Donation system now up!

[Adam]

Thread updated as of July, 2009 but is now outdated. New thread found here: http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/l...on-system.html

New Donation System for PentaxForums.com Users

As many of you may know, PentaxForums.com is 100% user-supported financially, and we currently host no advertisements or annoying pop-ups to disturb your browsing experience. Our server costs and software expenses, as well as my time spent maintaining the site, are rising, and thus, we now have an increased need for donations to keep the site running and the updates flowing.

Our old donation system, which was accessible only from the User CP, was obscure and difficult to find. Therefore, we've now replaced it with a new, easier system, and we've also added a Donation Bar in the User CP homepage for you to track monthly donation goals. We are also adding a page which recognizes all members who have donated to the site.

Users who donate to the site will still have their account upgraded in the same manner as before, though recently, the attachement and gallery quotas have been doubled for all donors. In the future, I also plan to feature an premium account with even larger quotas for the highest PentaxForums.com donors.

There are links to the new donation page from the QuickLinks menu (or Navbar, if using the Simple Skin)*, the User CP, as well as this thread and my signature. Donating to PentaxForums.com is a way for the user to say "thanks", as well as to obtain increased account quotas that may quickly be filled as a regular member. You can choose to donate $10, $20, $50, $75, $100, or $150.


Here are the features for the upgraded forum account that you get after donating; they were increased in September, 2008:

• 30Mb of attachment space (26Mb more than normally)
• Access to sell items in the Photographer's Marketplace
• Up to 50Kb avatars (20Kb larger)
• Up to 50Kb signature uploads (30Kb larger)
• Up to 150Kb Profile pictures (85Kb larger)
• Larger signatures quotas
• Permission for off-site images in signatures
• More space in the photo gallery (5x more than normally: up to 250 photos @ 1.5Mb each)
• Larger private message inbox (10x bigger)
• Recognition for donating here
• Italicized user name and special title

There is now also an option for current site supporters to re-donate larger ammounts for added benefits and a longer upgraded account duration; see details at the bottom of the post.


To donate now, follow this link:

Donate Now!

All donations still go through the official PayPal website, and the process should remain fundamentally the same. Once again, my great appreciation goes out to everyone who has already donated to the site, and to those who plan on donating in the future. The site wouldn't be what it is without you (specifically, it would be sloooow)!

Our currently monthly donation goal is $750. If we don't appear to be reaching our goal during the last week of the month, we especially encourage those who are interested to consider donating again. You can track our monthly donation progress in the User CP homepage. Update: thank you to everyone for continuing to support the site for the past year! We've reached our goal every month.

Thanks for reading, and I'm glad the site has become such a great success. As we keep growing, I'm striving to make it as good as it can get, and as feature-packed and easy-to-use as possible!

With this thread open to discussion, I'm now closing the old thread.

To clear up any doubts, donating is never mandatory. If you can afford to donate, we'd appreciate it, but if not, you can continue to use the site with full access to all public features.

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Should you already be a site supporter and would like to contribute again, or increase your quotas further, a second donation option is now available for you. If you choose to make such a donation, your account will be upgraded to "loyal site supporter" status and remain upgraded for two years. The second tier account features the following improvements, in addition to those you already have:

-55Mb of attachment space (~2x as much as before)
-Up to 75Kb avatars (50% larger)
-Up to 100Kb signature uploads (100% larger)
-Up to 200Kb Profile pictures (33% larger)
-Larger photos in the User Photo Gallery: each photo can be up to 2Mb in filesize
-Custom user title which you may or may not choose to use instead of the "Site Supporter" text

This option is intended for user who have been using the site for a very long time. You can choose to donate $125, $150, $200, or $250. This option is NOT available unless you have already donated to PentaxForums.com.

*The Quicklinks/Navbar link is not visible by members who have already donated.

[vievetrick]

Done. There is a few bucks for what I hope will be a great site for years to come.

[Adam]

Thanks for your donation- I really appreciate it!

This site's here for you- and it'll definitely keep on growing nicely

[photo_mom]

Hi Mo!

Okay, I like the donation idea because this is and has great promise to continue to be a great forum. However, I feel a bit leery of the 'yearly' requirement. How about a one-time option?

[Adam]

Yearly just means that your upgraded account is valid for one year (I'll probably extend it manually, though, even after a year has passed)

I guess that's a bit ambiguous- I should clarify it on the donation page: it is a one-time donation.

[photo_mom]

Hi Mo!

Okay, now that you explained it that's much better. Great job!

[uccemebug]

I've made a donation. Thanks for getting this going!

[foxglove]

I may be a student tight on cash, but if I can afford photography, I can afford to support this very useful forum. Hope it helps!

Julie

[Adam]

I really appreciate everyone's donations- so far, they've covered this month's server cost as well as the domain purchase.

Thank you!

[Photo Tramp]

Hi Adam;
Just a small price to pay to use a great site. I just sent you my donation and I hope it helps.

[roscot]

Mo, you've taken on a big challenge here and you've done a great job.

[Ebbe S]

You can donate with PayPal (or with a credit card through PayPal) on this page in your User CP.

Hi Mo

Any other way to contribute?

I'm having probllems with my paypal account.

Ebbe

[MPrince]

Best wishes for success, I have made a contribution to help you.

[Adam]

Thank you all so much- you're very, very generous.

Check out the new gallery I've upgraded to (http://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/) thanks to some donations!

[Digital Hobby]

Mo, just sent my donation. Good luck with the site.