To Salon or Not to Salon?

Ever since Salon.com went to a pay system a few years ago, I've bought a subscription. You got to do away with the ads, and there were a few other perks that came with the purchase. I don't recall off the top of my head exactly how much it costs, but I believe it's somewhere around thirty dollars. I've figured that it's money I can afford for a worthy cause.

This past year, though, for some reason my member name and password never seemed to take in the memories of either of the computers I normally use. Each time I'd try to read an article, it would ask for my name and password anew. At some point, though, it stopped asking. Every now and then, I'd see an ad pass by before I could access the story I wanted, but I've generally got several things going on with the computer, so I could just slip over to another screen until it was finished. Most of the time, however, it would just take me directly to the page I was seeking. I suppose it put pop-ups on my screen, but other sites do that, too, and I was never specifically aware of a particular pop-up caused by Salon. (And, since I've always got a pop-up blocker running, maybe I haven't even seen one.) So they've shown me that I can get along quite well without a subscription.

My sub is up in about a week, and I'm getting the reminder notices to renew. At this point, I'm not sure when was the last time I've actually logged in. One thing I'd lose is access to their Table Talk message board feature, but I never particularly participated in that anyway. There are other magazine subscriptions they usually offer, but, although I never minded receiving them, I often wouldn't have time to read the issues, they'd start to pile up, and ultimately Mrs. Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk would ask, "Who started sending us this?" I've checked their sign up page (from the outside, not as a renewing member), and I'm not really sure what to make of it. They offer nine different membership plans (although most of the difference is just in deciding which free book you want), and I'm not entirely sure what the difference is. I'm also not sure how far I have to venture into the sign-up process to discover what the price is.

On writing about this, I feel like I'm talking myself into not renewing--I'm really not that sure I see why it's necessary. My subscription doesn't lapse for a few days, though, so if anyone wants to make an argument one way or another, I'm willing to listen. My mind isn't entirely made up yet, so who knows--maybe I'm ripe for swaying.