Are there online communities that charge one time fee?

April 11, 2012 7:29 PM

Need the knowledge of the collective hive: Trying to find another example of an online community that charges a single one-time joining fee for new users, like MetaFilter does. (We know that MetaFilter is unique in so many ways, is this yet another?)

This is an extension of the exploration of online communities mentioned by bmorrison here: http://metatalk.metafilter.com/21624/What-made-you-pay

posted by achpea to computers & internet (7 answers total)

Something Awful has a 'one time registration fee.' In the past, they used to let banned users re-purchase - I don't know if they still do that.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:34 PM on April 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Pinboard
posted by kbuxton at 7:39 PM on April 11, 2012

Days of Wonder charges a one-time fee to play Ticket to Ride (and I am assuming any other individual game). You get to play 4 games to see if you like it, and if you want to continue, you pay $9.99 to play as many additional games as you want, as long as the site is operational.
posted by parrot_person at 7:59 PM on April 11, 2012

This is the link for Pinboard. It's not pinboard.com.
posted by John Cohen at 10:05 PM on April 11, 2012

It's pretty much dead, but Kuro5hin.
posted by codswallop at 12:46 AM on April 12, 2012

The fee for k5 was only instituted after it was dead.
posted by Joe Chip at 3:50 AM on April 12, 2012

Couchsurfing, which seems to be as much an online community as a real life one, has an optional "verification fee" - pay $20 (I think) and they send you a postcard with a code on it to confirm your physical address. I dont think there's anything you can't do on the site if you're not verified, but your verification status is visible on your profile, which I guess is useful for a site that's about getting together in real life.
posted by moonmilk at 6:33 AM on April 12, 2012