Official Luthiers Forum!

Sponsorship vs. Membership

Explain please?

Membership would mean you would have to pay to be a part of the forum and contribute...sponsorship is voluntary and you can still be a part of the forum without paying

Thats my quick summary and my 2 centsFrankC38582.6731597222

Frank,

I think it's the other way around...we're already members. Voluntary sponsorship would mean making a contribution to the cost of running the forum--in this case with attached tangible benefits. The Forum, however, remains open to all.

It's simple:

Membership = taking a sanctioned free ride...just like the other forums.

Sponsorship = paying to help support our forum and getting freebies to boot! Similar to MIMF's arrangement but without the freebies.

Just like supporting your local PBS station.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Join our club and be a member sounds like dues at the Scout Troop.

I am a member of ASIA which cost me a membership fee or dues. You can't be a member of ASIA without paying your dues. So, they have the new website up huh? Don't you think it would be nice if they let members know that there was a new website? Sheesh!

Acoustic Guitar Magazine is something I like and do buy occasionally. Especially when my neice comes calling with those big brown eyes with her school fun-raiser folder in hand. Grin.

Teeshirts, yeah, wear 'em all the time. So that's a thumbs up. Does the shirt change annually? I can see me seventy-three years old with twenty OLF teeshirts in my closet.

Whatever you do Lance, don't put up one of those guilt screens asking if I am supporting the OLF. Oh dear. So are we gonna hear terms like scab and freeloader around here if folks don't pay up?

Bruce-
Your completely missing the point here!
For starters, do the MATH -

Guitarmaker     55.00
Acoustic Guitar 29.00
Tee Shirt       10.00

Total          94.00
Profit for the OLF 1.00
Now understand that I have worked out a deal with ASIA/AG to help grow there subscription, in doing so - have came up with a fantastic deal for the OLFers.

The package is 95.00 -
PLUS a TON of coupons for everything, free shipping to 15% off!

Do I need to mention the Tee Shirt?
Common! Whats not to like about this? Why in the world would I NEED a "Guilt screen" If you cant see a bargain when its staring you in the face - I'm sorry

AT my local PBS station, if I donate 100.00 I get a coffee mug, this offer goes WAY beyond that!





     LanceK38582.7475925926

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Support the OLF! Bookmark our STEWMAC link Today!
Lance@LuthiersForum.com

So are all members sponsors?

Or are there memberships

And sponsorships?

And can you be a member without dues?

Still in the dark.

Can people come here in the future without paying dues and be welcome?

1. No. Membership is free. The sponsorship requires a cost.

2. Yes, members can be sponsors, and it follows that all sponsors will be members by association.

3. See answer no. 1...no fee to be a member.
"C'Mon in boys, the water is fine!"

Here's some light:

Sponsorship is....like getting your name on a bunch of little leaguer's baseball shirts...you pay a fee for the benefit of X, be it advertising, whatever. In this case, you help support the OLF financially and reap great rewards. It's almost a steal.
To answer the last question:
AbsolutelyDon Williams38582.8085300926

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I think Bruce is wondering what the difference between paying for a package deal sponsorship and paying for a sponsorship that gets your name or your companies name on the heading of these pages. Advertisement sponsorship so to speak.   Hope I am not putting words in your mouth Bruce.

Hi Bruce

My understanding of the sponsorship arangement is that it is entirely voluntary, and no distinction will be made between those who take up the offer and those who don't.

I read Lance's offer as being if you want to and want to get the great benefits he has put together then let him know, if you don't and just want to join or participate in the forum then thats cool also.

Thats how I read it ?

Bruce knows the cost of being an OLF sponsor, he sponsored the OLF for a 6 month period.

The package we are offering here to Members is 7.91 per month, if you break it down.

Members are members - you register - your a member - with the OLF offer I'm hoping to get MORE MEMBERS! Bring some folks out of the Lurker closet to take advantage of this and break the ice so to speak. Grow our membership as well as ASIA's and AG's!


Brad Goodman quoted Martha this morning, ill do so again, "Its a good thing"!

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Support the OLF! Bookmark our STEWMAC link Today!
Lance@LuthiersForum.com

It's more than just a good thing! It's a very creative deal and everyone wins...the lurkers should emerge in droves to take advantage of this offer. ASIA gets a huge membership boost and we get a lot of freebies.

Most importantly, Lance gets the funding to make our forum even better than any of us ever imagined.

I've saved many, many times more than $100 this year just in avoided mistakes by reading posts as well as having my questions answered in a timely manner. Then again, there are the jig ideas that saved me another few hundreds of dollars. Not to mention all of the great deals we get from group buys, wood sales, etc. This is a small fraction to pay for all we have gotten from the forum...and yet it's still optional!

I personally can't imagine why anyone would look at this deal with any skepticism! As far as ostricising anyone who doesn't become a sponsor, who would ever know? I hope it's a minority, but the deal will be very persuasive and something a lot of people just can't pass up.

Lance, make my T-shirt size XL!

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Martha twice in one day, now theres a thing

Okay, great, the introduction of the new deal confused me, honest.

It had the term Sponsorship on the top line, then on the second line it had the term Membership.

It also uses the term ASIA membership and Guitarmaker Magazine interchangeably, which is confusing. One is not the other.

Having been a sponsor at the lowest level, Sponsorship meant $50 bucks a month, well heck, that translates to $600 a year. So Sponsorship does not equate to Sponsor.

It's all so much clearer now, thanks everyone for helping me to see the light. The fog is lifting.

And the guilt screen was an obvious reference to another forum, and what they do is entirely their business, as I see it, although they do seem a bit insensitive at times. That was a run-on sentence JJ, but intentional. (hopeless proof-reader)

John K., no you aren't, thanks.

Money for the memebership will be in soon.
john
PS I am a sponser and soon to be memeber that makes me a 2 timer LMAO

As I see it. This is a way for the community that benefits from the forum to make a VOLUNTARY contribution to its running costs, and to get additional benefits in exchange. But, if people just want to come in as members and participate in just the forum threads, then that's OK as well and all are welcome.

Lance is not the sort of guy to put a guilt screen up when we log in, and I for one don't want to know who does or doesn't take up the offer, that's between Lance and the individual member.

One great advantage of this for the overseas members, like me, is that it also gets us automatic US citizenship, isn't that right Lance?

ColinColin S38583.2079976852

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Colin

I heard it was free flights to the next Asia Conference as well, show them your Asia membership at immigration and they will give you a Green Card

Lance, maybe I missed it, but info page for sponsership did not request t-shirt size. Make mine large please.