If I remember correctly, I've got the AutoRefresh feature set up as a Premium feature, so I don't think you can use it, but subscribers can. They can just stay parked on the board or on the Favorites page and go on and do other things and the system will let them know if they've got new messages.
In the case of the Favorites page, you can even have it send an audio alert (either a selected one or a random one) anytime you get a new message.
I think it's the fact that there are so many "little" features like that that makes people like the idea of subscribing. Plus, getting rid of the ads (and the bandwidth utilization of the ads, which ad-blockers don't help with) is likely a big motivator.
Or being able to read 100 messages in a board with a single click instead of 100 separate clicks, especially if, like on some boards, the place you need to click 100 times keeps moving depending on what else is on the page.
Or being able to read 50 posts at a time (in their entirety; not just the subject lines) from any poster no matter what board they wrote to.
Or private messaging.
Or having a Favorites page as a kind of center of operations, with a MailBox counter that tells you how many messages you've got whether they're public or private. Don't have to go hunt them down.
Or being able to change the look and feel of the site to whatever colors and fonts you like.
Or (this one's the biggie to me that most boards lack) being able to search posts for specific words. All the way back through the site's entire history. Or search for that word in any private message to or from you.
I saw your invite elsewhere (with the missing letter in the site name) where you go past skeptical into downright slamming. Have to wonder about your motivations.
But your post elsewhere, and on here later, seems to conveniently ignore the fact that this site has been around since 1999 and that I've personally been involved in the operational side of these things since 97, and BBSes before them since 87.
It's not going away. Just because you only recently became aware of its existence doesn't mean it only recently came into existence.
But I do agree (and thank you for the compliment) that the site is quite useful in "free" mode. That's the way it's supposed to be. If people don't mind seeing the ads, which I make a little coin from, and writing posts that others will read and see ads with, for some more coin, I've got zero problem with people choosing to use the free version of the site.
While other sites you mentioned are what I would call "just message boards", this one is a "message board that means business". As someone else mentioned earlier, you can tell by the business model that this isn't some hobby that's going to be shut down tomorrow. Our business model is all about providing a free forum for anyone who wants it (and can abide by our simple rules) and running it as a viable business at the same time.
Even the fact that we'll quit offering Lifetime subscriptions at the end of this month is just another necessary part of our business model. Having multiple revenue streams is a big thing we have that others don't, and we're phasing into making all of our revenue streams the recurring kind. That's the kind of thing a business with long-term intentions does.
I'd like to ask you a question, though. While most of your posts here have been of a "I don't see why I should buy a cow that's giving me free 2% milk." nature which I can respect and I know is going to hold true for a lot of people, your "invite" at Yahoo puzzles me. It is nothing short of destructive.
Birds know not to defecate in their own nests, but I do encounter people all the time who don't seem to have the bird's potty habits. This may be the first time I've seen a bird invite all the vultures over for a burrito and ExLax buffet.
Why did you do that?
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
AI
