Danny, I follow your idea, pointed out that free seeds thread and rest of perkies should be out of public view and only accessed when reaching member status, that can be easily done … 
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Any Canadians total newbies looking for free seeds can be directed to freeseeds.ca
A couple of stamps and the seeds are in the mail.
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But I also think that if we truly believe our goal is to “overgrow the world”, putting these roadblocks in place makes little sense to me.
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Here in Spain we have something similar:
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I’ve sent lots to freespore.com
Spore prints and seeds
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Attiring members by quality contents, expertise and help instead of free seeds makes sense to me, think of it as a filter to avoid leechers …
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I tried posting this in the other thread but apparently it’s been locked:
In this thread alone 2 people have mentioned raising ~$1500 each for Joe “for the servers”. When the money no longer is needed for the servers, when does it change from a donation needed to operate the site to adding to the OG business’s bottom line? What’s @LemonadeJoe 's motivation? Running a business and making money or continuing the OG outlaw spirit that existed 20 years ago. Those of you who keep saying you’re raising money for the servers and the community seem to have your blinders on, the $$ kills the community. The servers don’t need your donations.
The point about visibility and $$ is what I’d be most concerned about. Raising thousands of $$ for group buys out in the open for seeds being ordered and distributed across borders will get this place shit canned real fast. Not to mention the guys collecting thousands for the group buys could be looked at as earning income. Now the IRS could make your life real miserable, for something that’s still illegal in many states/countries. I figure you could also get stuck w some kind of federal conspiracy charge.
IMO if we’re all OK with running auctions for members’ sick family members then we’d all be ok if I put up a go fund me for my neighbor’s dog who needs ACL surgery- but my neighbor is a huge smoker and loves new genetics.
I’m from the outside looking in, no skin in any of these auctions, donations, haven’t waded into this cesspool really at all. But these threads are exactly why I’m not on social media and really why I stick to my threads and a few select others’ for the most part.
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Can’t both happen at the same time, and if not why not?
In the auction everyone seems pissy about, Danny took far less to sell to this community than he could have elsewhere, putting genetics into hands that otherwise couldnt have afforded it.
How does that action kill anything?
Just asking.
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There is no denying that too many seeds flying out attracts the wrong kind of people. I used to just pass them out without thought but when this all came out decided to take a constructive look at what was happening. I now tend to check people’s posts when they are brand new and asking for stuff. Had a few get pissed off at me which really drove home the point. Not only were they leeching but had the nerve to double down with anger when caught. Now the flip side to this is I know of many members I have sent seeds to and now get to see pics of them growing them. Really this is the goal.
I will give you a great example. Recently I met 2 new users the same day. Both were directed to the introduce yourself thread. I user who I met when they commented on my seed run thread followed all suggestions, introduced themselves, checked out the threads and started a journal as suggested. The other PM’d me asking for free seeds. Now I looked at the second person’s posts and every single one was asking for seeds. I told them that I can see they had been hanging around the free seed thread so I am sure they would find some. They got all pissed off and the “innuendo” and stomped out of the room. Clearly 1 person we want here and 1 we don’t.
The bottom line is actions have consequences and while I won’t stop giving out free seeds I did alter the way and frequency with which I was handing them out. Community had concerns, I listened to those concerns and took some action. Isn’t that what threads like this are trying to accomplish? Voicing concerns from all sides and than acting on those concerns?
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It’s similar to taking your kids to a candy store if they lay on the floor screaming and hollering for candy and ya buy them some just to shut them up .
Next time your at the store it’s more than likely gonna happen again .
If you slap there ass and March them out to the car no candy for cry babies chances are they might not act up again .
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But I wanna wanna wanna! 
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It cannot happen, it’s a one way road: more members => more server capacity and bandwith => more money needed. Believe it or not, there was a time were we had no adds or banners, and forum just was supported by loyal members, no money, auctions or transactions on board, money just bring problems and unwanted attention, it’s not a wishful thinking, it’s something it already happened …
P.S. : Doug, even if I have the Free seeds threads and other muted I have noticed your change of mind and appreciate it … 
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Yes of course! I’m a capitalist and have an entrepreneurial mindset myself. But originally Joe was asking for donations and he’s never once asked people to stop sending him $$. And he’s never actually said this is a business endeavor for me, so what is it? Are we no longer being asked to send money for the server bc its been bought and paid for? Great, then stop calling it server auctions and send joe $$ bc I you like to cut of his jib, not bc you’re worried he won’t be able to keep it operating.
Danny may just be a causualty. But regardless of what or why, I think the $$ aspect out in the open is a bad look for OG. Figure out a way to make it private is my stance on it, don’t attract attention.
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Doesnt more members = more advertising revenue?
I believe it, but I’m betting that the internet as a whole has changed a lot since then too…not just this little corner of it.
I see seed companies doing giveaways here right now.
Did that happen before too?
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Exactly in the real world your hitting ten thousand viewers is worth x amount to advertise on the site , double that and naturally the price goes up!
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Thanks @George. I really appreciate that. 
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Of course, and that would explain all the free seeds and auctions to attract them as a honeypot, one click of mine or one read has the same value of a basic user click, so speaking in monetary terms, it doesn’t affect the forum if i leave, is that what we are looking for?
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Why do you think the forum isnt affected if you leave?
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I’ve wondered that myself, between revenue generated by supporters and sponsors, and ad revenue, are we doing anything besides lining Joe’s pockets with these server auctions? It was bought and paid for months ago from what I’ve read here. And I can see the financial motivation for Joe to allow these to keep happening since 99% of us (myself included) don’t know the expenses of running the site, and it has multiple revenue streams already. But I personally wouldn’t stop you if you wanted to kick me an extra $1k every few months, I truly doubt that we need to keep kicking him racks from auctions.
I really do love this place, but I can see both sides of the argument.
RICO…
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He means from a revenue generation stand point