PMBD

is it just me or has TSR just doubled its subscription charges?
In the write up they say they are changing the subs from dollars to euro, and it will effect subscribers in the USA and Canada, However they failed to say by how much.

http://www.thesimsresource.com/news.php?ID=2707

here is their old price menu  in Dollars and their new one in euro:

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/3614/enskyscraperxy3.gif

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/8002/euroskyox5.png

They have kept the price appearing the same, but changed the currancy.

the conversion is:

2 months 9.95 EUR = 15.2648 USD
6 months 26.75 EUR = 41.0393 USD
12 months 47.95 EUR = 73.6770 USD

This is nearly double the origional price they were asking when it was printed in $

Yeah. For us Europeans the rise in the subscription costs isn't that high, but it's still higher than it used to be.

The last time I subbed at TSR (shortly before I found PMBD) I think the subscription price was (when converted to Euros) something like 6 or 7 Euros for 2 months.

 >:( God, TSR is such a ripoff!

Yep, yep, they have doubled the subs. Or more. Let them burn.

Are they serious with this crap? How greedy can they be? I'm just at a loss for words. >:(

I imagine they're taking advantage of the weak dollar to make more money. Greedy little fucks...

With gasoline prices as high as they are here in the States, it's not a wise move.
You'd be surprised how much you have to cut back on spending in order to drive to work everyday. I had to cut out my book money by half AND the *fun* money by half in order to afford to drive to classes every night.
Subbing to an even more expensive sims site isn't going to be on anyone's 'must have's' for a while.
Morons. Greedy, morons, even. :D

I am taking advantage of the weak dollar myself, but that's another business, i don't run any paysites. They'll earn even more in
Euro. I suppose they'll digging their own grave with their greedyness. What goes around...

*is contemplating sending Thomass the article about U.S. consumer spending being down over 30%*  It's ridiculous and obscene when a paysite charges more for pixels than I pay for a pedicure.  Maybe Thomass has dropped Atwat because he sees that he and Peggy have much more in common.  :D

This is Greed. Pure evil greed, hopefully if he has enough rope he will hang himself.

Why would they double the price when it's a COMPUTER TRANSACTION?  I can understand if the price goes up for something real on Amazon, but I fail to see what circumstances would force them to jack up the price, except greed.  What bullshit reason is TomA$$ giving for the price hike?

This is clearly bullshit, but on the other hand...

Think of how much more easily people will be converted to the Tao of PMBD when they see that price has gone up considerably, but quality doesn't reflect the price.

Maybe the time will come soon that the only people who subscribe to TSR are the ones who do so to donate to the booty.  ;)

Thanks for spelling his name Thomass :D
He is a Dumbass.  :P

Wonder how many younger people here in the states won't notice that it says Euro, think it's the dollar amount, and end up paying double and ever seeing their money again. (or you know, their parent's money.)  Not recently, but I used to see people on the BBS talking about how mom/dad gave them the Credit Card so they could get a Sub to *insert paysite here* for birthday/christmas, etc.  Wonder how many will get the surprise of 40 bucks instead of 20 coming out of an account. 

I feel insulted. My dear euro!
So if the dollars becomes more worth than the euro, they'll change back to the dollar?
What a bunch of fucktards >.>

I hope this latest little stunt will lead to many more Pirates. He really needs the wind knocked out of his sails

Ha! I feel sorry for anyone that pays 71 bucks for a year subscription with them. I once explained the whole pay Vs. Free site drama to a friend of mine who only knows about the sims by watching me play a little and she couldn't understand why people would pay Real money for pixels. I'm with her on that. My parents never would have let me buy this stuff with their money and now that I earn my own money, I can't see the point in buying sims stuff from people when there are plenty of better looking free stuff.

Oh that's very crafty of him! Well spotted Sherrie..

Well, is just me or are there a lot less FA's than there used to be.  Rather than trying to make up for the losses of pay-only content with more content, they are just jacking up the prices.

More FA's but less quality.
I didn't notice they raised their prices. I just checked: 6 months subscription is still the same as 4 months ago, € 23.95

That's called pricing yourself right out of business. At least with Peggy (like her stuff or not) you know what to expect every month, with tsr it's a gamble on which FA is going to do what and if they do anything. (Not that I agree with Peggy's greediness I'm just saying.) 

What is costing tsr so much more that they would need such a hike except greed. (Maybe the american FA's need a rise because the increase in gas prices, that trip from the kitchen to the desk where the computer sits is eating into their paychecks. ::))

Why do i hear Snaggle Puss (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/Witchboy/Avatars/Snagglepuss.gif) when reading that last part? Now i can't get him outta my head. It's all your fault Ry :D

*Exit.... Stage Left!* ;D


Edited for spelling errors

The last time I subscribed to TSR it cost me, $10 AUS. For 2 months.
I was thinking about subscribing to fill in some gaps in the booty and now I find out it will cost me $16.45 (AUS) for 2 months?
What?

Don't forget the $1 Paypal fee and my bank's currency convertion fee (also $1) so all in all.. to download crappy CC for my game that is NOT guranteed to NOT bork up my game.. a grand total of $18.45? And if I forget to cancel it will be recurring.
Don't you guys just feel the CRIMINAL motivation behind this? TSR are thieves! honest to God thieves!

I will now freely laugh in the face of anyone that has the audacity to say that we are the criminals.

oh deelink, you should have been freely laughing in other's faces the whole time.  It is true though.  How greedy can you get? You as in Thomass, obviously. 

Absolutely the only thing I've ever done from TSR is the challenges.. those were free, and it was in a period of EXTREME boredom with my game.. With all the crap I've been watching going on I've gotten to the point that I want absolutely nothing from that site. Because even if it's free, it's kinda still tainted by being on that site in my book.

You know, I can't say I'm surprised.

My suspicion is that the price hike is indirectly our fault: fewer n00bz are paying for crap they can get free (as should be). Perhaps we should consider it an indication that people are wising up, and TSR's profits are dropping.

It just reeks of desperation and sneaky greed.

I'm very surprised the comments on that news weren't deleted. WTF? Thy all basically say the same thing: I'm outa here, jerks!
Apparently noone is agreeing. Strange... *ironic*
All leaving the customers are fleeing the drowning ship. Thomass has sunken his boat all by himslef, without any help :P

Well that is not fair: anyone not in europe will have a cut of 25%. This is disgusting, all simmers should be in euro's shitty high prices >:(
Translation:
You live in europe and your country's currency is euros: you're fucked, pay a 100% of the price. Weeee!
Other country currency: only pay 75% of the price... ???

Hey Doc, I think it's the other way around.  It's almost doubled the cost in US dollars.  Maybe I'm wrong.  ???

Ah, to hell with it, blow it up! They now suck double cause of the price hike. Blow it up, I say! Or at least let the pigeons crap on them in the park...

This message brought to you courtesy of the Thomass is a Twatlover Association.

I feel like smashing their heads.  Those prices are ridiculous.  I'm so glad I never subscribed to them.  When I first found them (same fucking layout), I was like, "I got to pay for this?"  My mom would even agree with me that buying "pixels" is pointless.  I'd rather buy something that I can use in real life thank you.

So, wait, what was their reason to jack up their prices?

Why, more moneez for the FAs' chilluns of course.
Also for bandwidth. Not that it changed or anything.
Also us. Cos we steelz their warez.
I also blame Pescado. Just because.

But seriously, I'm guessing it's a combination of them being greedy, and having less subscribers.

no you're right.  doubled. 

*TSR greedily rubs hands together*
TOM:"who would have thought by just changing a $ symbol to a e, we could DOUBLE our monies!!"
*sits back and admires new price list*

(http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/4166/tsrpricefrirw0.png)

*strolls over to PMBD*
TOM: "HOLY SHIT they've worked out our cunning plan"
*runs to TSR site, browses comments, reads subscribers can also do math as well as pirates*
*decides to keep Atwat on the payroll to take the fallout*
*devises cunning plan of reducing subs, but adding it back again with  a 25% 'VAT' scam*
Tom: "lets see if they are as smart at percentages!"
*posts new revised price list*

(http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/8301/tsrpricesatlo5.png)

last time I checked, VAT stood at 17.5% (UK) and I'm not even sure that applies to digital downloads?

That's bullshit!!!  >:(

Here the VAT is always added to the price, so the price isn't 7.96€ + VAT, it's 9.95 €, always!!!

I'm disgusted by his actions. That is a scam, plain and simple!!! >:(

ETA:
And 25 % VAT?

Swedes, how much is the VAT in Sweden?

Our highest VAT (depending on the product/service) is 22%.

According to a quick search on Google, the baseline VAT in Sweden is 25%, but items like books has had VAT dropped to 6%. Digital downloads are subject to the same VAT.

However, if T$R are using PayPal for transactions, they cannot charge more than 15% VAT.

Thomas comments:
"Up until now we have always exchanged from dollar to our currency (SEK), meaning each month as the dollar has been falling, so has our "real" income after the exchange. This is the main reason we've moved over to the Euro, which is a much more stable currency with a better future."

It's in the Euro payment announcement at TSR.

And they've deleted at least 4 of the more "negative" comments that were posted today.

Thomas comments:
"Up until now the dollar has been making us big monies, but now the dollar is falling and so is our monies. So to keep me in my mansion with my servants we need more of your dollars so we'll be changing to Euros which means more dollars from you. Got it? We need moar monies. Thanks, stupids"

What's VAT exactly? (sorry, I'm dumb?)

VAT stands for Value added tax and is a tax on exchanges.

Well I guess that answers half of my question.  I was wondering if anyone lurks on paysite forums and has been seeing what kindof fallout this has been gettings amongst the sheeple.  Because I'm too lazy to go look for myself (and can't remember the names of half the sites I'd want to check).  If anyone has any links to threads where this is blowing up I'd love to read.  I could use a good laugh before I go to auditions. 

I think you guys would have to be having an impact on their profits.. But honestly if they're only earning quarter of a million profit rather than half a million, big deal. And I think this will drive people towards your way of thinking.. it's a bit mistake on TSR's part, sites do age out of people's consciousness if they lose relevance, start producing crap work etc (anyone remember Comhair from Sims 1?)

Thomas could probably get away with this shit if he'd only bother to give subscribers a heads up.  This is the second time recently that he's changed policy and blindsided his loyal following with his pronouncements.  (The first was the change in number of kudos needed for a "free day.") People were pretty peeved about that, too, since they were given no warning. I  hope his lack of business sense comes back to bite him where it hurts. >:( 

But really guys, don't be that peeved about him doing this.. because the more over the top he gets, the easier it will get for people to turn against paysites.

No it's not the other way around (sadly for europeans duh)

About the VAT cutoff, here's the phrase from the news at TSR:
"Subscribers in currencies outside of the Euro will not be charged VAT which in Sweden is currently 25%"

See? Anyone who's original currency (= where he lives) is not euros will not pay this VAT.
That means a US subsciber for example will not pay 9.95E for 2 months but 9.95E - 25% (VAT cutoff) = 11.25 US$.

1E = 1.5 US$ (approx.) so 2 months without any VAT cutoff = 15 US$. Take the VAT off that makes:
15 US $  - 25% = 11.25 US$ for 2 months
That is still 1.30$ more than the previous prices.

Now that's what that line taken in that news says, but maybe Thomas was not fully awake lol 'cause that's not very logical and highly illegal to propose a VAT cutoff, that's fraude. >:( Legally, whenever you are, you'll have to pay the VAT of the seller's country. So WTF?!

Notice he refers to TSR as a Business.



Bite Me ThomASS!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/Witchboy/Signatures/peeing-man.gif)(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/Witchboy/Signatures/TSR1.jpg)

Not that I am a fan of charging more money at all, but they aren't doubling it exactly. The subscription cost is based on a fixed number of euros converted by  based on the daily rate.

Todays conversion is:

Subscription: *
2 Month - $12.24
6 Month - $32.55
12 Month - $59.01

$2+ for a 2 month
$3+ for a 6 month
$10+ for a 12 month

It still sucks that they would take advantage of a struggling economy.   >:(

I am so fed up with TSR.
There's NO WAY they actually need the extra cash.
They are arrogant morons and need to be decapitated with a viking sword.
Since they seem to completely ignore me because I am not a FA or subscriber or whatever, I took the liberty of changing my profile text. Just to see if they'd notice.
Asses.


Oops. Did I say that out loud?

TSR is in no way struggling with money. They have absolutely no need to increase their prices. So they can give their FA's a raise to crank out that shit? I so hope more people realize what a scam TSR really is.

I can't believe someone actually posted this:
 

If that ain't stupid, I don't know what is.

It's just Atwat using a pseudonym...  :o

On Mar 9, 2008 CaptainReynolds wrote:

On Mar 9, 2008 dinad2610 wrote:
 
It's about damn time the sheeple speak up. At least now they aren't (well most of them aren't) just taking the crap. If Thomas is losing money why would he censor his members? Isn't that gonna just make them not wanna pay again(well the smart ones)?

Redlove, i guess the main problem is that few people will even notice that news; recurrent subscribers included. :-\
I think it'll take some time for everyone to notice the new prices. I hope i'm wrong.
Keeping the same prices but changing the dollar sign to euros is very clever. It took me a triple peek to see the difference between the old and new prices pics ;D
I wonder how much subscribers they're gonna loose in 3 months. A third maybe.

Thomass will face the same problem than peggy: customers fleeing away. And to top it all, the 2 more eloquent commentaries were deleted and now Thomass already lost 2 customers. God, he's so gifted to wreak his own ship ^^
So that a good news ;D *hands rum*

Doc, if stupidity is a gift, then Thomass raided Santa's bag and left none for the rest of the world...

Well, TomASS has one foot in the grave and the other one on a banana peel!  If you are already loosing money then why in the hell do you raise the prices in a country that is already having financial woes!  Many Americans are in danger of loosing their homes, their vehicles, and their jobs because they can't afford to put gas in their automobiles to get to work and did I mention to feed their children, literally!  That is such BullShit and I know that when you are that Fucking greedy, your ass will surely fall!


I will be on the other side and the TSR Cash Cows and the Site goes to hell, pointing and laughing!


S2L

EDIT:  When that time comes, I am going to go to TSR and use all my Fucking Kudos to get every fucking thing I want and never to return!  That is how fucking stupid that punk muthafucker is...He has lost my business!  FOREVER...even thought I was thinking about getting another sub just to rip his ass off but he'll be ai-Ight!

Nah, save your money.. maybe donate a bit to one of the free sites and save the rest for a charity or something..

Then go find far better stuff somewhere like MTS or something.

thomas refers to tsr as a business, and is requiring you guys in the UK to pay VAT, but he hasnt registered tsr as a business (says so on that download tool page) and how much you want to bet they arent even paying taxes?
anyone who is paying for tsr and paying for that VAT should file complaints with the government and get them to investigate, and report it to paypal since paypal apparently has a rule on how much you can charge for VAT (someone mentioned 15%)

I think the reason that he did this is, as someone else said earlier, is because tsr is losing subscribers and wants to make as much money off the ones he's got left. He's "hired" more FA's to produce more content to replace the ones that barely upload, the ones that normally upload elsewhere have not been lately (probably got told by thomas not to), and EA didnt invite them to the latest event--leaving them with no spoilers/review to give to their visitors. Plus it seems everywhere you go in this community, people link to pmbd when mentioning TSR instead of linking to tsr itself.

lets hope this is the beginning of the end of tsr :)

Isn't TSR owned by or listed under another company's name? I remember reading somewhere the company name but for the life of me i can't find it now.

TSR is owned by oddjob media

http://www.oddjob.se/
http://www.oddjob.se/referenser.php

oddjob or blowjob?

 ;D
Couldn't restist, Yaar!

Thank You Sherrie :)


ROFLMAO! Your right Dr House it's more like blowjob  ;D  Oh Atwat?!!? :D

WTF? Who is saying TSR is well organized!? It's horribly UNorganized. They have all these filters, but since many uploaders choose to ignore that function, you're not really helped that much if you choose 'skip sets' for instance.
They also have a whole lot of stuff in the wrong categories. A WHOLE LOT.
I only have and play the base game so I would know.
It's not only the free items that are categorized wrongly. It's all over the place.
They really need to step up.

This is one of the many, many reasons I don't go to TSR. A few weeks ago, I went there to download a computer tor my sims hat I had seen in someone's picture... never again. Once I got there, I wasn't even able to tell what expansion packs the download was compatible with, and attempting to look at the other computers was a nightmare. I ended up replacing it with a much better one from MTS2, and it was a heck of a lot easier to find. :)

That site is a nightmare to navigate.  You can't even look for something specific because a few weeks ago (or months, can't remember) I was looking for maxi's recolors but couldn't get the search engine to filter that stuff.  And slow!!  I'm on broadband and have to wait ages for the pages to load.  I haven't been there to download anything, including to see if there is pay stuff I would like, in ages - I prefer MTS2.

TSR is owned by oddjob media

http://www.oddjob.se/
http://www.oddjob.se/referenser.php

thoma$$ is listed as Art Director/HTML/CSS... jeebus. effing. expletivus.  my cats could build better, prettier, more functional websites!  and my cats are really stupid.  seriously, i just figured tsr was built using a free template they found online, lol.

-LURKER ALERT!- Don't worry I'll try to post as often as possible.

I wonder how many ignorant Americans are going to buy into this shit. I remember when I used to sub there before, thank goodness only once, before I knew about you guys. Thomas & company must know how weak the dollar is, so they jack up the cost for the Americans, and I'm "liking" the comment by

Original:
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/4262/screenshot090dh6.jpg

Right... then why are you converting to the Euro? With a price like that he's becoming worse than Peggy, and fergodsake, at least she got rid of her 99.99 sub. I love how Thomas love's to push things. Like the kudos hike. And stable currency my ass, the Euro is no more stable than the Dollar. If you have countries that get rid of the gold standard, you're fucked, but that's going into economics.
 
This comment is soo true, at least someone from over there has a discerning eye, I hope he does lose subs due to his little fiasco:
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/2807/screenshot089ng2.jpg

My guess would be that with the end of the Sims 2 fast approaching, Thomass is making one last desperate grab for cash. He's  attempting to get as much as he can while he can. That or maybe he just has a very small wank and needs the extra cash to compensate.

You don't think he's going to go for The Sims 3?

He will, but that's a while away.  I daresay that waiting what could potentially be 1.5 - 2 years needs some forward thinking.  He may also raise the prices pre- Sims 3, and might want to say (with the inevitable protests) that "hey, we've had this price since before sims 2 ended, we're only just raising it now!" as justification.

I'd really like to know what that Thomas fellow would say if you ask him this very simple question:
Why do you charge for downloads when MTS2 don't?
I'm sure we all know the answer to that one, but it'd be interesting to hear his version. Not that you'd survive 2 seconds in The Censorship Resource with THAT question. Just... interesting.
Btw, why they raise subs for Americans more than for Europeans etc I don't get. Do they think you guys can't do math or what?
 :(
Ps I'm from Denmark myself, so any bad English goes on that account  ;D

Cuz he's a Fucking Asshole!  I must agree and say that I believe that TSR is going to fall...hard!  By EA not inviting them to the sneak peak of TS3, that kinda says it all.  I don't think this kind or recourse wouldn't have happen it people like Nouk hadn't stood up for people like us who were / are afraid of being banned.  Hooray for you Anouk...

I really believe that EA might try to make a stand against TSR especially for them making money off of their EULA...Am I the only one who thinks and feels this way  :(.....


S2L

On Mar 10, 2008 Thomas|TSR wrote:
The price change will vary from month to month depending on how the dollar fares versus the euro - so it can be 17% one month, 12% another etc. It's hard to tell. If things move in the opposite direction we will of course be open to lowering our prices again as well.

Whats this clown think he's at the stock exchange. >:(  Look out Martha Stewart.

Thomas is even more of an idiot than I thought.   Because of course people are willing to subscribe to a site that can change its price, WITHOUT WARNING,  from month to month. ::)  I'd bet that most of the current subscribers to TSR are young people who have to cajole money from mom and dad, and they're certainly not going to commit to a subscription that doesn't have a set price.

TSR can kiss its 6 and 12 month subs goodbye, at any rate.  Let's hope the 2 month sub follows down the same dark alley. ;D

I love the "we're going to charge for subscriptions, but our rates vary".  OMG.  I don't know why they just don't charge per download as well.  I mean, why stop there.  ::)  The only way I see this changing is if some of the more prominant FA's come forward and pitch a fit.  However, they may not have to.  From a financial standpoint, when you up prices in a struggling economy, you will lose approximately 1/3 of your business due to attrition or nonrenewal.  That's a significant amount.  If you also take those customers who generally subscribe for 6-12 months now only subscribing for 2 months at a time, that impact is also quite significant.  It limits long range planning and could potentially mean that those FA's who do not have a certain minimum of downloads or do not meet production standards/quantity, will be cut loose.  If you look at it from strictly a business perspective, it shows poor planning, lack of understanding GAP and ineffective/bad management practices.  All I can say "Keep Up The Good Work, Thomass!" 

Ah yes, but this is good business practice for Tom Ass.  He shouldn't have to pay all those FAs during the creative lull between Sims 2 and Sims 3.  He still gets to keep all their crap though - no matter what happens.  Plus, he's then not set up for if some of those FAs fail to transition well into Sims 3 - he can pick them up again - cause it's easier to upload to TSR than run your own paysite.

Considering that I just got canned as a SA (due to non production) I cannot imagine a better time to have had this happen. I couldn't deal with this crap.

TSR and Sims 3?  I dont think so.  Here is my reasoning:

- in FT, a sim called Rod Humble (the actual name of the lead developer of Sims) bring to every new house a computer
- a computer with a skull & crossbones!!  really a llama skull with eyepatch and crossed celery and carrot
- he tells us to dare to open it; with a cryptic "can this be the way of the future?" line


it sure looks like a not so subtle hint that the 'pirate way' will be the way not the 'paysite way'

Whaddayamean creatin's is supposed to be a hobby and for fun????????EINZ

Meh, Tomato I would shift all your stuff onto a freesite, have much fun and ignore TSR. I know most of us free site people usually do other than when Thomas does something silly like this.. And he's a very silly man, you know some of the best creators I have for our home site only create every once in a while?

As Nouk said.. hobby..

Oh all my stuff is on a free site-MTS2.  I am actually Paleoanth. 

Nouk-I know what you mean.  They treated it like a job even though all I got was that shiney coupon.

I think I remember you - are you wes_h's partner?
I would never have thought you were behind a "tomato" name ;D
You make some great stuff - that's why they canned you, you weren't cranking out enough crap hee hee

SHUTUP!   OMG!  Too funny, I had no idea.  I still love your candles, use 'em all the time.   ;D 

After reading that news, I am actually grinning from ear to ear. TSR will surely lose a lot of it's members from this stunt, and I'm glad people there are finally starting to see how greedy Thomass really is. Here's to the beginning of the end!  :D

Nooo! *points in awe* You made Madmartigan from Willow!! :o I bow down to your greatness *bows*

Hey, tomato!  I use your things too!  It's nice to meet you.


Leave it to Thomas to can a volunteer. :D

Well, that settles it!  I bought my sub to tsr about a year ago, way before I found this site and it expires in 55 days.  At first I thought I'd renew, but I'm not giving them another fucking penny!  Besides, they have crap, utter crap!  The only artist there that I will miss is Cashcraft but WTF, I can get her stuff here now. To Hell With TSR!

Just think of it guys. . . the more Tom Charges, the more Tom fails.

Supply and Demand.

All the stuff here is for free, and the demand for the utter bull shit over there is going down.  ;D
I hope to see TSR 'splode soon. :) I would love to smack Tom with the proverbial pimp hand. :D
BOW DOWN TOM, BOW DOWN. PSMBD + TSTMNBN = your master.

Huzzah, another has seen the light!

Really, Thoma$$ doing this is better than anything we could ever do to them.  Mentally I'm still shaking my head at strategically how bad a move this is for them and how he could possibly think it would ever work.  I think he's actually dumber than I originally thought.   :D

Thanks guys! Glad my stuff passes muster.  i cannot really blame TSR, actually.  I haven't been producing.  My grandmother died and then my computer got really sick.  It hasn't been completely fixed yet, so I am not doing any creating right now.  And once you get out of the habit, it is hard to get back into it.  I had signed on to work on a project with Echo and totally bailed on it.  I am embarrassed about that. 

AW-I actually really love those candles.  Probably one of my favorite things I have ever done.

I was looking at those candles myself - they are nice.  I don't know whether to offer my condolescences or congratulations on being dropped as an SA. You choose.  :D

Sorry about your grandmother though.  :-*

Tomato - I just wanted to chime in with my love for the candles.  My sim sells candles at her relaxation spa and they look *great*.

Ok, now see, I have heard of some hokey shit going on with TSR, but this? This takes the cake. And I just love that he's deleting the dissenters comments. Yeah ThomAss, that's how you run a business.  ::)


Tee hee hee. Seems to me that EA has spoken.

Ya know, the similarities to a pirate flag completely whizzed by me. But then it took me a good week of playing to notice the markings. I'd only been playing one temporary household while noting bugs, and had it turned face-forward, plus I rarely move my view around except to take photos, which I don't bother to do of test houses.

Tomato make good candles. *beats chest like Tarzan*
 :D
Lots of nice little piratey goodness in the new EP's, eh?

Oooh, I love the candles *grabs* :)  Thank you!

I think that's code for "America is going through a recession with the problems they have now, and I don't see that their economy recover quickly, so I'll take advantage of exchange rates". It's an easy guess that if the US had a stronger currency, he would be switching to that.  ;)

There is also the fact that the Swedish currency is tied to the Euro, so no matter what happens with European economy the exchange rate will remain the same and TSR gets the same amount of Swedish Kroner for their subs. This is of course not the case with the US dollar, so switching to Euro is actually a rather wise decision business-wise.

Money-grubbing bastards!  >:(

Not a wise business choice if they lose a substantial amount of American subscribers.

On the other hand, maybe most of the subs come from outside the U.S.?  Does anyone know how this breaks down geographically?

I know i have been out of the loop, but did they start making SA stuff pay or something?  I thought they were free which is one reason I stayed with it. 

And thanks!

That's what i thought too.?!
I went to check - you never know with their ever-changing rules - and yeah SA's stuff are 100% free.

That is what I thought too but I noticed some time ago that if he has a SA that made something that looks good or sometimes, he picks the most fugliest...you have to have a pay sub to get it....


Like, for instance here (http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/Veronn/)...This person is a SA but one of his lots you can only get it if you have a pay sub and it isn't worth it ::)



S2L

That's because at TSR any lot made with pay items will be pay lots. Even if it's not FA's lots.

 :D  Thanks for the heads up...Some of them I can see you wanting but the others, he might as well let them go cuz they are F-Ugly!



S2L

I have no idea for TSR, but I can give you the breakdown for my measly little site and maybe that can give you an idea:

25% of visitors are from the US
15% are from Germany
10% are from France
Spain, the UK, Brazil, Canada and Italy make up for another 25%
The last 25% are from all over the world.

So while the Americans are by far the largest single group, Europeans make up for a much bigger chunk. I think we can assume it's will be similiar for TSR.

I hate to be a spoilsport, but I don't actually think the price hike itself will loose them that many subscribers. Many Americans would have unsubscribed anyway because of their slumping economy. Others might simply not notice, and others may run off now, but will come back in a few months when they've forgotten about it and REALLY wants Windkeeper's new stuff.

Hi Ivory, nice to meet you!  ;D
Great first post! Have you read the FAQ (http://phorum.mustnotbenamed.com/index.php/topic,1104.0.html) yet? If not, read it now! ;)
It has all the info you might need to fit in here and it has funny pictures! ;)

I know some people who do not like getting things from the booty but also don't like TSR's money-grubbing tactics, so they save kudos and get a free day every now and then. I'd wager more people will go for the kudos instead of paid subscription route now, so Thomass will probably raise the amount of kudos needed for a free day soon.

They have already risen the kudo score you need to get a free day around Christmas(!!), before you had to spend 5000 kudos, now it's 7500, that's 50% more. And before you could get 50 kudos per day for clicking the thank-you-button, now it's only 25. So an average person who doesn't know about the booty can get something between 25 and 75 kudos a day (25 for voting in a poll, 25 for saying thank you, 2 for logging in and some more for commenting, posting at the forums or finishing challenges). But it is really hard to get them because it takes so much time to find the polls, to find stuff decent enough to klick thank you (I don't like thanking for things I'd never even dare to use) etc.

comment of pure gold from paddywak  ;D

(http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/9720/paddywakaz4.png)

Lmfao how funny. Who did that?

I don't know who paddywak is, other than he/she is obviously a genius.   :D

Sounds like one of our lot, but is anyone going to admit to it? Even if it wasn't, awesome post!

That comment reminds me of the joke about 3 miser types who walked everywhere.  They complained to the taxi company for lowering their fares, instead of saving £5 they were only saving $4.50.

I do wonder though, how long before Thoma$$ delets that particular post. He seems to favour deleting posts that don't tow the party line.
I still would really like to now how many people will really not subscribe any more. I know from a business perspective, this move makes sense, after all TSR is more about the mighty $ than anything else, but to dick around with your subscruber base is way beyond stupid. Methinks Thoma$$ is thinking with the wrong head yet again.




ETA--I need to proof read more often  :o

I hear ya but I would really like it if TSR's ship sink in the fucking ocean...lol.  I can't wait to see this happen but it probably doesn't happen for a while...I wonder how will they fan out with the arrival of TheSims3 (http://thesims3.ea.com)...only time will tell....


S2L

I also find it funny--in a cynical kind of way, of course--that Thomas is hinting at some big bennie for ex-subscribers that will make up for the pain of a price increase.  What do you suppose that will be?

*More recols in green shades by Atwa?

*The return of Buntah?

*Carla Niven becomes Featured Artist?

*Yet more walls and floors imprinted with Disney characters?

*A "free" month after you've subscribed for 10 years?

*Girly pics of all the mods and owners (including Thomas)?

 ::) ;D

paddywak should be our official Flavor of the Month. That comment was hilarious (and true).

And thanks for posting the screen shot, Sherrie. There is something about seeing a statement like that on TSR that just makes this all worthwhile.

That was full of win!  As a sidenote, I thought that whole Kudos thing only works if you are waaaay to active in the TSR community.  Like, thanking stuff, logging in, talking, posting, doing challenges, and I'm pretty sure the big one comes from Uploading Stuff, right? 

I can't believe I let this slip by the first time.


Hmmm, could it be....

A. By popular demand! Atwat's fat ass out of a cannon!
B. Our new "Balloon" Pricing Policy! Watch in amazement as our prices go up and up and up!
C. An all out attack on good taste! We've only been warming up until now!
D. Lifeboats! Cause this ship be sinkin!

OMG AH! Subber!
*hides behind snarky*
 :D

Money back? From TSR??? Hahahahahaha!!!  I don't think so. Seriously, when you won't even tell for sure what the prices are, charge astronomical rates for poo, and then poo on your customer base, I doubt they'll give you back your money. 

I thought that was the point of the Kudos... maybe I don't understand.  You (Squooshy) said something about the kudos sets being there to download after you paid for a sub.  Isn't that the point of the Kudos?  So you can save them up and have like a day where you can download like you have a sub?  I don't so much go to TSR.. so I don't really understand how that place works.  Back in the day, it's been awhile now, I had that thing for the challenges, cause I thought it looked interesting.  Of course, this is when I heard people talking about doing challenges, googled it, and came up with the TSR challenge downloader thingee.  Didn't know most challenges you kept score yourself, lol. 

Yes, that's how they work, chemistrycourtney, it didn't change at all. Even without a paying sub you just add kudos for years - as they keep raising the 'prices' in the exchange feature - and you'll exchange them for a free download spree day (managing to avoid weekends because of the lag ^^). It never changed, only the prices for the exchange rate changed.

You get kudos for basically eveything, logging in, commenting a pic, thanking for an item, uploading a pic etc... But the number of kudos gained everyday from all these ways is limited. Can't remember, maybe 50 kudos maximum per day for thanking for an item for exemple. Peggy with her fidelity points didn't invent anything ;D

i see.  so for between 2500 and 3500 kudos you can have a window set (with curtains  :o ) or a livingroom set, or a set of clocks.  that seems kind of pricey for some clocks and windows and couches. 

You're saying though that those are only supposed to be accessible through a kudos purchase, but you got a sub, and tada, you could download the kudos only items? 

**edit** NM: I see in your post up there that you were saying the super sekrit kudo items were in the booty, not part of the sub... but still... stupid TSR with its moar money and stupid kudos... 

Have you guys seen this  (http://www.thesimsresource.com/news.php?ID=2710) yet?



Oh lol!

Quick translation - after bumping up our prices to get moar money, less people subscribed so we are now offering a snazzy deal to lure previous subscribers back, oh money!  ::)

And the comments are really really amusing -

It just goes to prove Thoma$$ is a dumbass, and once a dumbass, always a dumbass. Aside from that, the offer is only good until April, for those people who purchase yearly subscriptions this is no damn good at all.
Thoma$$ you are full of shit and you fell out of the stupid tree and hit every damn branch on the way down.

Stupid people are getting on their knees ready to swallow his big fat turd, like that airhead Victoria
(ever notice how the people who are in favour for anything TSR sound like clone robots OR like psycho housewives without a lick of sense?)
Thomas loves stupid people. They make him rich.

30% for recurring subscribers for the next six weeks. Is it ONLY for 6 weeks? Or is it for the entire sub package you pay for?
And then what? When your sub runs out, you get automatically billed the high price that could be inflated even more by the time 6 weeks has passed.

I say.. wake the fuck up. TSR are a bunch of liars and thieves.
Walk away and never return.

Let the pirates pillage and wait for the boat to sink.

Has anyone being putting up the link to the TSR booty on these announcements Thoma$$ keeps making?  They'll delete them but some people are bound to see it.

Thats a good idea, but I think we'd be doing a diservice to the internets based on the fact that whoever did the commenting would be banned on so many dfferent accounts so fast that the planet would eventually run dry of internet screennames.

It would make sense that a lot of those posts are from sock puppets attempting to set the tone of the conversation.

They're sending out emails:

(http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s116/FerrisSims/Batshit/TSRBS.jpg)

wtf? They banned my account more than 6 months ago. Dumbasses.

They're not very good at hiding their desperation  ;D

I got one too and I've been banned for nearly a year ???

Ummm...just curious.  What did you do to get banned?

Sharing their files.  ;)

I got that damned "Renew and get %30 percent off!" email this morning, and I was pretty stroppy because I haven't had a sub with them in two years.  Seeing as they didn't get the message from my absence, I thought I'd fire off a little love-letter to make things clear:

(http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/2554/renewys7.th.jpg) (http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=renewys7.jpg)

C**ts!

:D Funny, Nacey. Why wouldn't you take that great offer? ::)

Awe, they've forgiven you. I'd skip the make up sex if I were you. -  :P

different proxies (http://phorum.mustnotbenamed.com/index.php/topic,1234.msg53330.html#msg53330) + name generator = win?

I got the email too.  Hotmail put it in the junk box automatically.. I want to report it as a phishing email.  e.e

How awesome! Thomass is freaking out, finally a nice news after sims 3's turnoff!
Now we should all burn our email boxes to clean them'. *lights a torch*

And his offer is so skinflint; 30% off for one month on the 2 is shitty ::)
(if i read it right)
(Not that i do give a shit, really :D)

I love Thomas.  He's so gloriously predictable.  In this particular case, the hot smell of fear rising from TSR is warming the cockles of me heart.  Awwww bless.

Every single response saying "I am SO HAPPY to be paying money for TSR cockrock, so MUCH because they are so worth it"

sounds like a drone. And I am pretty much sure it's someone employed by Thomass or perhaps its one of his many aliases.
Wouldn't put it past him.

If I hated having money, I totally would!

But I don't.

I knew Thomas was a crook, but this is fecking ridiculous. Hopefully this will be his downfall. I would go over to Sweden to slap his face off his skull if it wasn't such a waste of rum money.

30% off of what I'm paying T$R now is quite fair.

Of course, I'm paying them nothing, so...  ;)

It really makes me soo sad to see some of those comments. :o It's just unbelievable. They need to see the light!

You could, but shit splatters and it's a bitch to get the stench off of your hands...

Awww, how sweet, a 30% discount.
I think I had a sub about twenty years ago - do you think I'd be eligible for their generous discount?
I sooooo want a sub with my most favouritest website NOW!

Thoma$$, you're sooo the bestetest!
I loooooooove you, let me kiss your a$$.

Muahahahaha!

The name Paddywak sounds really familiar to me. I'm sure I've seen them post in another TS2 forum before.

*Goes off to investigate*

Odd. Came up empty, except for this comment that was left for OpenHouseJack.

Thanks for pointing it out, we will remove it now. :)

Greetings from TSR Team

Uhm yea Markus, do not do TSRs work for them  ;) Paddywak is in fact a well known member here, and as she has said nothing about it, she obviously does not wish for her usual username to be outed - so no need for 'investigating'

Rape the booty and donate the money. Everyone wins, except TSR - which is good. :D

Thats what I do once a year or so. But its mainly cause I'm lazy. I like the shopping basket option. 1 click dump the item in the shopping basket when you're done download 200+ files all at once and install. Its a DL addicts heaven.


Ok now I'm so ashamed to admit I give TSR money once or twice a year. :(

Nothing shameful in sub'ing, and now no longer giving them money and being a kickass pirate instead  ;)

The News annoucements at TSR do seem to be generally interesting. Todays one (http://www.thesimsresource.com/news.php?ID=2716) (and no not an Aprils Fools heh, TSR are rather boring with lack of that) is about their hardware pooping it again, with an interesting comment from MsBarrows "I'm wondering if this is in some way connected to the highly unusual numbers of guest accounts on the forums the last couple of days; I've seen it spike as high as 600+ people on the forums, only 20-30 of which are actually logged in, registered members. DOS attack?" - interesting huh. Or maybe its just me  :P

They shouldn't even be feeling a DDos attack of 600 connections at once with the amount of servers they use. If a comparable site like MTS2 never has issues with any attempts made, or this site, why should they have any? Or do they not spend the money on proper resources and security? Or did they stick the forum on one server.

If it's a random script kid group targetting random sites, they could have alot more infected pc's in use than just 600, if so, they could possibly be screwed for a while. Not for very long though.

One cannot afford to be jovial if losing customers is what happens. Look at all the people pissed off with MTS2 - to TSR, that's money walking out the door.


I asked Tom Ass about this myself - he had difficulty understanding the term "spend" on anyone other than himself.  We came to a stalemate at that point of the conversation. :P He said he'll worry about it if they hack his monies.  :D

Who's pissed off with MTS2?  Or have I misunderstood? :-[

Nope - not misunderstood.  Every year there's at least 10 people saying how tiresome it is, and they just came here to get their downloads, and you should put it back up for them, cause they haven't got much time ...blah blah blah. They bitch and complain like they are owed something. I personally have enjoyed the last 2 April Fools Days - I forget what the theme of last year's was. 

Some people complain about the search engine messing up (for example when I typed my YAY for the idea and wrote sites [I think] it translated it to "great ideas") and there's some bitching about it at Insimenator.

Are you serious? All because of some April Fools fun? I've come to the conclusion recently that some people are just not happy if they're not complaining, like they're not making a valuable contribution to the world if they're not creating change or something, but this.... If it really bugs you (not you obviously), get off you ass, go play outside for a while, and come back tomorrow.

Yep - happened last year too.  Of course the real kicker is that MTS2 zooms around like it's got wings - cause no one stays around for the fun, and they all leave.  :D

I personally love the silver monkey plates, which are just gorgeous.  :D

The April Fool's theme last year for MtS2 was llamas, unless my mind has decided to skip a year on me..

I think that was two years ago. IIRC, last  year was that set of hideous awfulness - creations that Buntah would be proud of. My favorite was an unliveable house that was so badly made it was brilliant.

The stupid thing about being pissed off about MTS2's is that the rest of the site is actually available--I just went and got the items I wanted the other day when downloads were down.

See that pisses me off, you're going to spend ten minutes downloading and you want to bitch about how their site is "weird" and "different" yadda yadda.  MTS2 was nothing.  I logged into the Kingdom of Loathing and it was the Kingdom of Salad.  Everything, items, monsters, and myself, were turned into salad.  Plus they would change random words to salad in the combat text.  But you know what?  It was funny.  Basically salad hilarious salad.  :D

It's stuff like this that makes me think "I'm so glad I raided Cashcraft's booty the other night," especially when I see the TOU in the object's description.

...it only exposes the whiner's overdeveloped sense of entitlement?

Meh, I think April Fool's Day is dumb, but I can certainly go a day without checking MTS2. I should go more days without checking MTS2, actually, considering my bloated downloads folder.

Remember the "eating a baby" thing? Now that was a fun little tempest!

I saw people's horror at the monkey stuff.  Shoot.  I downloaded those monkey plates.  They are cute little default plates.   :) I laughed for awhile that my browser tab for MTS2 didn't say modthesims2, it said Doom Doom Doom.  lol

I beat that salad salad salad with my salad, but fumbled and dropped my salad on my croutons. That's a kick in the salad!

(Who are you on there, and are you in More Awesome Than Your Clan? I'm Zazazu and GrueLover)

I am Redikolous, Tiggles, and tonyaj7.

Redikolous - Rotini's House of Pasta
Tiggles - Bad Zmobies
tonyaj7 - Sh1t Happens

I see your salads and raise you a tossed salad!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTYMeitHNes)


 :D

Yay, now I can look you up and judge you.  :P

I missed all of the fun stuff... See what happens when your internet connection borks? You miss everything... And forced vacations suck!

Darn i missed mts2's and kol's. :'(

Thanks to you guys and this thread I have cancelled my sub with TSR, they are not getting another penny. Bloody leeches!  >:(

Huzzah! Huzzah for kimc!  :D

ok, so I'm not a mathmatician...but can someone explain to me just how you are saving 30% off the subscription...if it was 43.95 two months ago and now it is $42.15, where is the other what is it, 29.75 %   ???

I agree. That is wonderful, kimc.