Just noticed this thread. Bottom line is we need to do lots of things to insure a steady stream of funds to support what we love. Banner ads would be fine - but they will only work if Mudcatters make them profitable for the advertisers. My opinion is that this proposition would be iffy at best. After a few months, advertisers who saw no revenue would discontinue their ads. Hope I am wrong. If banner ads are the way to go, and I have no problem with them, there are plenty of companies who would love to target a demographic like that found here. (BTW, Max, Stan Jay at Mandolin Bros. is a Penn State alum, so he make take an even keener interest in your efforts.) It would still require us to make it worth their while for advertisers to place ads here.

I like the idea of having a facility to hold benefit concerts with an admission on a periodic basis. Credit card payment, pay pal, or whatever, available at the door. We have some real live recording artists on this site who may be willing to "donate" their time on an occasional but regular basis.

Try this. Estimate your average monthly hours on the mudcat. In my case, the few cents per hour to get to a reasonable monthly donation sure seems like a bargain to me. It would be very helpful to have a facility to transfer funds automatically on the xxth of every month - thereby creating a steady stream. I understand the reservation about creating a situation where there are some that give and others that do not. If one were to throw out the fact that they are "putting up," they would demonstarte such small behavior that they could easily be ignored. I have spent the last 3 years on the finance committe at our church. There are tons of folks who "could" give more but don't. They are still welcomed.

In the meantime, it sounds like Max could use some help right now. If you are in a position to, I would suggest going directly to the "Help Support" icon above and send MAx a donation. If you choose not to, I have no problem with that either. In any event, please keep thinking about how we are going to make sure we keep Mudcat alive. As weird as it may be to feel this way about a little piece of cyberspace, I love the mudcat - which is, of course, all of you.

dw