I believe it is Internet Brands (a large business entity of some sort) that ownes/operates this site, therefore, it appears to me that bragging rights is the #1 reason to pay to be a supporter here.

Sooooooooooooooo, how is/are the supporter donations spent/invested?

Help me understand because i am sincerely curious.

 

That is a really good question.

 

I think they spend it on beer for the moderators so they keep working for free.

 

The company is Internet Brands. Basically your membership funds the big corp to keep the many many many many websites that IB owns alive.

However, this is not their only source of income. I love this site, but probably wont renew my sponsorship. Instead I will use it to purchase parts or in some otherway invest in a small business in the community such as Riffraff Diesel or Diesel Orings, etc.

 

I don't think the membership dues have changed much, if any, since the site was founded. Well before IB bought it. I assume they use it for the same thing everybody else does. Maintenance, upkeep and expansion of the site..... and I'm sure there are a few salaried employees of the company.

For me it's worth the price of admission just to not have to look at all the ads killing 1/3 of your screen.

Now that is a fine idea! As long as they continue to provide us with peanuts.

 

Bragging rights? Who am I going to brag to? "Excuse me sir, I'm a supporting member on the FTE website. Are you impressed? Are you basking in the warm glow of my aura of greatness?"

The supporter donations are chump change, to offset the loss of revenue by not clicking on those annoying ads. 1/3 of the page? How about 95% of the screen load time? This website has a lot of pictures, graphs, links, and other bandwidth-choking features - yet the response is pretty speedy (if you are a supporter and have a fast connection). The servers are reliable and fast, so that's a big bill every month.

A company that owns a forum might be 2 or 3 people: The dreamer (sales person), the guru (tech person to get it done), and the pragmatic (somebody has to deposit the revenues and write the checks)

 

I'm sure some people don't tip the waiter after having great service.

Heck, I don't brag about being a supporter, I think of it as a tip for the good service I receive from this forum. The help I've received from here has saved me way more then the price of a life time supporter badge. I also like the idea of buying beer for the workers.
No one is forced to become a supporter, so keep using the great info from this forum.

I also like to read the threads in the CLUB.

 

I can tell you one thing on where our money dosent go, and thats to buy t-shirts when you do pay for 3 yrs. Still waiting on mine. Oh wait a min I dont post on an average of at least 5 times a day so I guess ill never see it.

 

I don't have any PM's from you that I see. Have you brought this to anyone's attention?

If not.... here's the starting point. Ford Trucks Enthusiasts Support System

Please let me know if you don't get a response within a day or two. For whatever reason the t-shirt issue happens pretty often. Admin is generally pretty good at straightening things out, once they are aware there is an issue.

 

money well spent IMO. I have saved a bucket load from the support of this site

 

I never sent you a PM but I did send a few to another moderator and never got a response and about a month ago someone else posted about it and I think it was IB Tim (another moderator)or something like that was suppose to take care of it but still have nothing. I will go to that link and try that, thanks.

 

After this response i did a search to confirm the name and corrected my first post. Thanks A/Ox4.

I do not think this site has dues for membership, only volunteered support donations.

Well, yes i am. (BTW i enjoy reading your posts. You have a gifted way with words. )

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A big thank you to everyone for letting me indulge you with my curiousity and i hope the T shirt issue gets resolved.

 

The money paid is well worth not dealing with the ads.

I gave up on the t-shirt thing too. Never got one on my last subscription or back when I renewed in November again. Tried the ticket system and even got a message from Tim, but it never got father then that.

 

Whoa! Thanks for your kind words! I hope I'm as helpful to the brotherhood as it has been to me.

 

I antied up just because this sight saved my mucho dinero. And I got so much great info from y'all. Cheap at half price....