JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum JPF Fundraising: Need $ For Own Server and Lots of New Abilities

Mark,

I wasn't asking you to leave. The way you presented your point wasn't "hey.. I like the site and enjoy and benefit from it, but I don't have money to pay a fee and if one was charged, I'd have to go elsewhere." That's a significantly different statement than what you made.

Just as you were being candid, so was I. I'd much rather you stay, and your advice above is a perfect example of why. So I'll not take your comments personally (i.e. as an attack on the value of "me" but rather as an indication of your priorities which obvious would fall far behind family and food as it should). Can we agree with that premise and move on in a positive way. You leaving would just be stupid.

I've been quite vocal that I would not charge a member fee because I totally understand the unlikely scenario that even a fraction of our 43,500 members would pay any fee of any kind. I say that because I understand our community and the realities out there better than I think anyone else. Derek Sivers of CD Baby, Michael Laskow of TAXI, Tony Van Veen of Disc Makers, Brendon Cassidy of Wilshire Media and many others have urged me time and again to charge a membership fee and I've gone around until I am blue in the face that not only would folks not pay, but then most who didn't would feel guilty about participating in what we do (message boards, Roadtrips, Music Awards etc.) and that would be the end of JPF. So we partner with folks who make their livings off the community while not taking money out of artists pockets ourselves. It's a reality I am comfortable with and understand. There's a difference between someone saying that can't afford to pay and implying they really don't value it at all.

So relax and continue participating.

Brian