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>I for one would be happy to pay a fee to be on the list

As would I, but I would prefer a donation based system. There are a lot of
people who drive Vanagons because they don't have a whole lot of money and
they're easy to repair yourself. The worst thing we could do is require
yearly subscription fees and create some sort of private Vanagon club list
where "Poor Folks need not apply". So far the problem has apparently been
lack of donations. But how many of y'all even knew the cost was an issue
before the "I can't afford it anymore" message came? I didn't (though
admittedly I only started reading 2 months ago). As with any other
donation-supported endeavor, it is important to LET PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT IT.
If there's not enough money coming in, post to the list and TELL US. How
about a simple message once a month listing 1) monthly expenses,  2)
monthly donations, and 3) totals of each for the year? We are admittedly
often cheap bastards, but I reckon we're not so cheap that some of us won't
throw in a sawbuck now and then. You notice how PBS doesn't sit around
waiting for donations, they HOUND THEIR VIEWERS MERCILESSLY. Certainly this
degree of nagging shouldn't be necessary for a simple mail list, but a
little would probably do the trick, no?

John Bange
'90 Vanagon "Geldsauger"