romeoboi - I've got links to 600 BYOT's scattered around on my domains, so I am hurty by this as well, but ARS is giving us roughly 60 days notice on this, so while it is a shocker, it's easier to swallow knowing we have 60 days to get our shit straight
I do feel for very bad for the BYOT builders that have spent money on content & whatnot for this, but there's a lot of other aspects that I'm sure ARS will eventually touch on & 2 possible causes that go thru my head are:
1 - BYOT makers own licenses to the content - not ARS - and seeing as the tours are on ARS owned domains, content providers that are scumbag piece of shits are probably sueing ARS as I type.
2 - The content that the BYOT builders use is probably not on the inside of the members area, which is false advertising & probably results in a shitload of chargebacks/refunds. I'm sure ARS doesn't like paying out money to the webmaster for the sign up, refnding the member his money & paying the fees associated with the chargebacks.
I'm a little pissed too about the lack of a trial on the new BYOT program, but from what I've read, with the content on the tours actuyally being inside the members area, it may be a little harder to promote, but probably more worth it