Site fundraiser for November 2015

The funds we raised last time during the site crash and crisis have been used up. This is some $560 for the server and $260 for the xenforo licenses, for a total of $820.

For November we need to raise $140 to keep the site going.

We are a user funded site, so your support is essential.

We strive to provide a well moderated place for ideas to thrive; protection to explore and ensure pressure-free speech by shouldering the not insignificant expense of a dedicated server. The dedicated server creates a measure of control over the takedowns and other requests we get. Without this, the site would be instantly offline many times a year if we had shared hosting.

Ultimately it comes down to you and if you value what we have here as a community.
Please consider donating, especially if you have been using the site for a long time.

Here

 

-withdrawn-

 

Donated some bugs

 

Small incentives or even getting some credit can go a long way when it comes to getting people to donate. Whatever happened to the "Site contributor" banner thing like on the old site? Or even a thread listing members who have contributed may be welcomed. Anyone else agree?

 

-not relevant-

 

Donated what i can..

 

I'll donate some money before the end of the week. Need to check my account balance and make sure my credit card bill won't have any surprises.

 

Your post if disappointing. There's so much wrong with your attitude I don't know where to start.

This is a community, it's not "my site" full of my content. Nearly 100% of the content here is from the users, for other users. All I am is a caretaker of the back end, someone who deals with the legal threats and dmca notices, who keeps the software up to date.
Make no mistake, I could be making a LOT of money if I had ads, but I choose not to because I place community over personal profit. All I ask is that the community sustain itself, at least partially if not wholly. It's like the parable of the stone soup; all I bring is the vessel, it is the community members who provide the substance.

There are always people who show up with an empty bowl, but expect to eat. For the last ten years the community has provided and "fed" everyone.

A lot of people here do work for free; moderating, keeping the marketplace safe, taking time to fix problems best they can.
Your response to being asked to chip in is "what's in it for me?", and contributing dependent on some form of reward or even an aspect of control.

You've been a site member since 2008, nearly seven years. Yet when I appeal to members to support the community they are a part of, it's somehow "begging". Instead of choosing to just not donate, you felt the need to come and criticize the lack of reward or privilege for pending generosity. For over ten year, 99.99% of the users have been supported by the 0.01%, however we don't exclude anyone in spite of this, and everyone who shows up for the stone soup gets their fill of food.

My reply is this: donate if you value the community and the things it does. Even if you don't donate, we will continue to shoulder the costs involved without turning anyone away, creating privileged classes, demanding forced thanks, overbearing and pointed acknowledgments, rewards or elevated powers to wield upon the other users.

-ASSEMbler

 

Might I suggest setting something up on Patreon or a similar service? I think that the thing that rubs people the wrong way (and some people will always push against fundraising period) is the sudden/random pushes for funds rather than a continuous "subscription" model.

 

I agree with the sentiment of not having advertisements on a site. A forum is only as good as members make it by their content and how active they are, without their content and also drive to get others introduced to the site as potential members there is no community to sustain. So yes, I do contribute, in both regards and do my bit to keep the vessel from being dry (to use the metaphor) in those regards. I am active here while I choose to be, like everyone else; if I choose not to contribute funds, like 99.9% of everyone else you say, then that makes me no different to 99.9% of other members so should not be singled out on the basis that i've been here for 7 years on the basis that I posted a comment in this thread.

The point I made on my first post was if some content causes legal issues, then if that content was removed then normal VPS hosting could be used at about 10%-15% of the current costs surely, meaning the cost to run the site would be minimal and not needing thousands of dollars a year to fund. How important to the community is the content which causes the legalities?

That comment/question is of constructive nature not destructive, if a site is a real open community then a constructive question is open to general discussion rather than "ruling from above" - which is totally fine, after all it is your site with your name on it.

Sure, the second half of my second post was on reflection a little strong, so apologies for that; the first part of that post was reply to Mord.Fustang, which you replied subsequently to in your last paragraph.

 

10/10 post, screencapped.

 

I appreciate the whole no ads things.
I would also like to say thanks for going to the work to maintain a server just for this site. Switching to a VPS would save money, but giving some random hosting company final say over what can be uploaded here would pretty quickly kill the community.

 

Great, just tried to donate and got this

 

I opened this page up to see what has been donated so far. Thought I would find out what challenges we as a community have against us with overall costs because more times than not, the amount isn't updated on the home page for one reason or another.

However, I was a bit shocked and somewhat appalled that a few members felt this be an appropriate time to do some saber rattling and rallying the troops to openly bitch and complain about over all costs spilling over to the individual member. It's not the first time I have seen this and I am certain it wont be the last. I hold no ill-temper to those voicing their opinions, popular or not, but the lack of tact in some comments is to be desired. I get open discussions about lowering costs, in a past life I ran retail stores and did a lot with business and development so overhead sucks no matter where you go. But again, this is where tact comes in so the comments don't come off whiny and seemingly bashing the site operator whether that was the intention or not.

Personally if anyone wants special recognition, state so here in this thread that "I donated" or something along those lines. Not to mention that my title shows "XDK Support" because that's what I typically do around the forum is deal with Xbox related development questions and help where I can. I am not staff, just a regular member.

But if you REALLY need that gratification, just change the custom title.

 

not much but I donated as well. wish I could donate more

 

Yakumo, if no other option presents itself you could send me whatever and I'd add it to my donation in a day or two. Albeit with moderating you do more than enough lol.

 

My suggestion was merely to try and help maximize donations. It's not like my suggestion was something out of the ordinary - after all, it was part of the old site.

 

Any updates on the status donations to reach our November goal? still 0%?

 

Also donated a few bucks. Thanks.

 

I'd donate a little, but I don't think I ever received any response to my last donation during the site crash. I don't need a custom title or avatar but an acknowledgement would've been nice. A simple PM would've sufficed. Perhaps I missed it.