There are alternatives to charging a fee that still ensure some level of accountability (see urbanknights post). Bikeforums can run the show how they see fit, but to say it's not about the money is disingenuous.

It's not about money.

^Post of the day. I do believe it's not about the money. The site probably gets more money from a single advertiser in a month than from all the LIFETIME red stars they sell that month. It probably helped Joe out because he was barely making the bills (or so I've heard), but now the company probably doesn't care save for the fact that people might complain if you start giving away what was once $25 (note, I wouldn't complain. I was happy tp help out and that was it)

Seeing as how we also gave out red stars in exchange for a link back to the forums, it's not about the money. The new forum owners have a huge portfolio of sites. I know they want to see more upgraded memberships, but I don't think that they're relying on that as a big source of revenue.

Yeah. Besides, I've probably used up my $25 in bandwidth by now :D