KoG Bullethead...I dont know if the concerns mentioned in your post are from you or other members you have talked to. Let me talk openly about the subject for a moment.
The owners of this site(council) have never used advertisements, never allowed pop-ups to come from this site, never allowed outside companies or domains access to your email address to send you advertisement or links there(junk mail). For over 2 years the site, its maintence, domains, upgrades exc.. have been paid for out of pocket by the council.
I would estimate a mere 5-8k has been spent thus far, again out of pocket by a few members of the council. Sure we could slam advertisements all over the website, put additional cookies on your computer and allow outside domains access to your email. But thats not what XG was formed for.
Alot of you say, well why cant people just donate to to help out with the expenses of running the site we are all spoiled with and use frequently free of charge. Well that has been tried the last 2-3 months. A total amount of 1.00 was donated, .23 of which paypal took. So xiledgaming has recieved a total amount of .77 cents in donations. Everyone is spoiled with the benifits of the things they allow us on this site.
Some people have left because they couldnt have 3 or 4 sigs any more without paying a small fee. This is sadly ammusing to me. If you were in our community, and a leader at that for the sigs on the website, then goodriddens, you were here for the wrong reasons. And if they really are that important to you for some odd reason. $40 dollars for a lifetime membership. Thats nothing, and you get a t-shirt with it at that! You spend that on a 5 minute lap dance. You dont get near the use or the benifits off that $40 as you would here, i promise ya that!
And you mentioned you can play in all kinds of free tournaments that offer free prizes on all kinds of other sites, hook me up with the website, I would like to enter. Call me crazy I just dont recall being able to find any lately. You also mentioned what will they do with almost a million dollars?..........I hope the ones of you that say this are young and dont quiet understand. Use common sense, how many people do you really think will actually subscribe?? If as many people subscribe that donated we will soon be booking flights with XGC Airways.
Come on people!! Many of you higher-ups are upset that you didnt have any say-so in this decision. Do teachers at schools have a say-so in how much to charge kids for lunch?? I believe once you start pitching in to help pay for the site then you will have a say-so on the financial situation. All in all please put yourself in the other persons shoes before you start slandering. Everyone is offered alot on this site for free, always have, and you still will.
You have all agreed to do a specific job in the community because you believe in what we stand for, not because you get 4 sigs and personal avatars. I encourage evey gamer to stay, but if these are the only reasons you are here then maybe you should re-evauluate whether your in the right place or not.
NOTE: Everything above are personal opinions. Not saying anyone is wrong or right, nor that I am wrong or right, and its NOT intended to offend anyone. Everyone quit worrying about nothing and lets play some games