Info Donations Discussion thread

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TheLoveBandit

Indefinite break from BL - contact other admin
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Copied from the ANNOUNCEMENT:

Bluelight has historically been fortunate that all funding requirements were met by our generous benefactor. It was his stated intent to fund the site long after his lifetime, but due to the quick onset of his condition, we have been left without any assurance that his estate will provide for us. In order to sustain this site going forward, we are forced to find other funding sources. The breadth and scope of these will continue to evolve, but for now we have instituted a PayPal donation link. We are asking our members (and lurkers) to donate whatever they might be comfortable offering in return for the information and community they have found here. No donation is too small, or too large ;) , and we will continue to add other ways in which you can help us out as we go forward. Thank you for your support.


link---> OUR DONATIONS PAGE <---link​

A few quick FAQs up front:

Where does the money go?
Bluelight has historically been staffed on a volunteer basis - this will not change. All Moderators, Sr. Mods, and Admins give their time freely in an effort to sustain the site and help it thrive. The actual account into which the funds will go is owned and accessed solely by the owner of Bluelight, johnboy. He also owns and operates Pillreports.com (shared on our server) and Enlighten.org.au, two of our sister sites.

Why Paypal?
Because it was the quickest and easiest to implement at this time. We are exploring other avenues to receive donations, and we will post them as they come online.


Why AlertPay?
Because Paypal blindly blocked our use of their services under their classifications of 'drug' or other possibly illegal activities. We know better, but they simply asked us to take our business elsewhere. Our owner, johnboy, has been able to set up an AlertPay account which should not suffer these types of account closures.

Why are the donations in Euros?
Our servers are in Europe, and while our member base is global, it simplified bill paying for our account to be set in monies that match the billing we receive. If you live outside of the Euro community, your credit card or account will get charged at whatever the conversion rate is at the time of the transaction. For those wishing to donate specific amounts of money in your own currency, we suggest using a conversion calculator to determine the appropriate euro amount. (For example, currently $10 US ~ 6.53 Euros).....but the AlertPay allows you to enter your own amount in USD, AusD, or euro and will convert it to euro automatically (for a fee deducted from the donation, of course).

What other funding plans does the site have in mind, and when will they become available?
We have several ideas at work, but to express them here may rush them or cause part of the arrangement to become fouled up if they aren't properly put in place before public access is granted. We have a thread in SUPPORT to encourage member suggestions and an open discussion of opportunities as well as why some ideas may not be pursued. However, all final decisions and implementation will be done by the owner and admin team, released as each plan is finalized. Your patience is appreciated.


Edited DEC '09 - updated link to donation page, scratched PayPal.

Edited MAR '10 - Balance update to donations bar, provide summary below (repeated in post #242 with more explanation), some monies are lost due to banking and currency conversion fees :
Code:
Donations by month in euro (total number of persons/donations that month):
DEC '09 - 170 euro - 3 donors
JAN '10 - 200 euro - 6 donors
FEB '10 - 200 euro - 7 donors
MAR '10 - 300 euro - 10 donors
APR '10 - 364 euro - 15 donors
MAY '10 - 335 euro - 15 donors
JUN '10 - 380 euro - 13 donors
JUL '10 - 370 euro - 13 donors
AUG '10 - 278 euro - 11 donors
 
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hey guys :D

ok, just a quick opinion on donations. in the past, when involved in a large website for many years, after asking for donations a lot went downhill. personally, i love this site, and will donate funds to keep it going.

but i was thinking if it was my site, i would want everyone to know what the site really cost and keep a running public tally of how much was needed. along with a public report of the fund allocation.

there tend to be thoughts about whether or not those that run it are doing for altruistic or financial reasons. no matter how much most of us really do have faith in the bl gods, there will be others that simply don't. i believe that public accountability would lead to more donations. if we can actually see that this site is in the red 1000 bucks, you would see that number lower much more quickly than when we didn't have a clue.

for those who don't an expendable income, they will not want to share it with the thought that it would just be gravy at that time.

anyway, just a thought.

that being said, i hope the majority of bl does this site and alans memory a service and keep this place running. it has been a lifesaver, literally, for many.

<3
 
DM, thanks for your thoughts on the subject. I'll chime in briefly while the announcement is still being assembled.

Regarding the site you referenced going downhill after it started asking for donations, I can similarly list countless sites which have led a very healthy existence and been able to expand under a continued donations campaign.

An idea of costs will likely come in the announcements. As well, I am sure we'll discuss other payment methods and revenue streams. T-shirts and souvenirs have already come up in discussion here and there.

Thank you for helping. :)
 
I think that anyone who donates funds to Bluelight should have an (OPTIONAL) tag assigned to there username that states they are a paying supporter of this website.... THAT and ALL warnings should be ERASED from the record;)
 
How do I donate in US dollars? Or is that not possible?
 
DG said:
How do I donate in US dollars? Or is that not possible?
It will convert automatically based on whatever the current exchange rate is at the time of the transaction. For example, if you submit 10 euros *right now* you will see a charge on your credit card or whatever for about $15.32 US Dollars, or $16.54 Aus Dollars, depending upon where you live.

If you just want to give $10 US, then you can use a conversion calculator to figure out how many euros that is. Somewhat of a pain in the ass, but again, this is our first step and we'll try to refine the donation options over the coming weeks. (currently $10 US ~ 6.53 Euros)
 
Madhatter4 said:
I think that anyone who donates funds to Bluelight should have an (OPTIONAL) tag assigned to there username that states they are a paying supporter of this website.... THAT and ALL warnings should be ERASED from the record;)

Your first suggestion has merit, I think, and I've already suggested a discussion on it. On your second, I realise you may not have been 100% serious, but I would be very strongly opposed to letting someone break the rules just because they've donated. (If you go to Metafilter, they have a registration fee, but if you troll their site, you will still be banned).
 
Honestly, as cool as adding a little tag by someone's name showing that they have donated may be, it may make others who are unable to contribute (but would like to) feel as though it might be rubbing it in their faces.

Just a thought.
 
i kind of agree. it promotes elitism. i was kinda against the past bl mod status tags too for the same reason, though i never spoke up about it. i don't usually care about such things, and am usually a bit quiet in these topics, but since i spoke up about the donations, i feel i should put in my two cents the rest of the way also.
 
I wouldn't consider it elitism since ANYONE can donate. And it doesn't have to be a lot.
 
Please can we have some kind of meter to show how much money is required to meet the required level of outgoings?

e.g.

£120 ''
''
''
+
+
+
£0 +

where + = reached, I'm drunk don't blame me if this doesn't make sense
 
I wouldn't consider it elitism since ANYONE can donate. And it doesn't have to be a lot.

Exactly. And we do need everyone to help. Without these funds Bluelight will go away. It is as simple as that. We were blessed before with the perfect patron and now we have to pull our own weight. Also consider that those who are developing this now have been planning for the day this would be necessary for about 9 years now. Give us the respect to know that we have considered many of these issues already.

I can guarantee you that many people who donate will insist that they don't get a title. Anonymous donations are common in this sort of thing. But some people want it, and if it encourages them, then so be it. People will always find a reason not to give. We need to give them some reason to give.

Have a suggestion on how to raise money? Then please give it, and more importantly follow thru on it with some action. But time spent shooting down other suggestions is not really helpful at all.
 
An idea of costs will likely come in the announcements.

Web hosting these days (even for a site with moderately high bandwidth requirements) isn't expensive. I'm curious where the money would be going to.
 
so is the Bluelight site considered profit or nonprofit ?
 
DarthMom said:
i kind of agree. it promotes elitism. i was kinda against the past bl mod status tags too for the same reason, though i never spoke up about it. i don't usually care about such things, and am usually a bit quiet in these topics, but since i spoke up about the donations, i feel i should put in my two cents the rest of the way also.

disagree.

For the most part (or better part) of this community i see it maybe being like "wow, look all these people donated,maybe we can make the difference"

as for a tag....I nominate that we put the ribbon in honor of xtcxtc
 
chris1.5 don't mind your drunken stupor, your point is well made, and in my opinion, makes a lot of sense as i pointed out in my previous post. i think people would be much more inclined to donate if they know the amount needed.
 
johnboy said:
Have a suggestion on how to raise money? Then please give it, and more importantly follow thru on it with some action. But time spent shooting down other suggestions is not really helpful at all.
i didn't see anyone shooting down suggestions on raising funds, what are you referring to?
 
TheDEA.org said:
Web hosting these days (even for a site with moderately high bandwidth requirements) isn't expensive. I'm curious where the money would be going to.
May I ask you to elaborate on what exactly you deem inexpensive for a site this size? If you're running a hobby site and forum where you have hundreds (sometimes thousands) of members, but where no more than a dozen of those members are on at any given time, then yes, your site will be on a low-budget plan on a shared server. If your members start visiting in droves, however, your host will quickly (and I mean QUICKLY) tell you to get a dedicated server. Even then, your bandwidth will be restricted to a set limit (there is no such thing as "unlimited", no matter what they advertise) and should you push or exceed those limits, you'll either be paying dearly, or will be asked to move to another host. For reference, Bluelight's been running with ~400 people online on average and for the past hour or so we've been at roughly 700. I highly doubt a budget plan pipeline would handle those numbers, but feel free to check with your host. [edited to add] Please remember also that we can't pick and choose the cheapest servers anywhere. We are not hosted in the U.S. (or many other countries) due to the sensitive (in most countries) nature of the subject matter of this site. [edited to add further] I'll leave the breakdown of actual costs to those who are actually involved in the finances of the site, if they are so willing or deem it necessary.

As for the "I'm curious where the money would be going to" comment, I honestly thought that would have been rather obvious - to run the site, i.e. pay the hosting costs, as is stated on the donate page.

I'll walk away for now and let more people voice their ideas. Seriously though, these places, like most things in life, don't run on good will and peanut butter sandwiches. ;)
 
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DarthMom said:
i didn't see anyone shooting down suggestions on raising funds, what are you referring to?

The debate over titles/elitism has been had on this board a thousand times and I was more referring to what will inevitably happen to this thread, rather than what already has. Trying to encourage people to find reason to give, not dwell on reasons not to.
 
Similar to the added titles, there could be added user features.

Not sure what yet, but it's something I've seen on other sites before so thought I'd through it into the pot here.
 
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