dbackus Heliman Location: Glendora, CA
| Maybe I'm missing something -- did Mark say in a post that he was going to, or thinking about charging for membership here?
I'll just add my 2c here.
I have run many membership and non-membership sites for various people on the internet (I program the sites and run them for a living). We have found that if you charge for a site, usage goes way down. The whole idea of a site like this is to promote the hobby and encourage as many people to post and ask questions as possible. If the site costs money, thereby limiting the number of people that subscribe, the usage of the site will go down -- I believe WAY DOWN.
People like free. Sometimes, as I and many other people have done, people pay "donations" -- a lot of times over the cost of a subscription -- because they feel they have received huge benefits from a "free" site.
I think, if there is a lack of interest or funds, a site should include ads on their pages. Not just create a nice little place for ads, but make sure people click on the ads and give those "supporting" companies business. The ads should not be seen as an annoyance by the users or the webmaster -- they keep the site running.
Derek |