I am so tired seeing all of these thank you threads. Seriously, stop making them before I start deleting every last single one of them.
If you feel you really must say thank you, please do so in this thread.
Ok. I will.
I am what one may consider a moderate pirate.
I do believe there are sites out there that genuinely charge mainly for bandwidth. ("Mainly" is the operative word here.) There is one site I use a lot that simply requested $2.00 US IF users can afford it, and had a nifty little thank-you gift for those who did. This was $2.00 for no fewer than six MONTHS. More, I believe. NOT $2.00 a month or $2.00 a download. No "mesh" games or pity tactics. No "if you share the thank-you gift, you are a criminal". I ponied up the money.
Problem is, I didn't realize how very FEW sites fit into this category. How many cut corners and overcharge. (I learned that the hard way with one service, unfortunately.) How the term "bandwidth" seems to be up for interpretation. How many creators piss away the money and don't stand behind their product. How crappy a lot of these gifts are. I originally grinned with glee when I saw the booty, but much to my surprise, there weren't many files I really wanted. All that glitters is not gold and all that. Thank you to those who took the time to organize the booty.
This board, along with Better Sims, is letting me see the good, the bad and the ugly about paysites .... mostly the bad and the ugly. Being on a super-tight budget makes me picky about giving money to paysites in the first place; this board and my bad experience with a download has made me a LOT more reluctant to give cash to ANY paysite.
So ... thanks for all the work involved in putting this together!