...or are they? It is with considerable interest and some dismay that I have been following the threads and comments on the changes that are coming to the Adlandpro community. Interest, because, having read the information from Adlandpro, I see it as a very positive move, both for the owner, and for all the members, including those who choose to remain free members. Dismay, because so many members are jumping to conclusions and protesting something that the majority of people do not understand. I do not mean at all to offend anyone, but if you're worried about the changes, you should know what they are! If you are and intend to remain a free member, you'll hardly notice the difference!! Paid members, on the other hand, will applaud the added benefits they will enjoy for a small, monthly fee. Furthermore, I am appalled by the apparent general acceptance that it is somehow our right to have a fellow businessperson pay our way for something we're all using! One argument that I've seen is that free members have made Adlandpro what it is today! That's like saying that McDonald's got where it is today by giving away hamburgers!! Before you, the reader, get any more mesmerized and twisted by misinformation, here are the changes that are coming for free members: Free members will no longer receive notification when someone opens their email (a non-issue), will not be able to email directly from the community, will be limited to creating one forum, and will not be able to prevent other community members from participating in their forum. These are all very, very minor changes, and with that one forum, you can still create as many threads, which ALL your friends can be invited to, as you want. For the free members, this amounts to approximately a 5% reduction in what you're used to. If you want to switch over to any of the other popular communities, I can assure you from personal experience you will get about 95% less as a free member in those communities! Paid members will receive enhancements that all serious e-marketers will certainly appreciate and be glad to pay for. We can't get anywhere near this level of value for our money anywhere else. Finally, I would like to close with this thought: Did this community recently vote Bogdan Fiedur POTW because he was giving us all a freebie, or are we really honest business people who truly value him as a fellow business person and friend? Food for thought. God bless, Dave

Dave. I could not have put it better myself, in fact I know I couldn't. What you have stated in plain English, is something that evey other 'community' on the Internet has been doing since they got the first 100 members. No where else do free members get the amount of freedom to do what they do here now, or when the changes come into effect. We are all business people, we have to pay for our other business expenses, so what is the difference in paying for them here too? After all, you can claim membership in your tax returns, I have since being a gold member & before when I just paid for advertising here. It actually looks like the new subscription prices are still cheaper than I pay as a gold member. There is nothing in this world that is free, well nothing that is as useful in Marketing as Adlandpro is. Try getting the amount of people you have in your friends lists now here, at any other community for free & how many of you have used your friends list to get other members to sign up for your programs? No other community's let you post the forums that we can here, & even when the 'new terms' come in, as Dave so nicely put's it, free members can still have one forum, just post all your threads in one, instead of starting a new forum daily/weekly. You can still delete the threads if you have finsihed with them, as easy as deleting a whole forum now. Your security friend in Las Vegas.

Hi Anthony, Thank you for posting, my friend. It's a real blessing knowing I'm not the lone voice of reason here! :) I hope we see a lot more positive response to this thread. God bless, Dave

I believe you may be correct Dave. We may have jumped to conclusions a little too fast. Change, in itself, can always be a bit traumatic. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Hi Dave. It had to come sooner or later, I'm suprised it has been this long in coming, we have almost 25,000 members now, the amount of capacity to run a program of this size must be crippling Bogdan financialy. I know how much it cost to run & host our retail sites which are a fraction of the size of this program & our bill runs into thousands a year. I would not like to think how much running Adlandpro is costing, let alone the Staff's wages.... It is only economical sense in charging a small fee, to let the members be able to use all the functions that we use now. If free members want to stay free, then they can but with reduced functions. Try being a free member at R... & see what you get for your membership compared to paid members...... Your security friend in Las Vegas.