Scorpion812 Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Hi everyone,I am really concerned about the forum, I first joined it in june this year, and I have really been loving it and can't imagine continuing my hobby without it. Thank you for creating such an amazing forum, creators, and Thank you community for filling it with such detailed information. The thing with the funding is really scaring me as my favourite internet page might just be gone in 3.5 months. Now, I have an idea. It might sound bad at first, but you have to think about it. I think that everyone should be forced to donate at least 1 USD a year. Guests would only get access for a limited period of time, and they would have to donate to become a member. One Dollar isn't much, but if everyone donates one, we might be able to save this oh-so precious forum. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Works for me, I would say $10 is more than fair though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memo Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 even at 10 I think you are cutting the forum short. my smallest donation was 25.00 and the largest was 100.00. this forum is well worth it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldMarine Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 (edited) I try to give the $40 royalty check I receive twice a year for the little specialty plumbing tool I came up with a few years ago. I could have sold it outright for $500 but I somehow thought a license would be better. The money is better spent here than on beer! Edited October 12, 2017 by OldMarine 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ubehage Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 Considering that pyro is an expensive hobby, I don't mind paying for a forum of this quality.But for the sake of everyone's budget, I think $10 mandatory donation would be fitting - those who can afford to give more, are welcome to do so. I would be sad to see another free resource going subscription, but I'd be even more sad to see it disappear completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldMarine Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 A mandatory donation would only serve to run off the amateurs the site is meant to draw in and educate. If a guy has a choice between a little digital scale, a HF tumbler or a membership here, how many would choose the latter over the former? I was that newbie and I'll tell you I'd have chosen the scale or mill first. That said, I may have blown my hands off or worse for lack of knowledge I could have received here free.I'd like to know an amount of the shortage in funds to keep this up and running so I can plan on a donation and dun fellow members for a donation. Constant reminders of the shortfall begins to wear on me like those goddamned ASPCA ads on tv. Tell us what you need so we can provide it and get on with some pyro! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 Keeping this forum free and available publicly is a priority of mine and the other admins. I love some of the subscription websites, but I think we both have provide our own services. We've been doing okay on donations so far. It's not advertised, but I and the other admin do chip in as well when we can. Hosting fees for certain things available here like the gallery and attachments do add up over time. I like offering both of them, but if things get dire, we may look into places like that first if we need to downsize or save costs. I've been quite busy in real life, but things are settling down. I have been looking into other sources for funding, as well as looking into a few more economical hosting options. It's all a process though. I may mention something more officially at some point, but I did just get a job offer that may help me to offset some of the funding requirements. That said, I can't thank our members enough for their continued support. You guys do make running this forum easier and definitely fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dagabu Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 I also belong to other forums, one of them is Homebrewtalk.com, a fantastic site for home brewers. They allow everybody to play for free as well but if you want the special privileges, you pay $25 a year. That is a model you may want to look at as well. It allows all sorts of participation for free and special stuff for fee. Pick and choose... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldMarine Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 How much per year to get the chatroom back? I'd make a special donation for that feature. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiderX Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 How much per year to get the chatroom back? I'd make a special donation for that feature.i have my own irc network , and a co founder of a long standing going on 18 year irc network , if the site owner wants they can setup a simple page for a web based irc client to connect to either which would mean no added cost , or users can use there own client on there pc to connect there is always discord as well which is free Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldMarine Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 I hate to sound internet illiterate but I am. WTF is an IRC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starxplor Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 (edited) I hate to sound internet illiterate but I am. WTF is an IRC? Internet Relay Chat. An old server/client chat system where users connect to a server/group of servers, and send messages to channels(think of rooms) and other users, but the server does not store for later delivery. Some people leave connections to the IRC server open all the time, and reconnect to the program they use (like I do), so we can 'idle' in the channel and receive direct messages to view later. The option for 'bots' that reply to commands based on sometimes trainable databases is one of my favourite things about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irc Edited October 17, 2017 by starxplor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 How much per year to get the chatroom back? I'd make a special donation for that feature. I wish. The forum software company decided to discontinue it, which means we're kind of SOL. We can't get it back if we tried. It was one of my favorite features too. As for IRC, it's something we've thought about but haven't looked into too deeply yet. In all likelihood it's probably the direction we'll go. It was one of the first places I met and chatted with a lot of people in pyrotechnics and amateur chemistry, it's almost a little bit of fate to possibly end up back there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiderX Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 I wish. The forum software company decided to discontinue it, which means we're kind of SOL. We can't get it back if we tried. It was one of my favorite features too. As for IRC, it's something we've thought about but haven't looked into too deeply yet. In all likelihood it's probably the direction we'll go. It was one of the first places I met and chatted with a lot of people in pyrotechnics and amateur chemistry, it's almost a little bit of fate to possibly end up back there.if u need any help with the irc stuff let me know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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