[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.

[mitchntx]

So what I seem to be hearing from Mitch and Glen is that you have concerns with vendors & sponsoring vendors discussing products outside of the sponsor forum? I must be misunderstanding, because this could already be happening regardless of sponsorships. Some of these concerns are existing problems that sponsorships would not necessarily worsen.

But please clarify, I want to be sure I get what you are saying.

It is happening and that's reason I said it was the nature of the beast.

But it's also the reason why I would like to hear Sam, Lou and Jason's POV so that I can make a fair judgement ... see both sides of the fence.

None of them are currently on your potential sponsor list, so I think their POV would be most beneficial in making an informed, long term decision.

Does that help clarify?