Community fund drive

[jimnyc]

I haven't asked for donations in quite some time and I was hoping I wouldn't have to again. Some personal things have been more pressing and I haven't had the time to spend on-line making money as I have in the past year. Hosting fees are due very shortly, and the domain name itself is up for renewal. I generally renew my domains for 1-2 years but would like to renew this one for 5-10 years. I believe the renewal fees are about $9 per year, but may be cheaper with longer terms than 1-2 years. Hosting fees are $30 per month, and having a few months spoken for would lay things at ease.

Donations are certainly not mandatory here but certainly appreciated. I can't promise too much to those that donate other than my promise to continue making this a fun place to hang out, and my assurance that the community will always remain open to everyone and ran in a manner that best serves the community as a whole.

If you enjoy posting here, and would like to assist with the various fees, you can click on the yellow Paypal button at the top of every page.

Thank You

[jimnyc]

Since my original post I have received (1) donation, from Crin63, which was his second donation towards the board. Yurt also reached out and was interested in making a donation.

I had to take what Crin was kind enough to donate and borrow the rest from an off-line friend to pay this months bill. Outside of the donations received over the years, here's a photo of the bills I have face just for the hosting fees. I also have to pay yearly fees for the software, and the domain name itself is up for renewal in December.

Here is a picture of the fees that I have paid for over the years just for the hosting alone. (vps.massgamez was for another account I have and is not included within this site)

[jimnyc]

As I've been unable to receive any assistance via donations to help pay the bills in running this site, I will have no alternative but to implement new advertising platforms in order to make some revenue. I am currently looking into popups/popunders which are known to be the best and get around browsers designed to block such activity. Also, I've been looking at a few different programs that you see where they underline certain keywords within posts as a means of advertising. The ads currently served literally don't make enough to pay for a single days hosting! (Google Ads).

I understand quite a few on the board don't appreciate and/or care for me very much. But keep in mind, many continually come here and enjoy the board regardless of who they like/dislike. We all benefit from the community software/board regardless of our feelings towards others.

I am looking for private advertising which would be simple 125x125 banners at the top or bottom of the site, as well as text links. Not getting any bites though as political sites aren't exactly at the top of advertisers lists.

I will certainly run what I choose by the board as a whole before any new implementation. Feedback is always appreciated by me, but I still need to pay the bills. I will do my best to implement something that will help me pay the bills and be the least intrusive to our members.

[jimnyc]

To avoid using methods that would be intrusive to members, I am working on "paid memberships". A donation of $10 will give members a lifetime increase in abilities.

Changes to regular registered members, and these settings apply going forth:

Registered Members:

Can store 50 PM's at once. Members can delete messages and still be able to received additional messages.

Uploading of files limited to 50 kilobytes

No access to Calendar system

Cannot view "Who's Online"

Cannot set yourself to "invisible mode"

New usergroup "Board Sponsor", applied after donation:

Can store up to 2,000 PM's

Can upload files up to 2 Megabytes

Full access to Calendar system

Ability to view "Who's Online"

Ability to set oneself to invisible

Recognition banner at bottom of forum

(Those who have donated in the past - I will be migrating you to the new usergroup so that you can enjoy the privileges listed above as a Board Sponsor)

[jimnyc]

Those who have donated in the past have been placed in the new usergroup and should be able to enjoy all available benefits as described. Should something be out of place, or if you have any questions, please shoot me a PM.

[jimnyc]

Users that have donated and now been migrated - if you wish to be "invisible", you will need to enter the UserCP and set yourself to so once again.

[jimnyc]

If anyone could spare $5 for this months hosting fees it would be highly appreciated. I just got the invoice when I woke up this morning for $29.97 and only have about $26 in my Paypal account. They allow a few days grace period for the fees to be paid, and then....

I've been looking around for potential advertisers to bring in funding, but as you can see from the text links along the navigation bar, there aren't many direct advertisers interested in advertising on political sites. I also took away the google/yahoo/adbrite advertisements in case you didn't notice or had them blocked. It took about 6 months of that bulky advertising to pay for one month of hosting.

I'm also going to continue to try direct advertisers this morning offering extended advertising for less money to hopefully make up the difference.

Anyone have a website they wish to advertise? :coffee:

[jimnyc]

RSR made a donation within minutes of my post. Whether he's a friend of yours or not, please recognize that he has now donated to the board more times than I can count. I've never once asked him, and have told MANY prior donaters that I would prefer others donate and not the same people every time, but RSR never listens and donates whenever he is capable of doing so.

Many thanks, RSR!!! :beer: