Members and Contributors

[Bill McNiel]

OK, this is a rant-

SMC continually provides great, knowledgeable information, discussions and some humor. I don't understand why everyone who participates on this site, asks questions, posts or responds is not a Contributor. There are individuals here who have been Members for many years and have posted hundreds, some thousands, of times and still have not chosen to financially support this fantastic site. What are you waiting for? The minimum buy in is only $6.00, an unbelievable bargain for sure, many of us choose to contribute significantly more. Pony up folks!

Neither Keith nor anyone connected with SMC knows I am posting this and may choose to delete this. It is my personal opinion only.

[andrew whicker]

I can pose for a woodworking themed nude contributors' only calendar shoot if it helps. We just need 11 more.

[Wayne Lomman]

a. I swore off membership of anything after 30 years of church, the consequences of which I still have to deal with daily.
b. I never do transactions on line - I would rather go without. It hasn't killed me yet.
c. I'm here to offer wood working knowledge for free, not for what I can get. I don't have any apprentices to train anymore and have no-one else especially interested in what I know so I picked this forum.
It's a tough life. Cheers

[Brent Cutshall]

I can pose for a woodworking themed nude contributors' only calendar shoot if it helps. We just need 11 more.

Make it ten 'cause I am IN!

[Frederick Skelly]

I contribute because I went back and read an ancient thread describing how SMC nearly had to shut down when Keith's ISP was having a tough go of it. Decided that for me personally, $10 per year was worth it to keep SMC up and running. My view doesn't mean everyone else has to agree though.

Have a good day folks.
Fred

Edit: I'm in for the calendar too. Now we only need 9 more!

[Bert Kemp]

I can't not keep quite. Those that say they just can't afford to be a contributor. hogwash. I'm sorry but really? you have an internet connection and I bet you have a cell phone and TV , a car . your contribution cost 12 cents a week or 50 cents a month.

[Keith Westfall]

I anted up a few years ago as a Friend of the Creek as they were running a contest that only Friends of the creek could enter. Didn't win but decided that it was still worth the price for all the tips, suggestions, and advice that is here. If Keith had to close it down, we would all miss out on a lot. So for (a lot) less than it takes to take my granddaughter to the movie just once, it's a cheap buy in for a lot of great things.

Thanks Keith O, for keeping it together for us...

[Keith Outten]

There is no danger of us shutting down SawMill Creek. We may have to eliminate visitor access though which would free up the majority of our resources. I am not a fan of this approach but since the majority of the people here (Members and Visitors) who use free access are using blocking software there is no gain for our advertisers and they pay for the free access. Let me explain how bad the situation is...advertiser banners have dropped from over one million views per month to just 40 thousand each month per advertiser. Access here continues to grow but banner views have dropped to the basement.

Obviously we cannot sustain these kinds of numbers any longer. I promised to keep SawMill Creek online for everyone to enjoy as long as I have your support. Free access has been supported by advertising up till now but that is changing based on the majority here using blocking software preferring not to see any advertising which was not what people told me in 2005.

There is another option. I receive offers from companies who offer to monetize our advertising who offer very attractive rates. The down side is that I doubt anyone would like this change, you can imagine what a professional advertising company would do here if they had control. I delete these offers immediately, just don't like the idea and I don't do this for the money as my income from The Creek is minimal. You donate 6 bucks per year via PayPal, they get their percentage, then state and federal taxes take a bite so there is very little left to pay the bills and save for hardware, software, bandwidth and pay our monthly maintenance costs.

If you review the threads from 2005 when we discussed how we would pay the bills here an overwhelming majority wanted free access via advertising....and I was against the idea because I preferred that we remain self funded. The majority won the argument so here we are today facing another change that I have not caused.

You see the red text below....that is something our Moderators and I are investing a huge amount of time to create. We hope that this will be a very popular attraction, you will enjoy the presentation and it will help us maintain a reasonable number of advertisers. I am working for you, believe me after 15 years I am still willing to go the distance to keep The Creek alive and well but I cannot do it alone.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

There is no danger of us shutting down SawMill Creek. We may have to eliminate visitor access though which would free up the majority of our resources. I am not a fan of this approach but since the majority of the people here (Members and Visitors) who use free access are using blocking software there is no gain for our advertisers and they pay for the free access. Let me explain how bad the situation is...advertiser banners have dropped from over one million views per month to just 40 thousand each month per advertiser. Access here continues to grow but banner views have dropped to the basement.

Obviously we cannot sustain these kinds of numbers any longer. I promised to keep SawMill Creek online for everyone to enjoy as long as I have your support. Free access has been supported by advertising up till now but that is changing based on the majority here using blocking software preferring not to see any advertising which was not what people told me in 2005.

There is another option. I receive offers from companies who offer to monetize our advertising who offer very attractive rates. The down side is that I doubt anyone would like this change, you can imagine what a professional advertising company would do here if they had control. I delete these offers immediately, just don't like the idea and I don't do this for the money as my income from The Creek is minimal. You donate 6 bucks per year via PayPal, they get their percentage, then state and federal taxes take a bite so there is very little left to pay the bills and save for hardware, software, bandwidth and pay our monthly maintenance costs.

If you review the threads from 2005 when we discussed how we would pay the bills here an overwhelming majority wanted free access via advertising....and I was against the idea because I preferred that we remain self funded. The majority won the argument so here we are today facing another change that I have not caused.

You see the red text below....that is something our Moderators and I are investing a huge amount of time to create. We hope that this will be a very popular attraction, you will enjoy the presentation and it will help us maintain a reasonable number of advertisers. I am working for you, believe me after 15 years I am still willing to go the distance to keep The Creek alive and well but I cannot do it alone.

I did did not realize things were tight. There is an option to turn the ads on in account settings. I have turned mine on, and will be renewing shortly.

[John K Jordan]

I can pose for a woodworking themed nude contributors' only calendar shoot if it helps. We just need 11 more.

Yikes, with that mental image I'm scarred for life. Tell you what, if you don't make the calendar I'll double my monthly contribution.

If I just browsed the forum on occasion I might not feel the desire to contribute but I've gotten so much out of it that for me, contributing is just the right thing to do. I'd hate to try to log in one day and discover the an "out of business" sign from lack of funds. Yikes.

JKJ

[Mike Null]

I can't figure out how the word about the SMC jet got out. That's for mods only. Same with the yacht.

[Pat Barry]

I just heard about a 6 year old kid somewhere who has a you tube channel doing reviews of new toys and he is making $11 million this year. Its time that SMC start reaping the benefit of all the 'free' tool reviews that everyone does here.

[Simon MacGowen]

I just heard about a 6 year old kid somewhere who has a you tube channel doing reviews of new toys and he is making $11 million this year. Its time that SMC start reaping the benefit of all the 'free' tool reviews that everyone does here.

Or, as Fine Woodworking does, create a premium content section in SMC for paid-up members (or contributors as they are known here).

Simon

[Chuck Saunders]

I think if we are able to monetize the "Please, for the love of God, don't put out that calendar" campaign we will have all the money we could ever need.
Chuck

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I can pose for a woodworking themed nude contributors' only calendar shoot if it helps. We just need 11 more.

I wish I hadn't been drinking something while reading that! I almost choked. I will pose, but only topless. I've got morals.