This isn't the case at all. It was indeed recruiting from our membership when you had to join to see the pictures. What else would it be? If I recall correctly, the only thing silly about the whole situation was the fact that we asked for a reciprocal link on that site, but that request was refused. The only reason I can think of to not publish the photos here - and require visitors from our site to join the MABRC to view them - would be to bolster the numbers of that forum at the expense of the free and open nature of the BFF.
What about the thousands of members we have that aren't MABRC members? Did that forum want to openly share the above-mentioned photos with them, or just MABRC members that post here?
One of our deals is to freely share information
... unless we require BFF members to join to see it on the MABRC, that is.
Maybe you should change that to "Welcome to the MABRC - The forum that requires BFF members to join before seeing our content."
Fishing for members and requiring our members to join to view content - on a site that has vehemently refused to reciprocate - is something that we will put a stop to every time.