Site Subscriptions FAQ
Thank you for considering a Daily Kos site subscription for yourself or for a friend. Your $40/year contribution supports the independence of our site. In return, we allow subscribers to hide all ads.
If you're ready to subscribe, simply visit our subscription portal and follow the prompts. If you have questions about the process, the following list may address yours.
If the Q/A below does not help you resolve your issue completely, please feel free to open a ticket at the Help Desk.
Who may subscribe?
Any registered member of Daily Kos (that is, someone who can login to the site) may purchase a subscription to the site for themselves or for another site member. Anyone, registered member or not, may purchase a gift subscription for a registered member.
Site members sometimes subscribe simply for the sake of avoiding the ads; there's no obligation to take an active role on the site through commenting, posting, or recommending, though we welcome you to do so. The linked resource, "Quick Start Guides for Signing Up and Participating on Daily Kos," offers brief but important guidance about signing up for a site user account. If you're ready, though, just visit our signup page and follow the prompts.
Please note that joining our Daily Kos email list, though often also called "subscribing," is entirely different and separate. It's also free. Details about signing up for our emails may be found in the article linked below, "Signing up for the Daily Kos Recommended and Daily Kos Elections Email Lists."
How much does it cost to subscribe?
Annual subscriptions cost $40. We no longer offer the option to purchase lifetime subscriptions, although we honor those bought when they were available.
How do I subscribe?
If you're logged in, visit your user profile page (accessible via the Profile link in the pulldown attached to the round avatar in the upper right corner of the site's header) and click on the "Subscribe To Hide Ads" button in the left sidebar. Or go to the Subscribe page https://www.dailykos.com/subscribe Complete the online payment form you'll find through either route for yourself or for a friend.
How is my subscription processed?
We now operate our site subscriptions via Stripe, a secure online payment management site. When you subscribe, you will see a portal built into our site that displays your account information. The portal will permit you to view your subscription's expiration date, view (and edit) your payment method, view (and edit) your billing email, view your billing history, and cancel the autorenewal of your own annual subscription if you choose.
How do I sponsor a gift subscription?
A recipient of a gift subscription must already be a registered Daily Kos member, and you must know the exact spelling of their username, including any spaces. The handiest, most reliable way to give a gift subscription is thus to start on your recipient's profile page. Such a page will have the syntax of https://www.dailykos.com/users/user%20name where the %20 stands in for any spaces within a username.
Look to the left sidebar on the user's profile page for two important details. The first is to check for the presence of a little Subscriber badge—a small white heart inside a scalloped orange circle, shown above. That badge shows the user already does have a site subscription in effect. The second is to look for a button, "Send Gift Subscription." The presence of that button indicates that it is possible to give a gift subscription to that user, and clicking it will redirect you to the page for processing the gift. If the button is not shown that means the member is not eligible for a subscription, which can happen for a variety of reasons.
Gift subscriptions, unlike self-subscriptions, do not auto-renew when the year has passed. You as the giver, however, will receive notification by email about a week in advance of its expiration. You may choose to purchase another gift but are under no obligation to do so.
We do permit people to "stack" gift subscriptions for multiple years. If someone has a subscription in effect already when another gift is purchased on their behalf, then the payment for the new gift will be processed immediately, but the subscription will be activated only when the terms of other subscription(s) expire.
How do I know that my effort to subscribe succeeded?
If you subscribed or gave a gift subscription, you will have many ways to confirm it. You'll see a thank you page; you'll be able to view the payment page; and you'll see an announcement of the subscription on your profile page. (A recipient of a gift subscription will also see that announcement on their profile page.) You will also see the white-heart-within-an-orange-circle badge (the image at the top of this FAQ) on your Daily Kos user profile underneath your main avatar -- or on the profile of your gift recipient.
A subscriber will also see a button, Manage Subscription, in the left sidebar of their own user page. Clicking it will redirect to a page where a current subscription can be canceled or a gift subscription purchased.
Why do I see ads if I am a subscriber?
Subscribing enables you to hide ads while you're signed in. Should you wish to see them again or if you accidentally turn them on, it remains possible to show/hide them via your Edit Profile page. Open the pulldown menu attached to your user avatar for the Show Ads/Hide Ads link.
How do I renew a subscription?
When you first subscribe, your subscription is set to renew annually, on your anniversary date, using the card with which you originally paid for it. You will receive a reminder via email approximately two weeks in advance of that renewal date. Our updated subscription portal allows you to edit your payment method and to set a default method if you've included more than one card.
Please note that Gift Subscriptions do NOT autorenew. You will receive advance notice by email of the approaching expiration of a Gift Subscription and may choose to purchase a new subscription. If you do nothing, the Gift Subscription will lapse.
How do I cancel a subscription?
You may cancel a subscription renewal at any time by going to the Subscribe page when you are logged in. On that page you will see text announcing that you have a subscription in force, with its expiration date. You will also see an orange hyperlink, "Cancel subscription." Click on it and then confirm the cancellation on the page that opens next. Please note that there are no refunds, pro-rated or otherwise, for canceled subscriptions. Consequently, choosing to cancel your current subscription will not end it before the original renewal date. On that date, no autorenewal will be processed.
What if the information on my credit card is no longer valid, or if I want to use a different card for my subscription renewal?
If your card number changes or your card expires, so that a renewal charge would be declined, or if you want to have your subscription on a different card, you may continue your subscription without a break.
On Stripe, you may edit your payment method to ensure that we have the appropriate information on file when the time approaches for autorenewal. To do so, log in and go to the Subscribe page. On that page you will see text announcing that you have a subscription in force, with its expiration date. You’ll also see an orange hyperlink, "View/Update Payment Method." Clicking on that link will redirect you to a page displaying your subscription status, your payment method(s), and your billing history. The payment method may be updated and saved.
Users who purchased subscriptions under our previous system will need to create a brand-new subscription utilizing our new provider if any details from the original credit card must be changed. Please feel free to reach out to our Help Desk with any specific questions.
Can I reassign my subscription if I decide to create a new username and abandon the username under which I was originally subscribed?
Yes. You must contact the Help Desk for assistance with that process.