MLIFE

+1

And before anyone climbs all over Cameron for asking. Please see if you notice the changes on the subscription page for yourself.

Was…

"Participation in Backpacking Light's strategic planning process

* Access to lifetime Members-only forum for the discussion of overall Backpacking Light business strategy

* Invitation to participate in Backpacking Light's annual strategic planning meeting in Montana

* Receive Backpacking Light's annual report and interim strategic planning updates"

Now…

"Participation in Backpacking Light's strategic planning process

* Access to lifetime Members-only forum for the discussion of overall Backpacking Light business strategy

* Invitation to participate in periodic strategic planning meetings & MLIFE-only education conferences in Montana (additional fee involved)"

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I have never thought of BPL as a business before the newsletter Ryan sent out to MLIFE's last week. To me BPL was a great discussion forum on the net that used to have a great gear shop.

As a former business owner myself I try to understand the motivation behind MLIFE (in a business sense) and I can't figure it out. Of course $100 today is better than $20 next year and the year after that and so on but.. Also, since I live in Europe it's impractical for me to attend BSA, WTS or any other classes offered. I have paid my last subscription and the gear shop is closed! I am dead meat that BPL is stuck with for the rest of my LIFE! I do not know how many MLIFE's there is but BPL can end up having hundreds (thousands?) of us non-paying MLIFE members that they must support.

Flame me (or maybe delete me)!

Considering you assisted in financing a leveraged buyout for Ryan to buy back BPL and pay off a partner, I would be more interested in knowing what interest payment you all receive for lending the funds.

I think you guys got 'snookered' and it angers me.

No interest paid to MLIFErs, for both popular definitions of interest.

I think most people knew they were financing something, and Ryan needed money for something.

Ryan got to complete his buyout, but largely has failed to uphold the offer he made to entice people to give him cash.

Snookered is an understatement; We got Big Sky'd !

One email is a start to communication, but let us be fair, it came years after the money changed hands. Sounds like BS to me.

The participation in MLIFE exclusive forums or offsite meetings is of zero value to me and I suspect of zero value to most and yet they are the things that seem to constantly complain about.

MLIFE is simply a financial proposition, do you want to pay $100 once or $20+ a year for some unknown number of years.

I get tremendous value from the Forum and suspect I will for a number of years. I haven't purchased MLIFE because it's right on the edge justifiable savings. 6 year payback is too long (6 years to account not just for $100 but some time value of money).

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Oh com'on Ken

Time to follow the money. Mlifers who were gifted their status were of very low incremental cost to BPL itself. Sort of like becoming a Mickey Mouse Club member for $0, while MM owns the syndication rights.For those who were truly gifted at full cost to another member-well I salute the givers as the real thing.So what about those of us who paid? We at the worst are trying to just save money vs. the yearly renewal cost. But I think many of us were trying to pay back things we have learned. Personally I wish I could vote my $ to specific authors or members, but no such option. And what do our favorites really get paid? Mlife is a near given , but I suspect the rest $ is not much. With no gear shop , what's left? Fees for gear swap? Boot camps? At least I think we don't owe anything if BPL goes under by any current theory. What about our Personnel Information? Ownership is down to RJ's family. So I think of it a Mexican stand off sort of like my car with the Sirius radio I never paid for. BPL at this point has to make the offer because I won't put good money after bad in a bait and switch scenario. To me the bottom line is survival of the forums and that could be reinvented through sheer collective will. I was travelling . A bad sign when coming back to BPL feels like an unhappy Soap Opera. But Roger Caffin's article on nasty bugs is sort of like MIB 3.1 . And hey I want a new category and will go first. UNCOOL MEMBER FOR LIFE.

Cameron. Have you e mailed that to Ryan? ryan@backpackinglight dot com

He told me he spends no time on the forums. He has stated that he will read all e mails but is unable to respond to all of them individually.

So i am trying to look at these forums and do some homework before i spend any money here and i'm not seeing anything positive yet. I have been backpacking for over 12 years now and have learned SOOOO much from this site! I would like to give back and contribute as others have done. I could do a year membership since it is cheaper and I would not have to buy my wife a car to talk her in to letting me spend $109 on a lifetime membership but if i could help others MORE, have some say in the direction of BPL, keep the site going, there could be more perks in MLIFE membership. If it is going downhill (I have no idea about just noticed in this and another thread) I don't want to waste my money.

That being said, please dont fuss and complain about BPL. I don't care about the nit picky stuff. I just want to know if the perks are worth MLIFE or even M. If you have negative comments, please make them constructive criticism. For all of the negative comments…. is this something a MLIFE can help change?

Thanks in advance,

Latham

Latham. I would love for you to email your above post to Ryan and see what reply you receive. You will get a wide range of opinions here, but it would be interesting to hear what the guy at the wheel has to say.

Everyone agrees that the forums here are the best thing going on at this site. If you find $25 worth of tips, entertainment, and the ability to read the member only articles then I would say go with a regular membership. If you think you and BPL will be around for more than 5 years then go with a lifetime. Don't factor in any MLife benefits just yet. Let's see what happens after the inaugural retreat.

I too wanted to be a bigger part of BPL. That's why I jumped on the MLife train. I'll have to settle with doing the GGG and other BPL group trips through the year.

Thanks Ken, I will do that now. I'm not familiar with the retreat or any of the other events but I'll ask about that in my e-mail to him as well.

Latham

Here is a link Latham.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=65796

Thanks for the link, Ken, but I get this error message:

The specified forum thread no longer exists or never existed.

I may have to be a Member or MLIFE to view this page. I'll keep looking around for it.

Thanks.

Latham

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