Hi Gutzer
Thanks for your interest. I am not in favour of paid membership schemes for the same reasons I am not a supporter of Patreon ventures- once you start charging a fee, your members expect more for their money and those who don't want to pay will just go elsewhere where it's free.
Our Forum has always been and always will be free to everyone. The only restriction is that you have to register (for free) to post and interact on the boards.
Even if I wanted to charge a paid membership, which I don't, the Forum software is quite old and not able to handle paid vs free members. Upgrading the Forum software ( yes I know it's old and clunky, but so am I) would cost thousands of dollars in IT support and we don't have the funds to even think about that.
What we do have is an amazing world community of modellers with a shared interest in WW1, its aircraft and the golden age of aviation.
I am deeply grateful to those members who regularly donate to the Forum each month and I am deeply grateful again to those members who have so generously responded to the latest request for donations. I will be sending each person a personal thank you for their fantastic support.
The Forum celebrates is 10th anniversary this year and we have reached this milestone thanks to the support of the members.
I'm heartened to see our global family of WW1 modellers is still with us, growing every day and ensuring we can keep the lights on here and working to provide the best possible site for members and our thousands of casual visitors.
My sincere thanks to everyone who has supported the Forum.
Dave Wilson
Forum Owner & Administrator
Gold Coast
Australia