I've been following the various CCA/MoGH announcements & changes re: use of MoGH advanced features and the changes happening as of August 1. I attended Charles Kaplan's MoGH Educational Seminar at the Convention.

I further understood that one of the side-benefits was to give extra reasons (and added value) to join the CCA because of the more exclusive bells & whistles that only members can get on MoGH. We'd really like to increase membership numbers in CCA.

So I thought I understood it all. But now I'm confused again. Here's why ...

CCA offers regular membership at $40/year and associate membership at $7/year. (Let's set aside Life members for now). With it you get CCA-only privilege to attend Banquet, sign up for pre-registration (with 1 hour early entry on day 1 at convention), etc. AND as a CCA member, you are bound by the CCA Code of Ethics, subject to complaints from other members, etc. too.

On the the other hand, through the "side door"** (my term) entry to the MoGH, you can currently sign up for MoGH (not CCA) membership at $35/year for Gold-level member (equivalent to a "regular" status) and for Associate membership at $10/year.

** The 2 MoGH website entrances are:
http://museumofgaminghistory.org
and
http://chipguide.themogh.org
Both destinations lead to the ChipGuide map and usage, but not the somewhat different headers in the black band at the top of each.

It's the first webpage address, above, that I'm referring to that has MoGH (not CCA) membership prices that I quoted.

My confusion is that, after August 1, will the MoGH ONLY members have access to the FULL MoGH features, without being a CCA member? Will the be grandfathered in somehow or just given (free?) CCA membership? Will the MoGH membership offer continue beyond August 1 or be eliminated? Or what's the transition plan?

Also of genuine concern to me is the benefit of Code of Ethics (mandatory) adherence for all CCA members. It seems to me that an individual who preferred to operate beyond the ethical expectations of CCA, and yet wanted to be involved in the hobby (and use the full features of the ChipGuide) could bypass joining CCA and still operate as usual post-August 1. (And for a more neutral scenario, some folks are just not "joiners" and do not want to be in the CCA, or for some reason, have an animosity against the CCA or some of its members.)

Sorry for opening this can of worms, but unless I'm confused (a real possibility!) it seems this MoGH/non-CCA membership "loophole" is at odds with the motivation that's behind the August 1 changes.

Perhaps Charles K. or Jim F. can comment ... or anyone who has insights I'm missing. (These guys are my long-time friends and I'm not trying to stir the pot, but just trying to fit all the pieces together. )

Thanks for reading my LENGTHY post.