I don't mind paying 'dues' for a membership, but the dues need to be used for something more than renting space for a monthly meeting. The only issue I have is that it seems like the local groups are exclusionary and (reading one of their web pages) not very hospital to new brewers. I was, also, told that one of the local groups not only has a fairly high membership cost, but you can only be invited by a member in good standing and then membership is only allowed after a vote by the general membership. Not anything that I would want to be a part of at any cost.
Mouse