Server Upgrade discussion

[Lukie]

Originally Posted by Error404

On the note of Lukies post. Is there an option that if you donate, that you DON'T get a pink name? I don't mind donating and NOT being known as a donator. That and I don't like Pink. Maybe you could make several donator groups, allowing a member a coloured name of their choice? I'd like a baby blue name, specifically 00CAFE.

But that's just me.

I requested my name get changed back to green...

[Charlie F]

I don't really see the point in a donor forum...
I don't think that the VIP forum is an incentive to become a VIP, it's just a useful forum for posting things that you only want really trust-able people to see. What would people in a donor forum post?

Larger PM storage? That could be cool.

[Pojo]

I don't understand the donating page that much...For example, donating $5 a month...You get the options for 1 month, 2 months, etc...But at the bottom is says things with a * (which is everything) will be things that continuously bill you each month...So wouldn't that just completely ruin the point of having things for more than one month?....When I was VIP, the only things I really liked was the thing under your name...The VIP forum was kind of desolate...

Error: Being able to change your name color to anything other than what we have now could confuse people, since it wouldn't be something on the list of name colors

Some incentive things you could have for either VIP's or Donors could be like new emotes, or keyboard shortcut things...Or have some new options for you, or some new things you could fill in in your profile...

[Fire2box]

Originally Posted by Mandi

As for the custom titles, I think that should stay VIP only. I don't think donors should have the ability to have that.. it's something thats always been VIP only. Whether VIP is harder to get now or not.. it should stay among that group of people.

I sort of disagree there. I love custom titles but I think it should be open to everyone but if its at all limited it should be to VIP's and/or donors both of which have really helped supported the site in someway.

[Darkfinn]

I love custom titles. I think that people who donate should be able to get one... whether they are VIP or not. Might encourage donations if someone could say "buy" a custom title for $10 or so.

Other "perks" for donors... hmm... bigger PM box might be ok... I like the unlimited gallery space... I'll have to do some thinkin on other stuff.

I also realise that not a lot of our members are able to donate b/c of their age or other circumstances... but those of us who can should be encouraged to.

I love this place... and will definately continue to donate as often as my budget allows.

[Ben]

I personally don't like perks for donations at all. IMO people should donate because they appreciate this website and wish for it to continue. I think giving extra thing to people who donate etc. kinda ruins that mood.

[avery]

Originally Posted by Ben

I personally don't like perks for donations at all. IMO people should donate because they appreciate this website and wish for it to continue. I think giving extra thing to people who donate etc. kinda ruins that mood.

i totally 100% agree with Ben. he may not talk much, but when he does he always talks sense!

trying to entice people into donating by waving toys and sweets in front of them makes everything start to seem really institutional. we're a warm, close community, and we donate because we care personally about the site, not because we're taken in by some shiny reward that's been created to lure us.

Originally Posted by Error404

I had been considering donating for quite some time now, mainly just to help out. But if by doing that I'm suddenly expected to donate again another month... (Or maybe I've read it wrong) I've been put off the idea.

i'm in the same boat. that and i don't like the idea of my donation going toward financing the google ads, which i think are a horrid idea nomatter how "effective" they're perceived to be.

[d4l]

Why not have two groups(even though i agree with ben)

Donators get the pink name and the donor under their name.

Then donators+(who donate every month) get the special perks.

[Moo]

Originally Posted by Mandi

How about a bigger signature size? I would absolutely love that!

As for the custom titles, I think that should stay VIP only. I don't think donors should have the ability to have that.. it's something thats always been VIP only. Whether VIP is harder to get now or not.. it should stay among that group of people.

By bigger signature size, do you mean bigger text, or more characters, or more lines?

I've added custom titles as something donors can get, but only at the highest level of donations ($20/month) can they get it. In the medium term I'd like to replace custom titles with something else as a perk for donors.

Originally Posted by Error404

I personally think you should set up more than one status. One for 'one time donor' and one for 'reoccuring donors', not everyone always has cash that they can throw arround

Already did that. You can now get any of the donor packages for a shorter time via a one-time donation.

Originally Posted by Error404

asking that someone reoccurs a donation monthly is sort of arrogant, it's taking something that someone does out of the goodness of their heart and turns it onto a partial burden for the rest of the year for them.

I've changed the donation system so that you can now donate without using a subscription.

Originally Posted by Error404

Maybe you could clarify for me - If I donate $5 this month, will it automatically attempt to direct debit me another $5 the next month and so on?

Only if you select the recurring donation options (marked with *s). You can select to do a one-time donation instead if that's what you prefer.

Originally Posted by Error404

On the note of Lukies post. Is there an option that if you donate, that you DON'T get a pink name? I don't mind donating and NOT being known as a donator. That and I don't like Pink. Maybe you could make several donator groups, allowing a member a coloured name of their choice? I'd like a baby blue name, specifically 00CAFE.

But that's just me.

If you want a pink name, you have to request it in the requests forum after your donation goes through. Unfortunately, there is no way of granting them automatically.

Originally Posted by Charlie F

I don't really see the point in a donor forum...
I don't think that the VIP forum is an incentive to become a VIP, it's just a useful forum for posting things that you only want really trust-able people to see. What would people in a donor forum post?

Larger PM storage? That could be cool.

Larger PM storage is in there

Originally Posted by Pojo

I don't understand the donating page that much...For example, donating $5 a month...You get the options for 1 month, 2 months, etc...But at the bottom is says things with a * (which is everything) will be things that continuously bill you each month...So wouldn't that just completely ruin the point of having things for more than one month?....When I was VIP, the only things I really liked was the thing under your name...The VIP forum was kind of desolate...

Error: Being able to change your name color to anything other than what we have now could confuse people, since it wouldn't be something on the list of name colors

Some incentive things you could have for either VIP's or Donors could be like new emotes, or keyboard shortcut things...Or have some new options for you, or some new things you could fill in in your profile...

The 'everything gets a *' thing was an error.
I'm not granting donors the ability to change their name color to anything, as that would be too confusing.
Unfortunately, new emotes/shortcuts/profile stuff isn't really feasible.

Originally Posted by Fire2box

I sort of disagree there. I love custom titles but I think it should be open to everyone but if its at all limited it should be to VIP's and/or donors both of which have really helped supported the site in someway.

The current situation is that to get a custom title you have to be a VIP or a Gold level ($20/month) donor.

Originally Posted by Darkfinn

I love custom titles. I think that people who donate should be able to get one... whether they are VIP or not. Might encourage donations if someone could say "buy" a custom title for $10 or so.

Other "perks" for donors... hmm... bigger PM box might be ok... I like the unlimited gallery space... I'll have to do some thinkin on other stuff.

I also realise that not a lot of our members are able to donate b/c of their age or other circumstances... but those of us who can should be encouraged to.

I love this place... and will definately continue to donate as often as my budget allows.

There are currently 3 donation levels:
$5 - Bronze
$10 - Silver
$20 - Gold
Of these, only gold grants the custom title ability.
Each lasts a month, and you have the option to make it a monthly donation or a one-time donation. Is gallery space an issue? If so, I will certainly consider expanding that.

Originally Posted by avery

i totally 100% agree with Ben. he may not talk much, but when he does he always talks sense!

trying to entice people into donating by waving toys and sweets in front of them makes everything start to seem really institutional. we're a warm, close community, and we donate because we care personally about the site, not because we're taken in by some shiny reward that's been created to lure us.

Yes, we're a warm, close community, but we also have rising server costs, and we need more money in donations to fund the server fees. Can you blame me for providing people a slightly bigger incentive to donate?

Originally Posted by avery

i'm in the same boat. that and i don't like the idea of my donation going toward financing the google ads, which i think are a horrid idea nomatter how "effective" they're perceived to be.

If you don't like that idea, then leave me a PM or requests forum thread stating this, and I will ensure your donation doesn't get used for advertising. Right now, our advertising budget comes out of my own pocket anyway - it isn't funded by donations, its one of the expenses I pick up myself.

Originally Posted by Diapered4lyfe

Why not have two groups(even though i agree with ben)

Donators get the pink name and the donor under their name.

Then donators+(who donate every month) get the special perks.

Right now, the system is set up so that donating $5 per month automatically, and donating $5 per month manually, both give you the same perks.
There is no difference between the two except that the automatic one is more convenient.
The idea is that I want to give people a completely free choice as to whether they set up an automatic donation or a manual one.
The perks donors get are based on how much they donate, not whether they donate automatically or manually.

[Error404]

Thanks for clearing all of that up for me Moo. Good on you.

Anyhow. Regarding linking. I was speaking to BabyJunior before, he was saying to me something along the lines of this:

If I can get him full access (I'm guessing, able to use chat and view all but administration forums, view gallery and what not) then he'll put www.adisc.org as his Sponsored link for a month. You'll probably have to discuss the intricacies with him as it's his site and this is your site. I'm sure you can both work something out together though