[NOS2Go4Me]

I've done a lot of hard thinking on this matter over the last few months, and if nothing else the last few weeks underline the need for something like this.

We are basically members of a car club that asks very little of its contributing members. We are given a space on the Internet to call "our own", we represent with stickers, vinyls, and now T-shirts (again?!?). We offer a haven to new Focus owners (and old Focus owners! and ex-Focus owners!) and a place to vent, rant, and complain about bugs and recalls.

What we do not have is a membership fee.

Now, that loud whooshing sound was either everyone running away from their keyboards or pounding furiously on their keyboards, PM'ing Jay and the mods about this lunatic idea.

I'm not proposing a membership fee. What I AM proposing is a fundraising drive.

We sit here, day after day, and talk about everything under the sun (Dean?) on Jay's dime. He pays for the domain name registration, the server fees (which I've been enlightened of), and pretty much anything else that has been associated with FocusCanada.net as a cost of keeping us visible and available to the Internet.

Now, I've been warned that the naysayers (and not by Jay) that some will object to this idea as Jay spends silly amounts of cash on his car. This is true, but it's HIS cash, HIS car, and HIS website. HIS website, that he shares with us. We shouldn't depend on him for his generosity and then cry wolf when he starts running low on cash.

It doesn't matter if you've been a member here for a day, a month, a year or so (like me), or since the inception of FC.net. What matters is that we could all stand to pitch in and support the site we use and depend upon.

I think it's vital to stress that while Jay is the chief administrator and owner of the domain name, this whole thing has grown quite beyond just him and that we could all really stand to give something back here. I know there's a Paypal donations button for the site, but I don't honestly believe that it has been used a whole lot.

Here's what I propose (and yeah Jay, I've tweaked the formulas a little since I PMed you):

Bronze-level SUPPORTERS (note that it doesn't say member. I am not suggesting that this become a membership fee for access to the board and such) - $15 dollars CDN and under, with a minimum donation of $5. Bronze-level supporters get a custom avatar title of Bronze supporter or "Focus SE Supporter".

Silver-level or "ZX / ZTS / ZTW Supporter" supporters contribute $16-30 CDN and receive an appropriate title, if desired.

Gold-level supporters or "SVT Supporters" contribute $31 CDN and up and receive an appropriate title under their avatar if desired.

The same could be extended to those who wish to advertise or sponsor in the name of another organization or company.

I'm going to be making a personal donation to the club this week, and I'll be posting how much and when. Hopefully this gets the ball rolling.

Finally, this isn't a personal attack against any one person. It's something I've wanted to do for a while, and I've finally decided to push ahead with the idea.

I hope all of you view this in the correct light and decide to help out. :)

Adam

EDIT - I've also come up with other incentives for contributing members, but this will depend on support from the top and actual participation.