Keep it free, no conditions.

Run more ads on ur pages if u need more income. You will make more money this way than through memberships in the long run. As u develop ur income by marketing through ads, u will develop the revenue to reimburse all elite users their membership fee. This is a step in the right direction, a way to gain integrity and credibility and profitability.

It is not plausible to me that u need to protect the hard work of others nor ur own 'hard work', nor the need to protect ur own intellectual property.

Ur success will be determined by the quality of the service u provide, which may or may not be justified by the elite membership fee: personally i have no interest in paying for ur services.

The extent to which u provide useful trading tools to the trading community u will personally benefit and empower those around u. Deriving your revenue primarily from selling membership for education probably does not give u credibility I am looking for. Running ads is just fine and a perfectly legitimate source of income. Ur excuses about y u want to protect ur information make no sense at all to me.

The main and most legitimate way that the internet operates is by freely marketing, branding and promoting products and services. A good product and service will ALWAYS sell itself. U do not need to fend of the copycats. Either u get it right and develop the trust, loyalty and support of the community or not. Time will tell.

Ur site has some useful information and is a resource. U should be seeking ways to open ur service and remove all restrictions rather than wasting time trying to protect anything. There is nothing to protect. There is a plethora of free information on the net and u r not even a drop in the bucket. U r only showing weakness in the eyes of the public by sending out emails such as the one i just received. Keep ur gloves up and tell ppl positive things and find ways of value adding ur services.

One free way u can improve the quality of ur patronage is to require all members to regularly fill out brief trading questionnaires. Publish the results on ur homepage. It would be a very useful educational tool for traders to c how other traders think about a wide range of issues. Filling out a brief questionnaire (with radio button answers) would value-add ur site and sort out who is really interested in ur site.

gl

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Big Mike I must say nicko is right and to the point. BTW when it comes to business you don't ask your customers what they wont you’re never going to make your decision by what we won’t. But since you ask my opinion place a “donate” button because I am the kind of internet user that likes free staff but if I’ am helped somewhere I always donate something.