Nino, at least we both agree that we cannot follow each others thoughts! Perhaps a compliment to both of us and undoubtedly at least in part an issue tied up in trying to communicate via email.
My question on reducing commercials and why some and not others was a direct enquiry about your statement Truth be known, we have reduced the number of Commercial "industry" entities.
I took that to mean that moderators had taken a conscious decision to remove some - I can't see or think of another way to interpret your statement. What did you mean?
The argument that sponsors supply the funds to keep the site running is trotted out fairly often, so in the interests of transparency could you tell us what it costs, in dollar terms, to run the site for a year and what percentage of this comes from sponsors? This may ease the concerns of some.
The statement "Truth be known, we have reduced the number of Commercial "industry" entities." refers to Childs Amusements who ceased trading under that name. The section was cleared out by the section Moderator (MarkC), and we removed the section entirely. The second Commercial "industry" entity was "Neon Planet". This was moderated by Gavin and we decided that due to the inactivity of that section, we removed that as well. Sponsors pay an annual renewal.
We will continue to review the sponsors as each renewal is due. We have plans in this area and they will be announced within a month or two.
We paid for 2 years in advance, this covered all costs associated with initial setup - registration etc. Creech did all the hard work in the early days, so he can chime in if he feels a need to. Sponsors and Donations covered the first two years. What the EXACT $ value - I don't exactly know. I'm happy to provide this information once I ask Creech.
