Privacy issues in Today and Cafe threads ... Now merged

[Diane]

So what is the point of us subscribers renewing if long standing registered users get it for nothing? In my opinion (and it is only my opinion) if you are a long standing registered user and love sewing/patchworking etc and really enjoy TSP then why wouldn't you want to pay the very small fee of £10 a year to help support it? I thought it was only the Cafe that was unavailable to registered users, where we chat in privacy. They still have access to all the other threads where the actual sewing chat goes on.

[Pearl]

The problem with this is that we have some long-standing members who contribute regularly but are not subscribers.  We don’t want to exclude them.

[Pearl]

I agree, @Diane , but some long-standing, much-valued members choose not to subscribe.

[Diane]

I'm glad you agree @Pearl It's their choice, we all have a choice so it's down to the individual.

[Bumblebuncher]

I am not sure how I feel about this.  It wasn't that long ago that even just £10 a year seemed like an inordinate amount of money for me to spend on just a sewing forum. Nowadays it was easy to pay it as soon as I joined.
I know I never paid on the other forum as I simply could not justify the money and ended up being lost in the ether when it all went kaput!
BB

[Kenora]

I don't usually get involved in this kind of discussion - I prefer a quiet life! But I do think that limiting access to The Cafe and Today thread to subscribers only would be detrimental to the membership of the forum. If you look back through the years, it was only decided at the beginning of 2018 to limit access to Registered Users - there was nothing about subscribers. I understand that subscription income helps with the running of the forum but not everyone is able to budget for that, however small it may be.

[Kenora]

There are two threads running concurrently on this subject, so I'll just repeat what I wrote on the other thread:

I don't usually get involved in this kind of discussion - I prefer a quiet life! But I do think that limiting access to The Cafe and Today thread to subscribers only would be detrimental to the membership of the forum. If you look back through the years, it was only decided at the beginning of 2018 to limit access to Registered Users - there was nothing about subscribers. I understand that subscription income helps with the running of the forum but not everyone is able to budget for that, however small it may be.

[WildAtlanticWay]

I feel very uncomfortable about limiting access to the Today chat threads to Subscribers only, for several reasons.

1. I particularly value reading contributions from non UK. based members as I’m interested in what’s happening in other parts of the world, whether sewing related or not. I think anything to do with Quilting and Patchwork for instance, would be very bland with the US contributions as they have an enormous wealth of expertise over there.

2.  I don’t think ANYONE should ever post anything online that is particularly sensitive because I think it’s gives the poster a false sense of security. Hackers can get into anything and regularly do so. Even if you delete stuff, it can be resurrected by IT experts.

3.  It’s actually quite a faff for overseas users to pay £10 in Sterling, inc. EU countries. Luckily, I still have a UK. bank account but PayPal won’t let me pay in Sterling because I’m based here in Ireland and they automatically set my account for euros so I get charged added fees when I use it to purchase from the UK. This site is overwhelmingly made up of UK. based members so I think allowing non U.K. members who have posted an agreed minimum number of posts free access, seems perfectly reasonable to me. Their contributions in terms of knowledge is easily worth £10.

To clarify, I’m still happy to pay my £10 subscription/(donation towards the maintenance) using my UK bank account and will continue to do so.

[WildAtlanticWay]

It was me who noticed the Today thread was visible to the world. It was posted a couple of days ago on the Today thread.  Knowing this thread was a child board of the Café where some personal posts are made I thought it only right to bring this to the attention of the admin.  I wouldn't like to think that I had posted something personal and that anyone in the world could find.

But anyone who has IT expertise could hack the forum and read whatever they want to. It’s far safer to assume that whatever you post online can be read by anyone. Even deleted posts are never truly vanished. 

[WildAtlanticWay]

Apologies in advance but I’ve copied my post from the other thread as there seems to be two threads discussing this topic at the moment and I want to give my opinion.

………….

I feel very uncomfortable about limiting access to the Today chat threads to Subscribers only, for several reasons.

1. I particularly value reading contributions from non UK. based members as I’m interested in what’s happening in other parts of the world, whether sewing related or not. I think anything to do with Quilting and Patchwork for instance, would be very bland with the US contributions as they have an enormous wealth of expertise over there.

2.  I don’t think ANYONE should ever post anything online that is particularly sensitive because I think it’s gives the poster a false sense of security. Hackers can get into anything and regularly do so. Even if you delete stuff, it can be resurrected by IT experts.

3.  It’s actually quite a faff for overseas users to pay £10 in Sterling, inc. EU countries. Luckily, I still have a UK. bank account but PayPal won’t let me pay in Sterling because I’m based here in Ireland and they automatically set my account for euros so I get charged added fees when I use it to purchase from the UK. This site is overwhelmingly made up of UK. based members so I think allowing non U.K. members who have posted an agreed minimum number of posts free access, seems perfectly reasonable to me. Their contributions in terms of knowledge is easily worth £10.

To clarify, I’m still happy to pay my £10 subscription/(donation towards the maintenance) using my UK bank account and will continue to do so.

[Mr Twingo]

My favoured option would be to limit access to registered members who have received a certain number of likes or contributed a quantity of posts.

[mudcat]

I agree with that Mr Twingo ... is that something easily set up?

While I don't think the subscriber amount is very much money I know some people are on more fixed budgets.

[Diane]

Shouldn't we have a vote on this to see what subscribers think?


By supporting The Sewing Place you will gain the ability to upload photos to the gallery and have a say in the development of the forum.

[LeilaMay]

Oh 
It always used to be open to registered members.
 Being a subscriber allows you to be able to put your photographs up here I think. That's how I used to perceive the difference?

Ah well, all life is change. Wishing you all well, although I won't see your news now 
 

[realale]

My favoured option would be to limit access to registered members who have received a certain number of likes or contributed a quantity of posts.

This seems a good option for long standing and active members.
I had several years where I couldn't afford the subscription but still wanted to feel part of the community so I can see both sides of the discussion.
Hope we get to an amicable solution.