Well, I've read a lot of emails lately on this, and I finally have to
comment. If anyone believes that the geocaching hobby is supposed to be
free, and that you get nothing for your hard earned money by paying the
membership fees, I suggest you start a web site and watch the bills
grow. You get to register domain names, you get to find a host, find a
more expensive host when users complain that they can't connect all the
time, find more reliable hosts. Then there is the cost of developing
all the custom software that Geocaching.com has. And a staff to process
requests from 139 countries to approve caches. It all costs money. I
feel that being a charter member helps support the hobby, and pay for
many of the features and software that makes the site so useable and the
sport so enjoyable. I work in the software industry. I know of what I
speak. If Geocaching.com was a big long list of caches, not sortable,
not searchable, without forums, without the ability to log and track
your finds, without travelbugs, would it be nearly as much fun?
To those who say there are other ways to contribute to Geocaching.com, I
applaud your support. With a membership at $30 a year, you'd have to
spend $240 or more through Offroute.com to support Geocaching.com at the
same level. (I'm assuming an average 12.5% kickback, the range goes from
5 - 20%). I doubt too many people do that on an annual basis, but I'm
sure every bit does help Geocaching.com.
While I understand that not everyone can afford membership, I have to
question that as a position to not be a member. If I could not afford
$30 for a membership (or better $3 a month) I doubt I could afford the
gas (a whopping 2 gallons) , or the trinkets (a whopping 3 one dollar
trinkets) to leave in caches. If I had to do less caches, to afford my
membership, I surely would. If all the money dried up for
Geocaching.com, how long do you think it would take for the site to go
belly-up?
While I don't feel as strongly about this topic as Ken does, I find
myself having to agree with him on a number of points. Becoming a
member does support the hobby. You become an invested member in the
sport. I also feel it probably would protect caches from plunderer's
such as the cache pirate as they are likely not a paying member.
Having said all that, I feel slightly saddened that people will view me
as an elitist just because I have a charter membership. Scott's mention
of a non-members only cache really rubbed me the wrong way. Do they
need a new level of membership
(Contributing-but-keep-it-a-secret-so-no-one-knows) just so I can
participate in the sport at the same level as all the people who don't
have a membership? All my caches have always been available for everyone
and anyone, and I've enjoyed each and every cache log that I've read on
my caches.
I'm amazed that AZgeocaching.com has been free for so long. It provides
a lot of great services and software all for free (Thanks Team Snaptek).
I'd probably be the first one in line with my checkbook if this site
every goes fee based, but please don't hold that against me too.
--
Jim - Team 8 Feet
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