Everyone,
Based on some of the recent complaints related to advertising and NAM-related product sales on the site I wanted to take a second and clarify the position of the site relative to advertising.

Given the operating costs and time expenditures on my part, the site requires income to continue operating. One of the methods in use to insure its operatiion is to offer vendors different advertising opportunities on the site. The prices for these opportunities defers the cost of the above. I seek only vendors that have products/services that relate directly to the MINI and therefore you won't see advertising for insurance carriers or telephone companies on the site.

Tire Rack, in particular, has been a cornerstone of this site and many other car-related internet communities. They have very knowlegable users (Alex in the case of this site) that bring a lot of information to the site and do so in the hope that at some point in the future that you will consider them for a purchase.

We will continue to offer advertising for vendors and NAM-related products as way to continue to support the discussion forums and other projects that serve the MINI community. If you have derived value from being a member of the site I hope that you will support our vendors and NAM by keeping us all in mind when you purchase something to support your MINI habit...it will continue to support the growth and excitement found in the MINI community.

Best regards,

Mark

 

You do a fine job Mark. The only people who complain are just tryin to instigate.
Merry Christmas.

 

<--- not instagatin or complainin (I thought it was a pretty good question to be raised tho)

I value the site's resources regardless.

_________________
-goin440 IB/IB MC

 

I agree with Mark's statement. (It takes time and money to operate a site)

Earl

 

No problem. I just wanted to clarify in the event that its not obvious that the site has real operating costs associated with it that must be paid in order to continue operating. Advertising and the NAM store are currently the only ways that the site generates income to defer these costs.

Mark

 

You won't hear an complaints from me! I value the information that the various vendors bring to the table. :smile: Thank you for doing a superb job.

JD

 

A job well done.

 

nothing is for free..i just hope the vendors continue to offer quality products at reasonable price. keep up the excellent work,. mark !!!!!!

 

I agree, I know how much a website costs to run.

It is not just
-I got a cable/DSL so I got the bandwidth
-I got FrontPage with my PC!
-I got a friend who can hook me up with this or that.

I, for one, appreciate the site and it's vendors. Keep it up.

Accessibility is the key.