Dear C3VR Members,

This notice is to inform you of upcoming changes to the C3VR Membership Plans.

Two reasons for the change:
These reasons for change were discussed long and hard by C3VR staff.

1) To aid in the financial support of C3VR's existence and expansion.
As more people sign up and the site becomes more active, operational expenses continue to climb. Currently only Gold & Lifetime members (and the few Sponsors we have) are funding the site. That equates to only 5% of the 3700 registered members that actually pay to support the club.

2) To ensure the integrity of the membership.
Since, currently, ANYONE with an email account can sign up... we get many people that sign up, look around and never come back which distorts our membership strength. Also, they have nothing to lose by posting inappropriate threads in the C3VR Forums. This change will help C3VR become an elite group of C3 enthusiasts.

Summary of changes that will take affect as of June 1st, 2004:
1) Existing Gold & Lifetime Members
No changes will occur to members that are already Gold or Lifetime as of June 1, 2004.

2) New Members
New membership applications taken starting June 1st will have the choice of Standard, Gold & Lifetime Memberships.

a) Standard membership will cost $9.98 per year and allow access to ALL areas of the site. (That includes those which are currently only accessible to Gold & Lifetime Members, such as C3 Tips & Tricks and Personal File Folder). Their Personal File Folder and Personal Home Page limits will be 500k in each area. They will NOT receive a subscription to Shark Bytes, nor will they receive a Member Card or Window Sticker.

b) Gold Membership cost will remain at $24.98/year and allow access to ALL areas of the site. They will receive a 1,000k limit in both the Personal File Folder and Personal Home Page areas. They will receive a 1-Year subscription to Shark Bytes and a Member Card and Window Sticker.

c) Lifetime Membership cost will remain at $199.98 and will receive the same benefits as Gold Members with the addition of a Laminated Dash Plaque for each C3 Vette owned, a special C3VR Lifetime Member Embroidered T-Shirt and a special C3VR Lifetime Member Name Badge. They will also not be affected by any future member cost increases.

d) New Members (and Members upgrading to a Paid level) MUST provide a Valid Email Address, Home Address and Phone Number. Their access to the site will be restricted until they receive their password via the US Mail or Phone.

3) Existing Standard Members
All existing Standard Members will need to upgrade to one of the three Paid Membership Levels. If you joined prior to 6/1/2003 you will need to upgrade on 6/1/2004. If you joined after 6/1/2003 you will need to upgrade by 12/31/2004 or your 2004 Membership Anniversary Date, which ever is sooner. Here are some examples: if you joined on 10/2/2003, you will need to upgrade by 10/2/2004; if you joined 4/1/2004 you will need to upgrade by 12/31/2004; if you joined 5/2/2002, you will need to upgrade on 6/1/2004.

Final Thoughts:
We believe these costs to be very reasonable. If you consider that the C5 Registry has one membership level that costs $65 for the first year, $9.98 doesn't sound so bad.

We hope that those of you who will be affected by this change will realize that the new Standard Membership cost is very small and your online access benefits will actually increase. As such, we are hoping that you will continue to be a member of C3VR!

Additional Note: Please keep in mind you will not be required to pay the $9.98 for 'Standard' membership until 6/1/2004 at the EARLIEST. If you wish to upgrade to Gold or Lifetime Membership before 6/1/2004, simply go to "My C3VR Membership" under the "My Account" menu.

UPDATE 3/24 11am: If you do not wish to continue with C3VR after the change occurs, you do NOT need to request that your membership be canceled! Your membership will automatically expire on the date you'd be required to upgrade.

UPDATE 3/25 12:39am: Just so you know, I appreciate all the comments about the change, both good and bad! Also know that I have spent 5 hours today responding personally to almost each of the 75 replies made to this thread. I will continue to do so as time permits. I spend this time to give the kind of personal attention that I'd like as a member of a club.

UPDATE 3/26 12:40am: While the original burst of response to this thread was overwhelmingly negative, now that there have been 86 people that responded to the thread, here is the breakdown of support:
For: 50
Against: 28
On the fence: 8
So I guess the majority is saying they don't mind paying 84 cents a month to support the club.

UPDATE 4/7 10:17am: There have been some inappropriate comments made in response to this thread. This needs to stop! C3VR prides itself on being a friendly place! From now on, any replies to this thread that are, in a moderator's opinion, inappropriately worded will be deleted and a warning will be sent to it's author.

Thank you for your support!

-Adam Wartell
President - Official C3 Vette Registry

|UPDATED|4/7/2004 7:19:27 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Cancel my membership.

I belong to a number of different vette sites on the Internet. Some I don't pay any dues at & others I do. I feel that this site is one that is worth supporting because of the amazing amount of knowledge & expertise found here.

such web site are great, they only allow you to upgrade for money but the possibility to cancel the membership is missing under "my account".

-zschunky

I will stick around :)

Please cancel me.

Thanks.

please cancel me thanks

Please cancel me out.

man i love this site but i am only a kid and cant pay for it so please cancel me. dont wanna leave but i think that is going to be what i hafta do
thanks for everything
keith
here is a website similar http://corvettehelp.bravehost.com

|UPDATED|3/24/2004 12:49:32 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

I will stick it out until June and then decide. In the 2 years since I was a member I have been here 638 Visits on 437 Days. I like to read what people have to say. 10 dollars is not too bad. Once I was almost talked into becoming a Gold member and could not find out a reason I would want to pay. I could find the help if I wanted to somewhere else. Most of the help on this site is for newer C3s and are not for me. I have bought shirts and Calendars, but at this time see no reason to pay for membership. Maybe you can give me a reason by June.