[aralfa8589]

I'm curious as to why some individuals who are frequent posters are not subscribed. I admit to some prejudice, but I'd be interested in the justification.

 

[RandallM]

Well Jeff,

I've been on here for three years and been a subscriber during two years. When I have the extra money I suscribe. That's my reasoning.

 

[aralfa8589]

That where I figured a lot of folks are. I've dropped a couple of magazine subscriptions in the last several months, just because the steadily increasing cost of living keeps chiseling away at my meager discretionary income.

 

[ghnl]

IME, there are some who do not know about subscriptions. After they have posted about a problem and received some useful answers (that usually saves them a lot of money vs throwing random parts at the problem or handing over a couple of boat payments to a mechanic) I will suggest a subscription is a good way to 'pay it back' and keep the forum alive. In the vast majority of these cases the original poster then becomes a happy subscriber.

 

[tubut]

Yes, times are harder than they used to be, but I guess it won't be long until we see a guy writing from Starbucks on his new iPhone that he can't afford paying even a minimal subscription fee.

On the surface, it seems to be all about priorities, helping others and pride in not taking a free ride. However, I'm traveling from time to time, and can tell you that the performance of AlfaBB depends very much on the location and network one connects from, which in some cases led to slow performance (pages taking 1-2 minutes to load) even with a advertising and pop-up blocker. If I'd lived in a place like that, I'd think twice about subscribing.

Part of the problem is complex pages that require several packet exchanges between the user and the servers (mostly ad servers) which gets worse with distance, network congestion, caching on the network route, etc.

AlfaBB is facing a catch-22: More subscribers would allow Simon to reduce or even eliminate time- and resource-consuming ad-sensing, but without extensive sponsoring or a large base of subscribers, he cannot do that -- which prevents some people from subscribing in the first place.

 

[PSk]

I'm curious as to why some individuals who are frequent posters are not subscribed. I admit to some prejudice, but I'd be interested in the justification.

Simply because I am a tight @rse. Sorry but it's true .

Instead of subscribing, I try to help others as much as I can.
Pete

 

[alfa of-corse]

When was this ever a democratic forum. There has always been a group that has felt it is THEIR forum. So why should anybody but that group pay?

Several years ago there was a controversy about a fabricator who required full payment up front, and then ignored paying customers and allowed his friends and their friends to go to the front of the queue, those members who where bumped down the queue waited months longer, or in some cases never got anything, and the A list members of your community told that group to shut up and not complain about their friend.

do you really expect the members who got bumped down that queue and found out they are not equals to poke YOUR pig? If the only time you are willing to treat them as equals is when you want their money, why do you expect to get their money?

Or you could ask how many members won't contribute because of past experience with abusive posters like PSK. People who think their opinion is more important than an open discussion. But you may find some of those abused members are not active, and have not been active for some time.

I imagine many inactive members can give you many other reasons they wont pay to support another groups playground.

 

[aldo]

When was this ever a democratic forum. There has always been a group that has felt it is THEIR forum. So why should anybody but that group pay?

Several years ago there was a controversy about a fabricator who required full payment up front, and then ignored paying customers and allowed his friends and their friends to go to the front of the queue, those members who where bumped down the queue waited months longer, or in some cases never got anything, and the A list members of your community told that group to shut up and not complain about their friend.

do you really expect the members who got bumped down that queue and found out they are not equals to poke YOUR pig? If the only time you are willing to treat them as equals is when you want their money, why do you expect to get their money?

Or you could ask how many members won't contribute because of past experience with abusive posters like PSK. People who think their opinion is more important than an open discussion. But you may find some of those abused members are not active, and have not been active for some time.

I imagine many inactive members can give you many other reasons they wont pay to support another groups playground.

I agree.
Lets legalize marijuana.

 

[Monsai52]

When was this ever a democratic forum. There has always been a group that has felt it is THEIR forum. So why should anybody but that group pay?

Several years ago there was a controversy about a fabricator who required full payment up front, and then ignored paying customers and allowed his friends and their friends to go to the front of the queue, those members who where bumped down the queue waited months longer, or in some cases never got anything, and the A list members of your community told that group to shut up and not complain about their friend.

do you really expect the members who got bumped down that queue and found out they are not equals to poke YOUR pig? If the only time you are willing to treat them as equals is when you want their money, why do you expect to get their money?

Or you could ask how many members won't contribute because of past experience with abusive posters like PSK. People who think their opinion is more important than an open discussion. But you may find some of those abused members are not active, and have not been active for some time.

I imagine many inactive members can give you many other reasons they wont pay to support another groups playground.

I'm a relative newbe in comparison to a great number of members; I joined a little under 3 years ago and have been a subscriber most of that time. I can imagine that some of what is described above, goes on, but I've never really seen any of it, or have ignored it and moved on.

This is such an invaluable resource in promoting and maintaining our cars that even if someone does has an occasional problem with one or more of the other members, I would hope that they would put that aside and support the BB; this is a resource that we can't afford to lose. Before I joined I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about Alfas, but after following the BB for the last few years, I realize that I had just scratched the surface.

Best regards,

 

[rcess]

This is such an invaluable resource in promoting and maintaining our cars that even if someone does has an occasional problem with one or more of the other members, I would hope that they would put that aside and support the BB; this is a resource that we can't afford to lose. Before I joined I thought I was pretty knowledgeable about Alfas, but after following the BB for the last few years, I realize that I had just scratched the surface.

Best regards,

That very nicely sums up my feelings.

 

[Anfanuts]

+99. I get a 20x multiplier in info and 50x in good and bad humor, and fun. Such a great deal! Worth every penny and a lot more.

 

[Gubi]

Yeah, I've definitely gotten my money back several times in terms of savings on the car.

Plus it gives me a chance to hone my rapier wit.

 

[tarnow]

I obtain valuable information and recreational enjoyment from the BB. I contribute in the hope (no guarantee) that my contribution will ensure its continued existence. In the past few years, I've cancelled subscriptions to Classic Car, Auto Italia, and membership in AROC. I get lots more bang for my buck from this site. I respect those who do not subscribe (free internet content is good) but perhaps some of them will contribute once their financial situation affords it.

 

[jerry Quinlisk]

I saw how Simon worked tail off to try to please the "community" and figured that I piss away the price of a subscription most every day to somebody who is just trying to rip me off ........

 

[PSk]

Or you could ask how many members won't contribute because of past experience with abusive posters like PSK. People who think their opinion is more important than an open discussion.

Why am I an abusive poster please? Because I currently don't subscribe?. Surely this site is foremost about sharing knowledge and I actually do genuinely try to help/share what I have learnt.

You will notice that I no longer post in the F1 thread and engine coversion threads on this site because I do not agree with some others views, so to stop any conflict for this site I no longer bother with those threads.
Pete

 

[aralfa8589]

I'd like to fine tune my original post. Instead of the word 'justification', I'd prefer using 'reason'. There's a huge difference, both implicit and explicit, in their meanings.

 

[alfa of-corse]

Why am I an abusive poster please? Because I currently don't subscribe?. Surely this site is foremost about sharing knowledge and I actually do genuinely try to help/share what I have learnt.

Share what you learned! Where did you learn to despise Ferrari owners? I learned that you do not like people posting anything positive about Ferrari, I've learned how little you think of Ferrari owners, and simply because I am an owner I have learned what you think of my mechanical skills. something you know nothing about. You are no better than an attack comic, it might be my fault that I own a F car, but it is not my fault that you don't own one. If attacking b list members is your contribution then pay your subscription and mine. Or prove you are not the A list court jester and go after G Raymond. He owns a Ferrari too, so how did he escape your wrath?

You went after me, and many other new members, for no other reason than to entertain yourself and your A list friends. Maybe you should keep your opinion to yourself unless actually asked for it.

 

[PSk]

alfa of-corse,

I've checked and I have never replied to a post of yours, thus I think you might have me confused with somebody else?. BTW: I'm also an active member of FerrariChat so I don't hate Ferraris, especially old ones like G Raymond's.

I believe the only threads we have both posted on is: "ferrari-v8-into-105-stepnose" (I did make a comment that magazine articles that I have read indicated that the Lancia Thema powered by the Alfa v6 is a better drive than the Ferrari v8 one. I've never driven one so not my opinion) and "post-pic-your-garage".

Anyway, feel free to put me on your ignore list.
Pete

 

[Greg Gordon]

I think I have a pretty good reason for not subscribing. I am a paying advertiser on this forum, but if I subscribe I won't see my own ads when I log on. I need to see the ads so I know how often they are showing up, and if there are any errors in them.

Greg,
Silicone Hose Kits

 

[divotandtralee]

Intereting points of view... like every other subject in the world, there are more than one side to it..Bully to those who subscribe and bully to those who contribute in other ways.. As for personal "attacks", they just fall under bad taste. I dole out my share of irony, sarcasm, and useful and unuseful information sifted through the former. Some readers get it; some think it's in poor taste. OK, so what's the point? It's a BLOG! If you can lay it on back I can handle it. I don't think there is an equivalent of Robert's Rules but a good rule is "Don't say anything on line you wouldn't say in person". That has been violated on this short thread because if exchanged in person, it might ignite further infuriation of the parties, resulting in spilled beer or wet faces....much more physical than a food fight.

As for monetary contributions, I don't believe in subscriptions to forums open to the public. In the old newspaper days, the daily paper was opened on display in parks for anyone to read. There wasn't a cup nearby for a contribution. If I paid for every piece of useful information retrieved from the internet, my cars and home wouldn't be paid for.

I leave the subject with this..beware, you are entering a site where disagreement follows right behind agreement.. if you can't live with it, do something else with your time and stop wasting yours and mine.