Rosebeth, First, anyone who is a true member of the Nameberry community should have Lounge access, where you can find a link and code to get free access to the Subscriber site. Our alternative to going to a partly-paid model is going out of business. We are trying to keep Nameberry’s extensive content alive, to add lots of new features that are truly ground-breaking, and give community members free subscriptions.
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I’ll PM you.
Oh wow
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I’ll PM you
What an odd thing to say 
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[name_f]True[/name_f] member? Huh?? I’m very confused, and still haven’t seen any answers on what these new features will be or how long non-subscribers will have access.
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[name_m]The[/name_m] “true member” comment is shocking. I have been on Nameberry for well over a decade, actively contributing when I can, which is substantially less now that I’ve got a toddler but I’ve NEVER qualified for lounge access. [name_m]Just[/name_m] wow is right.
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I have a lot of thoughts here. I recognize that AI steals from websites and reuses their content without any pay or credit (it should be illegal, honestly - it’s theft) and that means there are limited options to make the forums sustainable since they cost money to run. And I would say almost anything is better than shutting down completely. But a paywall is going to severely damage this community. As others have already said, many people cannot or simply won’t pay for accessing a name forum, especially with the current state of the economy. And fewer users makes a worse experience for everyone - fewer opinions on your names, fewer players in the baby game space, fewer replies to posts or answers to polls. [name_m]Not[/name_m] to mention it’s a barrier to entry for new members going forward.
I also don’t think it’s fair to say “true” members of the community will be in the Lounge. [name_m]Plenty[/name_m] of long term Berries disappear for a few months because their real lives get busy and therefore lose access, and there are a lot of people who only play name games, for instance, who are a constant in the community but may not have done all of the actions required to be in the lounge.
I’ll admit I don’t know much about running a website. But are there any alternatives? A cheaper forum host instead of Discourse, for example? Or putting hidden prompt injection into each name page so that AI can’t use it? I can’t help but feel that in trying to protect the forums, we’re losing part of what makes them so worth protecting to begin with.
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I’m pretty sure there have been issues recently with Lounge access. I had no idea I was at the point of being able to be in it, but I contacted support about something else and they told me they had sorted out the issue with my trust level too (that I wasn’t aware of) and I then had lounge access. I only got it because I had to contact support about something unrelated, so it made me wonder if there are other accounts missing lounge access that should have it.
Everyone is a valued member whether they’ve been here a month or 15 years
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[name_m]Will[/name_m] you at least do us the decency of giving us a deadline of when the forums will be closing for non subscribers?
I can not justify paying and therefore will not be subscribing. A few years ago I was, as you so bluntly put it, ’ a true member’ of the nameberry community and had lounge access. But it was taken off me because I had a number of months/weeks when I didn’t post in the forums. Probably because life got in the way.
I would like to say (and also echo what a number of people have already said before me) that this feels so deeply hurtful to those of us who have been long standing community members, particularly the way this was told to us. I came to nameberry at a truly horrific time in my life and found sanctuary in somewhere I could discuss a hobby with likeminded people. For a while, it was all that kept me going. [name_m]The[/name_m] community that made nameberry unique will no longer be what it was, potentially gone all together, something that I assume, or at least hope, has been thought long and hard about.
I recognise the issues you have explained. But it’s a hard blow to take.
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Come on, everybody, give me a break. I thought that Lounge access was strictly decided by participation, so if I’m wrong about that, I’m sorry. I wasn’t saying “true member” in any spiritual sense, just trying to convey that we are trying to honor people who are really members of the community by keeping the forums free for them.
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Our intention is not to keep out people who are members of the community but aren’t in the Lounge because of some technicality. I’ll PM you.
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@pam We are trying to be understanding, truly, but that was a poor choice in words to say the least. [name_f]Many[/name_f] of us actively contribute and have formed a bond with other posters but simply cannot be active on a forum as much as the lounge requires! That doesn’t make us any less of a part of the community.
My friends on Nameberry have seen me through 4 miscarriages, years of infertility, naming our rainbow baby and parenthood, along with our current struggle to conceive again. I cherish every one of the people that have helped me over the years, and it’s heartbreaking to know that this is coming to an end for a large portion of the community that won’t be able to justify these extra costs in today’s economy.
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A lot of us, like myself, don’t have the time to achieve the regular role that provides lounge access. I’ve been stuck on the member role because I simply only have time to be active for days at time. And not to be rude but people are going to keep asking questions until they are answered. Anddd unfortunately people are just going to give up the longer it takes to receive answers that should be known upon making such a decision.
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I’ve been here since the beginning. As a teacher, there’s no way I can afford another subscription. I live in [name_f]Florida[/name_f] and I can’t pay my bills as it is, especially since I’m going to be forced to retire soon and then live on basically nothing.
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How very disappointing, but business is business and I sincerely wish you well. I also want to thank you for creating a warm and inviting community whilst it lasted.
I do just want to note that it seems odd that you’ll be using AI to predict future baby names as well as other new tools, whilst having those of us staying pay to use the forums etc. I don’t understand how making us pay to play (so to speak), when people are using chatbots and AI to get their name lists anyway.
Anyway, like I said.. I wish Nameberry all the best and thank it sincerely for the memories! 
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I am open to any other choice of words you think is better. We can’t keep the forums free for everyone but are trying to provide free access to people who are part of the community. I sent you the code.
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I PM’d you
I didn’t say we’ll be using AI to make baby name predictions. We created a proprietary statistical model to predict future popularity.
Is it possible to know when this will take effect??
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