WTF is Happening to My Warrior Forum?

I haven't been very active here as of late, mainly because of all the new "rules" imposed since Allen sold the place to Freelancer.

I'm not a well known member, but I was just reflecting on the beginning of my eighth year here, having joined the forum during Christmas of 2007.

In the beginning I was very active - reading and commenting on many of the posts and meeting alot of people who have had a lasting influence on my career as an internet marketer. I'd also like to think I helped a few newbies along the way.

I was first put off by freelancer's attempt to make us use their version of Warrior + or jvzoo (warrior payments I think they call it) and make it difficult to use anything else. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, may be the best system ever, but to make it so difficult to use anything else strikes me as a form of cooercion.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm easy to get along with, but when my state made it a law that I had to wear a shoulder harness in my car and a helmet when I rode my bike it pissed me off.

I wear a harness (having had a serious wreck that almost killed me without one), and I always wear a brainbucket when I ride the classic Goldwing...but to be told I had to just makes my blood boil.

I saw the quality of the WSO's going down hill almost immediately and pretty much quit even checking here because all the big launches were going elsewhere. If it weren't for the guys that would sell you one product and then hammer you with affiliate offers, I would have never learned of some of the best products that came out in 2014. (I won't even get into that as I'm deleting a lot of those from my emails).

Now I'm seeing a TON of crap wso's and a lot of free products (I figured Allen upped the WSO prices to prevent that, but what do I know) - and I see that the new owners are delegating the free stuff to the classified section (which now costs as much as a WSO) ???

I'm hoping that all the changes will sort themselves out for the better given enough time, but frankly I don't see this as a community anymore, it seems to be all about the dollar and that disturbs me.

It's a bit against my grain, hating to be told it's either my way or the highway, and I probably have little choice but to use the WF if I choose to get the maximum exposure for whatever I choose to sell...

But I'll have to admit to being curious as to how long this one time community will withstand this massive effort toward monetization?

I see a lot of argument in threads among my 'mentors' as to which way this forum is going, and I'm forced to agree that you must go along with the new owner's rules or face alternatives that aren't as profitable, but I have to wonder how long this forum is going to continue to be the WF I remember from 7 years ago at it's current rate of decline.

Respectfully,
Steve