How about I change the thread title to something more along the lines of, 'help out your local businesses'? As for the Beeb is fine the way it is, I don't see what would be wrong with adding a revenue stream from classifieds. Funny how many people took offense to this thought, when I'm just trying to think of ways to support a business that most of us care about. Mea maxima culpa I guess.
The classifieds generate revenue. Not sure how much, but you then mentioned making General pay to play as well. That'll kill this place, imo. Donations are where its at, from this group.
Didn't this place switch to paid classifieds like 10 years ago, and all classifieds activity came to a screeching halt? Paid forum membership is a broken model, don't do it. If anyone is into USPSA, I think what Brianenos forum does is a pretty good balance. Every quarter, there's a dollar target for fundraising, and it updates as people pay in. Those feeling guilty or trip over a stack of cash can throw in, but there's no obligation. Keeps new blood coming in, but doesn't force anyone to pay.
OK, my mistake. Perhaps I should have just made the post without quoting any particular one from somebody else. I sensed an undercurrent of opinion that pointed to making the whole BBS subject to paid subscription and defining who should be let in and not let in. thus my reaction. Voluntary is a good idea. In these difficult times, we also need to remember that WERA isn't the only party here that might need to do some belt tightening. Charging for the classifieds has been done in the past, then abandoned. There might be a good reason behind that. On the membership, I've always kept LRRS wide open. (Except for the Bots. ) A racing organization is more than just the racers. You also have staff, cornerworkers, crew, family, friends and those who are curious who just might be enticed to come in and get involved. Last month, there was a press release posted to the LRRS page about hearings in Connecticut regarding offroading. During the subsequent discussion, I got a PM from a racer stating that one of the other posters wasn't a racer and should be kicked off the list. The guy made a reasonable post, so I replied to the racer that I would not do any such thing. A couple of weeks later the same racer made an inflammatory post that pissed off one of the Directors, so he was liquidated. Another guy reported a post by Raymond Rizzo (MRO Chaplain) and PM'd me with, "I don't want to hear that shit!" There's plenty more of these stories, which is why I react when somebody outside of the administrators brings up the idea.
It seems pretty simple...purchase a Race License = full BBS access and posting. For all the trolls and so called experts that have an opinion on everything but don't race or haven't raced in several years for what ever reason...viewing access to BBS only...unless they buy a Race License. WERA could also put something on everyone's avatar, like a colored dot or avatar background or something that denotes the person's WERA activity level: Green dot = recently raced within a year Yellow dot = raced within two years Red dot = raced within the last three years Purple dot = race license purchased but haven't raced within last three years To me this seems like it would be a simple way to generate funding for WERA. ...it would also make some of the codependent BBS posters and trolls have to put up some $ or shut up. I realize that there are those that enjoy the BBS but no longer race due to medical conditions or whatever...by purchasing a license, they will still be contributing to the support of WERA...and just maybe it will minimize some of the useless crap that gets posted on here by the trolls and idjits. Regards, Chad
It was really just down to a concern for Evelyne and Sean and WERA in general. Like I said, I'd change the thread title if I could figure out how. I know that there are a fair number of people on here that are the 'support your local business' type, but there's also a large majority that are just short sighted and selfish. Perhaps they view it as socialism, but it's kind of the same thing as supporting your local dealership. Want somewhere to buy a new bike and be able to go sit on it? Don't buy everything online. I'm not independently wealthy (and I could be broke but don't want to look), but I try to purchase at least a portion of my motorcycle needs at my local dealer, because I want them to be there next time I want to buy a bike. Even though I'll never be able to race again, I'd like WERA to still exist 6 months from now. Any suggestions?
So do I get my number back? Seriously though, I think that would tie up numbers that they might want to use, so maybe just create a support membership. I'd bet there would be a fair number of people like me, who've ended up a few bricks shy and didn't think of continuing their license if they can't/won't race.
Multiple active racers have the same "bike number" but everyone has a different license number...but call it a "support license or membership" if you need to. I understand racing is expensive and things don't always turn out how we've planned...but that doesn't mean we want to see club racing die. I'm always a "few bricks shy" but heck, I had a mechanical during a race weekend on a Saturday and did not seek "credit or refund" for my pre-paid races on Sunday because I figured it would still be my small contribution to keeping racing going. How about all of these "supermodel dating millionaire experts on everything, dungeonites" contribute to the mayhem called WERA and the BBS and buy a license/membership or what ever you want to call it to support it. If you don't race...fine...you get a "support background" on your avatar. If you're able to be an active racer, you get that identifier on the avatar. Regards, Chad
I'd have to pull out one of my old licenses to check. It's been so many years, but I thought my license number was the same...probably wrong. Let's face it though, putting aside the financial challenges that many are now going to be facing, even if we were all millionaires, you'd still have a bunch of these cheap mofo's not be willing to pony up anything.
You can apply whatever motivation or excuse you want. Bottom line is if a few buck keeps WERA going through these difficult times, and you enjoy the wealth of information and entertainment found on the beeb, chip in whatever you can afford. Most of you have gotten far more from the beeb than you have contributed, myself included.
