You are correct about the hard work done by Steve and all the contributors on the FAQ, which is open to anyone to read. As is this forum, with its wealth of information, and plenty of help from the many users who post replies and try to help with as many issues as possible.
All this for nothing. Well, nothing to all the users, but the club foots the bill for the server and all its running costs...not cheap.
If everything on the web site was available for all to see, what would the point be in joining. We have around 2000 indexed pages totalling around just under 2Gb of data. With just under 2000 different viewers each day it all adds up with the cost of the server, in bandwidth. That does not come cheap.
So I think it is reasonable that those who have paid the membership fee should be able to access the password protected pages. It is part of the membership pack. The membership fee covers many of the expenditures we have in running this club, including the server. My time running the server and looking after the web site is free, if it wasn't the club would be broke.
I hope this places some perspective on things. I know we cannot please everyone all the time, but....that's life.
Bob Isaac
Forum Admin
robert.isaac@volvoclub.org.uk