Thread: Member Donations for Site Maintenance & Hosting Costs

Forgive me if I'm stepping out of bounds here, but figured there is no harm in throwing this idea out there.

For me, Straight Razor Place is a place where I can continue to learn from the best, most talented people, experience different tastes and ideas, and participate in discussions with a group of Gentleman that over the last three and a half years I've come to feel a tremendous connection and friendship towards.

I know that behind the scenes, there is a tremendous amount of work that goes on that as members we never see, and I for one am very grateful for this forum. I enjoy spending time here.

I was thinking - with all the members here, would it be possible to setup a PayPal account, and let members donate funds, whether it's $5.00, $10, $20, whatever amount a member feels comfortable donating, if donating at all, nothing mandatory here, and it could all be anonymous that funds the upkeep and maintenance, maybe the hosting costs and administration of the site?

Just thought I'd toss this out there, I for one think the quality of Straight Razor Place is superb, and since I can't contribute time as many of us can't, perhaps as members we could contribute via donations?

What do you think guys?

I think that is a good idea. I can't think of a downside to a donate button.

I'm with you guys, I would happily donate

Yep Great Idea,, Option Of Donating To Monthly Giveaways Also A Thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Ty

Originally Posted by Addison

Yep Great Idea,, Option Of Donating To Monthly Giveaways Also A Thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Ty

I believe there has always been a thread in the "Contests & Giveaways" section. I see he recently redid it...
http://straightrazorpalace.com/conte...giveaways.html

Also, I'm pretty sure that sales from the "SRP Goods" help to fund the site...
 
Though, I'm not sure how much of a cut they get from those sales. The SRP Goods are made on-demand, when purchased, by the company where that storefront is at.

I don't know about PayPal, but what about a "GoFundMe" page? Also, would Amazon payments be an option? I make a few pennies a month on mTurk, and may be able to shave some off of that .

Sounds Great!! Count me in.

The dirty little secret of SRP is that nobody gets paid for maintaining the nuts and bolts that keep the site running. That 'button' that used to say 'classifieds' but now says 'buy-sell-trade' didn't get up there by magic.

A systems administrator had to spend his time to install it, test it, and work out any bugs. Updating and bug fixes take time. Years ago there were a few qualified individuals who had the skills and the willingness to do the work gratis.

Now, and for a long time past, there has only been one individual, and for those hours he puts in of his spare time he doesn't even get a thank you. I forget what the going rate for a systems administrator is, maybe $30.00 per hour, $50.00 ? Whatever it is, if the site owners had the funds to hire an outfit to maintain the site you wouldn't see it down on Friday/Saturday for hours.

It is an admirable resolve to run a free site. But as Nelson Rockefeller (former Governor of NY, and Vice President of the USA) said many years ago, "There is no such thing as a free lunch."

We might be getting it for free, but someone is doing the work, and/or paying for it behind the scenes. In this case it is, and has been, one tired systems administrator.

Well even if no one gets paid, there is still a server cost. So donations could go to that and not all out of someones pocket.
As you said, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

A site support button would be something I would use as well, were it available.
I visit SRP often and can only imagine the work involved behind the scenes.
I'm a hardware, not software guy, or I'd offer to help keep it live as well.
HTML coding is not my forte however..
Using/abusing PayPal is something I can do though...

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

The dirty little secret of SRP is that nobody gets paid for maintaining the nuts and bolts that keep the site running. That 'button' that used to say 'classifieds' but now says 'buy-sell-trade' didn't get up there by magic.

A systems administrator had to spend his time to install it, test it, and work out any bugs. Updating and bug fixes take time. Years ago there were a few qualified individuals who had the skills and the willingness to do the work gratis.

Now, and for a long time past, there has only been one individual, and for those hours he puts in of his spare time he doesn't even get a thank you. I forget what the going rate for a systems administrator is, maybe $30.00 per hour, $50.00 ? Whatever it is, if the site owners had the funds to hire an outfit to maintain the site you wouldn't see it down on Friday/Saturday for hours.

It is an admirable resolve to run a free site. But as Nelson Rockefeller (former Governor of NY, and Vice President of the USA) said many years ago, "There is no such thing as a free lunch."

We might be getting it for free, but someone is doing the work, and/or paying for it behind the scenes. In this case it is, and has been, one tired systems administrator.

Thanks Jimmy, like I thought, some awesome gentleman doing the work when they can. I know IT, it's 99.9% of the time people ignore you and take you for granted, the .1% of the time there's an issue, you're a complete arsehole to use a technical term...

So the question is, this doesn't have to be complicated, what would it take to set up and email address to PayPal funds to or a donate button?