The annual 68kMLA whip-round...

[~tl]

Hey everybody, I hate to resort to this shameless begging, but here goes...

We aim to provide this site as a free resource but, as I'm sure you can imagine, we do have a few overheads associated with running this forum, the Wiki, the RetroChallenge site, etc. Hosting and domains cost real money and we have made the decision not to try to offset these costs with adverts like many other sites do. Therefore we would really appreciate it if any of you could spare a couple of £/$/¥/€/etc to help keep this place running. It doesn't have to be much -- every little helps!

You can donate using our PayPal account -- click the "Donate" link in the top menu or the fancy button at the bottom of the page and simply enter the amount.

Finally, sorry to anyone who's tried to donate in the past and has had problems. There was something wrong with the account previously, but it should be sorted now. The new address to send payments to is:

donations@68kmla.org

Thanks a lot [] ]'>

Tom

 

[heebiejeebies]

Money money money! It's all everyone wants from me these days! "Dear sir, please pay now or we'll disconnect your electricity"..."Renew your ambulance subscription today"..."Dad, I've been charged with trafficking heroin in Bali, can you come and pay my bail or I'll face the firing squad?" What do they think I am, made of money?? And this morning at the train station there was a woman shaking a tin for Parkinson's Victoria. I don't know if she was trying to be enthusiastic to get more donations or if she just had the disease.

Ah well, any forum that hasn't banned me yet despite all my tasteless, heartless bastard jokes has gotta be worth something. I've written a reminder on my desk calendar for next pay day. But no spending it on booze and fags, y'hear?

 

[coius]

next payday I will donate. unfortunately, i tried to donate earlier and it rejected my payment. As soon as I get money, i will toss in $10 or so...

 

[~tl]

next payday I will donate. unfortunately, i tried to donate earlier and it rejected my payment. As soon as I get money, i will toss in $10 or so...

Yeah sorry about that! The account just wasn't accepting payments for some reason [!] !]'>

 

[heebiejeebies]

PayPal is more like PayninthearsePal sometimes. For a while my sending limit was the rather arbitrary $65.60, and once I'd spent all of that, it wouldn't let me send anything for about 3 months. Don't they want to rip me off or something??! Then recently my sending limit went up to $6,000 with no explanation. I'm not sending you that much though.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

I don't think we would mind a few advertisements if that's what you would need to pay for the site. For those of us who don't mind them, it will be fine, and those of us who it bothers will simply block them out with a little custom css or something.

You may even make a little money that way.

 

[stevep]

I hate ads. I will donate

 

[Patrickool93]

Text ads wouldn't be that bad, as long as they were only on the bottom of the page, and didn't intrude. Maybe have an ad-free version of the site available to people who really don't want them for like $.50.

 

[heebiejeebies]

Just charge us every time we offer advice on how to run your site ! :lol:

 

[Mike Richardson]

How much does the hosting cost? The domain can't be more than $10 a year.

If you ever need free hosting, I have a fully managed server at WiredTree.com which I use to host a custom program that I license to some businesses. The server has plenty of spare capacity.

 

[iMac600]

Text ads are alright, don't know if they would bring in enough though.

Graphical ads altogether don't just look awful, but detract from the look of professionalism a community may have. They can be added to some website s provided they fit in well with the layout, but this is only really possible on a CMS or two-column system- not on forums.

Ads bring in revenue but at the same time may drive away potential new members, rendering them pretty much useless anyway.

Just my 0.02c.

Be nice if I had a PayPal account, then actual spare cash to put into it. Cash I could source up, the other issue is the killer.

 

[funkytoad]

I would totally donate some money if I had a paypal account. is there any other methods for donation?

 

[~tl]

Many thanks to everyone who's donated so far, you've all been more than generous!

Don't worry, I have no desire to put adverts on the site. To be honest there's probably very little point considering the size of our userbase and the high proportion which, I would guess, have ad-blocking software installed [] ]'>

I would totally donate some money if I had a paypal account. is there any other methods for donation?

I don't know, PayPal is really the only option I've looked at. However, if you can figure out another way to get cash to us then we're not going to turn it down [)] ]'>

 

[TheNeil]

I now consider myself soundly whipped and my wallet a little bit lighter

 

[Mike Richardson]

AdoptAMac.com will donate 10% of your order sub-total to the 68kMLA!

When you order type "68kMLA Donation" into the comments field during check out. You may not use any coupons, discounts, or promotions (specials are ok). I will donate 10% of your sub-total to the 68kMLA to help pay for hosting and other expenses. You should also PM me after you order, with your order number or e-mail address used, just to make sure that I record the donation.

So for example if you purchase a $15 item that costs $5 to ship, I will donate $1.50 (10% of the $15 sub-total) via PayPal to the 68kMLA, as long as you follow the instructions above.

AdoptAMac.com is my online store for Mac parts, etc. which replaces my old eBay store. International shipping is available.

 

[iamdigitalman]

I would donate, but Paypal has limited my account for some reason. I have to pay for a Apple //c on ebay, as well as put in another $10 or so to the retromaccast, and I might throw $10 this way if I can. The //c cleaned me out almost though.

-digital

 

[coius]

Ok, I donated. Hope it helps!

 

[Bunsen]

There's no shame, Tom, and it's hardly begging. More like online busking

You do a great thing keeping this boat afloat, and I'm happy to chip in.

 

[John Musbach]

Honestly to pay your bills Google Adsense text ads would be fine with me, they're targeted and unobtrusive and a good way to pay the bills. Nonetheless I do appreciate this community and all the information it has to offer so I will be donating $20 to you via PayPal.