Posted by Dinah on January 23, 2004, at 10:21:35
In reply to Paying for Babble, posted by socialdeviantjeff on January 23, 2004, at 1:54:19
It wouldn't be all that unusual. Bookgurl was mentioning that Weightwatchers charge $10 a meeting. The basket was passed to defray costs at the Debtors Anonymous group meeting and the other self help group I went to, and it's passed at my Sunday School class (proceeds going to supplement church activities) as well. Of course, those are voluntary, but it doesn't feel all that voluntary when the basket is passed around in public. The fact is that this site costs money to run, and Dr. Bob is donating his time. If we all get benefit from the site, it doesn't seem unreasonable to contribute to the basket through a fee.
I know there are free groups all over the internet, but you pay for them with popups, etc. And I know from the Yahoo groups I belong to that Yahoo is really cutting down on the space provided to the free groups and has now stopped attachments. I imagine that, like Picturetrail, the idea is to force the larger groups to pay for the service.
Privacy is certainly a concern, but I do think that paying for Babble isn't an unreasonable idea. I would miss all the people who wouldn't post here because of it, of course.
poster:Dinah
thread:303994
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20040112/msgs/304599.html