Membership fees for Forum access

[Jeff Fuchs]

It's amazing how terrible some artists' websites can be. If web design isn't your thing, definitely get someone who knows what they're doing. If not SOG, then someone.

[Cynthia Daniel]

Thank you, Michele. The newer ones are better than the older ones. Some olders ones are sorely in need of updating. But, some artists just put it up and forget about it - some I remind that we need to uprgrade their look, but it's hard to get the time for all

[Elizabeth Schott]

Please give me a moment to explain again what I was trying to say in my initial post. From what Cynthia and Jeff have said perhaps it was confusing.

The question: Would you pay a fee for forum access?

My answer: So would I pay to post here, no. Would I pay to look, possibly?

However, re being Stroke of Genius, because of it's very high visibility, artists do get more traffic than if they are on a site by themselves. More traffic always means more possibilties. The name of the game on the Internet is traffic and more traffic. As well as family commissions, artists here have been contacted by the White House, the US Senate and the US Supreme Court and many corporations and other entities. I think it's pretty wonderful that these government places know about Stroke of Genius as a place for portrait painters. I've also been contacted by Tiffany & Co.

I agree with Cynthia, and thus the reason I answered the question the way I did, Jeff it is not so much that I put a make it/break it emphasis on being an SOG Artist, it is that I feel for an upcoming portrait artist, with a business sense, it is important to be considered here. I have my own website, but I do not have representation.

[quote] It occurred to me that I should not be posting critiques, since it is, in my opinion, silly for someone whose work is not par with the

[Michael Fournier]

I have no problem with a fee to participate in the forum. Meaning Members who pay can post and reply to posts. But I feel lurkers (those who read but not reply or post) should still be allowed for free.

After all it costs nothing to allow them to look. And if they are moved enough by what they read to join in then they should be willing to pay to play. And my many thanks to all the moderators. I know they all have had to put up with my bad spelling and poor punctuation.

I have not been that active as of late but I still like to stop in now and then to check up on the group. I also have had many pleasant replies both online and off line to post I have made and more then once it has made my day a little better.

The life of a working artist is not always easy to keep up so a fee even a small one is issue for me but I still would have no problem paying it.

Thanks All

[Cynthia Daniel]

After all it costs nothing to allow them to look.

Actually, it does cost bandwidth. The hosting charge is based on amount of bandwidth.

[Jeff Fuchs]

The hosting charge is based on amount of bandwidth

Maybe I've been misunderstanding something, but it seems the posting guidelines heavily favor uploading pictures to your server, instead of remotely linking (it says we should avoid using the [img] tag).

If we could host our own photos, wouldn't that cut down on your bandwidth?

There's a service at photobucket.com that allows remote linking for just this purpose.

[Cynthia Daniel]

This web site is definitely not part of ASOPA. What made you think that?

[Renee Price]

My question about membership has been answered.

Renee

[Peggy Baumgaertner]

Renee,

Cynthia is talking about those of us who are paying members of Stroke of Genius web page. We are paying Cynthia for our web site management.

ASOPA, Portrait Society of Atlanta, Portrait Society of American, Classical Realism, among other portrait art groups, all have links on the main Stroke of Genius page, but they are not "members" of SOG.

Peggy

[Cynthia Daniel]

And, ASOPA has a link to the SOG Forum. I do happen to be the web designer for ASOPA and have a close working relationship with them, but this site is in no way a part of ASOPA or any other entity.