Key: It’s my property, I do what I want. Me : Your forum is an Essential Service. It is a refuge from the troubles of the world where I enjoy good company and learn from others. When you don’t tell me you are going offline, it distresses me. When you go back on line, and the things that were so worthwhile and enjoyable are not there, it distresses me. Key : We need to cut costs and increase revenue. Me : I have entrusted thousands of unrenumerated hours of content to you. In return, I get access to thousands of unrenumerated hours of desired content from other members and I accept banner ads. I respect that you must make a profit to be sustainable and for the forum to be sustainable. But your experiments with new revenue models are missing all the things that attract me to the forum. The way you force change is not aligning me with you. Surely we could work together to come up with something better? Key: We don’t have much time or money to put into this, publishing is a tough game. What do you want? Me : (a) As an Essential Service, notify you audience before you go offline, give reasons and expected timelines. Costs nothing, earns understanding. (b) Within reason, run new formats offline with a small group of unrenumerated, volunteer members to test and resolve predictable problems. At least when you launch, you have these volunteer members by your side, to help in the launch, if the process is genuine (c) Explore a Subscription model, with three categories : Corporate, (Bigger $) Member (modest) and Pensioner ( extremely modest). Develop a package of benefits for each category. If folks don’t subscribe, still allow default access for joining, posting, but limit messaging and searching. Set up prizes and benefits for Subscribers, like magazine issues. Trust in your Subscribers and give them an awesome experience and you will, over time, create a sustainable business model. Key: Paper and ink is up, postage is up, rent is up, subs down, pensions down, the economy is down, we need to put you steam boys and propellor heads into the same room and you need to share the same instant coffee and we don’t have much time to listen to all these ideas, with respect. Me : Understand, but you could lose the lot here. I probably need to get other members who also have the power to give or withhold thousands of hours of unrenumerated content to collectively bargain with you. I understand you must make a profit and this is not personal. We are both aligned around the idea of a sustainable, enjoyable, compelling forum. My passion is Historic content. So I want to set up a FB Group called ‘Forum Historic Community’ . Search it up. It is there in case the forum arbitrarily disappears or functionality like messaging or archived content is not restored. At least members can keep in touch and perhaps Collectively Bargain with Key to come up with a Win-Win model. The Forum is too precious to lose, drop by drop, by the withdrawal of alienated members or Key. ‘Forum Historic Community’