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Frankly, I'm not all that familiar with what the artists would even like to see offered.
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All you have to do is ask any cranky, opinionated working artist for his "Favorites" list. I have at least 30 on mine. Personally, I would love to see sites relating to easel manufacturers, paint producers, panel and canvas manufacturers; all these small "boutique" places that are mentioned from time to time on the Forum but can be tough to track down unless you read every post.
You could send an email to each website and ask if they would be interested in paying a fee for a spot on your Forum.
I didn't mean to sound perjorative when I used the term "in your face". If I were an advertiser, I would want to be "in your face". The Dick Blick ad gets lost the moment you scroll down. The ads on the left stay on a long time (especially if one takes a long time posting a response). That's where I'd want to be if I had anything to sell to other artists.
I also think it's worth a shot to ask for donations from Forum participants.
As far as getting people to respond to posts, how about this idea: requiring that every poster must respond to another post in, say, a 1 to 3 ratio - for every image you post you must drop three responses (critique or encouragement) to another. (I suppose this is the Karma theory of posting.)
Part of the problem here seems to be the vast amount of time the Board spends on things like deciding who can be a Member. (Some of you may not know that not all Moderators are on the Board; I'm not, for example.)I admit I have never taken part in these decisions, but I suggest making it easy on yourselves by allowing, say, only 5 people per month, first come, first served, with no quality reviews. If an artist doesn't post within a certain time period, well, time's up