Financial support/contributions for the benefit of the Forum and it's ongoing costs.
This Forum including Wiki and Chat has always been for me a gift to the Christmas Light Enthusiasts and I have never wanted to accept money, this being especially true with the low overheads that have been in place.Due to the ongoing issues in point 1 above many members have asked to be able to donate money to assist in the ongoing running costs of due to expansion required.I had resisted this till some level of financial reality set in, providing for ongoing growth was going to cost money at some point that was just not available from me personally.A LOT of discussion has occurred in Chat and between senior members of the Forum around do we implement supporting memberships, straight donations, membership groups, optional or mandatory for certain participation, membership benefits and the plusses and minuses of each.
The following has been put in place that is fully optional and in no way impacts on full participation in the forum. It is hoped to also provide a tangible benefit back to all members donating to the ongoing support of the forum.
Phil
This Forum including Wiki and Chat has always been for me a gift to the Christmas Light Enthusiasts and I have never wanted to accept money, this being especially true with the low overheads that have been in place.Due to the ongoing issues in point 1 above many members have asked to be able to donate money to assist in the ongoing running costs of due to expansion required.I had resisted this till some level of financial reality set in, providing for ongoing growth was going to cost money at some point that was just not available from me personally.A LOT of discussion has occurred in Chat and between senior members of the Forum around do we implement supporting memberships, straight donations, membership groups, optional or mandatory for certain participation, membership benefits and the plusses and minuses of each.
The following has been put in place that is fully optional and in no way impacts on full participation in the forum. It is hoped to also provide a tangible benefit back to all members donating to the ongoing support of the forum.
- A Donation system has been put in place, a donation button now appears on the top menu, this will take you to this page https://auschristmaslighting.com/account/upgrades
- A range of Donation values is selectable with the initial default value being $20, people can also manual type in an alternate value.
- Donations are Optional and not required for any participation in the Forum in any way.
- All donations will be via PayPal and an independent PayPal account has been created purely to keep donations, this is to ensure financial reporting can be transparent.
- A Forum MemberGroup has been established called "Generous Elf" in keeping with the general 'Elf' group names in use. Donating Members may choose to be added to this group when making a donation through the site or they can remain anonymous by donating directly through PayPal.
Membership of the Generous Elf group will be for a period of 12 months from the date of last donation.
We are continuing to investigate how to provide tangible benefits to all the Generous Elves out there
Phil