Here's my angle, and story on when I became a member. I joined the forum I think back in 2009 as a curious reader, and in all honesty I liked the marketplace section for equipment I could use for freshwater setups. I was not ready for a reef tank as I do move a lot, and was scared of the commitment I felt was needed for a reef tank.
By not having a reef tank I didn't feel compelled to support something I really wasn't apart of or involved in, but I did continue to read, and learn, and last fall after all these years I took the plunge, and started the reef tank, and since it was close to Christmas my girlfriend bought me a membership to BRS as i then felt compelled to support the club as I was finally officially a reefer, and I plan to support the club via membership as long as I continue to be a reef tank owner.
I owe my success to the members on this site, and would never gotten as far as I have without them, and quite frankly I have never met so many nice, and generous group of people on any forum for the 22 years I was involved with freshwater planted tanks, cichlids, dwarf shrimp im also involved in, and thats what really motivates me personally.
To touch on a few points I read about restricting forum areas, particularly the marketplace I disagree on that train of thought, in fact I find it to be a little snobby, and somewhat cliquey to do such a thing. It defeats the purpose of helping, and building a forum that promotes the mentality of community, with the suggestion of becoming a member through a yearly donation, and it doesn't help members of the forum in general on trying to get things sold to a bigger audience. Personally I put a fair amount of money into members hands before I became a member, and so don't a lot of non-members. There's zero positive gains to holding hostage that particular forum area with a ransom of membership.
It took me a lot of time lingering on here to get me started, and to become a member, and I think that might be the case for a lot of others. Personally I know at least a dozen people from my freshwater forums that originally came here for the marketplace, but now want a reef tank, and are in the process of planning, and building that motivation, and once they do they'll be members. The marketplace forum being open to all is a benefit IMO.
I don't attend meetings, or try to gain anything from the club except recently borrowing the PAR meter which is in my opinion worth the membership price a lone. I also don't use the club card, but then again I still don't have one, that's another story haha.
Anyways, I'm curious how many total paid members there are, and if maybe to solve some questions to why like Higor wrote maybe a questionnaire should be made to pop up when you login to BRS , and won't let you continue til the questions are answered, and see what the real reasons are, and maybe they can be addressed.
Sorry if my post is out of order or anything. I'm typing on a nexus 7 as the thoughts come to mind.
I can sincerely say that the club has been doing very well and only getting better.
