News

[The Reefuge]

Hi everyone,

I have been talking about this for a very long while with a member of my staff. I am not really fond of the idea, but he is, and after all his hard work I at least owe him letting the members have a say.

To help fund these forums (hosting, coding, updating, etc) it requires a rather large amount of money each month which I have been pulling out of my own pocket (which is fine). Some people are a little bit worried that if the forums don't stop losing money they will shut down - no.

Websites are my main hobby, and they will be around for a very long time. Regardless of if they lose money or not. I enjoy building this community, and talking to others about what they would like to see happen on this board. This is my passion, so regardless of the cost, they will always be around.

The main issue brought up was because the hosting costs so much each month, that if the forums were to cover the cost of themselves, that money could be put towards other things such as prizes and further development of the forums software.

So this is my question to everyone. If we were to set up a donation feature for the forums, would you donate? If you were to donate, why would you donate?

I would also like to make it clear that if we do set up donations, the only benefits the donators will get is a little name saying "donator" under their name, and when the market is set up, the wait time will be waived.

Thanks :)

 

[Synodontis]

So this is my question to everyone. If we were to set up a donation feature for the forums, would you donate? If you were to donate, why would you donate?

A. Yes

Because of the community on this forum. The member's here seem to care & posting a dumb ass question is not met with smart ass reply's but an attempt to learn more info followed by a decent reply. The money spent joining a so called "society" could be put to better use on this forum.

 

[mscott]

Yep i can if i would.
1Q. How would donations be recieved from those wishing to?? (Part of my can)
cheers

 

[MichelleShocked]

Yes, and 4 same reasons stated by Synodontis (recent bad experience w/ another fresh & salt water forum). Having had alot of fundraising & grant application experience, I was wondering if the Admin or Mods had considered approaching relevent businesses 2 donate prizes? I was volunteer curator of a military museum & we had a "supporters board" for the businesses who regularly donated prizes for our raffles. Also, I used 2 get grants4 the museum (5 successes out of 7 applications in 18 months - was rather pleased w/ self *beams*) - perhaps there are grants available? I could look if you wish? :-)

 

[VaultBoy]

Yes. This site is almost the only site I visit and the community spirit is so strong on here I feel like I owe the community a little for all its done for me!

We could have T-shirts for sale with the proceeds to the website... Perhaps 2 different shirts 1 for "silver" donators and 1 for "gold" donators... Just an idea!

 

[Sarg]

I would donate for all the info and help recieved through here, but i'd also suggest having 3 levels of sponsorship possibly like a bronze, silver, gold etc? Everybodys budget is different and something like that may allow more people to be involved in donating.

Also it's probably hard to rally bussiness to support the forum but if you could get some involved and they pay a fee to help cover monthly costs they could advertise for free on the forum. Take qldaf for example ( i used to frequent there a fair bit before i shut down my freshie tanks) they have the sponsors plastered across the top of the home page and a forum for the site sponsors that only members can access and they offer specials, update people whats instock or coming into stock etc and they now pay to be a sponsor and it covers costs... well had a look there the recently and the forum has been upgraded too so they are obviously doing well now.

Another sponsor paid forum is coffeesnobs. They are well and truley kicking goals now they have a ton of sponsors, though when posting the rule is that you cant reference any retail outlet that isnt a sponsor. The way they figure it is the sponsors pay for the forum so thats who you should shop through and any posts thaty breach the rule are deleted.

edit... didn't read VB's post properly he already had the silver gold idea goin on ;)

 

[Synodontis]

I think MichelleShocked :) :welcome idea of looking into some sort of grant has a lot of merit. Government depts. are always looking for new ways to "invest" tax payer's money. Someone need's to do a study on "The social morals & behavior of reef keeper's online" using this site as the central point. That should be worth what? 10K? more?

Both VaultBoy & Sarg have great idea's with the level's of sponsorship but...

1) The bronze silver & gold membership would be better suited to the business sponsor's perhaps.
2) The T-shirt idea should be limited to just that, a T-shirt promoting the site.

Donations are just that, donations. A personal thing as everybody's budget is different. Some may donate, some may buy a T-shirt. (Vic member's want a jacket!:) ) I would feel a little uncomfortable waking into an aquarium shop proud as punch wearing my Reefuge "silver" member T-shirt & meeting a fellow member wearing a "gold" member T-shirt. For a start it points out falsely to the staff who MAY have the bigger budget.
The biggest problem I feel is that it has the possibility to bring divide amongst the members. We are all equal on this site, some may have a louder voice or be seen posting more but we are all here for the same reason... to learn more about our hobby from the experiences of others in a social environment where he who has the biggest tank, the most experience, the most knowledge or the most expensive gadget's, doesn't matter... Having a small "tag" on your user avatar is all I would expect from a donation, not to be put into a "class" of donating member's that others may read more into then is reality.

Sponsorship could also be sought from business outside the usual aquarium ideas. What about cabinet makers, plumbing suppliers, sparkys, that sort of thing. I also have a problem of not being able to mention someone or a business because they don't sponsor the site. If I find a little LFS or business somewhere & they have a great product or service, I would like to share that with others, not only does it help the member's, it help's keep them open!:) That's what an open forum is all about.

As has been stated over & over again, this is a great community & I'm sure many have gained a lot of insight into the many area's of the hobby from the many topics that are now on the board's. It is unfair for The Reefuge to be left with the bill even tho he is more then willing to cover it :worship For that we thank you. Even tho The Reefuge is not "fond" of the idea, we would feel it's our way of saying thank you for giving us such a great sand pit to play in with so many nice playmates who don't throw sand. :D

Here endith the rant ......for now ;)

K&J

 

[MagicJ]

Personally, I don't think there should be any on-going identifier of donators. Whilst not extreme, it does still have the potential of creating a 'class' of membership which I wouldn't like to see - some members may not be in the position to donate; some members may want to donate anonymously; some may not want to donate at all – none of these members should be classed differently.

Also, if we added something under the member name, how long would it stay there for - 6 months, 12 months?? What if they never donated again?

I have only met 2 members personally, but through interacting with all the membership over the past 7 months or so, I am reasonably confident in saying that no-one would be donating just to obtain the public kudos – they would be doing it because they believe in The Reefuge and what we are trying to achieve.

If members really want it, maybe a thread listing donators would suffice but this would not be my preference.

Cheers

 

[firebird]

I agree with K& J re donations being given according to personal budget.However,I don't like the idea of having any tag at all on the user avatar-I would prefer to be an anonymous donor
You don't really need to have recognition when you donate something-at least that's my view
Maybe there could be an option for people to have a tag or to choose not to.

 

[firebird]

beat me to it -Majic

 

[192k]

I am happy to pay a yearly membership/fee :)

There is no other site like this and I would like to see it grow into the potential it has.

 

[VaultBoy]

I didn't think about the "class" system but I agree that gold silver and bronze donations should be for business only.

An anonymous donation is all I would be interested in... and a t-shirt!

 

[mscott]

Yea i reckon T-shirts could be a good thing, sponsor the shops, they pay you x amount to put their logo on the shirt somewhere, like the sleve or something.
And then we buy them off you, ect ect., shirts jackets hats, id be happy to grab some of each

 

[parrdog]

I'm really just a lurker over here, simply because I tend to spend too much time on forums. I would happily make a donation though, to say thanks for my lurking :).

 

[The Reefuge]

Wow!

I did not expect to see so many people willing to donate to the site. I would like to say thank you all so very, very much for the community spirit.

What does everyone think of these donation packages?

$5 per month / No Custom Tag
$5 once off / No Custom Tag

$5 per month / Custom Tag
$5 once off / Custom Tag

$10 per month / No Custom Tag
$10 once off / No Custom Tag

$10 per month / Custom Tag
$10 once off / Custom Tag

$15 per month / No Custom Tag
$15 once off / No Custom Tag

$15 per month / Custom Tag
$15 once off / Custom Tag

$20 per month / No Custom Tag
$20 once off / No Custom Tag

$20 per month / Custom Tag
$20 once off / Custom Tag

Please note, the custom tag will display "Donating User" under the username of the user, but the amount they pay each month will not be known. The user can choose to be recognised as a donor or not.

 

[chris B]

Other forums charge a once off membership of $20 per year, Which gives them a 5% discount at the lfs, who are registered with the forum, This idea would be a better idea as , the membership would cost money if it was monthly alot more than a yearly membership, If a year membership was offered, you probably get more interest in this membership as well.

thats my 2 cents as well.

We should get advertisers on here more, before we start the membership drive. more advertisers on here , more support for LFS & Local business, i know a heap who uses another site , who pays a huge amount to be advertiser.

 

[MagicJ]

Chris, just to clarify - this is not about introducing a membership fee. This is just about providing the ability for members to donate to the running of The Reefuge if they wish to.

 

[chris B]

this can be achieved by advertisers, when we allow lfs to advertise on the forums, then if members who want to donate then this can help even more.i know of couple of stores who are waiting for more details on advertisers on the cost and what they get for it in return.

 

[The Reefuge]

Other forums charge a once off membership of $20 per year, Which gives them a 5% discount at the lfs, who are registered with the forum, This idea would be a better idea as , the membership would cost money if it was monthly alot more than a yearly membership, If a year membership was offered, you probably get more interest in this membership as well.

thats my 2 cents as well.

We should get advertisers on here more, before we start the membership drive. more advertisers on here , more support for LFS & Local business, i know a heap who uses another site , who pays a huge amount to be advertiser.

Hi chris B,

ALL users will get all the benefits this site has to offer, regardless of if they donate or not. There is, and never will be a membership fee for users. This is simply to allow users to donate money to this website to help with the running costs (which are huge), and prizes for members.

Thanks.

 

[Synodontis]

I'm really just a lurker over here, simply because I tend to spend too much time on forums. I would happily make a donation though, to say thanks for my lurking :).

I always had the feeling of being watched from a distance while on this forum, NOW I know why! :p