[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.

[Chris 96 WS6]

My initial thoughts would be $50 per month or a discounted $500 a year if the sponsor paid all up front. Get 4 or 5 sponsors around here and I think I can get all the bandwidth we could reasonably need for the forseeable future.

I understand the fears some of you have about sponsors going downhill. However I do not think sponsors in and of themselves are negative just by their mere existence. Perhaps framing them as advertisers is more appropriate, sense we are actually doing them a favor too by providing exposure. The term Sponsor connotes that we couldn't manage without them.

In my mind, an advertiser pays a fee, for which we provide exposure via a couple of mechanisms...the banner and the Vendor/GP forum....and IMO that completes the transaction. We don't owe the sponsor any more than that.

I'll tell you something I hate. I hate how advertisers influence content in magazines. Like GMHTP for example. They don't blatantly bias an article, but what happens for example is Holley, lets say, will agree to a large, lucrative, multiple issue advertisement if GMHTP will do an article on the stealthram intake, wink wink. Its done with the understanding that the article will be very positive.

Prime example is the issue last year when they put the Crane ignition on the LT1 car and glorified it as the solution to all LT1 ignition problems even though it is well known that ignition amplifier boxes accelerate opti death quite substantially.


I want to assure you guys that I'll never compromise your ability to speak your mind as long as its done in a civil manner. You have my word on that.