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[smoger]

there's a lot of good ways to make money with a website.

annoying your visitors into paying for less annoyance isnt one of them.

annoying your visitors into paying for less annoyance and *still annoying them* certainly isn't one of them

i'm sure the cashflow is nice now, but arent you guys just looking at one big cashout from the current members? new members arent going to stick around to discover the benefits of paying. they're gonna show up, and when the page isnt loaded in 10 seconds decide the site sucks and never come back.

i'm not averse to paying for extra features like the bigger pm box and uploads, and 40 bucks for lifetime seems reasonable for that - but at the same time, have some decency and at least leave the site in a usable state for basic members. with all the paid advertising here, basic members should have fewer ad networks(because they're clearly the issue with load times), and paid members should have NONE(except for the direct vendors)

i've always defended ekool and his right to turn a profit on what he puts in here, and i still do. but theres a point where it goes from making a comfortable living, to holding your supporters up by their ankles and shaking them down.