You may have noticed from today that a few people have a new "Forum Friend" icon next to their name - and also we have a new section in the "Members Offers" part of the forum.

Basically - in the past, I've had a number of companies contact me wanting to offer discounts to members, but not wanting to pay any advertising rates.

This always seemed a little bit unfair, but there was nothing that could be done, as if this was allowed, then the other advertisers would start to wonder what they were paying for.

Anyway - we've been pondering over this for a while, and have come up with a solution

If you donate £15 in a year to the forum, you will be upgraded for the duration of that year to the Forum Friends group - and will not only become "Ad Free" (both onsite and in the app), but also given access to the new offers area

By doing this, we keep the normal advertisers happy that they are getting value for money for their subscriptions (everyone can see what they post, not just the friends) - and also we now get to really go to town with offers and discounts.

So now we need some ideas of companies you'd like to see available - and I'll get on the case...