I think as soon as you sell memberships that the government looks at you differently. I’m no lawyer, so I’m really just speculating.
In any case, the only way to get a surfer is to let him surf for free. If he has to pay right off the bat for a discussion site, he won’t do it.
How long would you allow surfers/lurkers to do that before you asked them to ante up?
I used to live in SoCal...Surfed Huntington Beach all the way South to Ensenada, Baja...that type of surfing was never "free"....There was gas, food, wax, etc..but it was all voluntary.
This type of surfing isn't free either. And I "get" that. I figure...if a person is reading FR once a day, once a week...they ought to be giving something.
$2 a month from all FReepers....would be awesome!!!
That is a good point. I lurked here for nearly 2 years before I posted anything. I would not have bought a membership or paid a fee while lurking. Not sure why though- I paid for a newspaper subscription for many years.
It took a while for me to donate. I loved the site, but as soon as I started posting I had a group of bullies who would actually pick on me, for not agreeing with them on every issue. They ended up getting banned one by one, but in the meantime I began to post on border issues since I live on the border. At that time even most freepers believed the liberal mantra that if you were against illegals you were racist, lying, whatever- border issues were not real to most. I did not donate because I did not feel that welcome here. I got tired of the bullies and being attacked for posting on border issues- spoke my mind about both and got banned.
After a couple of years the climate about the border changed and I emailed Mr. Robinson and asked to be allowed to return, he was nice enough to allow me to return. I still did not donate for a while because I was not sure just how welcome I was here. When I felt I belonged I became a regular contributor.