Friends Reunited, the UK based site that links old schoolmates based on the school they attended plans to go non-subscription. According to an article in The Telegraph "in the past year, the number of unique monthly visitors to Friends Reunited has plunged by 62 per cent." "Most of Friends Reunited's revenue is legacy revenue. They have been relying on people not cancelling their subscription."
I have previously subscribed to Friends Reunited and the companion site Genes Reunited. They helped me locate second cousins. That was several years ago. There was no real benefit after that and I dropped the subscriptions. Genes Reunited still sends emails informing me of possible matches which I now ignore. They cry wolf too often.
Why would you continue to pay for a service with no significant benefit? I advise folks to subscribe if a genealogy service or society looks beneficial, but not to renew unless you're getting your money's worth. You'll save yourself money. No responsible organization wants, or should want, dissatisfied clients or members. There's nothing like declining membership and subscriptions to help keep an organization service-oriented, or to help one that no longer serves toward its inevitable demise.
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