New Donation Icons and a New Staff Member!!

[ensteele]

Originally Posted by It's Just Eric

I like the reccognition for donating members.It's also nice to see who's running the network via color coded user names.
I do think, though, that it may be unfair for certian benefits to be available to those who contribute. As mentioned before, some people just can't financially contribute as much as others(Especially if their tranny is borked)

-Eric

Let me bring up a couple of points. If you look at getting an email account, would you be willing to pay $24.00 per year for it? Would you be willing to donate $24.00 per year to get that same email address and account as a benifit? You need to look at the benifits as something you would pay for, but call it a benifit. Basically the same thing.

Next, so far, we don't have all that many levels that could confuse someone and if you are not sure what something is, you put the cursor over it and it will give you a label of what it is.

I agree, it is nice to see who the officers, moderators, and administrators are by the color of the names. I find it difficult to believe that members here on this site would start to say negative things due to the level of their donation. It has been said before, someone that has not donated is just as important as someone who has.

[RSVX]

Originally Posted by It's Just Eric

I like the reccognition for donating members.It's also nice to see who's running the network via color coded user names.
I do think, though, that it may be unfair for certian benefits to be available to those who contribute. As mentioned before, some people just can't financially contribute as much as others(Especially if their tranny is borked)

Services meaning things like a Network Email address, etc... the idea behind the system is not to restrict people from the content on the site, but to expand the experience/reawrd the people who can afford to give more.

Keep in mid that if something like this is not successful then Chris could easily be left with two options. Start advertising on the site, or shut it down. I am not saying that is the case, but remember that all things in life are not free.

[ensteele]

Originally Posted by odepaj

P.s.s. Is there another way to send donations? I dont like the fact of paypal taking a cut out of a donation. Even if I have to mail a money order to Chris, Id rather do that. This site and community has helped me to much for me to let some of my donation go to someone else.

Dustin - you can follow this link to find out more on how to donate. There is an address where a check or money order can be sent towards the bottom of the page. That is a very good idea to send a money order or check so money doesn't get scimmed off the top for sending it paypal. We want to see any money donated be used to its best and full value.

[odepaj]

Originally Posted by ensteele

Let me bring up a couple of points. If you look at getting an email account, would you be willing to pay $24.00 per year for it? Would you be willing to donate $24.00 per year to get that same email address and account as a benifit? You need to look at the benifits as something you would pay for, but call it a benifit. Basically the same thing.

Next, so far, we don't have all that many levels that could confuse someone and if you are not sure what something is, you put the cursor over it and it will give you a label of what it is.

I agree, it is nice to see who the officers, moderators, and administrators are by the color of the names. I find it difficult to believe that members here on this site would start to say negative things due to the level of their donation. It has been said before, someone that has not donated is just as important as someone who has.

In my previous post I wasn't saying the idea of different levels according to how much you've donated was bad but I think it should not be publicaly displayed. There should be one common symbol, like the $ signs shown to the public and then in your user control panel or something I think the different color Subaru and Alycone symbols would be perfect. I still would like to see a special "honor" symbol for the people that have put so much of their time into this community and the car we all love.


Dustin


P.s. Thanks Earl for that link. My next donation isnt gonna be with paypal.

[TomsSVX]

I would agree, most people wouldn't make an issue out of the whole bronze/silver/gold... Just some people would, and I know this for a fact. It is bound to happen. I liked it when people were just donors and that was it, fair simple,yuet effective

Tom

[ensteele]

We have spent a lot of time and effort in this system. We can watch this and see if it becomes an issue. If it does, then we may need to adjust what we do. Just a thought.

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by TomsSVX

I would agree, most people wouldn't make an issue out of the whole bronze/silver/gold... Just some people would, and I know this for a fact. It is bound to happen. I liked it when people were just donors and that was it, fair simple,yuet effective

Tom

Greetings Tom.

You are making a very good point, but surely IMHO, no one should receive a credit for a paltry donation, This could be taken advantage of and be counter productive. Please read my previous rather long post.

For my part I have no sympathy for anyone who contends poverty, when they have seen fit to invest in an SVX. Posts surely document no lack of say, $50,00

All should give thought to the untiring efforts of those administering any scheme which must involve considerable clerical input. These unpaid workers must be awarded some prior rights of say. It is extremely encouraging that a basis of trial has been mooted and a rigid stance has not been indicated.

[DarknessofDeath]

how about just doing a common symbol for donors,

and then have stated on a sticky and locked thread of the benefits for the donation range.

have the amount they have donated in their user cp so that it's private and if they feel like they want more benefits from donating (example - email account) then they know how much more they would have to donate to get that "benefit"

[TomsSVX]

I understand everyone is working at this and it can always be changed, I am just providing a heads up to keep an eye out for.

Trevor, Financial situations change, people get laid off, or things just start going down hill... Hell when I first donated I couldn't afford to share more than $15 because I was that down at the time... Fortunately, I have been able recover (many thanks to many people on this board) and I have gone ahead and donated more a second time. I am sure I will again as well. I am not trying to cause trouble or make a big deal out of this, just making a suggestion thats all.

Tom

[lhopp77]

Originally Posted by odepaj

P.s.s. Is there another way to send donations? I dont like the fact of paypal taking a cut out of a donation. Even if I have to mail a money order to Chris, Id rather do that. This site and community has helped me to much for me to let some of my donation go to someone else.

To each his own about the method he chooses to send his donation. I send PayPal and just add a little to account for the PayPal costs. I consider a money order actually more costly when you consider the fee, time to obtain, postage, materials to mail and just the general time involved. It is so much easier and faster to punch a couple buttons.

But--if it makes you happy.....

Lee

[AJ4U2]

I think a simple thank you to all members would be all that is needed, When you put forth a donation then that is what it is call it is not a money problem.

Donations are put in different aspects weather in money or time or just being a member, without members there would be no network. For those that did not contribute some feel like they got left out and only money counts to be a member even tho all said it does not matter who give or not.

If Chris does not feel like enough was taken up for the network to keep going he should ask the members if they can give another time around for he needs x numbers of dollars to keep this going.

I don't care if i have a symbol or not, if i give to the network then i should be the one that knows, Don't praise people for giving and the ones that didn't give nothing to reconize them for being just a member and doing what they can to keep this on top, Some give some, some give all but all did there part.

I know without money this would not be what it is, all give something while being here, Friendship, knowledge, time, money so to be fair all needs just a thank you.

Simple and fair.....we all know who gives without a symbol.....

[Manarius]

Originally Posted by Chris

Not that I doubt you in any way. I find it very hard to believe you can rent a dedicated server for $10 a month. Not to mention any services that might or should go with it like backups and such. I WORK at an ISP/Datacenter and we rent/lease dedicated machines all the time. Nowhere near that price. If you was to price out a decent server, lets say $2500, it would take over 20 years for the host of the machine to even pay for it, let alone cover power, cooling, and bandwidth prices for it. $10 monthly sounds like a shared hosting plan where they put a couple hundred clients on one machine. This is one place where the term "over subscription" comes into play. Then "IF" you put a customer like US on one of these shared hosting plans with a nice 4 gigabyte database that we load as much of into ram as possible and bring the machine to its knees for all the other customer on the server, we would get booted faster than than the ink dries on the contract.

If I am wrong on any of this, I would love to hear from your provider and discuss the services and the server we would be leasing for $10 monthly.

No, it's not a dedicated server by any means. I was not aware that this website was going on a purely dedicated server. I was simply looking for a way to perhaps get the cost down. However, since I'm reading that you're saying that the SVXWN needs a dedicated server, then you can disregard my statement - I didn't think it needed that much power.

I'm not complaining about having to donate - I don't mind at all (Read this Lee: I donated to USMB as well and if Dave asked us to donate on Legacycentral, I would - and I am members on both forums thank you). I thought that perhaps there was a way to somehow drop the price per month of bandwidth/server usage etc - but I think that you (Chris) have made it clear that this is the most cost effective way of operating.

[RSVX]

Originally Posted by Manarius

No, it's not a dedicated server by any means. I was not aware that this website was going on a purely dedicated server. I was simply looking for a way to perhaps get the cost down. However, since I'm reading that you're saying that the SVXWN needs a dedicated server, then you can disregard my statement - I didn't think it needed that much power.

I'm not complaining about having to donate - I don't mind at all (Read this Lee: I donated to USMB as well and if Dave asked us to donate on Legacycentral, I would - and I am members on both forums thank you). I thought that perhaps there was a way to somehow drop the price per month of bandwidth/server usage etc - but I think that you (Chris) have made it clear that this is the most cost effective way of operating.

We are actually already on SEVERAL dedicated servers. This latest purchase has not yet been received and the current servers are some 5-7 years old. Beyond the SVX, most of us dont have cars that old.

[Chris]

Don't worry. Pictures of the install including a detailed and easy to understand description of what each machine does and its purpose will come when the last of the machines arrives and we finally get migrated to the new services.

[DanSVX94]

I donated $20, so can I get 4 bronze logos so everyone knows I didn't donate $5? I wish I wouldv'e known because I was only $4 away from silver.