Some forum changes are coming....

[mantaraydre]

COACHES,

I think we should concentrate on making the hobby as great as it can be for the coaches who are already in it. if no one else ever joins, lets make it better and better for ourselves. The NFL concentrates on its 32 teams not looking to aquire another 5 or 6 each year. If more people come great, if not, we already have ourselves. WE ARE THE NFL 32 TEAMSS WHERE WE STAND

MANTARAYDRE

[styx]

most of us that truly enjoy this game called electric football, are indeed in the thirtyfive and older bracket, i believe when we all pass on , yes E.F. will take a significate hit, but instead of dying it will simply hibernate as it did in the 1980's and early 90's,waiting for new generation of coach's, as far as the n.f.l. goes ( i dont even wanna get started on those idiots) they said the same for rock n roll ,just my few cents worth.

[LARamsfan]

Originally Posted by NATIONAL

LA Rams fan... you can get in for $20. If you can do half, I got the other half for you brother!!!!

We will start to run $5 raffles for the $50 membership! That would be good for a renewal or a new membership. Hopefully we get at least 10 guys each time so that we break even.
The end of each month we will try this to see how it works out. So you may get a membership for $5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MFCA member #11

Nat'l

Wow, thank you Mr. National. I think I can handle that. I thought the yearly fees were $30.

[roller]

I agree. It is like RnR, and it ain't never gonna die - AC/DC

In my short time playing again, I have spread the "gospel" to many people. I have no way of knowing if they took that small experience and decided to investigate for themselves. However, I would like to share a little story...

I know my nephew is now an enthusiast.

He wanted to know what was in the workshop that looked like football fields. I took down several teams off the shelf and an old board and I showed him how to play. It didn't hurt that he loves football...

Four hours later, he was asking how to make teams, design plays, etc. He wants me to make him a Browns board for Christmas so that he, his friends, and his dad can play.

The point of this is that he didn't need to access this forum in order to develop an interest. It came from me. I shared what I love with him and that was enough. As he gets older, he will probably want to get on this forum and learn even more. But, for right now, just having his uncle around to show him the ropes is all he needs to learn about MF.

Well, guys, it's been nice being here, but there is no more spending room in my budget. I guess I'm out on Sept. 30 and back to the Miggle board. I guess you'll need to yank my link off of your boards as well, since I'm not a paying member. I'll leave that up to you. It's ashame the casual hobbier won't have access to this, but I understand some of your concerns. Take care.

[jimmie]

Brian I hear ya but the board needs support 20.00 is not a lot to ask for support!!Thats affordable for any budget that just is not a good objection for a grown man.If this info and fellowship is worth it you would pay its must not be worth in for you should be though.

[Orleanian In Exile]

This is a mistake.

To start out with, I well understand the concerns that the people running the MFCA website have expressed and the diffiiculties, financial and otherwise, that ensue in the running of a website. Nor do I see malice in the decision that has been taken or any sense of elitism being expressed by the website managers.

But this move is a mistake.

Not only will this not solve the MFCA's immediate problems of financial support for its activities, membership growth, or the further promotion of the hobby, this move effectively shuts off what any group of people should most value for an activity: an outside source of ideas.

The free and active exchange of information is vital if any hobby or activity group is going to thrive and expand. This is an intangible, but the value of having and attracting more people willing to share ideas, insights, perspective, alternatives to set formulaes, and humour, is incalculable.

Beyond that, the bleak fact of the matter is that, in the course of a simple Google search for "Electric Football Forums" or "Miniature Football Forums", only three or four sites come up in thirty pages: one of them is a private forum, one has sporadic activity at best, and one has had only one new post (within 2009) in two years, unlike the case with any search for "model train forums" or "model airplane forums" in which you easily get the first five pages listing open-access forums available.

In this environment, you need as much of the outside world to keep coming in here as you can invite in. Practising exclusion as opposed to inclusion can only lead to an eventual dead-end when your closed-loop exchanges become increasingly stale and bereft of original thinking.

There have been problems with dead-wood users who sign up but never post anything in a year or even ever. There have been problems with people bringing in their disputes and touching off the odd flame-thread or two. But this solution is rather akin to treating a small cut on one's finger by amputating the entire hand.

It is also not helpful to just dismiss the legitimate concerns people have expressed over their own financial constraints as barriers to MFCA membership as if they are mere trivia. These days, nearly everyone has to face that sort of decision every given day, especially if one might not be too confident that his or her job which they've got today won't be eliminated tomorrow. I often have to make that choice and it always comes down to what decision gets the most mileage out of my available cash. To put this in terms of EF/MF bugeteeering, I can either spend that $20 on a membership, or I can put it toward buying up to four bags of Miggle/Tudor men for bargain prices off e-Bay to repaint and add to my own solo empire. Or, I can save that $20 for a rainy day. I might actually need it.

I've said my piece. I suggest that there might be alternatives worth exploring, such as a PayPal donation button for one, and I will continue to contribute to the boards for as long as I remain able to. I may one day be able to work a membership to the MFCA into my own budget. I only point out that practising exclusion rather than inclusion has not succeeded for any group that has ever attempted it, in the end, and that you may want to be really really sure that this is the route the MFCA wishes to follow.

[Silverhorse 228]

Did anyone notice that we had a gentleman from AUSTRALIA put a post on this thread!

Welcome Wolfden!!!!

There are coaches in Canada, England...Australia...I for one thinks this hobby will just continue to grow...even if it is just one coach at a time....

Also...while I have everyone's ear....Let's get one thing straight...as has already been mentioned...the MFCA will not turn anyone away due to financial stress. I won't allow it...I am willing to help....

I can't even fathom how much "good will" money I have put into this organization over the last two years. But like Corey and Lynn stated...if someone needs a hand, then we will help....so these changes are not about the money...they are more about asking those who can help, to consider giving the MFCA a hand...it is as simple as that...

let's see. $20 . . .. hobby or church tithe? Or global cause? Or even feeding my own child?

[WEIRDWOLF]

As I have mentioned before, the forum is not a requirement of the MFCA to complete our mission statement.

5 cents a day....In 1 day, I probably lose that much in the couch or my car seats or in penneys I leave at the store counters.

It is a choice. For some, $20 is no big deal and they feel that what is presented is worth that amount, for others what they get out of this site and association isn't worth $20. I have no arguement with that. We each have diferent value assigned to the things we enjoy. I have to have my morning coffee. I'm sure I spend a $1 or more a day on that. The next guy could care less about coffee and wouldn't spend a plugged nickel for it.

It is a choice and we are all free to choose. If in a year, we see that it has not worked, we can review it and make the necesasy changes. Overall, there are just not that many people out there right now banging down the door to sign-up while the forum is already free.

What we do to promote/market it with the new front end of the website that is being worked on and the things we do in our local regions and if we can ever get a boxed product that runs like it should out of the box are going to make the ultimate difference as to growing this hobby and the EF/MF sites around the country.

5 cents a day.