To Pay Or Not To Pay~~The Welcome Mat!

Suffering from a horrific head cold the last few days, I've been forced to lay down the hook and needle. I get restless just resting. So with two boxes of Kleenex and a few sizzling glasses of Alka-Seltzer Plus by my side, I've spent a few hours online reading and watching the discussion's on The Welcome Mat, my favorite online social networking site. As my luck would have it, the Alka-Seltser Plus wasn't the only thing sizzling!
In case you haven't heard the latest, this is what has the rug hooking community over on the Mat swirling and twirling. Wanda Kerr is the Mat's originator. She has been the sites sole operator for seven years or more. The site was originally a paid site meaning you paid a fee (of which I'm told was 55.00 per year) to gain access and be a member. Then I believe it was about a year ago(correct me if I'm wrong here) that Wanda decided to recreate the site making it free to anyone wishing to sign up. That was when I found out about the site myself and decided to jump on board. At that time if I remember correctly, there were about 300 to 400 members. Photos could be posted of your rugs and other fiber arts you were inclined to share. The number of photos posted started to grow dramatically as did the members. Now the members number 2675 and the photos posted are 9677. This took place in less than a year and people were still joining daily. The woman at the helm, Wanda Kerr, found herself with a runaway train. People jumping on faster than she could imagine. Being the sole engineer, designer, ticket master and master mind behind this great freighter, Wanda threw a rug hook on the track.
She wondered if people wouldn't mind paying a fee to jump on board and keep this magnificent freighter steaming along and perhaps enhance it with a bar car or two. Maybe even add a sky observation deck to view the stars as we roll along the back roads and highroads of places we've never seen. If by chance people would be willing to pay 20 bucks for a ticket, she could hire some help to shovel the coal to keep the engines running while she actually drove the train.
Well........this is what happened.
Much controversy in the community arose over the idea of charging for a ticket to ride. Many ideas and suggestions swirled and twirled for a couple of days. The discussion board buzzed with excitement, concern, worry, and encouragement for the engineer to go forth and make the decision. Should The Welcome Mat remain free of charge to the thousands of ticketless riders?
Well, no more free rides.  But wait.......no need to be dumped off the train in some back alley in Chicago! For now there is another train you can catch! Yes, no ticket required! Keep your 20 bucks! Go buy a Rug Hooking Magazine! We can all catch this new freighter as it is speeding through Union Station at the speed of wool being pulled through Michele Micarelli Linen!  I jumped on board yesterday when the new members numbered about 15. Last I checked this new train with a new name "The Front Porch" has 266 members and 153 photos posted already!  You can socialize on this train to your hearts content. Wanda will be driving this train too. She will have help she can hire with the fee's from the first trains riders. So now with two trains to ride I still have to decide which train looks the most exciting! Will I have time to socialize on the bar cars on both trains? Can I take a dye class and observe out the newly installed skylights on the old train? If I don't pay my 20 bucks I won't know what's going on on the old train! That wouldn't be nice! I really need to know what neat stuff is going on in that old train! Knowing Wanda, she'll have the bar cars hoppin'! I want to be there for sure! So I'll probably ride the new train for awhile and just jump off when the old train gets going good! So I'll need to pay my 20 bucks to make sure I still have that option. So I think I've decided. Now if I can just dig up that twenty and hop on over to The Welcome Mat..I think I can be assured of a fairly decent ride. After all, there are two trains on the track. That doubles my odds doesn't it?