks MC! That means a lot, coming from you! Loved the Nobel lit prize post and commentary.
posted by Lynsey at 2:49 PM on October 11, 2001