Free Upgrades At Writing.Com
        by: Brian Keith Compton  (bkcompton@Writing.Com)
When it comes to charitable organizations, Writing.Com is just crawling with them. Some are well known support networks, off the top of my head RAOK (Random Acts of Kindness) comes to mind, and these groups have spared many static items and more from being flushed down the internet drain by giving aid to members whose upgrades are about to expire.

There's a big difference between 10 and 50 or 250 items in your port between the free, basic and upgraded memberships. While I find the cost of membership affordable, considering you can collect gift points to help defer the price of membership, there are many who still need help scraping up a few extra dollars to keep their ports and status on this site in tact.

So, I got to thinking, with nearly 3,000 members making the upgraded membership the most popular choice, how many of these people lose their paid membership each month because they failed to get an upgrade...for whatever reasons?

For starters, I've come to learn many folks like myself were honored with an anonymous upgrade shortly after joining up for free. I have my theories on how these memberships come about, but that is no matter. Within the three months that these memberships are made available, some members make use of the extra space and become more active members. This is beneficial to both the author and the site in developing a lasting relationship. I imagine it is these upgraded memberships that expire, causing the plea to go out for more help.

Some folks might not know, there are avenues to requesting free extensions to their memberships. Others know these avenues, seek them out and likely get the extended upgrade with little or no hassle. I can't claim to know statistically how many extended/upgraded memberships are handed out by groups like RAOK. But I'm curious to know, are pleas for these needed upgrades going unrecognized? Are upgrades being gifted to those who didn't request it, who's upgrade might not be in danger of expiring?

So I devised a survey to get a better understanding of those who've been touched (or not) by an angel in some way. I'm wondering if it's possible to facilitate the needs of those who've fallen between the invisible couch cushions on this great site.

ID: 1307754   (Rated: ASR)
Title: Was Your Upgrade Request Answered? 
Description: ...and if so, did you get it? A poll to see how many upgrades are spared by generosity.
By: Brian Keith Compton View bkcompton's Portfolio.  [Offline / Private]Email User: bkcompton [Offline / Private]

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