Is the Car Park more popular than the 2 channel?
Nein, but that is not to say that the Car Park/Public Bar type subforums are less important. There are a large number of Hi-Fi forums on the Internet. Klassik can easily name 10 off the top of Klassik's head and there are surely others along with quasi-forums such as Reddit. Some of the other forums, like Pinkfish Media, are specifically British Hi-Fi forums. The point in saying this is that there are many places for one to read about music and audio equipment, but what makes one stand out from the others which might get people to read it rather than all the other many options?
The Wigwam was not on Klassik's radar at all, but a founding member of an elite, exclusive musical listeners club of which Klassik is a member let Klassik know about this place. The reason for the recommendation? It wasn't for the Hi-Fi discussion. xD That's not necessarily to say the Hi-Fi discussion is/was poor, but that's not what made the place standout over other similar forums. Rather, it was the carousing in the 'community' parts of the forum, such as the Cockpunching Thread, which made the Wigwam standout from at least some other forums. We all like music and/or audio equipment, but we don't always wish to engage in redundant discussions about it. Sometimes it's nice to have discussions about other topics with people with some kind of common background. The 'community' parts of the forum serve that purpose. Now, having said all of this, some might say that since these parts of the forum attracted Klassik, it might make sense to disband them. :yeah:
Klassik knows not about the financial situation of Wigwam ownership. Some very busy forums are maintained without ads and paid subscriptions due to the wishes and abilities of the ownership, but that isn't always the case. Perhaps there is an operational need by ownership to generate revenue. Fair enough if that is the case, but Klassik hopes that the variety that the Wigwam will not suffer from hiding parts of the forum. As it is, it seems the robustness of political discussion at the Wigwam, as just one example, has fallen quite far behind that of, say, Pinkfish from what Klassik has seen as a member/lurker on other forums. :S Klassik is unsure if these new measures will do anything to help that issue. In fact, it might well do the opposite.
That works both ways, Phil - apparently, you are happy to have someone else put their hand in their pocket for the not-insignificant ongoing cost of hosting and maintaining the forum, but at the same time, you feel that you need to be consulted on how the forum is run? How does that work exactly?
Klassik is unsure about the point of this statement. Those who read a forum are using the forum's resources, but those who post at a forum are also contributing content for the forum which is also necessary to keep a forum going along with all the backend technology. If changes had to be made given the above discussion of finances, fine, but letting forum members know about changes and maybe even letting them have input on certain matters isn't a bad idea either for the sake of community cohesion...especially when one is needing (or wanting) money from said members in addition to their content.