Deadline Is Getting Close

[stovall]

Here is a heads up on the SOH server, we have three weeks to meet our goal. Right now we are at 52%. Payday is approaching and we are hoping this will allow us to gather the remaining 48%. We must face facts. If we don't meet our goal please consider what SOH can do without. As time gets closer I will post a list of options we can forgo to pay the bills. Those who have contributed please accept our sincere thanks for keeping us advertizing and pop-up free.

[ejoiner]

Here is a heads up on the SOH server, we have three weeks to meet our goal. Right now we are at 52%. Payday is approaching and we are hoping this will allow us to gather the remaining 48%. We must face facts. If we don't meet our goal please consider what SOH can do without. As time gets closer I will post a list of options we can forgo to pay the bills. Those who have contributed please accept our sincere thanks for keeping us advertizing and pop-up free.


Hi Stovall, I contributed on day 1 of this drive, so I believe in the exercise. However, lets be open about this since this crowd funded. How much is the target and what do you need?

kind regards
Eric

[rpjkw]

Payday for me is not until Feb. 2, but you can count on me again on that date. SOH is by far the best Flight Sim site.

Bob

[Anthin]

Will contribute again Thursday (Pension Day).
I wish Oz dollar was not worth 79 cents US.

Anthin.

[odourboy]

Hi Stovall, I contributed on day 1 of this drive, so I believe in the exercise. However, lets be open about this since this crowd funded. How much is the target and what do you need?

kind regards
Eric


Hi Scott,

$13000 is our goal for 2015.

Roger.

Roger was open from the get-go. I'm sorry to see SOH is struggling to make it's modest goal. I'll guess I'll have to kick in a bit more. :encouragement:

[fsxar177]

I would like to see a list of expenses, and what the yearly/monthly dues are.

- Joseph

[TARPSBird]

I will kick in again if it helps us to keep things running full up. Pretty sad that SOH has almost 18,000 members and we're still coming up short of our goal. Betcha all those lurkers out there have downloaded plenty of stuff, and learned a lot from the various forums, but I guess not enough to justify coughing up a few bucks once a year.

[papab]

Here is a heads up on the SOH server, we have three weeks to meet our goal. Right now we are at 52%. Payday is approaching and we are hoping this will allow us to gather the remaining 48%. We must face facts. If we don't meet our goal please consider what SOH can do without. As time gets closer I will post a list of options we can forgo to pay the bills. Those who have contributed please accept our sincere thanks for keeping us advertizing and pop-up free.

54% of $13,000.00 collected=$7,020.00
Balance due= $5,980.00
Remaining days= 20


So we need $299.00 per day to hit our goal
The site is open 24 hours a day which = $12.46 per hour

Not a lot when you break it down
Off to give my additional donation!

Rick

[huub vink]

I would like to see a list of expenses, and what the yearly/monthly dues are.

- Joseph

Joseph, we are a crowd funded organisation purely ran by volunteers. As we don’t have stockholders or employ people we don’t really have an annual report or something similar. The money we try to raise with our donation drive is spend to keep two servers running in an professionally ran data centre. Over the past years file sizes have increased and so did the number of files in our library. So we need disk space but also sufficient bandwidth. The voluntary staff as a team discusses where to spend money and how to run the SOH as cheap as possible. In our decision where to spend money we try to listen to wishes of the members.

In the end it is a matter of trust and how much you care about the SOH. Perhaps somtimes we have the "best buy" and in other case we perhaps could have found a cheaper solution, but in general I think we do quite a nice job. The SOH is very reliable and still pop-up and advert free. When all member would contribute amount of money for 2 or 3 beers we would raise more money than we currently ask for. Of course I don’t know people's financial situation, but it sometimes surprises me to see people purchasing all possible add-ons, which they sometimes hardly use, but are not prepared to spend any money on “their” forum, where they reside hours and hours every day.

Cheers,
Huub

edit: Shortened after the detailed reply below.

[Dangerousdave26]

Hi Stovall, I contributed on day 1 of this drive, so I believe in the exercise. However, lets be open about this since this crowd funded. How much is the target and what do you need?

kind regards
Eric

The Goal is $13,000 US.

That covers:

Rent on .com server 1 x 32 bit Linux Server (physical Server), Quad Core Xeon Processor, 1 TB Hard Drive 4 GB ram
--- This is the server that houses our main website Forums and file library.

Rent on .net server 1 x 32 bit Windows Server 2008 Standard (physical Server), Quad Core Xeon Processor, 1 TB Hard Drive, 4 GB ram and Microsoft's Yearly fee for the windows operating system.
--- This is the server that hosts our TeamSpeak3, FS Host, Backup Forums, and where we physically backup the .com Server

Yearly software license fees we have to pay for functions that run on the servers.
--- Many of them are not visible to the normal members. This includes anti virus for the .net, Stop Forum Spam for both servers, vBulletin fees, cPanel fees, csf fees and a host of other things I know I am forgetting.

Yearly maintenance fee for onsite support.
--- This pays the company who physically shows up to touch the server if something goes wrong. This is money we hope we never need but in the past its been needed. Keep in mind that we pay this company a hour rate if they have go to the data center to touch the servers.

We pay for all of our bandwidth allotment each year up front for both servers.
---Every year we have had to increase the allotment because our bandwidth needs keep going up of course because of the file library downloads. The sad thing is this keeps going up but the number of unique donators to SOH keeps going down or is stagnant.

Every donation costs us money.
--- Its sad to say but every donation has a cost. Pay Pal charges us a % for each donation so the bandwidth drive has to include the fact that out of that $13,000 close to $1,000 is going to paypal. Proportionally they take less for larger donations than smaller donations. So if each member donates just $10 we pay them more than if each member donated $500. Worse yet is when a member donates but the donation has been cancelled which has happened in the past. When the donation is cancelled we get hit with fees that end up erasing several small donations not just the one that cancelled.

It is preferred that any money we need to support the site through out the year comes form the yearly bandwidth drive. It's necessary to keep some money in an account to cover any unforeseen expenses that might happen through out the year. If you remember a few months ago Ickie had to run a mini charter drive. This was because our coffers were dry and we hit a few extra expenses.

This year is unique in that the .com server needs to be replaced or a new hard drive. About a month ago it started throwing hard drive errors complaining that a drive failure might be pending. We are looking into a new server but I fear that we may just end up replacing the hard drive. If we have to replace it that means having the maintenance company there to image the drive then restore the image to the new drive. That process can take almost a whole day. So lets say that it takes 8hrs including drive time to the site @ $150/hr that is $1200 or 9.25% of this years bandwidth drive.

So the $13,000 is a guess based on what we know we have to pay and what we think we might need in the future.

For everyone who has donated I say Thank You

For everyone who has not please do.

We really need to expand our donation base for the future. We are a shrinking hobby and its more important now than in years past that we all pitch in. We have some 4,000 active members yet only 282 of those members have donated and I know for a fact that more than one of them is not unique.

[flaviossa]

Why don´t you guys use a RAID 1 format with the disks? You can have any drive replaced without need to turn off the server and the cost of the tech team will be one hour at most. And with an advantage to have another local backup. Hard drives aren´t so expensive (Even for professional data storage) this days.

Anyway, i´ll try to make a new donation soon.

[Daveroo]

ive got to wait until the 3rd..but i can only do 10-15 bucks..im still a poor fella............need to stop buying toys i guess...

[Felixthreeone]

I already contributed my Alabeo Cardinal $$. I can live without the Citation and donate more when I get paid this week. I know money is tight for most people, but heck....if you can hold off on purchasing one addon for a week or two, and donate instead, it helps us all here at SOH as a community. I don't even frequent the site as much as I used to (have a 2-year old and a newborn now) but I still feel as though this is like FS 'home' for me. Just saying.

[ejoiner]

Here is a heads up on the SOH server, we have three weeks to meet our goal. Right now we are at 52%. Payday is approaching and we are hoping this will allow us to gather the remaining 48%. We must face facts. If we don't meet our goal please consider what SOH can do without. As time gets closer I will post a list of options we can forgo to pay the bills. Those who have contributed please accept our sincere thanks for keeping us advertizing and pop-up free.

Payday is next friday for me. I'll kick in another $50 USD at that time.

[Jafo]

Paid advertising can be both an income as well as an incentive to users to donate/pay to NOT see the advertising....or perhaps to give donors the option to not see it/them [if it's sim-related they may WANT to anyway].

I administer a website with 6 million plus registered users and precious few subscribers. Eventually it's a case of the few 'supporting' the many, so any incentives should be adopted. Thankfully the site is commercially owned. [Stardock.com]

Not sure how it is here [brain fade] but to have SOH host a user's/uploader's bandwidth he/she 'should need' to be a subscriber [donor] first...;)

A non-profit site needs also to be a non-loss one too ...;)

[Mickey D]

ive got to wait until the 3rd..but i can only do 10-15 bucks..im still a poor fella............need to stop buying toys i guess...

$10 to $15 is enough. If only 3/4 of the registered members pay $10 that equals $30000. Enough to keep the site going for another 2 years. Let's see how many are still blue at the end of the campaign then change the rules so only those who've donated can post and download. When times are hard time to get tough. Oh how I hate freeloaders. :rocket:
Bet that kills the thread :running:

[Roger]

$10 to $15 is enough. If only 3/4 of the registered members pay $10 that equals $30000. Enough to keep the site going for another 2 years. Let's see how many are still blue at the end of the campaign then change the rules so only those who've donated can post and download. When times are hard time to get tough. Oh how I hate freeloaders. :rocket:
Bet that kills the thread :running:

Not going to close the thread Mickey; it's too important. However we don't want to condemn those who genuinely can't afford to pay, like the elderly, or students, or our younger membership who have no ability to pay. For some members we are not their main site, so let us NOT bait the membership who remain blue.

[fsafranek]

Paid advertising can be both an income as well as an incentive to users to donate/pay to NOT see the advertising....or perhaps to give donors the option to not see it/them [if it's sim-related they may WANT to anyway].
Would that include not having to see the threads from developers (the ones started by developers or their "staff") that go on and on using this place to advertise long before the product is released? Obviously I'm kidding but it would be interesting if anyone benefitting from the exposure here was required to pay for that exposure based on number of views and/or posts to the thread.

What I would really like to be able to turn off are not ads but the "Server is busy. Please come back later" messages. If the server can only handle so many registered users and guests at a time and gets near that limit then it should see who I am, know that I am a donor, and drop someone who isn't. I know that sounds selfish but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced this. And it always seems to happen when I just read something and want to add some helpful/useful information. When it does that I say "screw it" and toss the link or information I was going to share and go somewhere else.

By the way, I do donate every time there is a drive whether it is for bandwidth, laptops, etc.
:ernaehrung004:

[Lane Street]

Has anyone considered an e-mail blast to the entire members list?

I would bet that a lot of the members joined simply for access to the library and don't regularly visit the forums. Some might be happy to give a little.

cheers,
Lane

[Roger]

......What I would really like to be able to turn off are not ads but the "Server is busy. Please come back later" messages. If the server can only handle so many registered users and guests at a time and gets near that limit then it should see who I am, know that I am a donor, and drop someone who isn't. I know that sounds selfish but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced this. And it always seems to happen when I just read something and want to add some helpful/useful information. When it does that I say "screw it" and toss the link or information I was going to share and go somewhere else.

By the way, I do donate every time there is a drive whether it is for bandwidth, laptops, etc.
:ernaehrung004:

Frank I have never seen that message and I'm sorry if sometimes you cannot get on to SOH. I will make inquiries.

[Dangerousdave26]

The server is set to run scared if it goes beyond a load of 5.


vBulletin can read the overall load of the server on certain *NIX setups (including Linux).

This allows vBulletin to determine the load on the server and processor, and to turn away further users if the load becomes too high.

If you do not want to use this option, set it to 0.
A typical level would be 5.00 for a reasonable warning level.

I do not see a way that can be changed by user group.

[Mickey D]

We're up to 60% now. Maybe I touched a few raw nerves. :) Everything I said is relevant. No regrets. No prisoners. :biggrin-new:

[TARPSBird]

Has anyone considered an e-mail blast to the entire members list?
I would bet that a lot of the members joined simply for access to the library and don't regularly visit the forums. Some might be happy to give a little.
cheers,
Lane
I think that's an outstanding idea. Instead of a membership drive thread that they can ignore on the forums, send all of the 17,000+ lurkers an e-mail specifically asking for their help. If just a fraction of that population give in to their pangs of guilt and make donations of $10-$20 we'll be in great shape.

[Peg o my heart]

I will contribute. Not much but I'll do what I can. I dont know why I was roaming on many forums sonmany years but here. This is the best and most friendly flightsim website.

[vonstroheim]

Longue vie à SOH!

In this (lousy) screenshoot, 3 outstanding creations I found right here:

The famous Douglas C-47 by Manfred Jahn & Team (http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links_search.php?action=show&userid=105727&sort=d), Aer Lingus repaint by Flyinggoldfish (http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links_search.php?action=show&userid=110876&sort=d), and Tandragee airfield by Dimus (http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links_search.php?action=show&userid=33723&sort=d)

http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/930598c47aerlingustandragee.jpg

[jtrandttr]

Just made my round #2 donation. Thanks all for the great website and forum.

[Alan_A]

Donation #2 just sent.

[FentiFlier1]

Donation sent!

Haven't had much time to spend at the outhouse recently, but I always enjoy a flying visit :costumed-smiley-071

Owen.

[Jafo]

Would that include not having to see the threads from developers (the ones started by developers or their "staff") that go on and on using this place to advertise long before the product is released? Obviously I'm kidding but it would be interesting if anyone benefitting from the exposure here was required to pay for that exposure based on number of views and/or posts to the thread.

What I would really like to be able to turn off are not ads but the "Server is busy. Please come back later" messages. If the server can only handle so many registered users and guests at a time and gets near that limit then it should see who I am, know that I am a donor, and drop someone who isn't. I know that sounds selfish but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced this. And it always seems to happen when I just read something and want to add some helpful/useful information. When it does that I say "screw it" and toss the link or information I was going to share and go somewhere else.

By the way, I do donate every time there is a drive whether it is for bandwidth, laptops, etc.
:ernaehrung004:

As I see it there's communal back-scratching with devs posting imminent release info, etc. so it's more 'news' than 'advertising' [I know...thin line]...;)

Re the 'server busy' message...I get that [have done so 3 or 4 times] ...and that'd be something to present as a 'bonus/incentive' for subscribing/donating [NOT getting the message, I mean] ...;)

[stovall]

Just to explain "the server is busy", this happens when administration is running a security check first thing in the morning. Also happens when server updates are being done. There is a reboot process that must be done which will bring up this message. The is no member priority involved. This is one of the reasons we want to get into a new server and new os. The current os is version centos 5 and the new os will be centos 7. All this is part of what our donations got to. If we are successful with the donation drive and the new server comes on line, things should be better after February 15th. Hope this helps.

[T6flyer]

Milviz looks tempting but think would rather spend my money here at this present time. Least then would be able to hear of such bargains as and when they arose. Chinook sounds tempting though (and I don't like helicopters)! :)
Martin

[Kodiak]

I found these numbers in the FS2004 thread "The clock is ticking..."

"Although we have nearly 18,000 members "only" 4,264 are active members. From the 4,264 members 331 members made a contribution, which is less than 8% of all active members."

Right now at 70% of goal we have just $3,900 to go. If only the 331 who contributed were to contribute another $12 the goal would be met.

As it comes down to the wire you might consider soliciting those who contributed with an email for the balance due. If I got an email asking for another $12 I wouldn't be offended at all and would contribute more in a heartbeat.

I'm a pensioner but I'm heading out now to make another donation as its the 1st of the month! :encouragement:

I'm really new here, but SOH is the best flight sim forum I have ever participated in!

[nio]

I found these numbers in the FS2004 thread "The clock is ticking..."

"Although we have nearly 18,000 members "only" 4,264 are active members. From the 4,264 members 331 members made a contribution, which is less than 8% of all active members."

Right now at 70% of goal we have just $3,900 to go. If only the 331 who contributed were to contribute another $12 the goal would be met.

As it comes down to the wire you might consider soliciting those who contributed with an email for the balance due. If I got an email asking for another $12 I wouldn't be offended at all and would contribute more in a heartbeat.

I'm a pensioner but I'm heading out now to make another donation as its the 1st of the month! :encouragement:

I'm really new here, but SOH is the best flight sim forum I have ever participated in!

Looking it it from a different angle if only 3,900, out of the 3,933 active members who have not so far contributed , made a donation of 1USD, we would also reach the target.

best

nio

[Jafo]

Looking it it from a different angle if only 3,900, out of the 3,933 active members who have not so far contributed , made a donation of 1USD, we would also reach the target.

best

nio

I was about to post the exact same thing...;)

When I joined and later began to upload 'stuff' to SOH - in other words their bandwidth was paying for/hosting my skin files it was only polite [proper] to contribute to the cost.
Nothing in this world is 'free' ....even those of us who remember the days of 'free love' know it was all a con....sounded 'groovy' but was B.S. all the same.

Whilst there are people who will always be willing to contribute there will be many more who aspire to the 'free ride'. It's the same with every/any site/community.
The only solution is imposing membership fees for content access...;)

I have 4 auto-load 'home pages'. 3 are for my Administering for Stardock's sites [work] and the 4th is here... [play].
The only similarity [other than skinning] is the User majority do not 'pay' ...;)

[hschuit]

Fully agree with Jafo, please restrict access to the libraries to paying members only. That will also save a lot of bandwidth usage.

[Rami]

Fully agree with Jafo, please restrict access to the libraries to paying members only. That will also save a lot of bandwidth usage.

I understand this sentiment, but if you ever look at the readme files for a lot of the uploads, they prohibit uploading to a site which restricts download access to paying members only. As the librarian, that means that approximately 30-40% of all files would have to be removed. This would devastate many sims, especially CFS2.

[zswobbie1]

Libraries for paying members only?

Mmmm, methinks that could/should be aimed to the payware sites, & maybe not to public sites such as these, where, somtimes, there are guys who join just to be amongst like minded people & also those who cannot afford or have no interest even the cheapest payware product, or even woud like to donate, but for various reasons, cannot. Also, those who support the freeware devs.

Yes, I do appreciate that this is costing money, & I'm sure that those that can, will & are contributing, but please do no make this an 'elitist' hobby, where those that cannot donate/contribute, are blocked. Sometimes, these guys do contribute by their informative or helpful postings.

Just my thoughts.

[Jafo]

Copyright limitations on uploads to SOH may be an issue with the notion of 'paying to download/contribute' but the only real issue arises if/when the site is into the black [makes a profit] and is thus 'commercial'.
If it were balanced to be non-profit....only covering expenses for its existence then that wouldn't legally be an issue.
OK....
How about access/download SPEED being the incentive to subscribe. The site is still 'free' [or can be] but those who can afford to subscribe/donate/pay get the XB-70 server whilst those who cannot/won't get the Se-5 one...;)

[Rami]

Jafo and others,

There is a big difference between "voluntary" and "mandatory." Think of it as tithing in a church. You're not barred from the doors if you don't or can't contribute, but after looking around and enjoying the resources of the facility and the relationships you build there, you want to give something back.

We kind of run on the same idea at SOH.

[Jafo]

Jafo and others,

There is a big difference between "voluntary" and "mandatory." Think of it as tithing in a church. You're not barred from the doors if you don't or can't contribute, but after looking around and enjoying the resources of the facility and the relationships you build there, you want to give something back.

We kind of run on the same idea at SOH.

Which is all good...except for the '8%'. Is it that 92% 'enjoy the resources' but simply have deep pockets and short arms? ...;)

[P51FAN]

Copyright limitations on uploads to SOH may be an issue with the notion of 'paying to download/contribute' but the only real issue arises if/when the site is into the black [makes a profit] and is thus 'commercial'.
If it were balanced to be non-profit....only covering expenses for its existence then that wouldn't legally be an issue.

I don't think this gets much clearer:

prohibit uploading to a site which restricts download access to paying members only

Which means it doesn't matter whether it is pay for access or donate for access, money still has to be transfered to receive access.

[Anthin]

How much time is left?

I get my next pension in eight days and
will contribute once again.

Anthin.

[stovall]

We have just over 8 days left, Administrators are working on a plan if we don't reach out goal. This could mean using old equipment or cutting some services. I will let everyone know as soon as any decision is made. Now is the time to step to the plate. Please keep SOH one of the best forums in the sim world. Thanks to those who have contributed and especially those who have contributed multiple times.

[anthony31]

Can I suggest a gentle reminder email to all members?

Aussiex did this a while ago and it was rather successful at prompting some more donations.

[Anthin]

Ok guys,I just borrowed some money and have made another deposit.

Anthin.

[modelr]

Donation #2 sent.

[manfredc3]

Definitely like this website, so I will be donating this weekend, since I am waiting for my paycheck to arrive.

[Felixthreeone]

Just tossed donation #2 into the basket. Hopefully it helps.

[Bjoern]

I'm really torn on the issue.

On one hand, covering hosting costs entirely by donations is a noble thing as it avoids spamming the page with advertisements and - nowadays - any pop-up windows complaining about adblocking browser plugins. There are forums for a lot of stuff and, in the rare case that I need it, there's a fast library available (once you figure out how to properly search it for stuff).

But...

Why can't I donate less than $10?
At the current exchange rate, $10 amounts to about three days worth of groceries for me. I'd chip in $5 as a symbolic goodwill contribution without any questions asked whatsoever, but $10? Sorry, no.
Maybe making the least possible contribution $5 might make other - non-regular - members donate as well.

Why do I have to pay for a lot of stuff that costs space and bandwidth, but which I don't use?
News forum, political forum, flight center for the CFS crowd, teamspeak server, file attachments in the forums, etc...

What would I get from a contribution? What will happen if the target amount can't be attained?
From what I read, this year's drive is mostly about server upgrades, so it's mostly a one-time cost, right?
Assuming that the target is met, will there be an effort to restructure and downsize as well so that next year's drive will, at best, only cover bandwidth costs and any emergency upgrades?
And what will happen if the goal isn't met? I know you guys are makeing plans for this case, but there hasn't been any announcement yet. Postponement of less necessary upgrades? Bandwidth restrictions for downloads? "Leech" user titles for non-donors? Banners and pop-up windows EVERYWHERE?


Enough questions. I'll now curl up in a corner and await a beating from the rest of you people.

[DaveSHQ]

You're seriously a downer dude lol. Do you ever look at the upside of anything?

[Dangerousdave26]

I'm really torn on the issue.

On one hand, covering hosting costs entirely by donations is a noble thing as it avoids spamming the page with advertisements and - nowadays - any pop-up windows complaining about adblocking browser plugins. There are forums for a lot of stuff and, in the rare case that I need it, there's a fast library available (once you figure out how to properly search it for stuff).

But...

Why can't I donate less than $10?
At the current exchange rate, $10 amounts to about three days worth of groceries for me. I'd chip in $5 as a symbolic goodwill contribution without any questions asked whatsoever, but $10? Sorry, no.
Maybe making the least possible contribution $5 might make other - non-regular - members donate as well.

Why do I have to pay for a lot of stuff that costs space and bandwidth, but which I don't use?
News forum, political forum, flight center for the CFS crowd, teamspeak server, file attachments in the forums, etc...

What would I get from a contribution? What will happen if the target amount can't be attained?
From what I read, this year's drive is mostly about server upgrades, so it's mostly a one-time cost, right?
Assuming that the target is met, will there be an effort to restructure and downsize as well so that next year's drive will, at best, only cover bandwidth costs and any emergency upgrades?
And what will happen if the goal isn't met? I know you guys are makeing plans for this case, but there hasn't been any announcement yet. Postponement of less necessary upgrades? Bandwidth restrictions for downloads? "Leech" user titles for non-donors? Banners and pop-up windows EVERYWHERE?


Enough questions. I'll now curl up in a corner and await a beating from the rest of you people.

Here is the alternate donation path link

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?91752-Alt-SOH-Donation-Methods

Simply mail Ickie the equivalent of $5 in your native currency and he will nail it to his wall and make you a charter member.

Everyone's donation goes to support the part of the site they frequent. As a collective whole we get more for everyone. Start segmenting it out and everything will end up failing.

[peterwatkins2]

I'm really torn on the issue.

On one hand, covering hosting costs entirely by donations is a noble thing as it avoids spamming the page with advertisements and - nowadays - any pop-up windows complaining about adblocking browser plugins. There are forums for a lot of stuff and, in the rare case that I need it, there's a fast library available (once you figure out how to properly search it for stuff).

But...

Why can't I donate less than $10?
At the current exchange rate, $10 amounts to about three days worth of groceries for me. I'd chip in $5 as a symbolic goodwill contribution without any questions asked whatsoever, but $10? Sorry, no.
Maybe making the least possible contribution $5 might make other - non-regular - members donate as well.

Why do I have to pay for a lot of stuff that costs space and bandwidth, but which I don't use?
News forum, political forum, flight center for the CFS crowd, teamspeak server, file attachments in the forums, etc...

What would I get from a contribution? What will happen if the target amount can't be attained?
From what I read, this year's drive is mostly about server upgrades, so it's mostly a one-time cost, right?
Assuming that the target is met, will there be an effort to restructure and downsize as well so that next year's drive will, at best, only cover bandwidth costs and any emergency upgrades?
And what will happen if the goal isn't met? I know you guys are makeing plans for this case, but there hasn't been any announcement yet. Postponement of less necessary upgrades? Bandwidth restrictions for downloads? "Leech" user titles for non-donors? Banners and pop-up windows EVERYWHERE?


Enough questions. I'll now curl up in a corner and await a beating from the rest of you people.

Hmmm, so $10 equates to three days groceries! You obviously do not live in the UK. £6.50 will not even get me two beers lol.

Have just made my second donation of $20 although I do not know how much would take me to the exalted rank of 'Charter Member 2015' instead of 'SOH-CM-2015'!

I spend on average about $20 when I buy a payware sim product so this cause is worth at least that to me.

:ernaehrung004:

[Blackbird686]

Actually 'SOH-CM-2015' is just an abbreviation for 'Charter Member 2015'... means the same. At any rate, thanks for your contribution to SOH. There is no such thing as an insignificant contribution... every little bit helps. If others would pitch in and give as much as you have, the SOH would be in "fat city"! lol...:biggrin-new:

BB686:US-flag:

[TheGrunt]

Threw in a small second donation. I hope we can reach the goal or at least get very close to it :wavey:

[Bjoern]

Hm, quote function seems to be broken for me...



You're seriously a downer dude lol. Do you ever look at the upside of anything?

My shrink tried to make me. With lukewarm success when in the outside world.
Flight Simulation, however...




Here is the alternate donation path link

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...nation-Methods (http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?91752-Alt-SOH-Donation-Methods)

Simply mail Ickie the equivalent of $5 in your native currency and he will nail it to his wall and make you a charter member.

Nothing Paypal-based?




Hmmm, so $10 equates to three days groceries! You obviously do not live in the UK. £6.50 will not even get me two beers lol.

I'm neither talking organic "Fair Trade" kind of groceries nor 24/7 ramen, but discount groceries. ALDI, etc...

[Dangerousdave26]

Just found this out

PayPal charges us $2 on a $5 dollar donation where as they only charge 10% on a $10 donation.

$10 is the point of diminishing returns.

[peterwatkins2]

Just found this out

PayPal charges us $2 on a $5 dollar donation where as they only charge 10% on a $10 donation.

$10 is the point of diminishing returns.

PayPal also rip off the donor by applying a exchange rate less than the current market rate. The current rate for £ Sterling is $1.53 however I was given £1.47 by PayPal.

[WarHorse47]

I see that we are now at 80% of the contribution goal.

Can someone translate that for me? How much more is needed and by when? :dizzy:

I'd do my own calculations, but I'd rather save that effort for flying. :biggrin-new:

[DaveB]

Maths has never been my strong point but I think it's short by $2600 (10400 raised):dizzy:

ATB
DaveB:)

[srgalahad]

PayPal also rip off the donor by applying a exchange rate less than the current market rate. The current rate for £ Sterling is $1.53 however I was given £1.47 by PayPal.
You may see it as a rip-off but it's, in reality, the cost of doing business. First, the 'market rate' is/was $1.53 but here is what xe.com says by way of explanation:
"The rates in our free information services are neither "buy" nor "sell" rates. Instead, they are mid-market rates derived from the mid-point between the "buy" and "sell" rates from global currency markets. Our free information services always list the mid-market rate because it indicates the value of a currency that is not weighted towards buying or selling."Buy" and "sell" rates include overheads and profit margins that are independently set by foreign exchange providers; their rates can vary a lot and will differ from the mid-market rate, so we recommend you shop around."

All financial institutions will charge to cover costs and to make a profit (that's why they are in business). The credit card companies will charge a premium or surcharge for international purchases (1.5 - 3.5% in many cases) that shows when you get your statement. With the current increase in diligence, record keeping and reporting resulting from the Anti-Money Laundering & Anti-Terrorist Financing legislations we're lucky that there are still places that want the business (and there are many who gave up because of the costs and legal risks).
Paypal is not the be-all-and-end-all. There are other organizations that do the same but we have been inundated by their promotional skills. If someone finds a more secure option that is as easy (and cheaper?) I'm sure Ron et al would find a way to make it work.

The amounts we deal with here are miniscule and I agree, every penny seems like a small stab wound both at the donor's end and to SOH, but I would hope a few cents on a dollar wouldn't deter people from contributing, nor should we give people excuses for not making the effort.

We've also talked about comparing donations or a lack thereof to the amount simmers spend for add-ons and that's a valid discussion. What about the amount people spend on more and more expensive systems to run their preferred version of flight sim? I'd hazard a guess that if 5% of all those yearly expenditures by members was diverted to the donation drive we'd be well-funded for years to come. Oh yeah, those hardware bits (unless you live in the original country of manufacture) have currency exchange, taxes and duty attached long before the bits get into one's basement sim-pit. It may not feel great, but it's part and parcel of living in a global community.

[WarHorse47]

Maths has never been my strong point but I think it's short by $2600 (10400 raised):dizzy:

ATB
DaveB:)So... Stovall's post was on January 26th, which means we have to raise the additional $2600 by February 16th or thereabouts... :mixed-smiley-027:

[Jafo]

My eyes glazed over 3 lines into post #60.....
....but it's Friday night....red wine and such...so it's not all the fault of economics....;)

All I know is the Aussie dollar is 4 fifths of bugger-all at the moment....or actually 4 fifths of a USD for that matter...;)

[Bjoern]

Just found this out

PayPal charges us $2 on a $5 dollar donation where as they only charge 10% on a $10 donation.

$10 is the point of diminishing returns.

I see. Thanks.

[Dumonceau]

Third donation made. But that is it from me.
Needless to say that the first time when I log into the site and I see banners and other commercial **********, I will be seething! :redfire:

I've been following this thread regularly and have seen pensioners donating, retired servicemen and what not. Even unemployed people for crying out loud! Not exactly people who have enough money to throw out of the windows.

Sooooo.... people who do have the money to buy (expensive) addons, but don't see fit to donate deserve just one name: leeches! Sucking the life blood out of a community but not willing to contribute... Hell, they could be banksters!

*soapbox mode off*

Dumonceau

[dhazelgrove]

Third time for me, too.

Dave

[Roger]

All you fantastic members who have contributed, once, twice or even three times make us proud to be staff here at the Outhouse:applause::ernaehrung004:

We will continue somehow but we're not giving up hope that we may get closer to the goal amount.

[Jafo]

Contributed again...bloody exchange rate is a killer....;)

[limjack]

:very_drunk: What the heck, I'll give some more!

CHEERS ALL!

Jim

[Anthin]

If it is still open i will contribute again on Thursday.

Anthin.

[Marvin Carter]

Will contribute again when I get paid next week also!!!

[roger-wilco-66]

I'm also in for a third round. Initially I wanted to spend the money on a new addon aircraft, but thought what the heck, spending the same amount for our cause here does more good.

Cheers,
Mark

[modelr]

Third round donation posted.

[jankees]

My third round brings me to 1% of the total, so all we need is another 99 idiots like me.....

[SpaceWeevil]

My third round brings me to 1% of the total, so all we need is another 99 idiots like me.....

Well here's one of them - third time lucky, I hope...

[jtrandttr]

My third round brings me to 1% of the total, so all we need is another 99 idiots like me.....


Well here's one of them - third time lucky, I hope...

"Idiot" sounds just fine to me, so count me in. Here's my #3 to top off at 1%. Thanks for the nudge.

Tom

[Roger]

Well, with some wheeler dealing Ickie's managed to get what we need to keep the site going for another year!

Many thanks to all who donated:applause::applause:

[Jafo]

Yay.......;)

[Wayland]

Whew! That's a relief.

Steve

[stovall]

Tom thanks everyone for their very generous support. The best flight sim site is alive and well for another year. Very much appreciated.

[roger-wilco-66]

Sounds great, Roger!

Cheers,
Mark

[Crusader]

I knew we all could do it . I'm relieved .:encouragement: This is my second home and family .

Rich:sentimental:

[limjack]

:jump::applause: Thank You all!

Jim

[Lawman]

I feel it is also time to thank Ickie, CK and all the mods for all the hard work they do behind the scenes:applause::applause::applause:. Thank you, guys:icon29:.

[jagl04]

Great news. Thanks to everybody

[Crusader]

I feel it is also time to thank Ickie, CK and all the mods for all the hard work they do behind the scenes:applause::applause::applause:. Thank you, guys:icon29:.


I agree with you a 100% . Ickie , CK and all the mods make SOH (IMO) number one in the flightsim community

Rich

[glenm]

I don't post often but I visit several times a day and I very much enjoy the friendliness off the place. I was happy to contribute (twice) like many others. I am happy everything worked out.

I do have a suggestion though...why not have a DONATE button that would be at the bottom of your posts. A gentle reminder of sorts, so there isn't this mad rush to raise the funds.


Cheers,
Glen

[big-mike]

Great news indead--i`m happy that i can hang around here for another year.
Mike

[Tako_Kichi]

I don't post often but I visit several times a day and I very much enjoy the friendliness off the place. I was happy to contribute (twice) like many others. I am happy everything worked out.

I do have a suggestion though...why not have a DONATE button that would be at the bottom of your posts. A gentle reminder of sorts, so there isn't this mad rush to raise the funds.
There is, and has been for a long time, a 'Donations' button in the top header of the page. It's there for people to use throughout the year as and when they see fit.