Donation Status Bar on Forum Homepage

[Robbie]

I do have a question or a favor to ask about the donation and it could give someone goose bumps: Can someone tell me how to make use of this 'paypal' thing? I think I've heard of it as part of ebay or something like that. I really like this site and I'd gladly donate but I really don't know what to do as I have no connection to the internet but the Guild and my beloved writing forum and that thing I sometimes call homepage. Maybe there is someone out there who pities me and is willing to explain this stuff to me ... : (

Paypal is a standalone entity from ebay that basically handles sending and receiving of money internationally via the internet. My paypal account is directly linked to my bank account so the funds are safe and sound until the banks crash anyways. You can use paypal to send money for services or just donate money through a donation system which we have set up here. Normally you don't need a paypal account to just send money, but I think some of my previous testers of this particular donation plugin have told me you do have to log in to paypal to use it...I would recommend if you intend to donate to us, go to paypal.com separately from the site and set up an account, link some source of funds, such as a bank account or credit card, or I think you can even donate via e-check, and then come back to the site here and go through the donation system using your paypal login. The way it works is paypal handles all the money transferring in exchange for I think about 7%. So a 10 dollar donation will put 9.31 dollars in my account for running the website.

This money goes to paying hosting costs, and maintaining a current license for the forum software. I have paid outright for the software, meaning I can use it for life, but I must continue to pay a yearly fee to continue to receive updates to the software. I am on the precipice of purchasing an upgrade to the software that will give us a content management system, user blogs, and other site-wide things, and your donations will go toward that as well.

And again, I definitely want to send a HUGE thank you to all of you who have donated on this recent call for donations. It has been an absolute honor to share this site with you all, and in the past year of personal life turmoil I've gone through I am so incredibly happy this site survived thanks to your participation and donations. It has been a personal blessing to run this site for you all.

[tilt]

funny, I was just thinking about you should raise the donation target to have some backup money and something for some competition prices now and then

[Ascension]

I know how ya feel, Antheon. I tried to make a PayPal account once, too, and failed. So I deal in what Randy Moss best said when fined once..."straight cash, homey".

[Katto]

Thanks for the explanation Arcana. I am also a Paypal virgin like Antheon. But this will change soon.

[Antheon]

Thank you very much, Arcana!

Now that I think to understand this 'paypal' thing I'm going to donate soon. : )
On another note: I once was at another forum. The admins encountered the same problem and they used donations to in order to 'survive'. Now that I think of it, they probably used paypal themselves. I do not know because I always donated the good ol' way. There's some other thing to ... micro-something (micro payment or something like that) ... I have to look it up. It has been a service where you could donate to the forum via handy. I don't know if it was worthwhile but maybe there are people out there who would donate this way as it is easy. It could be another way to get some money if you so wish. Just to let you know if there's a possibility that you haven't heard of it already. : )

Ascension & Katto:
It's good to know that there are still people out there who haven't totally lost to the world wide web. Nowadays it seems that every little kid knows more about the internet than me. "What? You don't know XYZ?! You're so out of date!" It's funny to be young yourself yet feeling old because you lose track of such unimportant things. At least that's my point of view though I have to admit that this 'paypal' thing sounds interesting. Oh, why does this remind me of Louis Armstrong? *sigh*


Antheon
trying to feel 'cool' again

[tilt]

You can pay via paypal without having an account - it accepts standard creditcards... that said, I finished my donation by making a paypal account, so now I have one..

that being said, we do need some low cost micro payment companies - paypal aint bad but it costs A LOT to get money out of paypal if you don't have an american bank account. In addition to that, I've heard a lot of bad stories about paypal freezing accounts if a customer complains, so a good thing to remember is to "empty" the account often if you use it for earning money in addition to paying money

[Zar Peter]

I made a paypal account this sunday after struggeling through it . Tried to make one last year but failed. And reason for the account is this site.

[Antheon]

What the ...?!
Sorry, guys, I meant cell phones when I said handy. Where was my mind again? : /

So it really is called micro payment. As I mentioned before, that forum used payment via cell phone (now it's right). You call a number and wait until you reached the amount you want to donate. At the end of the month, the company transfer the money to you. At least that's what I think and - like tilt said - it would be advantageous for both, the user and administrators. One call is enough to donate and the cost isn't high. Maybe there will be other users who say: "Oh, well ... I don't have much money but six dollars won't hurt me." and donate even though they have never donated before. I know there were many users in that forum who only donated via cell phone to get the premium membership.

[mearrin69]

Holy smokes! I guess the call for donations is working. Up to $450 now.
M

[Katto]

You have weird ideas Antheon. I will have to buy a cell phone for that!