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The Truth Please


JoGPS

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Please read all of my post before posting your views.

 

This thread is ONLY for folks that at one time were either Charter or Premium Paying Members of this site but are no longer , would like to know why you are not anymore? Please do not turn this into a political statement, just an honest answer.

 

If you have never been a paying please don’t post, start your on thread why you don’t want to be.

 

If you are a paying member please don’t post, you could only guess why, no need for that.

 

Please only post if you have been a member before but are not now, all others will be considered off topic.

 

Thanks in advance for staying on topic. …………… JOE

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This thread is ONLY for folks that at one time were either Charter or Premium Paying Members of this site but are no longer , would like to know why you are not anymore? Please do not turn this into a political statement, just an honest answer.

I became a charter member as soon as they were offered, and remained one for two years. I allowed my premium membership to expire about 6 months ago.

 

My answer, though entirely honest, would be neither short nor simplistic, so rather than risk posting something that might be misconstrued as a "political statement," I'll simply refrain from saying anything more on the subject.

Edited by BassoonPilot
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I don't qualify for your thread but I just wanted to say that I delayed becoming a Premium Member because I refuse to use PayPal. I finally got to the point where I want to be a Premium Member and I going to do it the old fashioned way - by sending a check. I wonder how many others are loath to use PayPal.

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I don't qualify for your thread but I just wanted to say that I delayed becoming a Premium Member because I refuse to use PayPal. I finally got to the point where I want to be a Premium Member and I going to do it the old fashioned way - by sending a check. I wonder how many others are loath to use PayPal.

I fought it for years - then gave in - if you can't beet 'em - join em and let the CC company fight it out -

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I used to be a Charter Member. I paid via PayPal (as I've never experienced a problem with them).

 

Then, one day, the credit card expired, but I never updated the PayPal account. So, the reoccuring payments ceased.

 

Suddenly, my Charter Membership was cancelled, because I didn't remedy the PayPal situation.

 

Here's the nugget you're probably looking for: There were several incidents in my geocaching/geocaching forum past which fostered a disenchantment on my part towards TPTB at geocaching.com, as such, the effort (as miniscule as it may be) that it would take to reactivate my premium membership, and the cost per month (as miminal to me as it may be) just didn't seem "worth it." Plus, one of the only effective voices of dissent a consumer really has is to stop being a paying customer. (That'll teach em. :) )

 

Anyway, I've been debating with myself constantly about re-signing ever since deactivation. This post by Jeremy:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=69624

 

Actually moved me closer towards reactivation. (Think I can still recover my Charter Member status?? :anibad: ) It seems to show a small glimpse into TPTB appreciation of members.

 

As a side note, I don't use pocket queries, and I can do without the OT forum, so paying, for me, is not a question of perks, its a question of support.

 

As someone who, if I remember correctly, trumpets the position of "pay up or shut up" (or something like that), I'm interested in 1) why you're asking the question; 2) what you think about the answers; and 3) what your favorite television show is.

 

Maybe not so much #3.

 

Pan

 

Edit: Maybe I shouldn't say with such certainty that I was a Charter Member. I remember paying sometime towards the beginning... but I'm not sure I breached the Charter Member window. - P

Edited by Pantalaimon
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I am still a premium member only because I paid for an entire year and it hasn’t lapsed yet. I am not, however, planning to renew.

 

When I subscribed, I wanted to check out the premium features (few of which I found myself using) and, especially, to support the site. The main thing that has turned me off to the subscription service is the inundation of advertisements that we are being subjected to. It started with just banner ads, then we had the Yellow Jeep Travel Bug promotion, now, if it ever gets off the ground, it looks like “Earthcaching” will be sponsored by Subaru. It’s okay for the site and its owners to recover the costs of daily operation, but it’s not okay for them to become bloated and wealthy while still charging the mass of people …who, by the way, own the caches… own the cache logs… and are the overwhelming essence of the game, itself… to use every feature of their site. It just seems like corporate greed to me.

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it’s not okay for them to become bloated and wealthy while still charging the mass of people …who, by the way, own the caches… own the cache logs… and are the overwhelming essence of the game, itself… to use every feature of their site. It just seems like corporate greed to me.

dadgum that bloated and wealthy Jeremy guy!

I hear he has TWO limos now. One for back and forth to the office, and another for geocaching.

 

 

Bloated Jeremy's cache mobile, waiting to pick up his caching partner for the day, Bill Gates.

 

Hummer2.jpg

 

PS: Is it true that Criminal is Jeremy's chauffeur?

Edited by Mopar
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When I subscribed, I wanted to check out the premium features (few of which I found myself using) and, especially, to support the site. The main thing that has turned me off to the subscription service is the inundation of advertisements that we are being subjected to. It started with just banner ads, then we had the Yellow Jeep Travel Bug promotion, now, if it ever gets off the ground, it looks like “Earthcaching” will be sponsored by Subaru. It’s okay for the site and its owners to recover the costs of daily operation, but it’s not okay for them to become bloated and wealthy while still charging the mass of people …who, by the way, own the caches… own the cache logs… and are the overwhelming essence of the game, itself… to use every feature of their site. It just seems like corporate greed to me.

 

I had to go look at the home page after reading your post here -

 

I almost never see it as I link directly to my cache page -

 

I see a new add for REI-

 

Man I have to say that if you believe that this is an inundation of ads I guess you do not spend much time on the web.

 

I guess the banner ads were before my time - I never saw those -

 

the ads on the home page now are small, tasty - I mean taste full and at least tied into the gc theme here in some way.

 

You certainly have a right to feel how you do, but I gotta disagree -

 

-----------------

 

Now I have no idea at all wat a company like REI or Jeep pays for that little logo and ad on the gc home page [ none of my business and wouldn't even ask ] but I don't think that Groundspeak is gettng rich on our backs. They don't need me to explain or justify the expenses they have - but recouping dailey expenses is NOT the same as being proffitable. I'd like to add that this IS a commercial site - set up for the purpose of making money. They have every right to earn income any way they can - and of course you can disagree and fight back with your wallet.

 

It is just that somehow, your reasons do not seem very convincing to me - sure we own the cache and are the essence of the game - we need each other to play - but while I have not seen the text - I would be willing to bet they THEY own the content of the cache pages and the logs. Part of the agreement we 'signed' when we signed up.

 

-------

well I am sorta off topic here - so I guess I'd better close this -

 

edit - well it seems I type too slowly again - but seems I am agreed with too -

Edited by CompuCash
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It’s okay for the site and its owners to recover the costs of daily operation, but it’s not okay for them to become bloated and wealthy while still charging the mass of people …

I didn't mention that I'll renew my premium membership as soon as I get a convenient way to pay. Jeremy's not bloated enough yet. Such a handsome young man, but oh, so skinny.

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Pantalaimon , and subterranean thanks for being honest and the only two post answering my question.

 

(1) I must admit I have been called the king of “pay up or shut up” type of attitude around here for quite some time. But have never looked at this side of it, why someone was not satisfied for the 30 bucks. (2) the answers from the two on you are on topic and thank you for that. The answers are a little different than I expected so far. (3) Stargate One …………….. JOE

 

Again if you are not in this boat just watch the thread, eleven post here are off topic

Edited by JoGPS
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I am responding because I fit the discription a few months ago even if I am a premium again now.

 

My finances are currently quite tight and yes, even $30 a year is something to think about even if it doesn't really amount to much. I payed my subscription for a few months via PayPal to check it out, see what it had to offer and support what I believe to be an exceptionally well run service to the Geocaching community.

 

I turned off my subscription because I had played around satisfactorally and was not doing much Geocaching for several months. . . then I got a GPS as a gift (from a silly rich friend that doesn't even like Geocaching). Then I moved and I wanted to be able to cache paperless. So, I sold some shoes on ebay to get some money in my Paypal account, and without telling my wife, I resubscribed.

 

Now I support, for very little money, an exceptionally well run web site that allows me to pursue a silly hobby without wasting paper. I will probably stop my subscription and restart it a few times over the next few years depending on how much caching I do.

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It’s okay for the site and its owners to recover the costs of daily operation, but it’s not okay for them to become bloated and wealthy while still charging the mass of people...

I've been to the Groundspeak office and seen the uh, "industrial" decor and seen the vehicle Jeremy drives. I can guarantee you the owners are not getting wealthy off this site. The overwhelming portion of the income goes right back into the operation of the site. I can't quote any numbers (mainly because I don't know them) but I've heard off-hand comments about the bandwidth costs. They're positively staggering!

 

Running a site like this cannot be done for free. I don't understand why Groundspeak is constantly bashed for charging for premium service. The basic game is still free, and always will be. But for the site to continue to exist, there must be an income to pay for the operation.

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Pantalaimon , and subterranean thanks for being honest and the only two post answering my question.

Excuse me. How come I wasn't honest and didn't answer your question?

This thread is ONLY for folks that at one time were either Charter or Premium Paying Members of this site but are no longer
I can't pay my membership directly to GC.com with my credit card, and I don't want to use PainPal any more.

Or was there some other attributes that missed?

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When I subscribed, I wanted to check out the premium features (few of which I found myself using) and, especially, to support the site. The main thing that has turned me off to the subscription service is the inundation of advertisements that we are being subjected to.

Ya know, I dont look at the front page often either. So I looked. Then I went and looked up what the front page looked like back in Oct, 2003, right after you joined. The only changes I see is the REI ad replaces the offroute ad that was there, and of course the jeep ad. That little jeep ad on the front page is far from the "inundation of advertisements" you mention, especially by WWW standards.

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When I subscribed, I wanted to check out the premium features (few of which I found myself using) and, especially, to support the site. The main thing that has turned me off to the subscription service is the inundation of advertisements that we are being subjected to.

Ya know, I dont look at the front page often either. So I looked. Then I went and looked up what the front page looked like back in Oct, 2003, right after you joined. The only changes I see is the REI ad replaces the offroute ad that was there, and of course the jeep ad. That little jeep ad on the front page is far from the "inundation of advertisements" you mention, especially by WWW standards.

Hehehe. I compared the old page with the new, and almost didn't see a difference at all. Oh and look, NO POP UPS!

 

Oops, sorry, I posted and I'm a premium member.

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I was and for now remain a premium member. However this last go round I almost didn't renew, and come next time I won't.

 

Put as simply as possible. I belive geocaching belongs to it's members, and in the long run the only organizations that will be able to promote geocaching to land managers are non profit. Thus I will put my money and time towards that end. This is no easy thing however I have had some success. I'll leave it at that to keep this thread on track.

 

In addition, I've allready listed my last cache to ever be listed on a private site. While I have a lot of ideas and some excellent prospects for what I know will be good caches, they may have to wait one hell of a long time to see the light of day. One cache owner in the greater scheme of things is nothing. However that's where it all started. With one cache.

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I, of course, haven’t been to the Groundspeak office and I don’t know a single thing about the company’s finances because they have elected to keep that information private. I do know, though, that I would prefer to play a game like geocaching without having to see any ads. If Groundspeak truly can’t support itself through premium memberships and from the sale of its merchandise, then perhaps they need to scale down their operation. It would be better, in my opinion, to have a game where we pass around slips of paper with coordinates written on them (as an extreme example) than to have a game run by a corporation and its sponsors. I guess I’m a purist in that sense, but I’m entitled to be… I’m only expressing my opinion.

 

Those who think there hasn’t been an increase in the amount of advertisement on this site, don’t fool yourselves, the Yellow Jeep Travel Bug “contest” has been the most extensive ad campaign, yet… we’ll see whether or not the amount of advertisement on GC.com continues to increase, but we’ve been given no reason to assume it won’t. I trust most people would agree that at some point, enough is enough. In my opinion, it has already reached that point.

Edited by subterranean
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