Hi All, I have been meaning to weigh in on this issue but it took todays notes to get me motivated to sit down and write. NOT being one of the original members…and also not being aware that it was a paid membership originally I can see where the charter members would be upset if they paid for something only to have it given away later. However in Cynthia’s defense I also recognize you need a certain number of interested parties, a critical mass if you will, before you can make a go of it as a paid organization (otherwise the economies of scale are off. i.e., you’d still have to pay Travis if there were 5 members or 500 members).
While many web problems are certainly ‘operator error’ Im willing to bet there are a fair number that result from the server and admin end. I say that because I was the admin end of an online ‘club’ or 5000. So if this were a paid venue I’d like to see a certain amount of attention that that Having said that I would be willing to discuss a membership fee. My ULTIMATE vision would include not only the message boards as they are now (which are replicated by other individuals/other sites…and free) but perhaps an expanded site with different forums “airbrush questions… supplies questions…how to questions…classes.. master list of events in locations… etc” with articles pertaining to each. Maybe a monthly online columnist? how to articles…along with an enhanced, searchable, gallery that took comments. A place for member pages, a portal geared for the consumer to help them find an artist in their area….. Actually if anyone is interested there is a great model here: cakecentral.com This site is 4 years old, started as nothing and now has over 181,000 members -- and is still free. (although they have a commerce page and do have a ‘donate here’ banner) The biggest problem here (because they are free) is the server is completely overworked and therefore dead slow….but otherwise it’s a good model! Personally I would not like to see the convention entangled with a site fee since it would be a limiting factor for many (myself included). Perhaps if the costs were kept in check having a fee for the magazine rolled into a membership fee might be ok (although I would prefer an electronic version, which would have the added benefit of not incurring the print and mail costs!) Cynthia, Thanks for opening the discussion and lets hear from others �� --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Face Painting and Body Art Association." This is a PG-13 forum dedicated to the discussion of Face Painting and Body Art. This group is provided for the benefit of all and as such is not moderated. Our goal is to promote open and unrestricted communication between people interested in face painting and body art. We hope that you will be courteous to others and try to stay on topic. You are free to offer products or services related to face painting as well. Please address concerns with the original poster before contacting the management. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/fpba-assn -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
