Show me the money! ;)

[Second Summer]

As you hopefully know, VV is a not-for-profit Internet forum. Obviously there are costs involved in running the place such as server hosting, software licences etc. It's something like $300 per year, plus paid add-ons (see our About page for details), but I'd like to donate a little to a few of the developers of the best free add-ons as well.

I've previously promised that VV will be ad-free, but it's still my long-term hope that VV will somehow pay for itself, probably though member donations or contributions. It's pretty easy for me to set up a "contributing member" system, so I wanted to test the waters and see what you guys think about that. If you'd like, contributors could for example be given extra privileges. (I haven't thought much about what kind of privileges yet ... Feel free to suggest ideas!) And/or they could get a special username colour or "medal icon". On another forum I know about, the contributing members get their tweets displayed prominently on the forum front page.

 

[beancounter]

I voted "Yes".

 

[kibbleforlola]

Yes, if people want to contribute, let them.

Also, is there a way to get businesses maybe to pay for reviews in the review section? I'm not talking about adds or members being "strongly encouraged" to review products for cash, but companies paying for the free advertisements we create? Does that make sense - it makes sense in my head, but I'm terrible about getting ideas across. Is that even possible?

 

[Amy SF]

I'm still up in the air about it, but I think that if a contributing system IS set up, people should be allowed to set their donation amount. I know that on VB, some members wanted to contribute but didn't because they couldn't afford it. If they could, say, contribute 5 or 10 (dollars, pounds, Euros, whatever) per year, or per month for 6 or 12 months, they might be more willing to help.

And definitely offer some perk for contributors beyond the knowledge that they're helping to maintain this forum.

 

[thefadedone]

I'm still up in the air about it, but I think that if a contributing system IS set up, people should be allowed to set their donation amount. I know that on VB, some members wanted to contribute but didn't because they couldn't afford it. If they could, say, contribute 5 or 10 (dollars, pounds, Euros, whatever) per year, or per month for 6 or 12 months, they might be more willing to help.

And definitely offer some perk for contributors beyond the knowledge that they're helping to maintain this forum.

Agreed. I like the idea of it being an option for those that want to contribute rather than a requirement. And an affordable option at that.

 

[kibbleforlola]

Also, the title of this thread makes me think of

Spoiler

boobs

 

[Amy SF]

Also, the title of this thread makes me think of

Spoiler

boobs

Me too.

 

[Blobbenstein]

maybe a donation button. I made some donations to paint.net with their button thing.

 

[beancounter]

At the other board, we sent payment via Paypal to Michael's account.

That would probably be the easiest route.

 

[Amy SF]

At the other board, we sent payment via Paypal to Michael's account.

That would probably be the easiest route.

Spoiler

I think he took all the money and fled to Rio with it. However, I don't think Karl would do that.

 

[Spang]

 

[Second Summer]

Thanks for the feedback everyone - looks like it's a go!

Yes, if people want to contribute, let them.

Also, is there a way to get businesses maybe to pay for reviews in the review section? I'm not talking about adds or members being "strongly encouraged" to review products for cash, but companies paying for the free advertisements we create? Does that make sense - it makes sense in my head, but I'm terrible about getting ideas across. Is that even possible?

Maybe in the longer term, when we're a bit bigger and more established, getting businesses to pay for reviews or just being listed would make sense. I'm still undecided if we're going to keep that particular add-on as the developer still hasn't created a way to rate/score listings, but recently this was talked about again on the XF forum, so maybe something will happen now... Thanks for the idea.

And definitely offer some perk for contributors beyond the knowledge that they're helping to maintain this forum.

Right. I'll think of something ...

maybe a donation button. I made some donations to paint.net with their button thing.

Yes, I have been looking into that using Google Checkout (or Google Wallet or whatever it's called now). I might add that as an extra option.

 

[SummerRain]

Yes, if people want to contribute, let them.

If you want the board advert-free that's great, but personally I'd be happy to have a ad-free for contributing members type scenario. I don't think I'd ever contribute towards a forum, but I'd be happy to see adverts.

 

[Pirate]

I like the idea of people contributing out of the goodness of their hearts, rather than because adverts are gross and annoying. so yay to no ads. but yeah silly perks like changing colours in usernames would be nice.

 

[thefadedone]

I like the idea of people contributing out of the goodness of their hearts, rather than because adverts are gross and annoying. so yay to no ads. but yeah silly perks like changing colours in usernames would be nice.

Agreed.

 

[Blobbenstein]

 

[Blobbenstein]

perhaps you could have a buttons like this on the main page...