another_jim wrote:Anyone who draws a sharp boundary between amateur and professional is creating an industry, not a world.

Very true. It should make its way to the banner on top of the forum page.

I used to be an SCAA C-Member, and just found my expired membership card among some other things. Made me think about this thread and I'm wondering where the SCAA is headed now? Are things still at the level that many of the posts in this thread mention? Better or worse? From my recent contact it seems to me that it didn't change much, as Jim pointed out a while ago the SCAA is set to support coffee as an industry drawing a sharp line between consumers and pro's; I don't think that has changed. As to the C-membership as such, I haven't heard anything about it for a year now...

Wolfgang

Update: I just got the info from SCAA that the C-Member program has been eliminated a while ago. Well, that settles that question.

Still, IMO the elimination of the C-Member program sends out a message that the divide between consumer/amateur and professional is widening. There's always the Provisional Business membership if one really wants to become a member and have some discounts for conferences and stuff, but the question for me is, how much sense does it really make to get such a membership?

Wolfgang