Thread: Member Donations for Site Maintenance & Hosting Costs

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Exactly. That is what this whole proposal is about. We all benefit from enjoying this site. The owners who host it aren't independently wealthy, so giving them a bit of help in footing the bill is not unreasonable AFAIC, especially since it is voluntary.

Yeah, I'm just basing what I said on the proposal being in response to the site having been down often recently, which for me seems like an issue this particular kind of one-off proposal is unable to address. And if srp *was* a church, or a small nonprofit, etc, helping directly foot monetary bills feels more natural. But in our case, I personally feel like helping in the ways I listed earlier makes more sense. As always, YMMV

This is getting way more complicated than it needs to be, reminds me of that scene from Monty Python, "Life of Brian"



If the vast sums of money we send as donation buys the guys working on it a pizza and some beer occasionally, well, so be it, I'd do it anyway in ways of thanks.

At the least, one of the members who work on the site in that aspect should be able to get a quote and know what the yearly costs are going to be, as well as a fund for upgrades and Emergencies...if we exceed that fund, the powers that be can say we're going to hold off on the donations for awhile.

No. Big. Deal.

Next steps would be to get an approximate cost for the year, a list of known upgrades needed, with a contingency fund for emergencies, and let the members donate, once the target has been reached - let's come back for another discussion on how to proceed.

Let's face it - if the site is not going to be reliable, membership will dwindle as people go elsewhere more and more, and frankly, the knowledge and the straight razor central theme of this site in unparalleled essentially - most other sites are DE/SE focussed with a fringe for straights, if any.

As Nike says, lets "Just Do it"!

Reading Jimmy's post #11 above, I think there is much we don't know here.
For instance, the advertisements constantly popping up would seem to be a source of revenue as well as fees from vendors, etc. to cover operating costs.
It may not, in fact, be beneficial to accept donations and/or dues as it would be a book keeping/tax burden or such.

If things are set as a 'non-profit' and roll along simply, it may be preferable to the owners to keep it that way?
Certainly, if an infusion is needed, it might be asked-for?

Something to think/ask about?

In response to addisons post, you can donate to the giveaways by contacting bill who runs them.