Background:
Working with the team stats a few years back, our number of active folders was about 640. Now we're hovering just over 300 hundred (310 atm).
No matter how successful our team is at farming, we can't rely on a few super productive folders (ChasR, HayesK, SFU, Ned, etc.), to move our team away from the likes of TSC! Russia with their 800+ members. We need more actively folding teammates, and we aren't getting them.
We need to partner up with some (perhaps several), manufacturers and/or distributors, of PC gear. EVGA, Overclockers.net, even Hardware Canucks, have done this, all with great success.
Overclocking.com is a great name, but overclocking information is available (even on OCF), quite apart from Folding@Home. We don't get a lot of new folders, because they came here looking for overclocking help.
We need something that will attract new members, and there's nothing as successful as special or discounted prices on new gear. I know Gregorian chanting *seems* like it would attract hordes of FAH enthusiasts, but so far, it hasn't worked.
What companies we make arrangements with, what those arrangements will be, and how they'll be implemented, are important details, for later. First, we need to decide whether we want to pursue this, or not. IMO, we either have to move forward with it, or accept becoming a team fighting to stay even, but ultimately on the decline.
I see the excitement that is so evident on the "new gear" teams, when the newest discounted or special gear offer rolls out onto their forum. We need that kind of excitement, to attract and maintain new members. FAH will always be about the cure, but new folders have a choice of thousands of FAH teams. Whether we like it or not, we are in competition for those new members. They are likely to only join one team. Right now, we're not being competitive with the best teams, in recruiting/attracting the new members we need.
Comments most welcome.