What do I get if I stay a non-paying member?
If you choose not to purchase the Account Upgrade, you will have access to the Main Event and all of the Support Forums (those forums listed in the Parenting and Lifestyles categories).

What benefits do I receive if I pay for the Account Upgrade?
If you choose to purchase the Account Upgrade you will have access to all of the Hobbies Forums, Private Messages, Avatars, participation in the Point System, the Quick Reply Box, use of buddy and ignore lists and the ability to be "invisible". You will also be able to view the list of Joinable Forums and you can request entry to those forums, but it is up to the mods of those forums if the request will be granted or not. The extent of these added privileges is dependent upon the level of membership you choose to purchase. The difference between membership levels are discussed in more detail, below.

Will moderators still have a forum to ask questions regarding moderation, or would that also be subject to Account Upgrade fee?
Yes, there will still be a forum and there will be no fee.

What methods of payment are accepted?
You can pay by PayPal, credit card or money order.

If we use credit card-funded PayPal, should we send more to cover the fees?
The fee is $10 for Tier 1b Membership, $20 for Tier 2 Membership, and $30 for Tier 3 Membership, no matter which method of payment you choose.

If we choose to pay through PayPal or Money Order how will our name/info be treated? Will our personal information be kept private?
As with all members who have donated money in the past, your information will be kept private and shared with no one.

Where do I send my payment?
PayPal payments go to: [email protected].
Money orders can be mailed to: Sybermoms Membership, Sybermoms.com, Inc., 459 Fontonett Ave, Livermore CA 94550.
Credit card payments will be processed automatically.
Please make sure to note your username at Sybermoms for prompt account upgrading.

Do you need to purchase the Account Upgrade in order to be a member of a Paid Private Forum?
Yes, you will need to have at least purchases the Tier 1b Membership in order to see the Paid Private Forums that are available.

Can we buy memberships for people who may not be able to afford them?
Yes, just be sure to note their username on Sybermoms in your payment.

Is the sponsorship of another member anonymous?
Yes. If you would like to let the person you gift a membership know, you may do so privately. Or heck, on the Main Event. We're easy.

What if we want to make one PayPal payment for multiple fees (ie. Account Upgrade, Paid Private Forum, and silent benefactor)?
You can do that, just make a note on the PayPal payment explaining specifically what the payment includes.

How does payment from other countries work?
The payment submitted needs to be $10 in US funds for Tier 1b Membership, $20 in US funds for Tier 2 Membership, or $30 in US funds for Tier 3 Membership. If you are paying via PayPal, during the payment process there is a drop down option where you can choose ‘US Funds’, PayPal will do the currency conversion for you.
If you are paying with a money order you will need to do the conversion yourself. You can go to http://www.xe.com/ucc/ and it will calculate the currency conversion for you, depending on what country you’re in.

After a year will my credit card be automatically charged for the Account Upgrade for the following year?
No. You will receive an email notifying you when it’s time to renew your Account Upgrade. You’ll need to purchase an upgrade again, if you so choose.

Where can I review the different features of the available Membership Subscriptions?
http://www.sybermoms.com/forums/payments.php

Do we have to be nice all the time to avoid being trolled and our money not being refunded?
No, being awful is part of the fun of Sybermoms. But, if you annoy, harass, pester or plaque enough members, you may have your privileges temporarily revoked (by placement in the troll forum, AKA HALL OF LAME!). Again, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE A REFUND. This is part of the game. Playing it honorably will garner you additional respect.

For the trolling aspect, who will determine whether or not said person deserves to be trolled? Will there be list of "rules" for everyone to ensure they don't lose their money due to simple ignorance? Will they regain their Private Forum access and Hobbies access if they had it after their time in the Hall of Lame (HOL) is over?
There is only one rule at Sybermoms, no posting of real life information. However, the admins will still send members to the HOL whenever they want for whatever reasons they choose. Member-used Troll Cards are also hard to come by, and usually dished out in small trollings- a day or three on average. No one stays in the HOL forever, it’s a part of playing the game.

Will the admins still bestow avatars for point payment? Will members with the upgrade be able to gift an avatar to those that don’t have the upgrade?
The admins will gift avatars whenever they choose. If you have purchased an Account Upgrade and would like to purchase an avatar for another user, once the points system has been reinstated, you have that option; please see the “How can I change another user’s avatar?” FAQ for more info. If the user that is given a gifted avatar has not purchased an Account Upgrade then they will not be able to see the avatar, but the members who have purchased an Account Upgrade will see it.

How will this affect contests and prizes for them? Many contests award points--if someone hasn't upgraded are they SOL if they want to participate and earn a prize? What about unusual prizes, like troll cards?
Members who want to participate in a contest without the Account Upgrade will have to be happy with the satisfaction of winning. Purchasing Account Upgrade will not keep you safe from troll cards.

Is the Exclusive Member Forum (EMF) / Paid Public Forum (PPF) fee a one time payment or is that yearly as well?
It is a yearly fee.

If I wanted to start an Exclusive Member Forum (EMF) / Paid Public Forum (PPF), am I the only one that would have to pay the yearly EMF fee? Would the members join for free at my invitation?
Yes, the moderator who orders the EMF / PPF is the only one who needs to pay the yearly fee, all members are free and they don’t have to purchase an Account Upgrade to be a member.

What will the rules be in the Exclusive Member Forum (EMF) / Paid Public Forum (PPF)?
EMF / PPF's will be self governed with the purchaser of the forum as moderator. How each forum polices themselves and monitors themselves is up to each forum. An admin will be assigned to each EMF to handle administrative duties such as adding/deleting members.

Can I join more than one Exclusive Member Forum (EMF) / Paid Public Forum (PPF)?
You can join as many EMF / PPF's as you are invited to. It is your responsibility to notify each EMF / PPF moderator of your membership in other EMF / PPF's.

How does the privacy of Exclusive Member Forum (EMF) / Paid Public Forum (PPF) work?
It is up to each EMF / PPF Moderator/Purchaser to determine the rules for their forum. The Admins will not be involved in policing EMF / PPF’s.

Can Exclusive Member Forum (EMF) / Paid Public Forum (PPF) have more than one moderator?
The payment for the EMF / PPF’s only come from one moderator. If that EMF / PPF decides to add additional moderators they may do so, they decide the rules of their EMF / PPF.

Will the admin post in Exclusive Member Forums (EMF) if they want, or should we specifically invite the ones we want?
Should you wish an admin to be a member of the forum, please request so just as if they were a regular member. The admin members will not be included in your member count for fee purposes. Admins will not participate in your Exclusive Member Forum unless specifically requested.

How will the selected admins and the Exclusive Member Forum (EMF) work? Would an EMF be able to say what admin they do/do not want?
Each forum will be assigned an admin at random who will only be available to provide administrative duties, such as adding and deleting members.The admin assigned to each forum will not be your hall monitor. The admin assigned to your forum will also not be a member of your forum unless specifically requested.

What is the fee amount?

$20/year for Tier 2
$30/year for Tier 3

or

$5/month

If you go to your usercp and click on Paid Subscriptions, the choices will be listed there for what you're looking for and what's included in each Tier.

Ok I have a couple of questions.

1- What are the points used for?
2- What are the tiers?
3- In an earlier post it said you can go to the HOL for "real life posts" What is considered real life?
4- It's mentioned that this and that is all part of the game, What exactly is the definition of "the game"?

Right now, the bank isn't working right, so points aren't being used for anything right now.

The higher tier has more "perks" like larger av size, more PM storage and a special forum for when we do board-wide games.

"Real life" posts mean bringing real life issues to the board on another member to be hateful. Basically stalking. We don't take too kindly to posting other people's personal info online.

"The game" is the board. This is entertainment.... not to be confused with real life. While many people have made very good friendships on here, understand that we may get mean and nasty on the Main Event forum to each other, and anything you post can, and will, be used against you.

LOL, ok that's what I thought. I just needed confirmation. The only other question I have is, I upgraded to the 30$/year account, why does it say Blue Tongue Lizard beneath my screen name? And how the hell do I change that??
Thanks in Advance

I think you can change that in your usercp under "title"

It may be a post-count thing.

Do I need to be a paid member to vote in a poll? It's telling me I can not vote.

Yep.

Kat - I tried to pm you but apparantly if your membership status gets changed you can't use pm's anymore. My account says that my tier 3 membership is good until december, but for some reason (maybe because it was a manual upgrade that overlapped with a the other paid upgrade from before?) I have lost my membership. Could you look into this for me?

Thanks.

Active Subscriptions
Subscription Title Start Date Expiry Date
Tier 3 Manual Upgrade 12-20-2006 12-20-2007

I'll fix you up.

Thanks! All better now.

Kat, I'm guessing my membership expired--I know it's a June renewal date, but I didn't know the exact date, but when I got on tonight, my PMs were disabled. I put through the payment to renew, and I know it takes a little time to be processed, but I'm wondering if I lost all my PM's that I had saved or if they'll come back once the renewal takes effect.

BTW, I never got an email reminder. Are they still being sent out, as per the FAQ?

--N

Do you have a yahoo e-mail address? If so, the notification went to your spam folder. And if you paid through your usercp it should be immediate, and you won't lose your PMs. I'll go check now and see what's up.

Accccckkkk, even worse, you have AOL. AOL flat out rejects e-mails from sybermoms.

Ugh! I saw the note about AOL and confirmations, but I thought it only applied to the initial registration--I didn't realize it was for all emails. While I know how evilE they are, I like using the one email account, since it's how everyone knows they can reach me (we used to move every year or two), and I only have to check one place.

I did pay last night using Paypal and through the User CP, and I got the confirmation for that payment, but I'm still showing up as a freeloader right now. Should I have immediately been restored to my prior paid glory?

I accidentally did a tier 1 when I meant to do the Tier 2b at $20. Is there a way to just add $10 to upgrade to that?