(EDIT: NOTE THAT I POSTED A SHORT FOLLOW UP AFTER REALIZING A FEW THINGS I SAID WERE INACCURATE)
I've thought about commenting several times, but didn't really necessarily have my thoughts together. I still don't know that they're quite complete, but I feel this is a very good starting point for discussion into the structure of this site.
I mean no ill-will of any sort in this post, I only wish to present a perspective of how you can not only continue to further this organization, but also further the benefit of all sentient beings.
Basic Assumptions:
1. The continued dissemination of this information clearly takes precedence over profit and almost all other concerns.
2. Community is also clearly of the utmost importance in the furthered development & practice of this information.
3. As an IT professional, I can attest to the fact that it costs money to develop and maintain a live site/web server.
4. The process of filming/taping/etc. also has a moderate financial cost associated with it.
My Thoughts:
1. Make The General Level Forums Public (Free Registration To Post)
The first thing I'd like to note is that the overwhelming majority of bandwidth involved in this site is clearly the transfer of all of the a/v multimedia. These forums are small-game in comparison, especially considering the low level of actual participation that takes place within them, I mean, I'm not seeing any one of the individual boards with more than a few thousand threads. I understand the idea of trying to give people some sort of value benefit for the money they pay, however, the idea of having to pay money to converse with this community is ridiculous (can't think of a better wording for that, so I apologize) as it discriminates against those who can't afford or are not familiar enough to purchase paid membership. One of the main tenets of the integral approach seems to be INCLUSIVENESS, and I really don't see how making this community more EXCLUSIVE helps anyone. It seems this only limits the whole of this community and the accessibility of both inner and outer ideas.
There is already a "Sponsor" level set of forums that is a sure safe refuge for those who are serious about these ideas to discuss, but lets EXPAND the general community and welcome those who haven't been exposed or aren't necessarily at a point where it makes sense to purchase a paid subscription. At the very least, the general (and preferable sponsor level as well) forums would best be utilized if the general public had read access, but were required to complete free registration to post in the general level forum, and paid membership to post in the sponsor-level forums. If indexed by a search engine, this could also lead to a rise in community membership and participation.
One concern I can foresee on your end is that this may open the system up to abuse, but there are thousands and thousand of public forums out there on the internet and some very sound techniques for moderation. All that is required is the ability for registered user to click a button to report posts that violate the rules. At this point a moderator would be notified and if the post violates the rules, then there is a set procedure of disciplinary action (say day ban, week ban, permanent ban or something along those lines)... if there is clearly no issue with the post, then the person who reported it temporarily or permanently loses the ability to report posts. You don't necessarily have to pay anyone extra to do the moderation, if staff is insufficient for the task, usually trusted veteran members would be willing to perform such tasks free of charge in order to do their part (maybe reward those handful of people with free membership or something if it ever came to that). You can use captcha to prevent against bot registration, and general system administration techniques to guard against anyone who might want to abuse the site.
2. Please Continue To Release Older Materials To The Public
No doubt it costs time and money to organize these discussions and filmings, but here's the thing. It seems like most, if not all the video content has been taped at retreats and/or paid events. If this is the case, then it seems like camera/audio equipment, digital conversion, and bandwidth are the only sources of additional costs. I agree that these materials hosted on-site should only be available to paid members (even if one only considers bandwidth, this makes logical sense), however, you have already made a great step in releasing a pretty decent amount of video content on youtube, but when I look at the archives here, I see they date all the way back to 2003. What is the benefit being gained from keeping this content under lock and key?
I encourage you to consider making more of this older media publicly available through sites like youtube where they can be distributed without any additional costs on your part, by keeping the last couple/few years of content exclusive to members, you can still retain subscriptions.
3. Please Make A Statment Regarding The Redistribution of Media
As a subscriber with access to audio/video, is there a policy (other than general copyright law) on the distribution of these materials to friends/family?
I know part of the text with premium (cd/dvd) membership makes some mention of the concept.
Anyways, I think that's about all I have at this point...
I think Ken and the others have come together out of a genuine sense of altruism, and I respect the work that they've done.
That being said, if our goal is to continued evolution and improvement, then we must constantly examine and search for the next stage in that evolution of self, community, and organization.