So when Friendster is no longer free...

I would actually pay if it was a nominal annual fee, like on Livejournal (where you get the full features for $25 a year, or something).

But I have a hard time believing people will stick around if it's going to be some bullshit like $10 a month. What's the point of maintaining your personal network and testimonials when all these people (and CELEBRITIES!) are going to drop off the network anyway...?

FYI db I got a friendster email from a goth legend ACCUSING YOU OF WRONG DOING.

Well, yeah, which is why I decided to ask again but seriously a few posts down. ;-)

Ally: I won't pay for shit, why bother?

Because they're providing a service that entertains you, and you want to be able to support it?

..I mean, I'm not asking everyone to support Friendster necessarily. If they're only worth a few months of entertainment to you, then you got what you want, and you can move on -- which sounds like your case.

But I don't think it's unreasonable to charge a small annual fee for something like this, if it turns out the momentum of such a site remains steady, and allows the users to get something out of it consistently (and I highly stress "if")... not to mention the good deed of helping to support the admin team behind the computers and what not.

That said, it's generally a bad business model to offer something free to the public, have it become "successful", then say "Neener neener, you have to pay now, or all your momentos of being connected go bye bye". At the very least, they should only charge people if they want to upgrade to, say, really fast servers, fast search functionality, and other bells & whistles.. and leave the current version as is and free.

But, like, I kind of don't. I mean basically all I do on Friendster is mock bois who hit on me and laugh about crappy celebrities, which is the same thing I Do here in a much less involved and interesting capacity. Unless Friendster can offer me something beyond this, I have no interest in paying for it.