Dear SMF Team - The Charter

[Chipfryer]

I have a couple of questions if you have the time to answer them please. If you wish to do this offlist I have no problem with that at all sincerely. I really do not know who to ask in the huge forum and I know that PM's are frowned upon by some so I do not wish to infringe on personal privacy rights.

Lately I have noticed the Charter members notice displayed in some quarters of this web site.

1. Will SMF always remain a free software?
2. If not? Will SMF provide patches for any urgent updates for non-charter members as they have done so far?


SMF is well on par with Invision and I personally think it surpasses it by a great margin. I just want to know what the future is for a non-charter member in the foreseeable future please.

Best regards and many thanks for support throughout my two year period using this software.

[Fustrate]

I think you'll find this page helpful. SMF will always be free, no matter what.

Charter Members are members who have paid $50 for access to a few CM-only subforums and the ability to use beta releases of SMF before they are released to the public, sort of like guinea pigs.

[metallica48423]

Charter members truly are more than 'guinea pigs', i can assure you.  I was a Charter Member prior to ever becoming a team member

Charter  members get the benefits outlined on http://www.simplemachines.org/charter/, including beta access, private support forums/helpdesk, etc. 

Charter members *are* often the second line of testing for new versions, but thats not entirely guinea-pigging them

SMF itself *will always be free* -- our own core values dictate this.  The core values are our bible as a team.  In fact -- i can tell you that a great majority of the team here would leave if SMF ever went paid.

Simply put -- not going to happen.  I can understand the concern, however, considering IPB's stunt.

[Chipfryer]

I rather like being a guinea pig frankly. OK No worries this has been bothering me for some time so I had to ask.

Thank you very much for clearing that up, I really do appreciate it.
Best regards.

Simply put -- not going to happen.  I can understand the concern, however, considering IPB's stunt.