Ok, a lot of this stuff has been hashed out in the other thread already so I'm not going to go into too much detail but I want to address a few things.
1. The growth of this site over the past year greatly increased the cost of maintaining this site to me. I was already spending more than I should have every year on it, but it was fun, I made lots of friends, and I could afford to do so. It's just become too much to spend on just a hobby now.
2. If you disagree with the price, you don't have to pay it. The only sections of the site that won't be available to the public (that includes non-registered guests too) are the classifieds and the contest. The classifieds were chosen because they are a service and I felt it fair to charge for a service. Additionally it will help to keep scammers out. The contest was chosen because honestly it is a lot of work to run and it is an added perk for those willing to pay for a membership.
3. People are throwing out estimates on numbers of members and how much money will be taken in off this. I'm expecting it to be much much less than anything anyone has thrown out there based off the analytics I've been tracking. Not all members are active users and not all active users will upgrade.
4. Membership was chosen because it is a way to increase the odds that the expenses of the site are covered. People often say they will do things and then they don't actually do it. I've experienced this many times on this site and if this were to happen with a donate option I'd still be in the red. After this goes live, I will be adding a donation option as well for those who wish to contribute but not to join. It's there if you want to, and you can ignore it if you want.
5. I have no interest in having sponsors for the site. To me, sponsors mean bias and the lack of transparency. I want you to come here and feel like the information you receive is open and honest. I think we all know that the past year has been tough on this site with all the vendors coming into the market. I don't know how I will adapt going forward, but if I decide to do anything with vendors at some point this site will be providing them a service and no more.
1. The growth of this site over the past year greatly increased the cost of maintaining this site to me. I was already spending more than I should have every year on it, but it was fun, I made lots of friends, and I could afford to do so. It's just become too much to spend on just a hobby now.
2. If you disagree with the price, you don't have to pay it. The only sections of the site that won't be available to the public (that includes non-registered guests too) are the classifieds and the contest. The classifieds were chosen because they are a service and I felt it fair to charge for a service. Additionally it will help to keep scammers out. The contest was chosen because honestly it is a lot of work to run and it is an added perk for those willing to pay for a membership.
3. People are throwing out estimates on numbers of members and how much money will be taken in off this. I'm expecting it to be much much less than anything anyone has thrown out there based off the analytics I've been tracking. Not all members are active users and not all active users will upgrade.
4. Membership was chosen because it is a way to increase the odds that the expenses of the site are covered. People often say they will do things and then they don't actually do it. I've experienced this many times on this site and if this were to happen with a donate option I'd still be in the red. After this goes live, I will be adding a donation option as well for those who wish to contribute but not to join. It's there if you want to, and you can ignore it if you want.
5. I have no interest in having sponsors for the site. To me, sponsors mean bias and the lack of transparency. I want you to come here and feel like the information you receive is open and honest. I think we all know that the past year has been tough on this site with all the vendors coming into the market. I don't know how I will adapt going forward, but if I decide to do anything with vendors at some point this site will be providing them a service and no more.