An excellent idea

I think Lars' idea is great. The most important reason why I haven't become a contributing member yet, is that I've felt that I would be a part of an exclusive gang, and that is something I don't want to be.

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ehmm....none right now

I agree with Melo. IMO people who contribute feel the need to give something back, and do so to help out with the expenses, not join an "elitist" group.

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Taking away from you for the greater good.

"Thus, every communist should become an active participant in this electoral upsurge, if he or she hasn’t already done so. The avenues are many and the possibilities are nearly limitless." -- Sam Webb, chairman, Communist Party USA (speaking of Obama / Clinton)

What about stickers for free?

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ehmm....none right now

Once the custom avatar and status would be made available for everyone again there would still be enough other exclusive extras left for the contributing members. The custom avatar and status, these are the only things that I think should be available for all members.

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You know it makes sense, don't even think about it.
Life and death are things you just do when you're bored.

I have no clue about this gang thing. If we have a gang can I be leader, and can we be called Chrissies posse?

I contributed Because

1. I was drunk

2. I wanted to change my avy, though once I did it couldnt think of anything and was a snowflake up until recently. Also like the invisiblity thing.

I would contribute now reguardless of the avy thing.

Even more so now I know people think I am teh 1337.

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Not Now John might not be me, but he wishes he was.

My avatar was grandfathered, and I can't be arsed to change it anyway. I haven't gone the route of contributor for many reasons...one of which is that the day I pay for posting on a website is the day I admit I have no life. But, I realize Paulo's argument and say keep it as it is.

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stchrissie is not me.

Ditto: keep it as it is. Play with your avatars some place else if you cannot do it here, I say.

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Count me in on the journey, don't expect me to stay.

Lars' idea is a very good one, I've become extremely bored with my avatar. And I don't feel like paying just to change a tiny little photo on a message board, really.

but then if it's not possible to have the option available to every normal users, I wont die if I have to stick with the syd one.

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Daddy! Take the banana! Tomorrow is Sunday!

I could go to another website to change avatars, but all the other forums I've been to I hate. I've been on this one forever and I'm used to it. I don't really care about my avatar, though.

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That's all.
APFFN
Now you can see all the shit I listen to.
And you can fawn over my Myspace.

Play with my avatars somewhere else? What kind of awfully unpleasant attitude might that be then? One that is awfully unpleasantly full of shit I see, it also has that typical Golden Age attitude going on. What I don't understand is why anypne besides Paulo would want to it to stay like this. Paulo is the only one able to decide which is the best choice with the most benefits. I still have a hard time believing the custom avatar and status are really an important source of income which the site can't do without, if they were that would be a reason to keep them. Paulo is the only one able to tell if there is actually. I ask him to please ask himself the question which has the most benefits in the end. Would making them free again really result in a lot of loss? Would that really put an end to much of the site's income? Or would you barely notice it at all? Once the last would be the case I'd say changing it back seems like the wise choice. It's up to Paulo and no one else really, only he can define each choice and it's benefits exactly like they are. APFFN members like Mr Bull already saying that it should stay like this are not looking at the facts obviously.

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You know it makes sense, don't even think about it.
Life and death are things you just do when you're bored.

I have never seen a post from Mr Bull that was missing the point as bad as that last one, the bitchy attitude is also something that I never saw from him at all. The BoaB I'm used to always has well written posts that make sense and he is always friendly also. Something must be wrong this can't be him. PearlWaters, is that you?

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You know it makes sense, don't even think about it.
Life and death are things you just do when you're bored.

Starting in 2007 ONLY Contributing members will be allowed to start Threads. Us common folk will only be able to reply to the mighty contributors threads.

Also, Non-contributing members won't have access to PM or any other features.

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Driving without insurance. Selling insurance.

It is important that one never forgets where to draw the line, the payments thing went insane. Paying for using a message board is wrong, giving people an opportunity to send some money is something else though. It used to be a free choice someone could make, that was the best way. I think taking away options from the nonpaying members and making them exclusive for paying members like what happened here is the wrong way to do it. All members were suddenly stripped down from a lot of options they had always had for free and told that if they wanted them back they had to pay. Suddenly having to pay for something which you were used to having for a while now, that is actually quite silly. And then mainly the avatar and the status,

I already explained it really. How they should be free of cost to begin with and available to all members, how they are not suitable as exclusive extras reserved to a small elite but should be for everyone. I really don't understand why people would already say it should stay like this, I did expect a few contributing members to dislike the idea because they liked the elite they were in too much and wanted to keep the stuff exclusive to them only. Such people are obviously pricks. I am glad to say myself that I don't do this to save money. I don't do this for myself at all, there is nothing to gain for me here. I actually have the same account as a contributing member, I already have all the shite. I belong to the ''elite'' myself actually but instead of being proud of that and wanting it to live on I hate it. I do this for the majority of the members here. A forum simply shouldn't have this kind of bullshit going on, a forum shouldn't try to earn money this desperately.

Which led to me final question, why does this site demand so much money which even needs to come from it's own members? Most other fora don't even have it as an option, you couldn't send them money if you wanted to. Why does this need so much money while other similar sites don't?

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You know it makes sense, don't even think about it.
Life and death are things you just do when you're bored.

I agree. I want my avatar Paulo. My Own!!!

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Driving without insurance. Selling insurance.