Become a For A Bodies Only Gold Member Today!

I'm very new to the site, but I just came across my thread and just HAD to throw in my two cents here.

Let me start by saying I'm a web designer, and have created and run many forums & community sites over the last couple years. My current biggest forum sites are www.DezertDimes.com, a 450+ member blog & forum for building Chevy S10 & GMC Sonoma trucks in capable desert prerunners. I also run www.wakeboardSD.net, a couple hundred member San Diego wakeboarding community. I don't have experience running, managing, and administrating a 5000+ member site, but I have a good idea of what I'm talking about.

What many users of forums don't realize is the sheer amount of time, effort, and money in the form of computer hardware and resources it takes to run one of these sites, and I'm speaking from my experience of 450+ members, so I can only imagine it multiplies with members by the thousands. Many users of sites like these also are under the impression that the administrators are able to make a profit on advertising on these sites, but at least from my experience it is difficult just to break even on hosting & server costs, even with < 1000 members on a site. All this not to mention just moderating (not to mention Administrating!) a busy forum is practically a full time job.

I've been toying with offering a 'Gold Member' package on some of my sites, but haven't taken the plunge yet. I think it is an excellent idea, a great way to further the sense of community, and allow members to show appreciation for the site.

Just having been here a couple weeks and just by seeing how well the site is administrated & moderated, the friendly atmosphere and exchange of information, I am very impressed. My bottomline is that rather than asking for donations to keep the site running, the administrators here are trying to OFFER perks in exchange for your donations. I feel like the users who see that as an attempt to profit off of the site need to take a closer look at the responsibilities that running such a site entails. All users are still being offered FREE membership, and access to THOUSANDS of threads & posts of information. Keep in mind that 15 years ago, you would be paying to join a club to have a newsletter mailed to you, where you would have no input!

So, sorry about my rant. I just had to throw in my opinion.
Not trying to offend anybody that doesn't agree with my point of view,
I just get frustrated seeing people put in so much effort to provide something that some people just don't appreciate it. I know it's only a minority, but it is still frustrating!

Great job on the site here, great members, and great community, and I'm happy to have found it and a home for building up my 64 Cuda!

Evan