Randy,

i've benefited tremendously from this website over the last few years. i believe there is a strong community here, where people desire to share helpful information here to mutual benefit.

however, that leaves one party out of the equation in my book-- Flyertalk, whose resources we use.

i believe strongly in "tithing" something back to those things that extended me something of "value" for free. i know there are services for sale associated with Flyertalk, however: a) frankly they're not something i'm really interested in, and b) because of this, i'd rather "give back" directly in a donation than buy something i don't want for the same amount-- since there are costs involved in creating those products.

i don't mean to disparage the product offering-- just that they don't meet might tastes and needs. this is a very diverse and broad community at this point, so some will be more receptive to them than others.

i want to do my part to support the message board on Flyertalk. it's one of the few sites i'd pay a subscription for. others may not feel that way, and the community may benefit from encouraging many people to join.

however, i don't think there's any shame in having a banner asking people to contribute to support Flyertalk's needs if they want. as long as the money goes to directly support the IT resources Flyertalk requires, i believe you'd be surprised how many people would like to give back to the community that they reside in.

i have no idea what the business plan is for Flyertalk, but many users view this site as a great public service. for those of us in this category, who don't use a lot of the offerings of Flyertalk, why not allow us to contribute a little money?? heck, NPR isn't shameless about a month-long pledge drive that interupts my programs, what's a little banner-ad going to hurt??