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GSMom385
02-24-2007, 10:20 PM
Sherry-
I saw in your message you were feeling guilty about charging the fee. DON'T!!! Nothing in this world worth having is free anymore, and honestly $10 is more than reasonable for the value I get here. Just wanted you to know. Thanks for being our host!!! ~Cindy

mjbonoan
02-24-2007, 11:42 PM
Sherry-
I saw in your message you were feeling guilty about charging the fee. DON'T!!! Nothing in this world worth having is free anymore, and honestly $10 is more than reasonable for the value I get here. Just wanted you to know. Thanks for being our host!!! ~Cindy


:no2: No, don't feel guilty about the membership fee. I love it here, $10 is very reasonable for the quality of information and friends we make here. I'm a newbie (joined last month) and I would be lost without the shack!!!

Sherry
02-25-2007, 06:58 AM
Thank you ladies so much for your kind words. I sincerely do appreciate them. I WAS feeling horribly guilty and, in all honesty, was considering sending everyone's membership payment back and just saying "bye bye" to the gallery and chatroom.

But, then, I got to chatting with my husband. He admitted that I spend far too much money and far too much time on The Shack. He, my friend Lisa, and even some fellow Shackies, convinced me to look at things from a business point of view. And so, that's what I'm going to do. I am providing a service and, unfortunately, not all services are free. I will do my absolute best to provide everyone with a friendly, easy to use website that has features not always seen on other websites.

I am so thankful that the majority of our regular users have stood behind me in this decision. You are so generous and I THANK YOU ALL for your support :) Now, we just need to get on to that dedicated server, which I admit I am a little nervous about. The last time I changed servers, we were getting error messages for days. ***GROAN*** I sooo hope that doesn't happen again.

Erin K
02-25-2007, 09:10 AM
I think everyone is prepared (or should be) for there to be a few days of errors or whatever when we switch. Maybe if you told us the day before? Then perhaps you won't get fiftymillion emials, "I can't get into the Shack!" type.. Anyhow we all want to be on our own fancy pants server and I really think everyone understands that there might be some hiccup with the switch. :)

Don't you worry about anything Sherry!

shuggy
02-25-2007, 09:32 AM
maybe you can post a message that says something like "for the next few days, you may have wierdness due to switching servers...please ride it out until the changes are made" or something...

Sherry
02-25-2007, 11:41 AM
Hi ladies,

I sincerely apologize for how quick the membership thing was implemented. It even came as a surprise to me. Let me explain.

Whenever I load a new feature into our website, there is usually an "activate" button that comes along with it it. I can choose if and when to "activate" the feature. Well, I was given a set of instructions on how to go about implementing the whole membership thing. I had planned to set everything up and then let users know that as of March 1st, we would switching over and implementing the membership fee. So, I followed the instructions to the letter, got all of the coding into place then went looking for the "activate" button. Imagine MY surprise when, low and behold, there wasn't one! The membership code took over the whole system and implemented the change immediately. Every user was suddenly placed into the "Expired Members" group. It was then that I began receiving emails from users telling me that they could not access their accounts. For this, I am truly sorry. I never meant for the membership thing to go down like it did. I hope ya'll can forgive me :(

When we do start the switch over to the new server, I PROMISE to give you a few days notice!

Erin K
02-25-2007, 11:46 AM
Sherry you are banned from apologizing. You've done enough of it. It's FINE. We discussed paid memberships for days before it took effect that was warning enough I think. It never occured to me that it was sudden. It really wasn't!

No more apologies Sherry, really. You are totally cut off. You do what you have to do to make this site great just like you have been and we will roll with it! You see all the people who did pay to switch? That's us all saying, "We support YOU and this site".

:)

directmailscrapper
02-25-2007, 11:55 AM
Sherry -- you are not only providing a service, you are providing an AMAZING service. $10 is more than reasonable (I mean LESS than reasonable). I agree with Erin -- no more apologies! Nancy

ctinyjoy
02-25-2007, 11:55 AM
Sherry you are banned from apologizing. You've done enough of it. It's FINE. We discussed paid memberships for days before it took effect that was warning enough I think. It never occured to me that it was sudden. It really wasn't!

No more apologies Sherry, really. You are totally cut off. You do what you have to do to make this site great just like you have been and we will roll with it! You see all the people who did pay to switch? That's us all saying, "We support YOU and this site".

:)

I second these words. You have a done a wonderful job on this site and just move forward...

Michigan Stamper
02-25-2007, 01:14 PM
I paid for my membership yesterday. Totally worth $10.00. I mean, that's less than a dollar a month for all that inspiration. A bargain by any standard!

ngreek
02-25-2007, 01:30 PM
Sherry,
I don't think you need to apalogize anymore. You appear to be a very considerate and compassionate person. It sucke when you also have to wear that other hat of the business side of things. I think you did fine in all of this. With all the hubbub about the spending the money for the membership all I could think was 2 things. 1) We spend how much money a year for stamping and scramping materials. For me the $10.00 does not even come close to the amount of money I sepnd. 2) I know I for one had been frustrated with the amount of flakers on some of the other swap boards. I put time and money into the different swaps I do. In a flaker free zone it is well worth the money. I am not saying it is all about the money.... but when it gets extremely lopsided you can get frustrated.

Just my more then 2 cents worth here.
Nicole

GSMom385
02-25-2007, 01:51 PM
Sherry you are banned from apologizing. You've done enough of it. It's FINE. We discussed paid memberships for days before it took effect that was warning enough I think. It never occured to me that it was sudden. It really wasn't!

No more apologies Sherry, really. You are totally cut off. You do what you have to do to make this site great just like you have been and we will roll with it! You see all the people who did pay to switch? That's us all saying, "We support YOU and this site".

:)
I agree with Erin!! Sherry you are banned from apologizing. I was not shocked, nor did it bother me or seem sudden in the slightest. Only issue I had was trying to locate where I put my paypal password fast enough because I needed a shack fix. ;-P

moon_beam23
02-25-2007, 06:07 PM
You should not have to apologize. This is by far the best site I have been on. There are so many friendly people here and great ideas! Be proud of what you started, that people want to be here, and that you have new people constantly signing up!!!

lisaguyon
02-27-2007, 05:21 PM
You are offering a service and you have to look at it like a business. The $10 is more than fair for what all we get out of The Shack. Lisa

Sherry
02-27-2007, 05:42 PM
Thank you all very much ladies. I promise, no more apologizing :)

gigibee
02-27-2007, 07:46 PM
I agree with all the ladies, you have nothing to apologize for about the $10 to help keep the Shack going and growing. You give so much time and energy to provide this wonderful site. It is such a pleasure to be able to visit here anytime and find such inspiration and creativity. BIG HUGS to you!