Wow. There's a lot to digest. BTW, Adam, I wasn't ignoring the thread. I've been busy with life is all and I've only glanced at the movie poster and graphic art poster sections. I missed this one. How's that for diligence?!
Anyway, I need some clarification from Dale on what was meant by his post. MPC imploded, I know that, and I know at a basic level it was caused by infighting. I don't know how this issue of links and banners and whatnot would lead us in that direction, and I'd like to know to avoid that peril if it exists.
There's one thing mostly that keeps us from growing -- neither Thierry nor I have the time to move the site forward. We're fortunate that it's taken on its own steam and it chugs along on its own. But to make these changes, we would need someone with some more time to dedicate to the task. Also, we are not technical minded. I'm an attorney and Theirry is... well, he's just Thierry. I'm a smart guy, but without the time to figure out how to add links and banners and the like, it will never get done.
My initial view was like someone recently posted - FUCK NO! But Bruce's comments got me to thinking that it's for the good of the hobby and to avoid future boredom that we get new people over here, and people who participate at that. I note that while expresso beans has 30K members, proportionately speaking, they have even less posting over there. It's not about numbers, but participation.
I don't want to repeat Mopo's mistake - if we do links, they will be reciprocal or not at all. My concern has been favoritism and getting beholden to people. Like Ari said, there's great relief in not having taken people's money for advertising, and therefore not be accountable to them. But, as much as we have tried to avoid accountability, we now have it with a growing sense that we should feed the forum.
I've been spending more time at eb these days as I collect more art prints. It's a slick site with a lot of nice functionality. EB costs an arm and a leg to run. Right now, this forum costs about $600 annually to run, a cost that Thierry and I split. That's with member participation to moderate it. If member participation continues, specifically with technical expertise to handle the modifications needed to create links and banners as need be, either that has to come from member participation, or it will lead to increased expense.
EB's example is a good one, I think. But I throw it out there for you to consider with the links/banners issue: do we allow for donations to defer increased expenses if we go in that direction? EB does, and when I saw how useful the site is for me, I sent them $20 as a donation. They have no membership dues. They have no advertising. They are member-supported through donations only. It seems to me, though, that it always has to be through member support. As soon as we solicit outside funds from advertisers or whatnot, we're dead in the water.
When Thierry and I started this, it was clearly "ours". Correspondingly, we could care less who stayed and who went. That's changed a bit now. In just over a year, the forum has grown into something that belongs to us all. Just like NS4, the participants have taken over, which is the whole point I guess. It's for this reason - to address those who have so commented - that we "allow" this discourse. That word "allow" really sucks, because that's not it. The spirit this place has and will always be free participation, without censorship, and with only the lightest moderation to keep the place in order.
But like Spiderman would say, with ownership comes great responsibility. If you all are serious about some of the changes you are suggesting, then greater participation will be needed to make it happen.
Thoughts?
