i'll let you explain that part chuck. but if i can add, this is not something specific to this site. it is an overall concern that has to do with the status of all our sites and how they come up on search engines.

In what way will a free forum bring in profit-increasing members, and why is this a primary concern now when it hasn't been in the past? If anything, this is as active as the boards have ever been, and new membership usually comes in cycles.

Compared to other competitive community forums, this site is not meeting our expectations.

As for the profanity filter and posting of nudity...adhering to the rules means we show up higher on search engines.

We are not interested in the "tight knit" attitude of the forum. It should be fairly easy with modern social networking sites to keep up with each other if that is your concern. Our goal here is to increase membership and attractiveness of the site.

he was talking about some of the profane stuff that goes on in all our sites and how they affect google ratings. members arent profit. hits are profit. and when google's requirements aren't met for the level ratings they are employing, we go down in the search results. so then, the site is making less money.

the easiest thing to do is make sure none of this stuff is happening! which is one of the reasons we are here.

If there is any restructuring going on, will the volunteer staff have any say in it and will this new setup be open to suggestions?

Yeah, right. I have no clue who the **** Chuck Harvey is. That should tell you something.

yo i was chill with jay shreddz, this chuck harvey dude not as chill with. Seems like some bureaucratic soulless shell typa dude

you will all know when we announce what's going on with the staff positions. there will be changes, but i'm talking to the company right now as far as what info to release.

Why would they? The higher ups have never adhered to any of the multiple suggestions the mod team has brought up in order to make this forum more desirable. For awhile we were thinking about having a front page for music news and reviews that members could post in to give themselves more writing exposure and attract new members.

Or the multiple security updates we've pleaded for to make it harder for spammers to create accounts.

We had to fight tooth and nail just to get larger avatars, and even then only mods could do it, creating another work around for us on something that should be simple.