SB,

Me??? These artists are the one to ask, not me. I know nothing on the subject. :)

I'm not sure I understand what you are concerned about. Can you tell me more?

I haven't read all of the responses, so forgive me if I'm repeating anyone else's ideas.

Since I've been a participant here for some time now, I think I would pay to keep it. I'm not sure I'd pay if I were new here, and didn't know how much I would benefit. Therefore, a free trial period may be useful.

If you don't allow non-paying people to read posts, how will they know what they'll get for their money? Read for free--post for fee.

Here's a major issue. You don't want to discourage well-known pros from participating. I think they should all get free memberships, while guys like me should pay. This reminds me of my chess playing days. All chess tournaments, it seems, waive the entry fee for grandmasters. Everyone else pays. Unfortunately, there's no such measurable level in art. Cynthia would have to decide who has reached a high enough level of skill to be invited to participate for free. A very sticky spot to be in for her. This forum's greatest assets are artists like Marvin, Karin, Igor, Scott, and Tim. If they have to pay to be members, you're shooting yourself in the foot.

That'll be two cents, please.

Lynn,

It's not you specifically, but if you multiply that many times over, then one starts to wonder whats going on and the time invested in the approvals seems a waste.

Missing a opportunity
 

I haven't read all the posts but here are my two cents since someone emailed me and asked for it. I once mentioned a certain product on this site and I got a very nice "thank you" from the company after because it help add to their sales. Since you have such a large pool of professional artists drawing eager art students to this site, it seem to only make sense that you could sell space for a small amount of advertising if are needing money to keep it afloat. I visit another forum that does this quite successfully for photographers.

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1021

You just might see a profit in a very short time. And artists visiting your site for the first time will be more likely to participate. I know when my art video is done I would love to advertise here. Just a thought.

Morgan

Re: Responding to Scott's post

Folks, not to worry. Scott's post is in the Demo area, which as I understand it is a moderated area for posting -- which is to say, the posts queue up for review by the Demo moderator, Karin Wells. This is NOT to censor anything. It is in keeping with the plan to limit the Demo area to the demonstrations themselves, without unrestricted responses. This in turn is hoped to encourage prospective demonstrators -- especially time-short experts -- to share with us what they have and let it speak for itself, without necessarily asking those experts to return and spend additional time.

Please be patient until the submitted posts can be reviewed. It may be that a separate thread outside the Demo area will become the more suitable place for expansion.

Linda Der wrote:

Perhaps this problem of people signing up and never posting could be alleviated if they were all clearly told up front that their active participation, while not exactly required, is kind of expected.

Linda Der also wrote:
Perhaps a two tier membership system might work, with an extra fee to access areas like demos and critiques. Then a paid teacher or demonstrator-of-the-month could be enlisted. I realize that this could end up adding more administrative work for you though, Cynthia, not less.

I did any automatic email out to all members, since many don't visit very often. Thanks for coming on.

Hah! Morgan, it's because it was YOU doing the recommending. But, see that Dick Blick banner I have at the top? I've gotten about $20 from it over a period of several months.

There are other issues. If you have time to glance over some of the earier posts, you will see what they are.

And, I'd love to have you advertise.

Jeff,

Yep, got that one covered.

As said, there will be a free trial period. But, it's interesting, there's always more "guests" on than there are registered members. Right now there are 12 members on and 20 guests. Almost always there are a lot more guests reading and lurking than members on. Every one of those guests that downloads pages and images increases the bandwidth.

Definitely!

Stroke of Genius main site members all get free membership. That covers everyone you mentioned except Tim and Scott. Scott? Why aren't you on my web site. But, I would certainly make concessions in order to have the quality artists come on.

please delete

Cynthia, I appreciate the amount of time you spend making this forum a class act - to compare to Wet Canvas is not even possible from a standpoint of valuable information.

I would most definitely pay a fee for access - were it not for this site, I would not even be aware that a career in portraiture was possible, and would not be working toward that as we speak. I don't post on the forum a lot, but I have learned more from this site than I have by reading all of my art magazines and books combined. I don't have the time to attend a lot of workshops, and as such find the access to professional artists' working opinions and methods on this forum invaluable.

And where else would I have found out ahead of time that I can be looking forward to a Morgan Weistling video?? :)