Pay up you !!

It's been brought up in several threads now; it actually may cost some money to run this place, and that money has got to come from somewhere. Trying to find other sources of income is all nice and dandy, but for the time being I think we won't be able to avoid putting some of our money where our mouth is.

My proposal is that DW sets up a paypal account where he can recieve money for this forum's upkeep. I would also suggest that at least 2 other users are given a task in the oversight of the use of funds (not deciding on it, just being able to see what happens with the money). As for the actual use of the money (buying vBulletin, hosting etc etc) we can make decisions once we actually have the funds.

Your opinions and/votes please

I would be willing to contribute.

Yes, but before I would donate I'd be interested in what the costs are (e.g. how much does it take to keep this place up, how mouch would the vBulletin thing cost, etc.). Also I am only a poor student so it wouldn't be much.

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Originally Posted by Flixy

Yes, but before I would donate I'd be interested in what the costs are (e.g. how much does it take to keep this place up, how mouch would the vBulletin thing cost, etc.). Also I am only a poor student so it wouldn't be much.

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I'm positive your puny pecuniary prestation will be much welcomed. I assume, that contributions will be voluntary anyway. We've got 72 registered members so far, roughly 20 I expect to be more or less active of whom some will be able to contribute, and some won't.

The vBulletin package would cost $285 I understand, about the other running costs, I have no idea. It would probably be a wise thing to start looking into other sources of income ASAP, but I don't think that it's very realistic to think that advertising is going to keep us going for at least the next few months.

I would be willing to contribute but it might have to be a relatively small sum to start - i blew all my cash on travelling and have only just started my new job.

Would £10 be an acceptable figure from the poorer among us?

As I stated in the other thread, I will happily close out my PP account to add to the donation pot. (They pissed me off a while back!) It might be all I can do for the foreseeable future tho. :(

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Originally Posted by Flixy

Yes, but before I would donate I'd be interested in what the costs are (e.g. how much does it take to keep this place up, how mouch would the vBulletin thing cost, etc.). Also I am only a poor student so it wouldn't be much.

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Hazir answered on the vBulletin front. For the server & bandwidth costs, it's currently $4/mo, and that provides us with nearly 3 times as much bandwidth as we need based on the first two days of usage. That monthly price really is insignificant, and I would have no problem with eating that cost forever.

Put me down for £10 or $10, whichever is greater.

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Originally Posted by Spawnie

I would be willing to contribute but it might have to be a relatively small sum to start - i blew all my cash on travelling and have only just started my new job.

Would £10 be an acceptable figure from the poorer among us?

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A tenner?! You cheap fucking pikey. :mad:

I've ALREADY put my name down for a cheese & onion crisp, my old microsoft mouse (only goes left) and some bellybutton fluff I saved from last friday morning.

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Originally Posted by Timbuk2

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Originally Posted by Spawnie

I would be willing to contribute but it might have to be a relatively small sum to start - i blew all my cash on travelling and have only just started my new job.

Would £10 be an acceptable figure from the poorer among us?

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A tenner?! You cheap fucking pikey. :mad:

I've ALREADY put my name down for a cheese & onion crisp, my old microsoft mouse (only goes left) and some bellybutton fluff I saved from last friday morning.

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:picard:

I think it's safe to assume that people are looking for a way to donate.

I propose DW sets up a Paypal account to recieve the funds. I also propose a sticky thread in which we set targets for money to be raised and for which purpose that money should be used. If mayor purchases of the like of vBulletin are concerned a special thread should be opened and there should be a vote on such a purchase. I think that contributions and voting rights should not necessarily be linked unless there are obvious reasons to not let non-payers not vote (I could imagine such an emergency procedure in case of a sudden influx of people who otherwise have no connection to the forum).

I also suggest that DW gives insight in all transactions on the Paypal account to 2 people to be appointed by the membership of the forum. As kind as his proposal is to carry the burden of the hosting of the forum is, I think this also should be a collective responsability (of course there is nothing keeping you from still donating that monthly $4 DW, but I think you should not ad infinitum be the one paying for these costs). In case the target for a purchase is not met within a reasonable time-frame (let's say one to two months) the money collected will remain in the account in order to pay for the hosting of the forum.

This temporary arrangement could at a later point be replaced by a more formal arrangement, for as much as there is a need to do so.

I would like to put up my own name for the oversight committee.

If there are more candidates than the two needed I propose to create a topic in which a vote for the candidates can take place.

I'm up for a tenner, and if a committee gets created, I second Hazir being on it.

Can I just propose Hazir, Loki, Dreadnaught, and Randblade?

I, too, am happy to contribute to the upkeep of this place. A minimal investment by the core group could easily finance most needs for the near future. If we are successful in building a vibrant community outside the confines of CC refugees, it is possible our hosting/bandwidth costs will increase; we should probably include some sort of budget projections in said oversight committee. Obviously it's a bit silly now with such minimal expenditures (which, if my skimming of the thread is correct, are essentially covered for some time), but planning with reasonable projections will ensure we aren't caught off-guard with a hefty bill. A small 'slush fund' for emergencies might not be unreasonable as well.

I third Hazir for the oversight; obviously Wraith would be another member. Uh... others might be our erstwhile mods or Loki, who kept on pushing for this place?

Ender

Crosspost: oh, nm. Guess I'm slow.

According to Wraith, we're using up less than half the current bandwidth, so costs really shouldn't increase for the foreseeable future. But it's good to know that if there is a demand for more money at some point, people are generous enough to give it.

Added a donate button to the front page. Don't want to screw with adding it to the bazillion different styles just yet, but can if it's really needed for some reason.

Wiggin made the first donation. Thanks wiggin!

Hazir, how should this accounting thing work?

In case anyone's wondering, the main page is: http://theworldforgotten.com

I don't mind donating.... I'll post something in IRC. What's the average someone is donating? Is that for a year, a month, a one time donation?

Would the license for vBulletin be able to be shared, or is that wraith's to use as he chooses?

It's a one-time donation that will be used to pay for the vBulletin license (which is a one off fee), which costs about $285 I believe. If there's some money left over, it will be used to cover the bandwidth cost. I assume the license will be for this site alone.

And this is totally optional, of course. Nobody should feel obligated or compelled to donate.

I would rather donate towards hosting and bandwidth costs than vBulletin, which I feel is not a wise or necessary investment at this point.

Don't worry about donating anything then. Bandwidth costs really are negligible.

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Originally Posted by Wraith

Added a donate button to the front page. Don't want to screw with adding it to the bazillion different styles just yet, but can if it's really needed for some reason.

Wiggin made the first donation. Thanks wiggin!

Hazir, how should this accounting thing work?

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Eh, that of course should be worked out :) (what do the oversee-ers think about it, what is possible without giving everybody a serious headache) .. Roughy I suppose the oversee-ers should be able to see what goes in (from whom) and what goes out (for what) and check if everything is in accordance with agreed policies. They report back to the forum.

This is not personal Wraith, but I don't think you should be overseeing your own handling of the funds. You will be the keeper of the treasure already as things are.

If we ever are so lucky that we need to start worry about serious money we should maybe consider spreading the access to the account a little less thin, but I think it's way too early to make the organisation top heavy like that.

I personally think that there should - again as things stand now - an entirely voluntary basis for contributions. No set amounts, no fixed monthlies or the likes. What's really going to build this place is the people who participate not the money the contributors are going to cough up.

I'm not taking it personally.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to scrub identifying information before making any reports? I can't avoid seeing the information, but it seems like a good idea for privacy purposes to make sure that personal information spreads as little as possible.

I'd really like to destroy the donate button as soon as our goals are reached.

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Originally Posted by Wraith

I'm not taking it personally.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to scrub identifying information before making any reports? I can't avoid seeing the information, but it seems like a good idea for privacy purposes to make sure that personal information spreads as little as possible.

I'd really like to destroy the donate button as soon as our goals are reached.

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I really have no idea how much personal information can be seen but I suppose privacy considerations can be taking into account. We're not the IRS.

It's really only their names. Nothing else shows up. But I figure even that should be protected.

How often do you want these reports? Daily? Monthly? Only before the use of funds? And what format?

Should we take this to PM?

edit: We're at $149.83 USD currently.

edit 2: Hazir, open your IRC window.

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Originally Posted by Wraith

It's really only their names. Nothing else shows up. But I figure even that should be protected.

How often do you want these reports? Daily? Monthly? Only before the use of funds? And what format?

Should we take this to PM?

edit: We're at $149.83 USD currently.

edit 2: Hazir, open your IRC window.

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Eh, I'm not the committee yet :)

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Originally Posted by Wraith

It's really only their names. Nothing else shows up. But I figure even that should be protected.

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I think it should be, too.

We can strip all that information from the published info; I don't know if people would like to have their contributions listed under their nicknames though and how we can link nicks to donations.

Well if you want to list donations by username I do think you should probably give people the option to remain anonymous.

It would be tough to link someone's real name to their username if they haven't shared it here before. Or if they want to keep that information private...though it would be nice for everyone to see that certain people are donating. I'm fine remaining anonymous, or having my amount (but not my real name) "exposed".

Hell, I'll just say it: I donated $82. It's sort of lucky that this all happened on the one month in two years that I haven't been running on a budget (as I am about to go on a big vacation).

We've met our goal, so I took away the donate button for now. Thanks everyone!

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Originally Posted by Wraith

We've met our goal, so I took away the donate button for now. Thanks everyone!

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:( too slow...why no non-paypal option? That was the only thing stopping me... :x

Hassle, mostly. Lack of knowledge of the alternatives as well.

I can open up the donations button again, if you really want. Additional funds will go towards alcohol. For me. I ain't sharing.

I could've mailed cash...in a birthday card...my plans...ruined...