That truly is the question I'm debating with myself.
Frankly, I don't care one way or the other about ads. At home, I use Firefox with Adblock Plus, a wonderful add-on that eliminates the great majority of advertising from all the sites I visit. At work, where I am barred from downloading or installing unauthorized software (and must still make do with the brain-dead IE 7), I can easily ignore the non-content. Really, truly, it's as if that crapola is invisible ... it doesn't even enter my conscious mind. I therefore considered buying a subscription to be an unnecessary step for me, something that would have little to no effect on my DailyKos experience.
Oh sure, it does bother me that the site is so slow to load these days. However, there are plenty of other tabs in my browser and plenty of other windows on my workstation to keep me busy while it's churning away.
I'd seen the incessant "nag, nag, nag..." from the site's muckety-mucks. I'd seen the dozens and dozens of diaries (some even promoted to the FP) about new subscriptions, gifted or otherwise. I generally skipped past them, perceiving them as giddy, treacly, overwrought, somewhat silly. I worry enough about my blood sugar without exacerbating the problem with all that sugary Yuletide sentimentalism.
But in recent days, I've started wavering in my inertial inaction on the subscription front. Why? Follow me below the squiggle for more...
It's mostly because I was chided by Land of Enchantment. In last Friday's diary A Little Help from a Friend, I inquired about the health status of her partner:
hey LoE... (12+ / 0-)
...how's Hobbs doing? Well enough to tour, I see, but I suppose he could do that even if relatively incapacitated.
I expect to see him up and dancing a jig in Providence.
grok the "edku" -- edscan's "revelation", 21 January 2009
by N in Seattle on Fri Dec 23, 2011 at 02:40:48 PM PST
After relaying the good news about John's new knee, she returned with
a second reply about ten minutes later:
Hey You (9+ / 0-)
I'm just looking around at user pages, and I'm not seeing a subscriber badge on yours. Is that correct?
Grab all the joy you can. (exmearden 8/10/09)
by Land of Enchantment on Fri Dec 23, 2011 at 02:53:09 PM PST
To which I
responded in much the same way I began this diary:
that's correct, but... (11+ / 0-)
...to be honest, I don't really want need expect one.
At home, Adblock does the trick for me. At work, where I can't install third-party stuff, I can easily ignore the ads. I really don't "see" them, just as I don't "see" the papers and such strewn about my condo.
To my knowledge, I've never clicked on an ad here, unless it was because someone explicitly suggested that doing so would bring dKos a teeny bit of revenue at the expense of a bad guy.
grok the "edku" -- edscan's "revelation", 21 January 2009
by N in Seattle on Fri Dec 23, 2011 at 04:16:33 PM PST
It was at this point that LoE fired off the
retort that prompted my reconsideration of the whole issue of the subscription drive:
But it's not just for you! (9+ / 0-)
It's also a way to support kos's efforts here. For all the years you've been here, I'm thinking you do - at least to a degree - support kos's projects going forward.
Grab all the joy you can. (exmearden 8/10/09)
by Land of Enchantment on Fri Dec 23, 2011 at 05:05:25 PM PST
I haven't yet pulled the trigger to buy a lifetime subscription. I still might not, though I'm currently leaning toward plunking down the cash. Thanks to Land of Enchantment, I have a better understanding of what lies behind the big push for subscriptions.
Having written a diary that's sort of on the subject of lifetime subscriptions, I suppose I can no longer think of them as giddy, treacly, overwrought, silly, sugary or sentimental. Guess I'll have to find another outlet for my inner curmudgeon.