I really don't want you guys to have to pay for something that should be free. Let me see if cloud hosting can solve our problem before we move to our own server. If not, we can try GFM/PayPal/Venmo if enough chickens are ok with that. I guess I would prefer direct crowdfunding to doing something shitty to our forum like adding tacky banner ads.
I think paypal as a suggested donation is okay. The service will still be free, but those who want to contribute to help keep it running will have that option
@Honey A little embarrassed that I don't know this, but what does using the Amazon link do? Is it a store or wishlist items? Do you get points when we use it? All I see when I click it is a normal log in-- is that right?
On the gaming forum I used to be a part of, we self-funded. Admins put in a large amount, mods a good sum too, and then other users whatever they could spare. We are a smaller community than this. It can work, though the main admins did put up a lot. $2000 is a lot though! Explore other options first.
That is right. It should look just like regular Amazon because it is. But when you click through one of the referral links on this site, we get a few cents for every dollar you spend. It doesn't cost you anything additional, but Amazon pays it to us because it's like an advertising fee. It's the best way I could think of to monetize the site without ugly banner ads or intrusive popups. I'm not comfortable asking the unpaid admins here to put up cash when they already volunteer so much of their time reading virtually every post that's made here. When we purchased our software license, they contributed what they could just like everyone else. The Amazon revenue we generate right now covers the software license renewal, the domain names, e-mail, and the shared hosting, but it can't do much more than that. I wouldn't reel right asking any of you to pay for a dedicated server now unless I was positive that I wouldn't have to come begging again next year when it's time to re-up. So I agree. I'm exploring other options first.
@TaterTot @Honey Thanks! That's good to know since we purchase a bunch of stuff that's not carried locally through Amazon.
And I also do not want you guys to pay for anything unless you feel that this forum is the experience you want it to be. So bearing that in mind, please let us know here if there are any features you wish this site had that it currently does not.
I would just love to be able to chicken in the evenings. Right now I can only chicken during the day at work because the outtages usually occur around tea time & last until I go to bed. It's hard being an Aussie chicken, all the internets happen while I'm supposed to be working. I'd be happy to contribute a little.
I love that you have an actual tea time @Scout. As for the chickens and the Amazon link, I need to buy chicken feed every so often (greedy little cluckers) so that purchase should help here. Do you know how much of a percentage of the total $ spent you get @Honey?
It's variable depending on the department the item is in and how many clicks we get per month. It can be anywhere from 2-8%, but it usually averages to a little under 4%. Regardless it's a much more generous rate than the 0.5% Amazon gives to Smile charities.
I understand the plight of the land down under. I'm sure it's boring constantly catching up to the conversation rather than actively participating, and I appreciate that you and @Lovemelovemyhorses and @Canucklehead and the other Aussie chickens have not completely abandoned us. D kind of reamed our hosting company about the fact that the site is down for a quarter of the day and that it's during what would be peak hours for both you and the UK gals (@BigFatGoalie and @A. Ham, this post is for you too). So right now we're trying to schedule a server move to see if that helps. It will happen at 3am EST some night this week, and I'll let you know when the support guys get back to me and let me know which day it's happening.
@Honey let me know when you start exploring server options and I can have K do a little research too (if you get to that point). He's pretty experienced with setting them up and may have different options to consider, I'm not sure. May be worth a try though.
Thanks @Erie. D might want to confer with K and @msnothing and also @Canaligator's rooster when he's back in town.
Guys it's 10 pm on a Saturday and I am chickening. Can you believe it?? This is amazing. Thanks @Honey !