Originally Posted by
efnfast
This may, or may not, be an unpopular thought process, but here's what I fail to see when everybody starts talking about community.
First of all, everybody knows that this community (ffr) is tightly knit and when asked for help will give it freely. When I needed help installing axles on my build, a local builder came over, in full business suit & dress shoes, after a meeting and showed me how to do the axles. There's no question in anybody's mind that if a builder needs help, it will be provided.
For the sake of my discussion, we all know Bill is well off (big house, ford gt, lotus, maserati, 2-3 factor fives that we know of, successful online scooter business, ffr forum netting atleast 60k/yr for several years) ..... the only reason I mention this is because this is not a case where the forum is, for example, his livelihood and he depends on the revenue from it to support his family because of a medical disability and is unable to work (I know a case like this, which is why I state it)
The net operating revenue from the forum could, realistically, have probably either covered the cost of the lawsuit, or covered the majority of it, making it post a slight net loss for the year (which could easily have been made up from previous years).
So based on that, since this is about community, instead of having the community pay for the lawsuit so the site posts a net profit for that year, why not start a charity at a local hospital for sick children and tell the forum to donate there to show support? Have a real impact on some lives, instead of lining the bank account.
Alternatively, since the community donated a crap-load of money towards the lawsuit, why not take 50%, 75%, heck, even 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the site and start a yearly charity at a local GA hospital for sick children (e.g., like corvetteforum.com does with St. Judes). Say 'Hey guys; thanks for the support in the lawsuit. I can no longer run FFRCars due to other commitments, but to thank the community I'm hoping to start a yearly donation program at X hospital for sick children. Here's the first donation - 100% proceeds from the sale of the site; hopefully you guys contribute this year, and all future years to this charity to help the children'.
That's real community imho - not asking for money from members whom you know will give it (some of whom, based on the posts about lost jobs and hard times, will still dig deep to help out) just to post a net profit for the year.