Other social media sites are completely free and they do fine. For example, reddit has better content overall, less petulant moderators (and more consistency in moderation), similar upvoting/downvoting functionality, and fewer advertisements. Reddit costs zero dollars.

I think what this price hike will do is discourage new CB subscribers. As a college student or new graduate I didn’t have money to spend to read content on the internet; and even now when I can afford it I don’t feel motivated to do it because so much content is free online. Why would a byu student or recent graduate subscribe to CB now when they could get a CB-lite experience other places (like on reddit, or in a dedicated Facebook group, or on twitter)?

I foresee this move potentially hurting cougarboard’s growth and consequently making the site less compelling even for existing users to visit. The site has already become a sort of Groundhog Day experience for those of us sick and tired of the same old arguments and the same old thumbs up and thumbs down voting brigades every day. This move makes it more likely this continues.