Been here since 2016. I don’t have access to the lounge. I don’t know why. [name_m]Just[/name_m] echoing everyone else saying I wish there was another way.
I love coming here even just to answer simple opinion questions and polls. It’s a really fun community and I know a lot of people are going to miss that.
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I came here after Baby Names got rid of their forums. I was happy to pay for their community that was long-standing and paid membership for a long time and had become more personal. This is such a different community where the free forums had so much activity and I really came to enjoy it. The name love remains the foundation in a free space and that’s what I enjoyed about Nameberry. I have paid for the subscription, only to see how the community will continue. This was a disappointing change.
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I know it’s disappointing. We struggled for a long tme to keep the forums free as we very much value our community. But the across-the-board prohibition on ads in forums, dictated by the big advertising companies, coupled with the enormous influx of robots scraping the forums for their own training material finally made us face the reality that we could not continue to host public forums that were costing us $2000 a month and leaving our forum members vulnerable to wholesale scraping. I sincerely want every member of the Nameberry community to have free access to the subscriber site. Some people are having trouble with the link and code I posted so we’re working on that. I’ll update but you can always email me at pam@nameberry.com. Thanks.
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After 7 years on nameberry, actively participating in the forums, this has really upset me. In time I may subscribe, but it feels wrong to be paying to be a part of a community that I actively helped to build.
I get it, I work in sales so understand business is business, but it’s a bit of a kicker. And I do see this being the beginning of the end of the forum, potentially the whole site too. I hope I’m wrong
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i was able to rejoin the forums after getting granted regular access! and i do appreciate being included in the community despite the change. i do want to keep supporting the site as i can as i think this one-stop resource for data is actually one of the last barriers stopping people from using AI.
does this carry over to the main site or just the forums? bc i can’t access the regular site anymore at all? i tried triggering a password reset but never got the email, so i’m not sure if there’s a different issue.
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No, unfortunately it doesn’t work for the subscriber site. [name_m]The[/name_m] code and link I sent ended up breaking lots of other things. But obviously, you’re welcome to join and I hope some people will!
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thanks for clarifying! i don’t mind signing up again. right now i’m not in a position to pay for the site but i want to keep supporting as i can
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Well I joined trying to find a name for our 4th child. I came to lovethis community so much. But I rather AI takes info for their training then paying. Seriuosly raising 4 children is financially difficult as it is and my husband agrees that we will not be paying for this forum.
Especially because we know of other forums, which we are part of, 2 belong to my husband, that they will stay free and that they are still aloud advertisement on their site and they do not have to pay anything out of pocket.
Sadly we will have to leave this forum…with a lot of crying knowing that it is absolutely unfair especially because we did not get a heads up.
It was just dropped on us like bathtub ful of ice cold freezing water.
Personally I think this will be the end of the forum.
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Appreciate the difficult decisions you’ve had to make [name_f]Pam[/name_f].
Thank you for the work you’ve put into your website and the forums.
I seem to still be able to post at the moment, and I’m not sure whether that’s just because access is yet to be removed, or because as an Elderberry (love the name 
) of maybe even years, we will keep forum access despite not having Lounge access?
But yeh, whatever happens - appreciate all that you’ve done with Nameberry, and the tricky situation you’re in to keep things financially viable. Wishing you all the best.
[name_f]Pam[/name_f] has reinstated access to trusted, long-term berries, so if you have the “Elderberry” tag you are a [name_f]Berry[/name_f] for life! I’m 99% sure anyway, I’ve been working when the drama went down but that’s how I understand it to be.
@Anna03 tagging you too so you hopefully see the news, I see you both are tagged elderberries!
@readingreverie - can you just confirm I’m saying this right? Half the time I’m reading our discord while I’m working and not able to fully focus on everything
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Hello! [name_f]Happy[/name_f] to report that I can make threads and replies in most of the forum, but it seems that the Bandwagon area is now “read only” for me. I can’t make any Bandwagon posts. Is this intentional or was it just somehow missed?
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I do believe you’re right, from what I know. I’m not sure if the Elderberry tag is a permanent one, but I’d hope so!
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I’m in the same situation. I can’t reply to the bandwagon posts.
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I’ve heard that this is an issue for all of us—I know some of the berries reached out to [name_f]Pam[/name_f] to see if this can be fixed! Most of us are having the same issue for the CAF sub-category in the game forum as well.
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Anna03 Do you realize I’ve given you free access to the forums? That’s why you’re on here typing right now.
Yes, hi. We know about this and I believe [name_f]Grace[/name_f] and [name_m]Owen[/name_m] are trying to fix. Please email or message @Greyblue for an update.
I am so sorry to hear that it came to this. It was… unexpected, to say the least. But I know things must have been going very downhill for you to have had to make this choice. I’m not going to say I’m not upset, because I am really going to miss Nameberry as it used to be.
I know I’ve been absent for quite a few months now (let’s just say college didn’t go well) and I’m sorry for just disappearing like that. This site gave me a sense of community when I struggled to find one with the people around me. [name_m]The[/name_m] kindness I have received here is something that I will always appreciate.
I’m grateful that @pam is doing what she can to make this change easier on us, including granting us free access to the Forums. That being said, I do have a question.
So, I was on the main site looking for a name using Advanced Search. However, it wouldn’t let me go beyond page three of the names. It suggested I sign up for a plan, but I clicked continue for free. It still wouldn’t let me go past page three. Is that normal? Because I thought I could still browse names, just with a bunch of ads.
If I was mistaken about that, I understand. Again, it is a little upsetting because I have used Nameberry constantly ever since discovering it, but I understand why the change is necessary.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to pay for a plan right now, as my family is going through a tough time. But I will when I can because Nameberry is an essential resource for me as a writer.
Thank you all for reading this and I hope our community can stay together, as I truly appreciate you all and your kindness.
@pam, please know that, when I say I’m upset, I mean I’m sad. I’m not angry. [name_m]Like[/name_m] I said, I know things must have been getting really bad for this to be something that had to happen. I can tell you don’t want it to be like this and I would definitely prefer to pay a certain amount per month or year, rather than seeing the site shut down. I can’t be angry when the alternative to paying would be losing Nameberry forever. Thank you for adding me to the list of Elderberries, by the way. I appreciate it and will try to use Forums more again.
I am so sorry for rambling. It’s always been a problem of mine and I’m working on it. 
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In regards to the subcatergories:
We’re still working on it, but I’ve given [name_m]Owen[/name_m] some suggestions of what to try!!
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You are literally a godsend, we are so grateful for you, Grace!