Membership Fee

[charlet]

Christophe raised a good number of points...if the access had been not free, i'm not sure i'd have joined this place...how to make known the forum?
but, if we can raise some money, concretely, what is the exact running cost of this forum? what is the cost of the alternative solutions?
before all discussion about the fee amount. Because at which number can we estimate the regular members number? 50? so 50x20= 1000usd. If Art successes in collecting this money! this is a problem, and time to check everyone's regular contribution could be very important. And hosting a forum would cost 1000usd a year? wow...
I'm not totally against a fee. Fisrt, it would be justice for Art who keep it running by paying an internt firm. And it would be a thanks gift for all the infos and help I received since two years. I saved a lot of money and learnt enough to be respected in Paris with my new knowledges...But what is the source of the quality infos? the creator and the place where everybody bring his experience, or the collectors themselves without whom the place would be empty?

I think Art should first expose us the technical solutions and their cost avalaible for him: what services allowed (a lot of pics, archives,etc) and what corresponding cost. And then determinate the possible number of members ready to suscribe, etc...

my opinion (God my english is frightening), best regards, sebastien

[DougD]

I am glad this issue is getting so much exposure...the forum is growing so well that it might need to adapt a bit.

I am not sure we need one rule for all th emembers. Why not a $20 "inner circle" type membership that would allow the circle members to post pics in the for sale section ( or all sections), and maybe some other benefits ( need some ideas here). That way those of us who spend way too much of our time here can pay for the full membership, and not scare off the 75% of current members who more or less just browse; they can continue for free to drop in now and then.

If there are 50 of us "inner circle"members that would give Art $1000 to use to expand and develop the site.

DougD

[Bazanov]

i think that there would not be very many new members of this forum if it cost, eaven if there is a very small fee.

I think the best way would be to create a donation link so persons who think this is a great place could donate some money through paypal.

[Bill Dienna]

I would be more than happy to pay a fee for membership in this splendid forum. As so many others have said, the information available here is worth far, far more than whatever the fee might be.

[HuliganRS]

As I stated in another thread , membership fee should allow "donating members" to have more acess than a regular member. Thus a new member can post with limited rights whereas a "donating member" can have expanded acess.

Rusty.

[Tretov]

Originally posted by Bazanov
i think that there would not be very many new members of this forum if it cost, eaven if there is a very small fee.

I think the best way would be to create a donation link so persons who think this is a great place could donate some money through paypal.

Those donating maybe could be mentioned in some kind of "hall of fame"?

/Patrick

[wheats101]

Count me in as one who is willing to pay! The amount of knowledge I have gained & the contacts I have made thru this forum are priceless. How could anyone expect Art to donate all his time & money to keep this thing running? But what about the other site? Isn't there already a "for sale" site that Art posts? It seems that Art, Nota Bene, Tal & a few others have posted items for sale for a while nowand as far as I know, it is available to everyone.
My thoughts.......David

[ericlida]

$20.00 is not a lot of money. I am for yearly fee, however, I agree with Christopher. The first time I learned about the forum and decided to sign in, if there was fee to get in, I would think about doing this, not knowing how the Forum is effective and helpful for the collectors.

What if the first month (or up to 3 months) is free for newcomers, and later they would pay the fee?

Eric.

[olezha11]

I'm in favor of donations.

[HuliganRS]

I don't think we should look at this as a "Membership" fee.
I would call this a "Member Donation" which should grant you rights to expanded features. This way a new member still can do everything he/she may do today but have an opportunity to "upgrade" their account features/rights.


Rusty.