What is Metal Membership and Why would I spend $ on a forum?

I am making this based on a couple new members asking just that to me. Well, as the owner of the forum. I felt it best to explain why we have it.

For starters, this whole forum started on a universal belief that a fresh place to discuss Mazdaspeeds was needed. That is why the effort was made (and weeks of design and about 200 hours or so of work between 2 people) to create this modern face of forums. We are spending $600 a year to host the forum currently. I also sent $500 to the man who spent weeks building this forum with me over 2 weeks. A LOT of testing before it went live kept bugs and issues down a lot, and fixed reported issues quickly. It seemed like the right thing to do for someone who asked for nothing. Also. promotion is in testing stages in Facebook ads. $70 for 2 ads going for a week netted a number of new members already, and we may raise the amount to increase the viewership if it keeps up. It is $5 a day minimum, $35 a week.

You also get access to a lot more of the forum. the buy/sell section is 1 perk. Just adding the donation-only policy is helpful on scammer prevention, which is extremely high on other forums and on Facebook groups and Craigslist even. Access to manuals, as well are a perk.

But what sets MSO apart is something I had pushed for back on the old forum. Good raffles. I use donations to purchase raffle prizes. And they are not some $25 card that takes 6 months to get. Try a $250 gift card! I have 2 of those this month alone for 2 great vendors. On top of that, we have a free tune and a custom vent pod donated by vendors! I do not intend to reduce the quality of the raffles. Gift certificates seem to be highly prized, so it is a "get something nice for the ride" special.

I am not planning to sit on my ass and soak up the $ and not give back a goddamn thing. We all saw how well that works. It doesn't.

We have 3 levels of Metal Membership:

This is a per-year rate:
Silver for $10
Gold for $25
Platinum for $50

What is the difference? Well they all offer the same access. Your profile is highlighted with the donation level.

If anyone has any questions about MSO, ask away. PM me. And most of all, do not feel like you are obligated to do anything. LOTS of this forum is accessible by creating a user account, like you already did.

Cheers,
Eric aka Raider