[Boatanchors] Boatanchors list

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

John,

While it's true that there was an outcry on Boatanchors at theporch.com when the 
annual fee began, most of it was from those who are in the 99.4% over here.  
Some screamed and left.  Some grumbled but stayed.  And some realized that no 
one owed them a Free Lunch, paid and stayed.  I don't know the current member 
count but the original Boatanchors list is still quite active.  And the noise 
level is comfortably low.

I'm not sure that converting to an annual fee here would be the thing to do, 
and I'm afraid that I can't think of anything to suggest as an alternative.  
But it is now apparent that although voluntary contributor support was a nice 
idea in concept, it isn't working in practice either.

However, one thing I think I would definitely do if I were running things 
would be to charge something at least for web site hosting.  I never knew that 
that wasn't being done.

In a message dated 12/5/2004 9:47:25 AM Central Standard Time, 
johnmb at nc.rr.com writes: 
> >Personally, I think Al should charge a yearly subscription fee to 
> >use and view the E-mail Reflectors.
> 
> Hi Pete,
> 
> Nice idea in concept, but didn't work in practice.
> 
> When Jack implemented such an idea on theporch.com (the 
> original BA list ca: 1992 or such) the immediate outcry was 
> deafening. Jack was accused of everything from grand larceny to 
> extortion.  There was a mass exodus to the tempe list, and .... here.
> 
> Hams are cheap, and a subscription QTH list would likely shrink the 
> subscription list to a small fraction of the critical mass required to 
> sustain any mailing list.
> 
> Just an historical perspective...
> 

Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
<http://www.wa5cab.com> (Web Store)
<wa5cab at cs.com> (Primary email)
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