After 16 Years, RPLS.com Is Becoming Member-Supported

Update — August 2026: Since I first published this, we changed course on one thing, and I want to be straight about it: rather than keeping the most recent discussions behind membership, we opened everything up. Reading RPLS.com — every thread, current and past — is now free for everyone. Membership is about taking part, not access to the archive. I’ve struck the outdated part below and left the correction right after it, so you can see exactly what changed.

If you’ve spent any time on RPLS.com over the years, chances are we’ve crossed paths. I’m a previous land surveyor — 26 years in the field, licensed in two states — and I built this place back in 2010 because our profession needed a corner of the internet that was actually ours. Somewhere to argue boundary law, swap war stories, talk shop, and lend a hand to the next surveyor coming up. For sixteen years it’s been free, kept afloat by a handful of generous folks chipping in when they could.

I’m writing to tell you that’s changing, and I want to be straight with you about why.

Starting now, RPLS.com is becoming member-supported. Free-plus-a-tip-jar got us this far, but it won’t carry us into the next sixteen years. Keeping a site like this alive — the hosting, the upkeep, the endless fight against spam, and building the things you’ve asked for — takes real, steady resources. Membership is how RPLS stands on its own two feet instead of hoping the donations show up.

Here’s what that support actually does. It’s paid for a ground-up rebuild of the platform, a proper Find a Surveyor directory so clients can find you, and a Marketplace for jobs and equipment. And honestly, asking members to invest a little does something money alone can’t: it raises the signal. Fewer spammers and drive-by lurkers, more working surveyors who genuinely care about this profession and each other.

Now the part I want to be clear about, because I know it matters to you: sixteen years of discussions aren’t going anywhere. Everything older than 90 days stays public and free to read — for you, for the surveyor Googling a problem at 11 p.m., all of it. The only thing behind membership is the last 90 days, where today’s problems get solved and today’s questions get answered. Browse the archive all you want, on the house.

Now the part I want to be clear about, because I know it matters to you: reading RPLS.com is free for everyone — every discussion, current and past, no account, no paywall. For you, for the surveyor Googling a problem at 11 p.m., all of it. What membership buys isn’t access to the archive; it’s a voice in it — the ability to post, reply, and take part where today’s problems get solved. Browse all you want, on the house. Membership is for when you’re ready to join in.

If RPLS has ever saved you a headache, taught you something, or just given you a place to vent to people who get it, I’d be honored to have you join as a Founder. Through August 31, the Founder membership is $79 a year — and that rate is locked for life, even when standard prices go up down the road. It’s my thank-you to the surveyors helping get this next chapter off the ground. Prefer to go month to month? That’s there too, at $10 with no commitment.

Either way, you can see the plans and sign up here: rpls.com/membership.

Thank you — truly — for sixteen years. Let’s build the next stretch together.

— Wendell, RPLS.com admin