PMBD

Hey, I don't know if this counts as an official kill, but I just went to sugary sims, and its free.  



I know that a lot of people posted in the guest book - seems to have had an impact.

"Another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust"  :)

Way cool!!

But they did say that it was only for a two month trial period. I think it's completely awesome that they're going that route but I don't think it can count as a valid kill since they might put the "donation" section up again if no one donates.  


</stick in the mud>

Umm. If they think they can threaten us with that, good luck. Nobody's gonna sub to Sugary Sims even if they bring back their sub system. LOL.

I agree.  I think they were not getting anybody buying their donation packs, and so they are trying this way instead, to see if they can actually get some money out of it.

Heh, I'm not sure, either, what to do.

Any step in the right direction should be a good thing. However, I don't like too much the threat, as like moneys would be the only thing that matters. It's not too clear.

However, again, they are showing a sort of "opening" on the pay vs. free issue.

To support or not to support? That is the question. :?

I think that they should take the "threat" off.  Maybe instead put more of a "We need X dollars to pay bandwidth/hosting"

Maybe I'm not reading the same message everyone else is but it seems to me they're saying, "Look though we feel we were railroaded into it, we're going to try it your way but if after two months your way doesn't work, we're going back to OUR way"

Could be snotty or honest, either way at least they're giving it a shot.  Call me naive perhaps, I'm hoping they actually mean what they're saying and they're not just using it as an out

Also, I suggest people be mindful to see that the site owners aren't 'withholding'* items until the two month period is up. I wouldn't put it past some people to claim that they didn't get enough donations and are being 'forced' to go back to being a pay site and only then releasing their new items. Despite the fact that there's really nothing wrong with that, it smacks of manipulation to me, and I wouldn't donate to a place like that solely out of principle.

*And by withholding, I mean posting pictures of items that they've already finished but are not releasing until they find out if their 'voluntary donation scheme' is going to work for them.

I wrote an email to them and got a very polite reply.  They are hoping to stay free, dependent on website costs.  I get the feeling they aren't in for the money.  I hope.

I hope that they stay free.
I don't even go to that site, or like their stuff, but it's just nice to see a paysite go free instead of a free site going pay.

Cool!  Too bad I don't like any of their stuff.

It looks like they may read this forum.  I was just there, and this is what the front page says now:

"Just a note to let everyone know that we have decided to stay free. If we can't keep up our costs to run the site, we will be closing. Hopefully we will not have to do that. For the people who wonder what are costs are, we are on yahoo geocities, and we have the Geocities Pro. We have this because the free site does not allow you to have very many files on the site and we wanted alot of space to add alot of downloads since we are hoping to add objects in the future. The cost of the site is $8.95 a month, US. Since we are Canadian, the site actually runs us anywhere from $10 to $13 dollars a month, depending on the exchange rate, so any help from anyone is greatly appreciated. I am using geocities because I know how to use it and I am comfortable with the programs. I hope that answers everyone's questions. If not, please e-mail us. Thanks and please enjoy our downloads."

I don't see how that suggests that they've read this.

 
I don't either. :?

So, why do you think that it does?

The first post said it said this "Just a note to let everyone know that Sara had a baby girl and to celebrate we have added 17 new female toddler outfits. We'll try to update as much as we can for the next week or two, but when things get settled, we will hopefully be updating once a day. Also, because of the many, not so polite, comments, our donation page is now gone, and our donation skins are free. Due to the many suggestions we have added a donation link for people to donate if they want to help keep the site free. We will try this for two months, but if we do not get any donations, our subscription page will be added again. If you want to help, it is greatly appreciated, and all we ask is that you please donate atleast $1.50 because paypal takes some. Thank you.
Sara and Sue"
And now it says what I quoted.  By reading the other posts in this thread, it looked like they read this thread.  Sorry, guess I was wrong.