View Full Version : Funding
Seeing a couple of the guys with 'speshul' ranks I thought I'd mention that one one forum I help to run we offer special ranks to members who contribute to the running costs.
i.e. donate and you get to pick your own avatar (ok that won't work here) and custom title/rank to go with it, it's quite popular.
They do that on other forums I use and have used too Steep. We avoided going that route as we didn't want to differentiate between members with a 'two tier' system. It's something we could look at though... we're not discounting anything at this stage. :)
Edit :....^ What he said.
Also, I think there may be another issue of legality.
At the moment, with donations they are simply that...Donations. Once we provide something in return (ie custom titles, avatars, extra priveleges), then we are effectively providing a service, and the whole legal situation changes.
The old internet proviso of I am not a lawyer applies here though, but that's my understanding of it.
Thanks for the suggestion though, and no doubt we'll now have a big pillowfight in the staff room to make sure we all still agree on this standpoint (as we do with every suggestion).
However, my pillow won't be filled with feathers :bonk:
I'm actually a mod on another forum and we decided to offer a couple of things for people who made a donation.
First was simply to include the word contributor in the title. Second was to have a section where people were free to make suggestions about how they would like to see the forum develop.
In truth it does encourage donations but the special forum bit is a bit of a non event. Some interest to start with which rapidly evaporated.
Again with the proviso that making a contribution infers no special rights nor priviledged membership.
Edit: It's not based in the UK so different rules will probably apply.
might we know how much the funding for the year is likely to cost?
might we know how much the funding for the year is likely to cost?
£275,000 * 5 ? ;)
LOL should cover it ;)
But seriously, i couldnt tell you to be honest there have been a couple of threads in the admin area but as i didnt have much to do with it, i kept out of them ! just agreed with them as and when required, i am sure when Big Brother has finished one of the ones with their hands in the kitty will let you know ! :bonk:
site funding...
donations received so far have covered our costs for this year, these include:
Software, £50
hosting of main site, £58 basic, but bandwidth is high, so another £5 per month on that
gallery. - £5 per month
domains
i would like to take this opportunity to thank our hosts Catalyst2 for their help and support!
Our aim is to be able to buy a full licence for the software, and make the site self-sufficient. At this time, we are paid up for a full year. So thanks very much to everyone who has donated something toward the costs, it means the site is its own thing now, and not owing to anyone or owned by anyone. thats the way it should be!
Venomator
18-05-2006, 22:01
They do that on other forums I use and have used too Steep. We avoided going that route as we didn't want to differentiate between members with a 'two tier' system. It's something we could look at though... we're not discounting anything at this stage. :)
Don't see the two tier thingy as a problem CT ... there are enough Mandy types already to have this angle covered no !?! :lol: :lol:
Therefore who is to know whether it is a larf (see pointless thread !) or result of donation ... might also cover the legal side with all your senses (?) of humour ! :naughty:
I'll 'buy' one ! :nuts::p
we're not discounting anything at this stage. :)
Definitely not ! its full price or nothing here ! :bonk::help:
Hehe as Matty says, the forums are paid for the year.
The main thing though is the hosting, and we are already outgrowing that. Matty says we can top it up with another £5 per month, which we are doing at the moment. However, long term, that's not really a viable option. We really need something more definite.
We are looking to upgrade the hosting to a much better package, which should hopefully cost roughly what we are paying now, but be more suitable, and also have more scope for increase in bandwidth and forum activity.
So for the year, the costs are £59 for vbulletin, £60 for the hosting, £60 for the extra bandwidth, and £60 for the gallery, plus around £30 or so for the domain names.
As he said, we have actually got everything paid for the year, but ideally we would like to pay the extra for the permanent vb license (rather than a yearly leased one now), and more appropriate hosting.
Don't worry, one thing we won't do, is let our hosting restrict our growth ;) We're in this for the long haul, and we intend to stick around and be the best Photography Forum there is.
I know the saying goes "You can't please everyone", but we're gonna have a bloody good try!
I know the saying goes "You can't please everyone", but we're gonna have a bloody good try!
We dont have to please everybody ? only the members ! ;) LOL :cuckoo:
re: user titles.
A user title can be changed at anytime for something amusing, its not 'speshal' as anyones can change at any time, if there are any particularly amusing things you would like to see then if you use the contact us button you never know....nothing personal though eh, we dont want to upset any delicate sensibilities!
Re: funding
we dont want to differentiate members who have contributed from those who havent, not because we dont want people to know but because we dont want people who havent or dont want to contribute to feel like they should.
Does that make sense?
minimeeze
20-05-2006, 13:57
Re: funding
we dont want to differentiate members who have contributed from those who havent, not because we dont want people to know but because we dont want people who havent or dont want to contribute to feel like they should.
Does that make sense?
Makes perfect sense to me, and I totally agree :)
If you start giving something back for donations, that might turn it into a business? Therefore the tax situation may or may not be another angle.
/accountant mode off!
If you start giving something back for donations, that might turn it into a business? Therefore the tax situation may or may not be another angle.
/accountant mode off!
quite!
its a grey area, so we dont want to go wandering into it if we have doubts. :geek:
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