[Chris 96 WS6]

OK guys, the day has come. I've been approached by a vendor to become a sponsor here. You may be familiar with Street Lethal Performance already. David Mercier is who contacted me, and informed me they sell Koni and Ground Control among other things.

In a nutshell, I told David that if we were to bring him on board as a sponsor, it would be with the understanding that SLperf would not be immune to criticisms and they would be responsible for defending themselves and doing right by the customer. There would be no protection or favoritism given to protect the sponsorship income, as it is not essential to maintaining the site.

I closed by telling him we would discuss the issue among the members and arrive at a conclusion in the next couple of days.

So, I want an honest dialog here and whether you think we should bring in sponsors or not. This one would probably open padora's box.

Let me just throw out my thoughts on the subject. Personally I'd like to see sponsorships. I see it as part of the future for the site (which I think can be more than just a board...I see tech articles and such in the future). But anyway, I want to assure you guys as long as I own and maintain the site I will never compromise your ability to speak your mind. Sponsor dollars would/will never get in the way of that, and if it comes down to it I'd rather tell a sponsor to walk than create dissention among the members here. I also think that with the maturity level we have here, big blow ups with sponsors are not likely, but rather would be handled in an adult fashion.

So, with that, I'll let you guys hash it out. Whatever I think is the prevailing opinion is what I'll go with, despite my personal preferences. After all, without members, there is no FRRAX.com.

[GlennCMC70]

as mitch touched on and i'll add my $.02 (if its worth that much). I have a problem w/ members using user I.D.'s that double as advertising for their web based parts sales. and i think that paying sponsors will have a problem w/ this also. i don't have a problem w/ sponsors, but i do have a problem w/ protecting them because they are a sponsor. prefect example is the BMR PHB failures. there is no way those failures could have been justified or defended. if BMR had been a direct sponsor of the "other" site, it would have been deleted even though there was a valid safety concern.
also, how can you take advise about a part and believe its not "tainted" by the need to earn an income and survive in these hard financial times. there are exceptions to this, but its hard to tell when its TYPED here. sponsor often have to pay a vendor fee just to be authorised to sell parts made by other companies. its hard to just stop selling a part that you just realized is not the best, when you have a financial investment w/ that part/company.
anyways, its just my input. i'll go w/ whatever decision is made here by Chris and/or the majority.