Site Suggestion Expenses / Donations

First up, apologies if this has already been discussed to death.

Would it be possible to have:
1. "Monthly Expenses" goal viewable to all.
2. "My Donations" area showing how much you have donated in total (forever) but is only viewable to yourself. No other members can see it.

I know I'm more inclined to donate cash when I... well have cash AND when I can see that we are shooting for something. Others have suggested a bar that progresses monthly depending on the donations, that too is a great idea, but we all know Rome wasn't built in a day!

The problem becomes though, how is it updated. I guess that's another problem in itself...

 

Bitcoin acceptance would be neat but I'm not sure how many of us are on board for that.

My concern is it would look less professional if not done properly. There's a lot of sites that have a expense/donation bar but they spam the hell out of it. It's a nice idea but in practice it would have to be done to not look like begging.

 

Bitcoin would be a neat idea as well, more options the better really. I know of a few sites that pull it off donation box things well, just little almost stat-like boxes in the top corner of the website reminding you that this website does cost money, which it probably does. I assume this website isn't running on a Raspberry Pi like my own!

I'm more for not having a bar, but just the running costs. Maybe if a "fun"draiser is done twice a year to make sure the site is on target, then slap a bar on. Of course, none of this should show to Joe Average who doesn't have an account. He ain't got to know, right?

 

I like the idea, I notice I generally donate when the site needs "such and such, to keep the site running smoothly." I would definitely remember to donate more if there was a progress bar or something to remind me. (but not spam me) It's one of those fine lines thats hard to balance.

 

There aren't monthly goals per se - everything is done on a yearly basis. Hence the old "badges".

There's a bit of a catch 22 - you'd be more inclined to donate if you could see a progress bar and your own donation total. Those are things that need custom Xenforo coding - it may exist (as a paid addon), or it may be something that would need custom coding (even more expensive). Either way, it's a feature that would cost. Those costs would have to come out of site expenses, or a donation. The person who wants it is unlikely to donate until it's in place, but it won't be in place until it is paid for....

There are downsides to visuals and disclosure of running costs - essentially, you turn it into a business and attract the tax man. Then you need someone to be running the site as a business venture, who will want a salary. All of a sudden, fairly significant server costs have become server costs, business costs, a year's salary... you're up into tens of thousands of dollars.

One could even argue that, by saying for example we're at 60% of running costs raised, you would hopefully attract a few people donating a few dollars. If it runs over a little (due to manual updates of the totalometer, for example), then the surplus could indeed be used for upgrades. We need to upgrade the search, for example - it costs money. However, if you tell everyone we're only $100 away from target, they'll think oh I'll donate at the weekend. Oh look at that, target raised, I won't bother. In some respects, it is nice to be able to say - thanks guys, we raised enough and there was a little over so we upgraded the search.

I think either side has pros and cons, certainly. I'm personally more for a "it's that time" reminder with the subtle donate button rather than a "OMG we've only raised 20% of our running costs!" totalometer permanently there, but I do appreciate some like that.

It's no secret that Xenforo cost a lot - especially with the gallery feature. The yearly update fee is $55 at present. Search will cost $50 and require some time preparing the server for it, and would add $10 to the yearly update. All the behind-the-scenes work Kev and I put in to keep the server running and add features, including the mammoth task of switching over to the new system, is done for free (you'd pay thousands for someone to do it) - as of course is the daily running from the wonderful moderators who are watching and tweaking on a daily basis in their own time - thanks guys!

I think we're really lucky to have a great team of people giving up some of their time to run such a marvellous site. If Demon and I had billed IT pro rates for the hours we put into making the themes look like the old themes, we'd just be using whatever new theme came with Xenforo! If I'd billed for getting the server back online, the site probably wouldn't be running. And if the mods were paid, yeah - I'm sure it wouldn't be! As a commercial entity, it would cost a lot to run and you'd see ads everywhere, no doubt.

At the very least, we're hoping to get some sort of badge implemented again, so it's known you've donated this year. It would be nice to have that automated, and there is basic functionality already, but it's not ideal. We'll see. Maybe an indicator might make an appearance, you never know!

 

Divide by 12 and they are

I'd be happy to foot the bill to eliminate that issue.

Ahhh, so this is quite a problem to have, maybe that gives @PixelButts and his Bitcoin idea a little more merit. Yes, Bitcoin is a pain for the average person - a lot of us aren't average on here though. Ha!

This reason is why I wouldn't think a bar would be a good idea 24/7, maybe just once or twice a year. That would get the attention of those that hang around here all the time definitely, but those of us (like myself) who disappear for a year or so or only appear sporadically would miss these twice yearly event things.

Yep, you are spot on there. I don't like the idea of a permanent totalometer either

Here, here! To the mods! May they live on forever in our hearts

There are sites that have paid mods? What kind of world is this! They want power and pay? Madness! I love the RED/BLACK theme, thank you both

Well fingers crossed, you all know where to find me... at least until I disappear again

 

I mentioned this in the chat last night, but I would caution against anything that could cause donator fatigue. Constant "in your face" requests for donations can have a really negative effect (ask Wikipedia). As far as something like a lifetime donation total, as long as it is private or private + admins/mods, I think that can be both a positive (ego stroking) or negative ("I've sent how much to ASSEMbler?!?"). More than likely a positive in that case though.

 

Definitely agree on the Wikipedia issue. Usually, it seemed to come and go quickly (the intention) but that banner was REALLY big and obtrusive this time... and seemed to last way longer. Maybe that is indeed indicative of a poor take-up due to the over the top nagging.

I agree with the above and @ShaneMcRetro's line of thinking that a permanent totalometer would be a negative. Whether a not too obtrusive one would work on a once a year basis is a good question. Some would probably like it, others might find it nagging.

Haha, yup - again a case of not pleasing everyone all of the time! Mind you, it would be the same with anything - if your broadband supplier told you how much money you'd given them, or you bank told you how much your total monthly fee outgoings were, you'd probably be shocked! If it's something you need, you have to do it. If it's something you like, you don't have to do it - you made a choice to do it. Like being part of a community. Whether that's joining a club and paying a membership, taking up a hobby or supporting a forum you frequent, you pay the money because you want to... and want that service to be around for you and others to enjoy.

I try to avoid looking at Xenforo add-ons because you get to thinking "oh yeah, that'd be handy" ...but they're pretty pricey quite often. And, soon enough, you've mentally spent hundreds on plugins that do one very focused thing (have the ability to leave an auto reply when you're away? Great for the local help thread.... but it's quite expensive just to have that one function).

 

For the most part I like the idea, but as I stated above the application of such a feature does make me concerned.
I suppose maybe a mass automated email to users with a message could be good, but the concern then is how many people would abuse that and create malicious copies.

I want to support a site that I use as frequently as I do (though my support is usually unpredictable and at random).

I also said before that Bitcoins should be an accepted form of donation. I'm not personally in on the whole Bitcoin bandwagon but there are people who are so it seems okay.

 

Ohhoooo or a subscription, features include your choice of colour in the ShoutBox and other things, maybe!

 

C3C3C3 for me.

But I suppose that would be a nice idea - perks for support. Though that could easily be a way to show off and could cause trouble among many.

 

Subscriptions are definitely doable and have been considered. Maybe even a "premium" listing option for the more trader-like sellers (e.g. modders).

 

Careful, I won't be able to see your grey on grey

Now that's a good idea, I'm sure the modders out there would appreciate that!

 

I feel a public donation bar would cause issues just like retro said before.

A donation bar as is set now is ideal. I guess if Assembler wished a Bitcoin donation bar could be added but Bitcoin has been very volatile as of late so say $10 was donated it could be $5 tomorrow or possibly $1000 which makes things awkward. Anonymous donations would work well though seeing what type of site AssembleGames is, Least if the amount stayed the same day to day.

 

Alright, so the most of us who are vocal and presumably talking for the masses agree that a bar is a bad idea.

Tell that to the Australian dollar! At least bitcoin is so inflated it holds the value better than the weakened AUD! The poor thing!

 

I think it's an OK idea, but I'm not really sure it's even vaguely necessary. I tend to wait until Kevin says "we need some money", and then make a contribution - I've always just assumed that there are a lot of posters here like that. I do think the idea of a "we have got X out of Y" bar is a good idea, although it would be a lot more handy if it was updated in real time.

 

Realtime, yep there's the problem - that's why I'd be more in favour of a... well see the first post and there's that wonderful mockup One of the problems is a lot of the people on here, aren't always on here. I know I go walkabout every so often and just disappear off the face of Assembler. I'm sure I am not the only one either...

 

How much does paypal charge in fees?

Looks like patreon charges 10% and that seems really high.
I want to be sure the donation goes toward the youtube thing, but not for that commission.

 

PayPal's usually pretty bad - 6%? I want to say 6%, but it's been a long time since I've used it for accepting payments. Patreon charges 10%? Yikes! That's quite a large chunk... maybe they should run a donation drive... Ha!