cthree

Guys,

I'm thinking about moving M&I to be a member only forum. Some of the heaviest users and some people who I've spent a good deal of time educating, advising and making money for are perennial guests. I think they should do me a little favor and pony up for a membership. Perhaps it's a bit forward of me to ask that you pay for access but I'd rather not have to.

So how about it?

Is it too much to ask that people who regular this site and this forum and who have been given stock tips to which have made them thousands of dollars (or saved them thousands of dollars in losses) offer a token $50 a year to support the effort?

If I'm out of line and you think it's inappropriate then let me know.

PS To all whom I've argued with over the years I hope you understand that I like to argue about pretty much everything with anyone and that I do it out of respect and consider you a respected peer. If I didn't I would bother spending hours researching and writing my rebuttals. It's how I hash things out and learn subjects in depth.

Penforhire

Okay by me <checks membership status>

cthree

Sweet, thanks!

martha

At a bare minimum, I think membership in s2ki should be required (I mean it's only $20 folks -- if you're investing in the stock market you should have a spare $20 around). If you want to raise it to $50 then I wouldn't be averse to that. So do I owe you $50 on top of the basic membership? Just let us know when you get it set up.

[gTr]

I just got employed and was gonna pay for a membership anyways.
I think instead of having a separate membership for money and investing you should make S2KI membership mandatory for this forum.

John David

I have enjoyed the S2ki boards for nearly 8 years. I love the s2000 comunity. I am not as "active" as I used to be; but I still enjoy lurking and when I do, this forum is one I like to check out. Since I am not an active member, I do not choose to buy a membership; so if this forum was locked I guess I would miss reading everyone's comments.

Do what you have to do. But I would not join.

aklucsarits

I make pretty regular contributions to this forum, mostly answering money questions. But I would not buy a membership just to post here. ...Not to suggest that I'm an MVP or anything, but just pointing out that the forum will inevitably lose knowledgeable contributors by making it member only.

Andrew

trainwreck

I agree there are some guests here that use the information provided to help in their portfolio, and they do possibly owe you something. but i am not sure directly paying you $50 is exactly the best option.

i would say there are only a handful of real power users. if you were to make it $50 a year to view the forum, i believe the attrition of old members would easily outpace any new members to the forum given a $50 barrier, thus making the forum less useful over time.

meh, i believe in the free exchange of info. surely there is some sort of business model that allows you to make money without membership fees.

hows this..i will become a gold member in the years i make +12%. so far for this year u owe me $50

Chris S

cthree, it's your forum, and you have the right to do w/ it what you want, but here's my perspective.

I've always had an interest in personal and business finance, and consider myself skilled and knowledgeable in this area. I don't come here for stock picks or advice so much as to share my knowledge - not for personal gain, just to help others. I'm happy to give back to the s2ki community in this manner, but I'm not sure that I'd see the value in paying for it. If I still owned an S2000, I would have maintained my membership for all the S2000-specific info, but now all I care about is Money and Investing and Car Talk.

IMO, making this members-only could cause just as much a loss of people providing net value as receiving it. Fewer hits = less advertising revenue. It's up to you to decide if the expected incremental revenue offsets the loss of content.

sahtt

Almost exactly what I had in mind. It's a great forum but if we are going to get in to the details about what we 'contribute' and what we 'take' I'm not sure if I should be on the paying side. Like Chris S, I don't have an s2000 anymore and the money+investing section is all I frequent.

I was also approached by a mod to write a large and time consuming sticky in the bike talk section, which I did.