reasons to subscribe at $1 per month: Part I

I've been meaning to donate since you announced it but have been putting it off.

However anyone who pisses off Disney enough to be blacklisted is worth a subscription.

More reasons:

* Doctor Who obsession
* Male gazing at actors who don't always follow the normal asthetics of Hollywood. eg. they may be good looking, but their sexiness is due to their talent as actors, their ability to bring a warmth, humanity and an individuality to a role.
* One of the few places on the web where the vast majority of the commentators bring real intelligence to their posts. It's made up of people who ensure that their comments are not only insightful, but respectful. How rare is that? (Notable exceptions include the MacGuyver post, although that was hilarious)
* MAJ answers her critics
* 1 dollar (or 81 centimos in my case) is bugger all. I couldn't even buy a coffee for that amount, and so to help keep one of the most interesting communities on the web alive, it really isn't a sacrifice. Seriously, what can you buy for a dollar? Wouldn't it be better spent on supporting MAJ?
* It was her birthday yesterday!!

Full agreement on all points. I agree with Dr Dre above me, too, minus the male gazing. Not that I have a problem with it. I just don't click.
Like I said in the other thread. $1/month is NOTHING. I you seriously can't afford that, you can't afford the internet that you're reading about it on. Pony up, slackers.

Markyd, please tell me you are an accredited and respected university so I can keep the PhD you've just awarded me?

Although, to be honest, the nickname did come from Dr Dre, unfortunately I am not aware of his music since I prefer more of a rock guitar flavoured melody. Still, I'm trying to think what my PhD could be in.. drinking. talking shite.. loud music..?
Let me know if your personal eductional institution is accredited, and we'll work it out from there.

Cheers
Dre.

*ahem* ignore the typos. My spelling is usually better.

Ha! I just thought Dr. sounded better than Mr. or Ms. Plus Dr. is genderless.
I'm more of a rock guy myself, but everyone knows who Dr. Dre is. Don't they?
Whatever. Back on topic.

If you arrive early at a party, and the host says "I could sure use your help preparing the food" (that you'll enjoy later), you don't have to pitch in. But it's the right thing to do.

If you're on a road trip with friends and the car gets stuck in the mud, you don't have to get out and help push. But it's the right thing to do.

If you go to a free event in the park or a pay-what-you-want museum, you don't have to put a voluntary donation in the jar to help keep things running. But if you can afford it, it's the right thing to do.

And if you regularly come to this site to enjoy the writing, ideas, conversations and arguments, and MAJ asks you for $1 a month to help keep everything afloat, you don't have to chip in.

But it's the right thing to do.

And you'll feel better about yourself for doing it.

Won't you?

I've already subscribed and I hope I speak for everybody else who as when I say that even if you don't get enough subscribers to make it financially possible for you to take down the ads, I'm still happy to pay a buck a month to keep this site going. You deserve to be paid for all the work you do and dollar a month from us readers is so little to ask. Like markyd says, if you can't afford that than you can't afford the internet you're reading it on. A dollar a month to be part of this community is well-spent to say the least, ads or no ads.

If you arrive early at a party, and the host says "I could sure use your help preparing the food" (that you'll enjoy later), you don't have to pitch in. But it's the right thing to do.

If you're on a road trip with friends and the car gets stuck in the mud, you don't have to get out and help push. But it's the right thing to do.

If you go to a free event in the park or a pay-what-you-want museum, you don't have to put a voluntary donation in the jar to help keep things running. But if you can afford it, it's the right thing to do.

And if you regularly come to this site to enjoy the writing, ideas, conversations and arguments, and MAJ asks you for $1 a month to help keep everything afloat, you don't have to chip in.

But it's the right thing to do.

And you'll feel better about yourself for doing it.

Won't you?

Excellent point. I remember Ira Glass made the same pitch during one of NPR's pledge drives- no, unless you're a huge donor, it actually doesn't matter whether you personally donate. No one will really notice if one single listener doesn't donate. But it's still the right thing to do. And if I can afford $5 a month to them, I can afford $1 a month to a place that I spend far more time with (plus, proportionally, $1/month here is larger than $5/month to NPR).

even if you don't get enough subscribers to make it financially possible for you to take down the ads, I'm still happy to pay a buck a month to keep this site going.

Oh, yeah, this too. I honestly don't mind the ads (although more aggressive ones, like the ones that cover up your whole screen, like Salon.com has, would bug me- and those stupid green underlined words). Ads on the margin are just that- marginal. I just want to chip in. Then again, even if the ads don't bother me personally, I'd still enjoy the moral victory of showing that you can make a profit without advertising.

I would love to donate, but paypal won't let me do it without a credit card and I have none. :-(

I've already subscribed and I hope I speak for everybody else who as when I say that even if you don't get enough subscribers to make it financially possible for you to take down the ads, I'm still happy to pay a buck a month to keep this site going. You deserve to be paid for all the work you do and dollar a month from us readers is so little to ask. Like markyd says, if you can't afford that than you can't afford the internet you're reading it on. A dollar a month to be part of this community is well-spent to say the least, ads or no ads.

Um... what she said. :)

This site is worth at least as much as my NatGeo subscription is to me, so I have no problem at all keeping up my subscription even if the ads do return.

OK, I just now canceled my $1/month PayPal subscription and created a new $10/month PayPal subscription.

For Dr. Who alone it's worth it.

This is absurd. I thought at least the first year this would be an easy goal, but it's a week later and there's less than 200 people who have subscribed?

Come on, folks. It's pennies a day, as they say on TV. Just a quarter a week! Leave your change in a bowl and by the end of the month you should have more than enough!

Maybe a large percentage of the daily visitors are spambots and trolls? Maybe you're all spambots, and I'm the only real human left...*audible gasp* maybe I'm a spambot too? I always wondered why I enjoyed low priced Nike knock-offs, free online movies, the secrets to being thin, wealthy, and totally ripped, and counterfeit Coach handbags. It all makes sense now! None of us have souls. We're all just spambots trapped temporarily in movie review limbo because we failed to meet our sales quota for the quarter...or maybe I've been reading too much Philip Dick lately and the world is simply full of stingy, freeloading bar stewards. That's right, I just strongly implied that you tend a bar, cheapskates, what now?

I would love to donate, but paypal won't let me do it without a credit card and I have none. :-(

I've stopped using a credit card in order to reduce my number of online purchases (don't ask), but can pay my dollar a month via PayPal from my bank account. But perhaps that's an exclusively European option?

Don't you people have debit cards? How does one survive in this modern age without credit/debit cards? I rarely use the credit card, but the debit card is used for everything.
Please don't tell me that any of you are the idiot writing the check in front of me at the store?

i use Paypal from my bank account, not my credit card, and i'm here in the US.

You can link it to your bank account.

I couldn't subscribe without a credit card, but I could donate $12, so I did that. Have you heard about flattr.com, MaryAnn? That seems to be a useful service.

https://flattr.com/

Question, MaryAnn: when you list the number of subscribers in your updates, are you counting a $5/month (for instance) subscription as 1 or as 5 in your count up to 5,000?