Hosting costs 2014 - all donations gratefully accepted :)

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Caratacus
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Re: Hosting costs 2014 - all donations gratefully accepted :

Post by Caratacus »

I strongly agree that compulsory payment or a handicap of the meterboard would be counter productive and would just drive people away from Free Spirits. A voluntary donation scheme with a prominent "total-ometer" at the head of each page would surely raise the requisite amount to cover the costs. As people have already mentioned it is very easy to forget about this sort of thing but I would be more than happy to pledge $5 a year while I'm using the facilities. It is such a relatively low cost that I'm sure we should be able to cover the costs every year.
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Post by Rodger »

What is "handicapping the meterboard"?
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Post by Caratacus »

Rodger wrote:What is "handicapping the meterboard"?
I presume it means limiting functionality to those using for free with bonus additional features for those stumping up a fee
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Post by Recess »

Just back from a lovely lunchtime walk - the sun's out in Glasgow!!

Anyway, while I was walking, I was thinking about this, and some of the recent replies have touched on some of the things that came up. Things like the idea of making something compulsory, or hobbling the site / meterboard unless you pay for access being against the fundamental ethos of Free Spirits. Everything should be free for all in my opinion. And maybe that's also why some people don't like my badge idea. That it creates a hierarchy - an us/them kind of thing. In which case I take back my idea.

Bearing in mind it'll probably always be the same core people that donate, I like the idea of raffling off something if there is a surplus to the costs. Maybe if there was £40 extra, a FS Tshirt could be raffled etc etc...

Anyone have a spare Lamborghini they'd like to donate as a raffle prize?!?

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Post by Thomas W-P »

It is Free as in liberated I think? Free to donate if you want. I don't think a "Supporter" rank would be a problem?
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Post by JonT »

For what it's worth, here are my thoughts:

I'm sure we could cover the costs through voluntary contributions. The problem is that many new joiners (myself included) had no idea that they could contribute. I get a lot out of this forum (see my latest PB entry) and would be very, very happy to help out. In fact I just did. Call me naive but I really like the idea that this is completely open, people can contribute what they can afford (I have put in more than £5 because I easily can). If people are aware (and the thread doesn't get lost all the time) then I'd like to think this would work.

The personal time of people like Thomas is more of a problem. I manage a local sports club web site and it quickly becomes very time consuming. Thomas - I wonder if there is a way of roping in more people. This year isn't one for me to offer time personally (new job, house sale/purchase etc etc).
Last edited by JonT on Thu Apr 09, 2015 4:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Hosting costs 2014 - all donations gratefully accepted :

Post by dblinden »

Just learned of the contribution option by looking at other threads. I did contribute, but the main incentive for me was learning that 5 seconds are subtracted from all split times posted for members. I need all the help I can get. Feeling faster already.
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Post by Thomas W-P »

Caratacus wrote:
Rodger wrote:What is "handicapping the meterboard"?
I presume it means limiting functionality to those using for free with bonus additional features for those stumping up a fee
My prototype worked like this:
1) Set a number of donations needed (or a value)
2) Manually increment that value :(
3) Work out the percentage of that value reached
4) Show that percentage of the members (randomly) in the meterboard unless you had paid something.

So if it was 20 donations and only one person had donated, then everyone would see only 5% of the meterboard. But if 19 had donated it would be 95%.

I was just playing though.
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Post by Thomas W-P »

Including the above, I had a play with ranks - everyone who had posted recently on this thread has been given a new rank "Friend of Free Spirits web site" - this can be switched off immediately - it is just so you can see what it might look like. It deletes the "True Free Spirit" etc. stuff that has been there for years based on the number of posts though. Not sure I like it, but this is an easy way to do it.

I am sure there will be comments! I will leave it up for a few days.

I have also had a play with the look and feel on http://dev.freespiritsrowing.com/forum/ and it looks a bit closer to the current standard. But the tweaking will be painful. User/password (which now is in place) is bangers/mash
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Post by Rob C »

Are there not mods available by users of phpbb that might be adapted to do a change of user rank, user group or something on a more automated basis? I don't know enough about phpbb to know how much is possible, but in Simple Machines Forums, simply adding a user to a different user group, which can be customised, it's possible for a badge to be displayed by group to show the group status, i.e. donator. And you can still keep the post count based witty text ranks.

Unless there is a real need for money, I don't think limiting or hiding the meterboard in any way is a good thing. Indeed, before I started posting a lot in the forums it was seeing the activity in the meterboard that encouraged my participation.
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Post by Thomas W-P »

This was done with a group. Phpbb allows you to attach a rank to a group and make that the default. It still shows the count. I have not looked at mods, maybe there are some, but I try not to add them too much as it overcomplicates things. And if I move us to 3.1 it would be wasted effort.
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Post by mardix »

Out of curiosity, and pardon me if this was mentioned and I missed it, how much per year is needed to keep the site up and running and viable including the time spent on maintaining it?

Regardless of the actual amount, what about having a 'thermostat' that shows the amount collected relative to the total required? If this was placed in a prominent place somehow, then people would understand that help is needed and may be more inclined to donate. It would be voluntary, inclusive, and communal.
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Post by Thomas W-P »

Thomas W-P wrote:Hi guys

The costs are $10 a month with icdsoft. The donations help but don't cover it year on year though I stopped counting it years ago. There is a page with stats but I never look at it. I will put the URL in here if I find it. I don't think that there is that much traffic in the grand scheme of things.

Added:
http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/stats/
User/password is bangers/mash

The big problem is (hah!) motivation. I barely row now (though I always intend to) because I discovered cycling (and its dangers Image ). Case in point is that the site needs an upgrade and I've just not got around to it. The upgrade is quite large and erases all the work I did a few years ago on look and feel Image .

I still feel a Free Spirit though! Funnily enough I was looking at the upgrade yesterday so it is on my mind. I also need to get my head around the new season. Restarting the meterboard was problematic last year and I got some way to making it automatic this and future years but stalled and don't remember much...

Regarding badges, I have thought about that. You could have a donator badge? I also looked at handicapping the meterboard until x people have donated, but never implemented it. I like the idea of a rank for donators.

If I actually cleared a profit (never my intention!!) I guess it would motivate me to sort things out but that would be the only point. I don't need the money.

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I have no idea how many hours I speed on things a year. Getting meterboard 2 up and running together with the honour badges was huge, many tens of hours. The end of the season is also a little taxing though I hope to do better this year. Upgrading the look for the new site upgrade takes time. If you said that I put in 20 hours a year that would be a place to start. I'll let you think about what a rate would be. I do it because I care, and one day I will row regularly again.
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Re: Hosting costs 2014 - all donations gratefully accepted :

Post by mardix »

Just to understand the numbers:

$120 per year for server space + (20 hours per year * $40/$60/$80 per hour???? for coding), so let's say $1000 a year? Did I miss something?

The Meterboard shows about 400 people total and about 100 active people. If we just look at the active people then that's $10 per year. Even if we look at the top 50 people then that's $20 per person.

I would, and will, absolutely put in $25 per year for this site. So here's my thought, I didn't know any of this and just happened to find the thread on donations. I wonder if making it more prominent and 'sticky' would help.
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Re: Hosting costs 2014 - all donations gratefully accepted :

Post by mardix »

So it's time for a new season and I want to make a contribution to this wonderful site. I see some links to PayPal in the threads, but I want to be sure that those are still good links and that there is no new process in place. I'd hate for my contribution to go to a dead account somewhere.

Could someone please post a link to where we should now go to send in my soon-to-be annual fee? :D

Thanks.
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Re: Hosting costs 2014 - all donations gratefully accepted :

Post by dr3do »

mardix wrote:Could someone please post a link to where we should now go to send in my soon-to-be annual fee? :D
This one worked hassle-free a while ago: http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/conten ... donations/
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Post by Recess »

Oops... wrong forum reply...
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Post by mardix »

dr3do wrote:
mardix wrote:Could someone please post a link to where we should now go to send in my soon-to-be annual fee? :D
This one worked hassle-free a while ago: http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/conten ... donations/
Okay, done. Thanks Boris and thanks Thomas for a great site.
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Post by Thomas W-P »

Thanks! I have added you to the 2015 Friends group.
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Post by Caratacus »

That's my pledge fulfilled as well
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Post by Phil Lamb »

Contribution to hosting costs made using the friendly Paypal button, a slick process. Thank you for the hard work that the web site and metre board rely on, it's a superb resource for motivation.
Cheers !
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