Posted by MichiganAl on 2/16/09 5:51pm
Msg #277701

Hope you have an Active Rain membership already

If not, it's now $29 per year. They say current members will not be affected, it's only for new memberships. But I've seen this too many times. It won't surprise me if down the road it'll cost for everyone.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/925822/ActiveRains-NEW-Membership-Plan

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 2/16/09 6:16pm
Msg #277704

Actually, it's $29 a MONTH...

And even current members who didn't utilize certain features won't get to use them now without paying (like the blog feature). Nice of them to warn us... said it took effect at 5am today.... but the announcement went up 5:26am.... and the email didn't go out until this afternoon.

Membership is still free...but only for professional networking. Consumer outreach features are going to cost.

$29 a month? Ouch.

Reply by MichiganAl on 2/16/09 6:23pm
Msg #277705

$29 a month!!

Geez, I read it too fast. $29 per month, holy cow.

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 2/16/09 6:30pm
Msg #277707

Re: $29 a month!!

No kidding! And though I've been a member for some time now, I never utilized the blog feature because they had been making changes to it and I wanted to wait until I moved (in two weeks) to sit down and work on it.

But because I never entered a blog post before 5am today (even though we weren't even told about it until after deadline!) if I want anyone other than other registered members to see it...I'll have to pay $29 a month.

No thanks. I'll just put the blog on my own website for free.

You'd think they would have at least mentioned it a few hours in advance.

Reply by Pat/IL on 2/16/09 8:54pm
Msg #277715

Crikeys!

I was just getting ready to start thinking about maybe doing some blogging. But nothing I have to say is worth $29 a month. Wait, who pays the $29? Is it a reader fee or a blogger fee? Either way, I am not paying anything to share my wisdom, and my wisdom ain't worth paying to receive. Well, maybe the occasional nugget.

And when you look at it, you really have to weed through a lot of crap on that site to find the good stuff. Just like on any freewheeling site that allows the authors go to town.

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 2/16/09 9:49pm
Msg #277720

Re: Crikeys!

No kidding! The really ironic part is that site gets a LOT of traffic through user created content... but now they're going to charge users to post, too?

Well, new users who want to blog and have it accessible to the public (and Google) that is. This also applies to existing user who never posted a blog entry before -- if they want to now, it's $29 a month.

Membership is still technically free... but they're just looking for another source of revenue.

If I'm going to pay out over $300 a year to write a blog, you bet your sweet behind it's going to be on my OWN site, not theirs. Besides, I can set up my own blog on my own website for free.

Reply by Lee/AR on 2/17/09 9:11am
Msg #277742

I have never quite understood that site. Seems to me to be preaching to the choir. What great concept have I missed?

Reply by CopperheadVA on 2/17/09 11:21am
Msg #277753

I found that it takes a huge investment of time to get your Active Rain point count up - I just don't have that kind of time to devote to daily blogging, reading daily blogs by other people, and then commenting on them.

Reply by Lee/AR on 2/17/09 2:00pm
Msg #277780

The point of doing that just escapes me completely. Why? Who cares? Who reads it? Will it get me more business? From whom? I just don't get it, I guess~~

Reply by CopperheadVA on 2/17/09 2:45pm
Msg #277789

It's supposed to be a networking thing, but I agree it seems pointless. I have gotten a few private notary jobs through e-mail via Active Rain, but nothing from anyone who's blog I've commented on. Certainly not worth the time required (for me) - others may feel differently.