TTJazzberry, I find your statements objectionable. First of all, I have made it very clear why I am down on non paying members, haven't you read anything I have written? They are paying nothing yet thye want their inconveniences alleviated or eliminated.

You are correct, BIg Bad wolf was discussing this, but it is the NON PAYING members who actually complain about it, since they are the ones affected.

Your statement that "we were all non paying members once" is just ridiculous. SO WHAT???????

WHat does that have to do with ANYTIHNG? For starters, I was a non paying member for about three days, at which time I paid for a membership, so I am not sure what your point is there. Additionally, when I was a non paying member, I did not write to Fencer or make posts on the message boards saying "Hey, I am not paying you anything, but I have a problem with X y and Z that I would like you to resolve."

Now, on to your next comment:

"From a business standpoint its smart to give non paying members the best service possible to entice them into becoming paying members."

I can only hope you are joking here, because this statement is asinine. If you give the NON PAYING members the BEST SERVICE POSSIBLE, then they would be getting better service than the PAYING members! WHY would you give those who pay NOTIHNG the BEST service possible? Maybe you can explain to me, FROM A BUSINESS standpoint (since you used that term) WHY anyone who is already getting the "best service possible" would consider paying for a membership?

I think the best way to entice people to get a membership is to give them a taste, but not the entire meal.

Non paying members get PLENTY. thye can play 20 games. they can enter a tournament. they can participate on the message boards.

What exactly is the problem? That isn't enough value for the cost of NOTHING that they are paying? Why should they get anything more? Why would that make them become PAYING members?????

The whole POINT of becoming a paying member is that you DON'T have to deal with these issues! If the existence of these "problems" are not enough to entice someone to pay up, WHY ON EARTH WOULD HE PAY UP AFTER being GIVEN what the paying members all had to PAY to receive?

The people who aren't paying for memberships but are asking for more features are CHEAP. It has not been my experience that a cheapskate stops being a cheapskate when you give him more than you are already giving him.

Obviously my last statement is oging to elicit responses of "some people can't afford a membership."

Save it, because we all know that's a load of crap. The non paying members choose to spend their money on other things that they obviously deem more important, yet they want to have similar benefits to those of us who have deicded that a membership is what we would rather spend our money on.