While this may be contrary to normal thought, all the ads are really paid to some extent.

The only difference is that the two journals are paid by free advertising for the forum by ads, the supplier ads are paid directly to our members by virtue of their discounts. I like the thought of ads being paid to the readers of the ads. I value those as much as the free advertising we get in return to those two. (Maybe more.)

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Tips Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

I guess technically the more people know about this place, the more people will come and participate, therefore the wider base of ideas and responses to questions we ask. And in another way, if we were pay, the more people the more money, and in a perfect world, the more money being generated the more features and benefits available to us.

We could, for instance, pay someone to receive bulk orders and then separate and send to us, to take advantage of large order pricing. Large enough so the addition shipping would be swollowed up by the savings.

Those are just some things that crossed my mind.

Shaddy

David,

I'm kind of torn on this one. There is one side of me that thinks the annual charge collected should be equal to the projected hard costs of the forum itself. The other side wants the website to develop into something greater, and that takes resources. It won't happen without some additional revenues generated from the forum subscription.

I personally think the proposal you are putting out there is good for many reasons.

1). It will cover the hard costs of the forum, as well as your past out-of-pocket expenses.

2). It will provide some, but likely not all resources needed to advance the website further. The balance can be garnered from the Level 2 subscribers.

3). It allows the forum to become more private, which in return will open up the discussions on some subjects. (This continues to be my favorite immediate benefit.)

4). It will make the Level 2 subscription and its features optional for those who see the value.

5). It allows the members of this forum to remain as one, rather than being split into two Engraving Etc. venues.

6). It provides a more affordable option to those who would have been more challenged with the $99 subscription. It is a newbie-friendly subscription rate.

My only worry is that there will not be enough premium members to allow the fast growth of the premium features.

But otherwise it seems like a better plan. The private list of features we have, a large bit of them from forum member suggestions seems overwhelming in some respects from a time and money perspective. If the income is reduced, they will just take a bit longer to implement.

I think that this idea may be the best of both worlds, just a little slower to get everything done.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Tips Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Try the old 16mm film cameras that took 400' of film. You were lucky.

(Prior life, engineer in CBS News Camera Engineering department.)

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Tips Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Walk in our shoes for a mile and you will understand.

The land was flat by me, but burrowing through the ten foot snow drifts was a bummer.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Tips Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.