Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Slow around here lately?

Bill D., you bring up an important aspect which is the financial viability of the Pond Boss Forum.

We have heard in years past from some who felt that the forum's goal was not to make money in and of itself, but more so to drive business to the magazine, Bob's consulting/fisheries business, and Otto's dirt moving business. And as such, forum users should not have to lend any financial support to the forum; they certainly have a point.

Assuredly, the first purpose of the Pond Boss Website, as it is with most all businesses' websites, is/was to drive business to the companies.

Then the forum came along, and it took on a life of it's own, as it grew and morphed into something more (note the get togethers, regional and national, etc. The internet friendships and those that developed into physical friendships, the camaraderie, etc.) The forum also gave numerous people the confidence to start their own businesses (Nate Herman, Esshup/Scott, Rainman/Rex, Blaine Hession, etc.)

Now, as we sit here today, Pond Boss could have a website that still drives business to their companies...and they could have that without the Forum.

If Lusk and Otto decided that they no longer wanted the expense of keeping the forum up, every single one of us here would be incredibly sad. We would all have a major hole in our lives. We no longer come here to drive business to Pond Boss as we are already customers of either the magazine or Lusk/Otto's businesses. We come here for each other, warts and all. And we honestly all love it.

It is that realization that more of us must come to. If we love this place so much, then imagine if it was gone. That alone is reason enough to support it financially.