State of the Club...

[Chuck Miller]

8 days ago we had our 'monthly' Registry meeting, this one came after a 2 months of not having a meeting because of scheduling conflicts between the 4 of us...

My club responsibility is to monitor and moderate this message board. Therefore, my pulse of the club is through the comings and goings and stats on this board.... So, after a couple of months not hearing the club's membership stats compared to the message board stats I was anxiously awaiting a BIG spike in club membership. I was VERY disappointed to learn our membership went up negligibly compared to the skyrocketing stats of registered message board members...

We are closing in on 3000 registered message board members and we've JUST broke over 650 paying club members....

So......... what's the deal

- Do we not have an effective 'club membership prompt' when you register for board
- Do the new registered board members not understand that club membership is the biggest part of our club's revenue
- Do the new registered board members not understand that this message board will not exists without club membership
- Is $30.00 a year NOT worth the not only the information shared on this board but four issues of the ESSES

I'm just not getting it......

We've asked the membership many times if they would elect to keep receiving the ESSES in hard copy through the mail. And the overwhelming response has been YES. The publication and mailing of the ESSES costs almost $5000 per issue. We have about $10,000 in the bank... so once again we only have about two issues of the ESSES breathing room.

Now we are facing a new financial problem.... NO GERMAN AUTO FEST. We relayed on this event, combined with the Lit Fair, to clear about $5000 in merchandise income. This year, so far, we are looking at about half of that income......


So again,
Without actively soliciting advertisers, both in the ESSES and on this message board, how can the club passively solicit new paying club members through this message board The distinction between active and passive solicitation on our part is, as you guessed, the time commitment to the 6 volunteers we have running this whole deal....

If we had 50% of the registered message board members join the club we'd be in great shape for now and the immediate future...
Even if we had close to our 940 active message board members join the club......

So PLEASE join the Early 911S Registry that brings you this message board if you haven't, and promptly renew your membership if you're due......

THOSE WHO KNOW ME KNOW I HATE WRITING THIS STUFF
Joining the club only seems the fair and right thing to do ...... but maybe I'm not getting it...

Chuck

[Longballa]

Make it so that to register you have to pay. Browse for free.

[Bummler]

Make it so that to register you have to pay. Browse for free.

I'll second that...

[69Sman]

If you wanna post (and most new users post QUESTIONS that rely on the collective knowledge of US), you should have to join and PAY. Let's do it!

[joegt3cup]

I agree make people pay to register, what are we afraid of ? They aren't contributing $$$ so what is the loss ? I also like the brows only idea for non paying people. It's only $30.00 for Gods sake, give me a break !!! Ok I'm off my soap box now.

[Mr9146]

I'm a registered member and here's why:

1) I appreciate the collective knowledge available on this forum
2) I like the people who are "members" of this forum
3) I figured that I used the board so much that I might as well contribute my share
4) Nothing's free - someone is always going to foot the bill, and I don't think that it's fair to let a minority bear the financial burden of the majority.

[a911s]

I agree:

Pay to post.

[CurtEgerer]

Geez Chuck, I just spent $900 on a headlight .... not sure I can swing $30 to support the Registry

I'm kidding, of course. Just trying to make a point!

We could self-police this deal too - just tweek the forum software to include membership numbers on each post. Those posting without a member number probably won't be getting a lot of assistance ......

[hdavis]

Geez Chuck, I just spent $900 on a headlight .... not sure I can swing $30 to support the Registry

I'm kidding, of course. Just trying to make a point!

We could self-police this deal too - just tweek the forum software to include membership numbers on each post. Those posting without a member number probably won't be getting a lot of assistance ......

Or will get assitance from other non paying "members"

I say pay-to-post is the way to go. We might loose some browsers, but I'm sure we'll gain much needed $$$$

[reed]

This seems to be a perennial issue. Here are my thoughts on this topic from December 2006, over one and one-half years ago:

I'm not a big fan of restricting this site to those who are paid members. Look back and I bet all of us have been helped at one time or another by casual posters or someone who may have just stopped by because of some particular knowledge about a topic--in other words, someone who may not be interested in joining.

I think what makes all BBSs thrive is the constant influx of new blood. Restricting this site would at least in a small part diminish new members' participation. How many of us would never have gotten hooked on this site if they had to pay a membership to get full status?

I think a less draconian first step would be to include a small button next to a poster's avatar indicating whether or not they were a paid member of the registry. Sort of like posting delinquent members at a country club. Let peer pressure regulate in this area. Those who take unfair advantage of this BBS will quickly be brought to light and brought in line.

Here is a link to the original discussion.
http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...ght=membership