Info Donations Discussion thread

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Get back to work.

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I run my own webhosting company and I might be able to contribute by providing very very cheap bandwidth and share our hardware.

A knowledgeable administrator may contact me by PM for further discussion.
 
^ thanks for the offer - but there are no plans to change the hosting arrangements at the moment. (read page 2 of this thread onwards.) :)
 
Sorry, I did not read this whole thread.

What I had to offer was 60 Mbit of bandwidth (95% ). Because I host a couple of websites with high peaks (400Mbit ++ :D), I'm wasting a lot of bandwidth most of the time.

(p.s. Geographically your servers are only a few miles away from mine)

Greets
 
Thanks for the offer Psyduck: we are very, very happy with our hosting at the moment - it honestly could not be with anyone better.

panic_in_paradise: my view would be the Metafilter approach: everyone pays $5 to join Metafilter, but you can still be banned if you troll, spam, abuse people, etc. Just like if you go into a club with a cover charge and cause trouble - you'll still get thrown out, and you won't get your entry fee back. Obviously, we want to limit the number of people who get perma-banned, which is why we have warnings, temp-bans, and so on.

The post credits idea is interesting, but my understanding is that micropayments don't work very well online...plus we'd be cutting off our younger members/those without credit cards. It's probably worth some more thought, though :)
 
Difference is that you don't have to pay (under this plan). So if you choose to donate, and then fuck up and get banned, then it's nobody's fault but your own. And even on a full pay to join basis, the picture doesn't change too much in my opinion anyway - fuck up, get banned.

Unless I've missed the point - apologies if I've misunderstood the line of thought here... :)
 
Hmmmm... you're talking about hosting aren't you... oh well... I'll leave it in case it actually is relevant... :\
 
I can understand, and have repeated myself, the desire for transparency and openness on how the site is run. It helps donors feel more comfortable with where their money goes and keeps law enforcement from thinking we're running some sort of drug selling scam. The open information idea helps all parties. \

However, it does become self defeating if we use the opportunity to become a niggling of every decision made :\ Some of this frustration has already shown through in some of the replies by the owner and admin group, but we're still trying to be as up front as we can. We just don't enjoy being second guessed on a system that is proven to work, has provided safety for the site and members for nearly a decade, and has not caused us any legal issues to date.

Without the offering of ideas, or the review of a current status quo, we could indeed be pissing away more money than necessary or leaving ourselves open to a vulnerability we didn't see coming. In that vein, the ideas are appreciated. Just keep in mind, we're not inclined to fuck with something that is working. If someone wants to do more legwork than we have in finding a host with reasonable hardware and service contracts, in a freindly country, with a live person on the hardware that we are wholly comfortable with and able to reach (as opposed to outtages over the past year because the host was on holiday 8) ), all for a cost significantly less than we're currently operating with - we'd be more than happy to check into it and see if it makes sense to switch when the current contract is up (I'm not sure if jb signed up for a year, or more, we'll ask him). But at least for 2008, we've shared what our costs are and our desire to build an emergency fund above operating costs (for legal fees of creating legal entities, setting up snail boxes for those who don't trust paypal, etc). We're telling you everything so you know the boat we're in for this year at least.

Beyond that, we can check out other hosts, but they will have a damn hard time beating the sense of security and stability our current host now provides. And, as others have noted, if you think we're overspending or doing less or more than we should - that's your opinion, and your welcome to share constructive ideas or suggestions, but that's a seperate issue from donating - you can still donate, or not, (or extra ;) ) based on how you feel or simply on how you appreciate what this site has done and continues to do for you, and thousands of other people around the globe. Any and all donations are helpful, even if it's a nickel. Any and all constructive suggestions are helpful, so long as it's construtive and a suggestion - niggling or bitching doesn't improve a damn thing.*




*noted, several aren't bitching, I'm just making the point of comments need to be defined. "It could be better" is not defined, HOW it could be better is, and could be acted upon.
 
marathonbinge said:
how do you guys accept donations and where are you guys based out of?
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First post tells how to donate. As does the link atop the page in red letters saying "Donate". The About link atop the page tells you where and how we're hosted.




[Edit by TLB - removed uncalled for comments]
 
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there have been some questions about the new progress bar on the Donate page. :)

answer here:

The progress bar is not automated. It will be updated as frequently as johnboy receives updates of deposits.

There are flaws with either system, of course. An automated progress bar may give false positives when you simply submit your intention to make a payment and are redirected to the PayPal site, but never actually complete the payment. To be fully automated, the progress bar would have to be intimately connected to the actual Paypal, bank and whatever other accounts are listed. That is rather impossible.

Without the progress bar, people would be relying on the admins for verbal updates on how much has been donated to date. Think of the progress bar as a graphical version of these verbal updates. We're all banking (pun) on mutual trust here. I believe it is in everyone's end interest to be truthful here.
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i would imagine any donations over say 1000EUR would get preferential treatment though. ;)
 
to add to the above, the progress bar is planned to be upgraded to an automated one (at least as far as paypal is concerned) once we upgrade to the new version of vbulletin
 
TheLoveBandit said:
I can understand <snipped to conserve bandwith> or bitching doesn't improve a damn thing.
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Edit: I donated ... so trust your judgements.
 
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I wanted to bump this again, primarily to thank everyone who has donated, and give a reminder to the US members who might be able to spare a little of their IRS returns ;) But I'll also point out that we're not done with ideas, and we appreciate those offered to date. We hope to have a US postal address shortly for those wishing to snail mail in their contributions and will update the DONATE page accordingly. That's not the only thing still being worked on and pulled forward, but I think it's the closest to fruition...we'll keep you posted. Again, thanks for keeping afloat the site that YOU make happen. :)
 
I just wanted to own up to not having donated yet. I'm currently paying for methadone maintenance, and have no regular job, so money has been tight. But I will be donating ASAP. I just got a job today and I start in May, so you'll see something coming from me eventually.
 
Congrats man! I'm of the option that getting a new job is on a par with passing your driving test.

Bet you're made up!
 
I don't trust pay pal's ideas of morality and privacy with that
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Me either. Don't want to give them my credit card info. I saw something mentioned about direct bank deposit. Is there some way one could deposit into an account? Maybe get a bank account and send the deposit info to those interested? I would much rather send a money order or certified cheque. I definitely won't be giving out cc info but I would be willing to make a donation sans the credit card.
 
the direct bank transfer and snail mail issues are explained in the 'Donate' section, highlighted in red, at the top of every page. :)

presumably, with this info:

Bank: Bendigo Bank
Address: Fountain Court, Bendigo VIC Australia
Swift Code: BENDAU3B
BSB: 633-000
Account Number: 126019629
Account Name: ABAASY PTY LTD

... there is nothing stopping anyone setting up a direct debit for monthly payments?
 
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