This is a paid advertisement for S.D. by Nicole Bailey! :)
I was recently having discussions with friends and family members about how impatient and easily frustrated people are these days. The topic was about commercials/advertising, etc. With DVR's, we fast forward through everything from the opening credits and song, to anything else that might bore us momentarily. Sometimes I have to laugh at my husband because he looks like he is going to die if he has to see even 2 seconds of a commercial. In general, we are so used to being able to fast forward, delete and go around every "time waster", that if something does get in our way, even the adds on this site that frustrate people, etc. we seem to lose our minds. 
Maybe it was our opportunity to observe once again the poverty and traumatic ways that some people are forced to live their lives that has this discussion going on in our family. Some people would do anything for a free meal, a T-shirt or a bottle of water, but we (and I'm speaking about myself) don't seem to appreciate what we have for free. That made me start to think about this site. 
In all honestly, I belong to three other sites that I have to pay for. Actually, they were given as gifts from my husband and son who thought I would enjoy them. I won't mention them by name, but they are some of the big ones that most of us are familiar with. Now they each have their benefits and I do enjoy them all to a point, but the reality is, I spend more time here than I spend on the other three put together. This site has so much more to offer. But it goes beyond the reference materials and lessons. The heart of this site is the people...
It is because of people like our administrators who are willing to put the time in for free to monitor what all of us are saying each day. On any given day, any one of us can go off the deep end and it is the job of the administration to reel us back in. It is also the natives who guide and correct us and those who start regular threads that sustain a site like this. There aren't many places where education, entertainment and babysitting are offered for free, but that is what this site offers!!!!
Even when I was out of the country, I didn't check into the other sites at all. But I made sure to check in with all of my friends here and let them know what I was experiencing. Because to be honest, no one on the other sites would even care, or even know who I was. (Oh wait, I do have to retract that statement because two of our S.D. members did recognize me somewhere else. But just two. And come to think of it, it was probably because they were nice people from this site. jeje)
If it weren't for the administrators and some of the other kind and thoughtful people here, so many would be lost between the cracks. How many times have we read on here about people who were just checking things out or not even planning on staying, but then someone was friendly and helpful, so now they are still here? It is the personal touch that makes this site amazing. It is also the fact that we don't have to be politically "correct" here. As long as we are respectful, we can discuss whatever we please without fear of being sent away. This place is really a virtual neighborhood or family. We may never have the opportunity to be in the same room physically together, but we share the same things that all friends and family share....encouragement, support, laughter, private jokes, occasional correction, apologies and some more laughs again.
I know we have threads from time to time that sing the praises of this site. However, after really thinking about those sites that charge monthly, I have to be honest and say that if they are not renewed as gifts, I am not going to pay for something inferior to what I have right here. Livemocha (oh, sorry for the name dropping) doesn't even have a forum. But.....they do have the option of having a professional teacher correct you if you buy tokens, which you can pay for with your Visa, Mastercard, etc. We have native teachers here who are willing to stay up to the wee hours of the morning to correct all of my mistakes for free. My only regret is that we can't pay all of our administrators, language brainiacs and native thread moderators with our credit cards.
Hopefully, our love, and undying appreciation will be adequate!!!
¡Abrazos todos!
Feel free to add your own advertisements below! 
5 Answers
Some things are priceless, whether they are free or not.
This site is one of them.
And Nicole is right, we have our moderators and volunteers to thank
I was deeply moved by Nicole's words. Although, I'll never be able to write anything quite so eloquent, I'm so thrilled she spoke for ME!! 
It's funny how the technology of advertising has gotten sophisticated lately. The ads I see on SD are usually the same ones I see everywhere else. Half of them fall into these two categories:
1. Products or services that I have searched for, and finally decided not to buy.
2. Products or services that I just bought (and would not need another one soon, or ever again).
I can't remember the last time I bought something due to an ad.
The way I see it, these ads pay for the site because those with the money believe it works. If most people are like me, they are wasting their money. But the real winners here are SD and its members.
Would I rather pay for SD, or complain about ads? That's a simple question to answer. I love to complain!!!
Clicking those ads is my way of saying thanks to SpanishDict.
Which of course reminds us of this thread, very recent.
Ads are annoying, but I think we all put up with so many much more annoying things that ads are definitely the least of all , in my life anyway
