Cruel and Unusual Punishment

That is odd since nobody really watches it.

DOOL?

Don't know if the DOOL thread is subscribers only now, I only follow the GH one.

It seems to be happening with all of the popular threads. I resent it actually, since it's taking content away that the posters provide in an attempt to force us to subscribe.

If they want to up subscriptions, they should offer perks, not take things away.

Ah. DOOL.

OCD people must pay to gab away. LOL.

Either cough up $12 /year or seek help for your logorrhea, dear.

You use up a ton of bandwidth, you gotta pay a couple of bucks to offset the costs.

I thought keeping threads alive and going helped DL with advertisers, if that's not the case then I can limit my posts to one or two per day, no problem.

[quote]It seems to be happening with all of the popular threads.

I don't think popularity is the only criteria. A P&G soap thread is also paywalled and it only has 300-some replies after more than a month.

It's a dumb way to go about things, more likely to alienate faithful posters who help create interesting content than to attract new subscribers. It feels punitive. I repeat, if they want more subscribers, they need to offer perks, like oh, I don't know, an edit button, or the ability to post multiple pictures in a post, or use fun colored fonts, or whatever. Taking things away that have been free, and that are produced by the posters anyway, is a dick move.

You want colors R10? We got colors - Dark or non-Dark.

Ewww, this thread is full of poor people.

Stop sending money to Nikki Webster

r6 are you posting from 2010?

It comes and goes? Like the BRF thread has been subscribers only for a week and then yesterday it was open.

Soap threads didn't used to be allowed on DL at all, after they were deemed to have caused excessive strife among posters. It's only the last few years that they've begun to be permitted, in small doses. If DL is now limiting posters in soap threads to paid members, that's a compromise between the all or nothing approach that prevailed for a long time.

[quote] It comes and goes?

Like sand through the hourglass.

[quote]r7 You use up a ton of bandwidth, you gotta pay a couple of bucks to offset the costs.

And it’s not even a couple of bucks ... it’s $1.50 !

I registered. That's as far as I'm willing to go. I used to pay every year until they changed the old great format to THIS one. If they bring back the old format I'll go back to being a payed poster.

Where on the underground railroad are these threads available to be seen? If we don't even know it exists, how will we be tempted to join to see these mythical beasts?

I don't follow the soap stuff, but I'm surprised the royal threads are still going strong despite the lockdown. I figured posters would migrate to somewhere else, since I assumed a majority of them were mentally ill middle-aged frauen and not that interested in other threads.

The royal threads have slowed down a lot and have fewer nuts posting in them.

Since when did this site care anything about discord amongst users? Much less soap thread users?

r20

The GH thread is titled "Dateline Port Charles: Meet Me At the Rib".

I believe the Y&R one is titled Dateline Genoa City........., not sure of the full caption.

What is the DOOL one called? Is the Chambo thread now paid subscribers only too?

Well that explains why the volume of posts has gone down. There are barely enough new posts to keep me (a subscriber) reading now, DL. This will backfire.

Just make a new thread that anyone can use.

That’s what we did with Shawn Mendes.

r25

DOOL Part 8 = The Pivotal Star Of Eli Grant

The DOOL thread appears to be open to the general public which further annoys me about the GH one being closed.

Did Billy Miller and Kelly Monaco's PR people come upon the DL GH thread and it's critique of their clients' "acting" skills or lack thereof and complain to DL or something?

Same with the EastEnders thread :(

It happened to the Connor Jessup thread too.

Thanks, R28.

FIX the block function, Muriel.

I'm telling you NOW so I don't have to tell you THEN.

R29 Oh God! Can the Hollyoaks thread be far behind? But how will I be catty about Jarry?

I bet they are having a party on the other side of the paywall with Champagne and caviar, while laughing at us poor back here in coach!

[quote]You use up a ton of bandwidth, you gotta pay a couple of bucks to offset the costs.

Then paywall the political threads, the "let's pretend" nonsense threads, the Trump fuck-up du jour threads, the who's the best [fill-in-the-blank] for the millionth time threads, the vapid Hollywood idiot celebrity gossip threads, the hot hunk of the month threads, the arcane stupidity [OMG! Why does toothpaste cost so much?] threads.....

Oh, what's that, no content left to attract advertisers? Hmmm.....

I'm a non-paying user but I probably will subscribe sometime soon, not because of obnoxious thread locking (this would, like many of you have said, make me LESS likely to want to contribute) but because I actually think DL is a valuable gay resource and I don't have a problem giving money to GAY causes rather than soulless corporations.

But I hope this thread gets paywalled just for the irony.

Perhaps the ones who need to be charged are the obvious shills and propagandists who are getting what amounts to free ad space. I'm certainly not going to pay for the "privilege" of being their audience.

R36, this thread is more likely to get deleted than put behind a paywall. DL is notoriously thin-skinned about criticism (no matter how justified).

R23, I discovered DL in 2005 and soap threads were not allowed then. People posted that the reason was endless arguments among hysterical fans, which tended to absorb the threads. DL's way of dealing with that problem was like keeping the whole class after school because 2 students were misbehaving -- why not just ban the offending posters?

Girls, pay up or shut up. I have no idea if/when this "paywall" occurs because I have been a paying member for years. I am always able to read and post to any thread I choose. Try it, you'll like it.

FYI, making things 'subscriber only' cuts down on the multiple-browser trolls talking to themselves and cuts down on trolls in general.

The soap threads fans should be grateful. You used to be banned altogether.

[quote] I don't have a problem giving money to GAY causes rather than soulless corporations.

Mediapolis IS a soulless corporation.

[quote] this thread is more likely to get deleted than put behind a paywall. DL is notoriously thin-skinned about criticism (no matter how justified).

Yeah, every thread questioning the new rules have been bizarrely deleted. I like DL but I am not gonna pay to post on a message board. Sorry, I think that's dumb. Especially when the site has ads. But it is what it is.

You guys, there are a couple of tangentially related threads that can be used in lieu of.

Mediapolis is the internet version of the organized crime that owned The Stonewall Inn.

Just a change of venue.

Like the headline says, Datalounge is infringing on my 8th amendment rights. I have contacted the ACLU and wait with bated breath for action.

People still watch soaps?

Goodness.

Soaps, what dat?

[quote]r34 I bet they are having a party on the other side of the paywall with Champagne and caviar, while laughing at us poor back here in coach!

[quote]People still watch soaps?

[quote]Soaps, what dat?

Comments like this only reinforce that these threads are so low-key and sparse that they don't bother anyone. It's a niche interest, so what. It's no different than someone who wants to discuss purple Fiestaware or vintage album covers. We stay in our lane.

There was a brief surge in multiple soap threads when they were first allowed to post again. They have settled down, they do stay in their lane and they bother no one.

As for the paywall, cough it up freeloaders.

OK, I don't post in the soap threads since I don't watch soap operas. But I've opened a few, and you guys are a lot of fun, and you're almost always nice enough to start threads with glorious hunks to ogle. So I went through and WWed as many soap opera threads as I could locate. It probably won't help. Some of the threads I visit had restrictions added, but they seem to have been lifted. But I also registered and paid, even though the new registration process took a while to figure out.

What's sad is that DL is cutting their own throat. I went to the latest GH thread and it's dead. The thread used to fill up in days and now no one is posting. That DL has allowed it means they know those soap threads bring in people. They don't allow it out of the goodness of their heart. It's very bad form and prejudicial to make people pay only for certain threads. A new low for DL.

MARY ^

[quote] It's very bad form and prejudicial to make people pay only for certain threads.

This.

Try this shit on the theater threads and the frantic flutter of angry caftans will be DEAFENING.

[quote]DOOL Part 8

Well that explains it. I kept reading it as DROOL and thought you gays had some sort of weird piss like fetish.

[quote] I kept reading it as DROOL and thought you gays had some sort of weird piss like fetish.

DOOL!

May I add, nicely, I don't treat the Theatre threads differently than the Soap threads. I'm not Muriel, just as polite member. I can't contribute to the Theatre thread, either, but that's because I shouldnt.

I'm R56. I hope you Soap queens aren't locked out. If you are, hope its short lied. And if its not, I hpe theres a fund where I can offet tjat/

I apologize. I'm not illiterate. I'll pay for a GoFunMe, but I don't know how. You guys are treasures.

I can't tell if you are doing performance art or just very sweet and kind. I would like to think the latter, but this is DL. Kisses to you, Miss 56-57-58!

For soap thread fans who aren't paying members: If DL shuts down, where will you go? Message boards and forum-driven sites have died off all over the internet. Isn't it worth a very small fee to help keep one site with (relatively) free-flowing discussion alive?

R17, WW to you for the reference, but it’s “like sandS through the hourglass” – plural.

short lied.

offet tjat/

Cruel and unusual punishment....

Listening to any ONJ CD, after Physical, while watching "Two of A Kind," in the company of Chloe Lattanzi

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I refuse to pay for a faulty product. No way in hell I'm gonna pay up as long as watched threads don't stay watched and ignored threads don't stay ignored. Fix that first then maybe I'll pay.

Even paying users get banned if they say something unpopular. Not even worth wasting $1.50 on that nonsense.

Most of those threads don't move as fast as the D-list obsessives threads, and I've seen several normal (for Datalounge) political threads shut down lately anyway. It's not like everyone else is getting away with murder while you're not even allowed to commit a little light manslaughter.

[quote]That DL has allowed it means they know those soap threads bring in people. They don't allow it out of the goodness of their heart.

I mean, honestly? Almost everything they've allowed here on DL is because they didn't notice it was happening or they didn't give a shit about what was happening, not because they encouraged it or because it was helping the board out. Least of all because it was something we the users wanted.

DL is actively hostile to its users. Always has been. This forum was begun in the 1990s with the old "Bastard Operator From Hell" attitude that was so popular back then, and by fucking GOD they are going to STICK WITH IT through hell or high water.

First they came for the Shawn Mendes threads, then they came for the soap opera threads...then they came for me.

[quote]For soap thread fans who aren't paying members: If DL shuts down, where will you go? Message boards and forum-driven sites have died off all over the internet. Isn't it worth a very small fee to help keep one site with (relatively) free-flowing discussion alive?

Soap sites are everywhere, that's not the issue. We are DLers FIRST and discussing soaps is just a small part of our interests and we do it with a DL sensibility. Things like frauish fangurling, obsessive "shipping," fan wars, homophobic remarks are not tolerated and those posters are shunned. Seriously, our threads are probably among the best behaved ones on the board. There is no sane reason that we should be singled out.

If Muriel were to return DL to the degree of functionality it had three months ago, r60, I would agree. But she’s been asked now dozens of times and refuses. Why on earth would you pay someone who’s that disrespectful?

“It’s no different than someone who wants to discuss purple Fiestaware.”

Plum or Mulberry?

Good riddance to soap threads and the fraus and loons they attract

[quote]r60 For soap thread fans who aren't paying members: If DL shuts down, where will you go?

This site is becoming ridiculous now.., due to all the paywalls and the lengthy daily primetimes. Things really slow to a crawl for half the day now.

r74, Muriel is making it easy for those DOOL threads to have paying customers post.

God bless DOOL droolers.

Hey, soap fans. I may annoy you by posting absolutely random comments on your threads, I may sound like an idiot (I really am). but I'll try to think of something to say to add to your threads and prevent any shutdown.