That's a nice, warm, fuzzy thought (and I hope to make it to the BRT, too--I probably can this year if space on the waitlist opens up, since I'll be close by), but I'm not sure how your point is germane.

I've now hosted several Alaska DOs, which have turned into more than just the typical casual-meet-up-for-dinner DO. They've been full-on multi-day tour packages that have taken me a ton of effort to put together in a way that offers the best value to the participants--no small feat, given that travel in Alaska in the summer is painfully expensive (cars start at $120/day and 2* hotels start at $175-200/night). Two things were said at the conclusion of the 127 Pounds of Cabbage DO in 2010: "Wow, this ended up being way cheaper than I thought it could be!" and "You've put Alaska on the FlyerTalk DO map." I take great pride in those two comments.

Did I make any money off of any of those? No. I never did get around to finishing crunching the numbers, but if anything, I think I took a small loss on it. But it was worth it. I did it for the love of the FlyerTalk community, and I'll do it again this June (join us for the No Place Like Nome DO!) for the love of the FlyerTalk community.

But that's one week a year. Making a truly usable travel tool can be a full-time gig. I'd love it if ExpertFlyer were free and created their entire site and paid their recurring GDS fees out of the love of the FlyerTalk community. That's a pipe dream, of course. Not only do they have costs to cover, they also have to make their house payments and feed their families. If they've dedicated their full-time work to benefiting the FlyerTalk community by providing a useful tool that makes our lives easier, why should we begrudge them that? Comparing them to the BRT or the Alaska DOs is apples and oranges.

The subject of this discussion isn't at all related to what dozens or even hundreds of FlyerTalkers do to facilitate the community spirit of FlyerTalk by organizing and hosting various meets and DOs. It's to provide a place for those niche providers that provide tools that make our lives easier, whether for free or for a fee, to engage with the FlyerTalk community and allow us to provide feedback, help direct the development of the products, or even (heaven forbid) air complaints so that the services can even better suit the needs of the members of our community. And if more community members can discover the services and help make them even more successful, so much the better! It'll help ensure the long-term viability of the ventures.

I'll also admit that it's always stuck in my craw that MilePoint beat us to this with the introduction of ConcourseZ. I'd had a similar idea to this long before MilePoint's domain was registered at its current registrar, but I guess I didn't get off my tuchus and make it a reality. So, maybe we can no longer do it first, but we're FlyerTalk: we can do it better!