When Mets360 first launched in January of 2010, the goal was to be the biggest Mets site around. It’s safe to say that didn’t happen. However, we’ve had tremendous growth from that first year, where we could count the readers some days on the fingers of two hands. The last three months of 2020 was our best quarter for traffic in over five years. Without a doubt, enthusiasm is up due to Steve Cohen’s arrival. But it’s my belief our content has been good, too.
My column last Sunday was our most-read piece in over six years.
Since the site began, my byline has been on over 2,300 stories. And the overwhelming number of these articles were meaty topics, not three-sentence updates on stories that we’ve been “writing” for a month or longer. In addition to high-quality pieces that make readers think – this site contains, in my honest opinion, the best comments section of any Mets site out there. If you read any of the big boys and venture into the comments section, you’ll see posts from readers that make you fear for the future of humanity.
There’s an intelligence and a civility in the Mets360 comments section that I’m very proud of, a thing that’s helped keep me going all these years.
In my mind, this is a very desirable community. We have good writers who put effort into their stories, we have readers who have no qualms about either critiquing an article or offering appreciation if they think the piece merits it. And there are no annoying pop-up ads or obtrusive advertising on the site. In short, we’ve been providing value and proving our worth for 11 years now and our 12th year will be our best yet.
Starting today, Mets360 will become a membership site. This will be the last article under the old system. There will be a regular piece published in a few minutes that will be restricted content. As will be the content going forward.
It’s not free for me to run this site and, quite frankly, it would be nice to make a dollar rather than losing 10 for all of the time and effort put into running things here. But even more important than the money issue is the “quality of the community” issue. We all live in the real world and regardless if it’s work or family or neighbors – you have to deal with people who are, in an unkind word, idiots. And there have been more of those unkind people here lately. My hope is that making people pay a small fee to be in this community may help weed out some of the undesirables. Which means fewer deletion and moderation of comments for me and a better reading experience for you.
So, here’s the deal. A one-year subscription to the site will cost $10 and a lifetime subscription – available in 2021 only – will be $50. That seems reasonable to me. Ultimately, you will decide if access to 300-plus articles on the past, present and future of the Mets, along with Game Chatters and recaps, are worth about what you would pay for one pizza or two specialty coffees.
If you want to become a member – click here to sign up and pay via PayPal’s secure platform. Once you do, you’ll be able to read today’s article.
Change is always hard and my expectation is that there will be a few bumps along the way. But hopefully we come out the other side in even stronger shape. If you run into an issue, let me know and I’ll work to fix it as fast as possible.
Thank you.
Brian, certainly there is a very real cost for keeping a site online. Not just the financial cost to the hosting site but the mental exertion spent writing articles and mostly those that provoke a thought and give us some researched information about a topic. You have ante’d up for a over a decade and it isn’t too much to ask for us to participate. Most of us probably piss off at least this amount in a month, maybe a week, maybe in a given day! I would ask you to consider allowing those to stay on that may not have the opportunity to offer a registration fee at this time, as we all realize times are tough. Nonetheless, count me in!
Thanks Gus! I appreciate your generosity and your kind words.
I’m in as well!
Thanks Bob – Look forward to seeing you at the new site.
Test
Hi Brian. I’m in and the token cost of membership is certainly a bargain for what we get in return – a consistent flow of info and opinions about our beloved team. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for the kind words! Look forward to seeing you at the new site.
Brian- for some reason I can’t log in now. Got a replacement password but it still won’t work. Can you email me with assistance. Thanks
email sent
I’m in. . I can’t say it any better than Gus did at the top of the comments!
I still am amazed at how much work Brian (and a few others) put into this effort with his research an statistics mining. Writing full articles a couple times a week is a lot and none of them are ‘filler’ – they are all very well thought out with complete back-up. I really appreciate it. A huge thank you for helping us get through the winter months!
First time here. Need to advertise more. Can’t wait to be a daily reader. Mets fan since beginning. Retired and looking forward to an exciting new year for the Mets.
Rayne
Welcome Rayne!
Make sure to become a member and join us moving forward — https://mets360.com/?page_id=41924
Glad i have civil service job. Lol. My favorite mets site for a few other reasons other then the articles. The memories brought back from card of the week and this site is not full of trolls in comments. Just mets fans talking about the mets and what they think. Well worth the money. Thank you for your work brian. I am a huge fan. Lets petition now to get you in the voting for cooperstown. Hey if passan can get one.
I’m in. Couldn’t do without–lifetime.
At 76, BTW, it’s a bet I don’t want to loose.
Thanks for the laugh, Hobie! FWIW, we’re all pulling for you, too!
Current time 11:33 AM on left coast
Sunday 1/24/21
I clicked on the “join for 1 year at $10” thingy
I was told, roughly speaking
‘Tisn’t working right now, try again later
Pick the button under “1A”
1A. If the “Subscribe Now” button above doesn’t work, please use this button for a $10, one-year term
Brian
As a first step, I attempted to register.
However, I am not being allowed to use my long-preferred screen name, I suppose because é is not an acceptable symbol.
Also, I am somewhat (I emphasize “somewhat” in this context) reluctant to provide my real surname due to its unique nature.
I am fairly certain there are exactly zero people in this here country who share my exact name.
My students refer to me as “Mr. M”.
Would “M” be an acceptable surname for the purposes of registration?
Thanks
I sent an email to your hotmail account
As I wrote to you a couple of weeks ago, your articles are, quite simply, the best out there. So I’ll be signing up after I check with the wife (not permission! just if there’s enough in the checking account.) In the meantime, I haven’t found anything useful about the Mets’ International Free Agent signings this year. They’ve been signing some of the better players in recent years, but this year they didn’t get any of the top 30. Can you explore this and tell us what happened. Congrats on the new site! Jim
I read where they didn’t even get any of the top 50.
We’ve been spoiled the past few years, where they’ve signed multiple guys in the top 30. Hopefully it’s just a one-year thing.
In for the lifetime membership. What a steal!
not having much luck logging in to the new site.
I just sent you an email
I paid $10 for the year. I cannot log in.
I will look into this and email you ASAP
I think its safe to say from the responses that the minimalistic cost for the content is fully warranted. A decade into reading and commenting here, led to authoring articles once a month. Its a lot of work, and we all owe Brian thanks for keeping his contributions at such a high level for so long, and through the years surrounding the site with those that do the same.
Lifetime membership for me.
I am in as a lifetime member.
Too bad about Springer, Hands, and now Ottavino.
Maybe we should be finally thinking about Chasen Shreve.
Late to comment but I must say this is a high quality site for both its content and the diverse community of Met fans. As others have stated above, it is well worth the minimal commitment.