Yes you do, Simon and I coudn’t agree with you more. Myself and the rest of the team here have often felt like it’s a consistently uphill battle to glean value from the money we invest in sponsoring and attending events.
That hill’s been getting steeper year to year.
I’ve not got a side to take but want to express that I’m deeply concerned a) with affiliates having the community and service they’ve come to expect and deserve, and b) with operators truly getting their money’s worth from sponsorship and event participation.
Those are the key issues that MUST be addressed as we wait for the other shoe to drop.
I say…Bring the value-back!
I’d love to see it become affordable again for honest and hard-working operators and programmes to be able to expose their brands and offers to the affiliate community at large, such that they still have some change left over to budget toward affiliate-centric promotions 
MJ
There are 99 programs listed within the CAP certified programs section, with each paying on average $40,000 a year (this is a personal estimate and can be out a little). If you multiply 40kx99 it gives you a sweet $4 million so today alone the merchants combined have lost over $10,000 in sponsorship money. I am sure there are some factors of greed involved in this argument which is hurtful as at the end of the day all the certified programs signed up as a CAP certified program to show that they are legite and listed on a unbias affiliate forum.
It would be great for CAP to revert to the old days (4 years back) when getting a program listed on here was not breaking the bank, you got bang for your buck and affiliates actually visited your program to learn more as the professor and team enjoyed what they did and wanted to see us succeed. Right now being listed on CAP is comparable to being a needle in a haystack as it is hard to attract the attention of an affiliate when you are bundled between 98 other listings.
Sorry for bringing these points up but I talk for all the certified programs here.