Help bukowski.net and be a big shot, all in one fell swoop! (1 Viewer)

[mjp]

When the forum first opened many of you asked me if you could contribute or help in any way. Well, things are going on behind the scenes - as things have a way of doing - and it looks like it would be in our best interest to move bukowski.net to a new server. So to help make that happen I've set up paid "Supporting Member" forum subscriptions. You can sign up here. You need a PayPal account for the subscription. If you don't have a PayPal account, or want to make a one time donation, use the other link below.

It's ten bucks a year, and there are some little perks for being a Supporting Member:

- Your name in lights on the View Forum Leaders page
- Your name in glorious red in the "who's online" list
- The ability to make yourself invisible so no one knows you're around
- An extra special "Supporting Member" title under your name
- A larger (100 x 100 pixel) avatar
- A larger (300 x 300 pixel) profile picture
- Increased private message storage to 300
- @bukowski.net Google mail account
- The undying love and gratitude of everyone who uses bukowski.net

Along with anything else I can think of to throw in there in the future. That could include such things as access to special "Members only" forums and other strange and essentially useless diversions. Who knows. We'll have to see how this pans out.

Anyway, no pressure. You know I still love you, Supporting Member or not. But I just might love Supporting Members a liiiiittle bit more. ;)

If you do not have a PayPal account, or Supporting Membership isn't for you but you still want to make a financial contribution, you can click here to make a one-time donation of any amount, or even become a Supporting Member using a credit card (PayPal account not required). Whatever you want. It's all yours.

It's all appreciated and every penny will go to keeping bukowski.net up and running.

Thanks!

Note: If your PayPal email address is different from the email address you gave when signing up on the forum here you may have to send me a PM with your username so I can set you up manually.

 

[bospress.net]

mjp,
I just signed up. Really a steal... $10 a year and I check the forum 5 times a day? It is almost free!

Thanks,
BIll

 

[Michael Conrad]

sounds cool... ill sign up when im sober!

 

[mjp]

Thanks Bill, you are a gentleman and a scholar, as the kids say.

Thanks also to hoochmonkey and cupcakes and someone else who I haven't identified yet, too. Nice to see such an early response, good, good.

 

[Olaf]

Paid membership? No thank you.

does this site actually cost you to run?
I'll have to stick to just marginal user status

 

[bospress.net]

Olaf,
EVERYTHING costs money. Hosting, bandwidth, etc.... Plus the time. Hell, it is worth much more than that. I'm not sure why you would even comment on it, instead of just saying nothing.... Nothing wrong with not paying, but to argue it in a public forum confuses me. Just my thoughts. mjp?

Bill

 

[mjp]

Well, that's just Olaf. He is lawless and wild and fears no man!

To answer the general question though, yes, it costs money to run the site. It costs money to run any web site. It doesn't cost much at the moment, but I want to move it to a server that is independent of my other businesses and let it stand on it's own. Even doing that will not be a tremendous cost, but over the course of a year (or ten) it adds up, so there you go.

As Bill pointed out, a lot more time goes into this than money, and the time is all given freely by myself and other contributors, so the paid memberships will (hopefully) just cover the outgoing expenses.

It's voluntary and extracurricular, so if you don't like it, don't worry about it. If you want to give me shit for asking for help (rather than just closing up shop or covering the site in Google ads and flashing "punch the monkey" advertising), have at it. I pretty much expected it from some of you anyway. Everyone is still welcome here, however you feel about it.

 

[hoochmonkey9]

I'm intrigued by this punching of the monkey. is that sexy talk? all I know is that what happens in bukowski.net stays in bukowski.net.

 

[cirerita]

I, for one, would like to replace the "supporting member" title for any brilliant ;) phrase I could come up with! [in most forums, you're usually allowed up to 25 characters]
the fact that our nicknames are in red already says we're supporting members, so there's no point in emphasizing that.

so instead of having

bospress.net
supporting member
bukowski.net

we could have:

bospress.net
proud member of GPP
bukowski net

:D

 

[mjp]

Your wish is my command. Done.

 

[bospress.net]

mjp,
YOU are a king among mere men....

Bill

 

[cirerita]

a big thank you...

 

[mjp]

Okay, we're up and running on the new host. I'm 99% sure everything is working properly, but let me know if you see anything weird/buggy and I'll try to work it out.

 

[bospress.net]

mjp,

Welcome back. I missed the forum for the day that I could not get on it.....

I have found myself addicted.

Bill

 

[cirerita]

I have found myself addicted.

I'm afraid you're not the only one here :D

anyway, great to be back on track...

 

[1fsh2fsh]

I just looked thru the membership list to see just how many supporting members there might be, (i know,i know, bored i guess) my count comes to 9, holy shit that comes to $90!! christ MJP! whattaya gonna do with all that dough?!!!! :confused: ....:rolleyes: ...:cool:

 

[bospress.net]

Hi,
How do we make the avatar larger?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[mjp]

I just looked thru the membership list to see just how many supporting members there might be, (i know,i know, bored i guess) my count comes to 9, holy shit that comes to $90!! christ MJP! whattaya gonna do with all that dough?!!!!

Well, a few people have also graciously donated without wanting to be listed as "Supporting Members," and some Supporting Members have contributed more than $10.

As for what I'm going to do with all that money, you're looking at it.

I think I mentioned in the first post that it doesn't take a great deal of money to support the site, so we don't need hundreds of Supporting Members.

Don't let that deter any of you who are on the fence though! ;)

 

[mjp]

How do we make the avatar larger?

Just upload a larger version. Your limits are already increased.

 

[cirerita]

How do we make the avatar larger?

just downscale the original image to 100x100 and upload it to your CP.

 

[Bobby D]

Alright, I'm in mjp!!

10 Bucks!!? I got my 10 bucks worth the first 10 minutes I visited the site...Dude, don't spend it all in one place!!! No rot gut liquor to fortify yourself, now...10 bucks will buy a lot of Mad Dog 20/20 and MountainDew :-) Cheers!

Bobby D.

 

[Short Bus]

$10.00 is very fair.
I recall reading the Znet site when they solicited funds to keep the site open.
Their logic (poorly paraphrased) was Equality is an exchange. The effort expended to create the site has time as well as resource pressures.Those that benefit from the expense of MJP's time and rsources should be expected to contribute since they receive a benefit. There is an exchange.
What one chooses to do of course is up to them.
MJP, I don't have paypal. Should I?
How shall I send you a ten spot?
Let me know if you want a crisp $10 Canadian bill (worth about $9.10 U.S but very pretty)

 

[mjp]

Thanks Jimmy Snerp. I don't know if I want to get into taking cash or check donations. But if you have a credit card you can still donate through PayPal, even without a PayPal account. Just hit the second link in the first post of this thread...that one gives you the option to pay with a credit card.

Here's the link.

I appreciate what you said about effort and exchange, but just to make it clear, all the dough collected here goes directly to hosting costs for the site.

 

[steve]

Im in the same boat as Jimmy Snerp ,me no sabe' paypal nor any credit card (since all that trouble) ,can put 10$ Australian in a envolope.(worth about 30cents US)