Seriously,

What is that about? Why would someone pay to use a city message board, and why would the provider charge someone to access certain aspects of the account when it's still a very niche idea for the majority of our market??

I read about the "benefits" of being a paying user on here, and it just sounded like a bunch of goobledeegoop to me. May some of you can shed some light.

I paid for it because I wanted to support the site and the owner.

Having been in the Internet business for a long time myself I certainly understand the costs and I also understand the rather small amount I paid was mostly symbolic.

Still I appreciate the owner and the site and I wanted to show my appreciation in a tangible fashion.

Yes, some people do.

In fact, long before I bought this site I contributed a fair amount each year to support it.

I operate this site at a significant loss (as did the person that owned this site previously) and bought it to make sure it kept going as it's an important resource for the community.

However, subscriptions and donations are purely voluntary.


In the near future, I will be selling some banner ads to try and offset some of the expense.

When I first came across OKCTalk the first year it was founded, I was so happy to have access to all of the information available in one place.

I gladly contributed to help offset the cost of running the board and have been a Gold member since the beginning.

This was voluntary on my part and I was never 'charged' to participate or read the board.

I pay for a couple of sites, but they're generally a completely different beast than this little corner of the intertubes. Much more content, interaction, and community for paying members.

I'd pay for this one too, but it would make my name small and yellow. Since I'm an attention whore, that goes against every fiber of my being.

I paid for it because I wanted to support the site and the owner.

Having been in the Internet business for a long time myself I certainly understand the costs and I also understand the rather small amount I paid was mostly symbolic.

Still I appreciate the owner and the site and I wanted to show my appreciation in a tangible fashion.

Same here...Contributed as much as I usually burn on one happy hour

Was happy to donate...This is a great site

ogts.. perfect solution! Based on our old system you could become a Platinum Member if you didn't want to be Gold.

You can be small and silver!

From what I know, this site has never really made money by asking for donations.. it was always on a volunteer basis from a few generous souls!

Off the top of my head I'll name a few of our contributors. (I would love it if anyone I missed, added their name. I know we have a lot more who have made donations and contributed when they were able.)

Platinum Members include:

Pugalicious, betts, and Lauri101, Malibusooner

Gold Members:

bandnerd, flintysooner, Easy180, oumoodman, Doug Loudenback, Karried, mmm, NEOasis, dirtrider, okcpulse, soonerbent, soonerfaithful and lots more.. sorry if I forgot your name!

I know over the years many more have contributed... the previous owner made a few efforts to do some fundraising but the donation tiers typically hovered around $2 or 4 dollars a month.

I always thought that was a small price to pay for the enjoyment I get from the board.