When I found the forum I didn't join right away. I lurked for a while to see what it had to offer. If I had to pay up front I would have went elsewhere. Reading the forum, learning and laughing is what got me hooked. I thought well if the forum is this good I want to see the magazine so I subscribed. Then I thought if the mag is this good I want to see the books so I got them. Then I thought if the rest of this is so good I want to attend a conference and I did.
I did all these things because the forum was free and got me hooked. A free read only forum may have accomplished the same thing it's hard to say. I think making the forum a pay site would bring in more $$$ short term but hurt long term growth of the mag because people surfing the net for pond management would bypass the site. Plus how would locking the forum to paid members affect Internet search engine results. Someone typing in "feed trained bass" into google wouldn't get this forum as a result if it were pay to see. If it does become a pay forum then mag subscribers should get it included with subscription.
Regarding some of the other topics I still much prefer the portable paper version of the mag.
As far as growing the mag maybe try to work with those who advertise in the mag to see if they would include a flyer with their merchendise packaging. I think Bob metioned he did this with Game Fish Chow before but don't know if this is still being done or could be expanded.
