tazman7474: What? You're missing my point. Besides, to be a Big Boss, you must be a paying member, right? So what are talking about? I would have it in the Big Bosses control. Non-paying members would be subject to how things are for them now, but the Big Boss would be able to have a wider forum for his fellowship if he thought he could serve a wider audience. If he opened it to just having non-members of his fellowship to read the posts, but not write, I don't see how this would cheapen your membership in any way. If he allowed non-members of his fellowship to write posts also, it would create a type of public discussion board that would force him and his manages to monitor it in a way similar to how the moderators of the discussions board do now. I'm sure no Big Boss would put up with too much carrying on or he'd change the setting back or ban the individuals responsible.

As this site is currently set up, aren't non-paying (Pawn) members already allowed to join fellowships and post to them?
A Pawn member isn't allowed to create a fellowship though, is he? That would still be a perk of joining the site. Pawns can only play 20 games at a time and cannot play Ponds. Being able to read a fellowship's discussion board with the Big Boss's approval doesn't seem like something that'd cheapen your membership in any way. Allowing the Big Boss to allow non-paying and non-fellowship members to read or write posts doesn't seem to have anything to do with your enjoyment of the site. You still get unlimited games and fellowship creation. My proposal doesn't change any of that, but would help add to discussion of narrow ranged subjects that are no longer or never have been served by the discussion boards.