hi everyone.
duane, thanks for making the post. the list of supporting members can be seen in the \'forum leaders\' link on the forums home page, there are seven, plus three admins.
so what\'s my take on the matter? well, where should i start?
obviously i don\'t expect everyone to donate. if i did, i could easily make this a pay site. that will never happen. from day one, i\'ve paid for everything for this site out of my own pocket, with a little help from donations, and that\'s what will keep happening for the forseeable future.
financially stable? yeah, what
is that anyways? nobody\'s broke - we all just spend our money on what we want to spend it on. and there\'s nothing wrong with that..
to the people who have donated, i appreciate it more than you know. there\'s a lot of work and heart put into this thing, and it\'s good to see when it\'s recognized.
but that said, it
is still offered
free. and as much as people may like it here, what reason do they have to pay for it if it\'s free.. i doubt the people who like to get their drink & drug on at shows would be tipping their bartenders & dealers if they were getting the shit free. then again, we know a bartender who hooks us up like you wouldn\'t believe, and because of that, at the end of the night, we tip the balls out of her.. so.. i guess it\'s just different strokes..
while i won\'t make public the exact costs of running the site, i will say that i
do have over $1,000 (of my own money) into it over the past few years (domain names, hosting, software). luckily Mike Deary has lent a HUGE hand in taking the monthly cost of hosting off my back, and for that i am forever grateful. over the next few months, i\'ll also be purchasing a dedicated server for the site. all current donations are going towards this.
there\'s plenty of people who say they appreciate everything so much, and haven\'t contributed a dime - the thing is, you don\'t HAVE to donate.. there are OTHER ways you can help, and a BIG one is to click on a few of the Google ads everytime you visit the site.. virtually NO ONE does this!! (there have been 40 clicks since Jan 1st.) clicking on these links makes money for the site, and it adds up! people\'s words would mean a lot more if i started seeing these numbers go up..
and take mark for example - he bought me a few beers at a couple shows - money that i would have spent anyways - that was his contribution.. whatever works..
freddie & jeff - yes, i know you guys gave back in the day, and like the others, it\'s much appreciated, and i gave you guys recognition on the yahoogroup for it.. that said, it was almost 4 years ago.. the \'supporting member\' thing isn\'t going to be a permanent tag.. i still haven\'t ironed out exactly how i want to treat the donations.. i\'m thinking $10/year (so a $20 donation will give one the \'SM\' tag for 2 years), or maybe $30-$35 for \'lifetime\'.. still trying to think of something fair for that.. once the forum is upgraded, there will be added perks to being a supporting member, like no Google ads...
but anyways.. that\'s where i stand.. if you\'d like to donate, please do. if not, that\'s fine too, just don\'t be surprised if i look at you funny.
