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How much did you raise in total, Ben? *NM* Amyrlin Send a noteboard - 26/12/2012 02:42:12 PM
Hey folks!

Just over two months ago, Read and Find Out celebrated its third birthday :party:

The last three years has seen the number of active RAFOnauts slowly shrink but, despite dire predictions of our inevitable demise, we're still here. I believe that Read and Find Out still has a lot to offer its community, and that the community here still gets a lot out of the site. I want to see the site continue delivering joy and happiness in abundance to its members, facilitating the peaceful and harmonious discussion it's renowned for, free of the hate and discord which afflict so many other online communities.

*cough*

For the 9 months or so, I've essentially been financing the running of the site out of my own pocket. Prior to this, the site generated about 80% of the cash needed to keep it operational through donations and premium account purchases, but the volume of these has dropped off significantly over the last year.

Monthly hosting and maintenance costs for the site currently come to £75 (or approximately $110 for you US types), and I recieve about £15 a month through PayPal, leaving about £60 for me to cover. Unfortunately, this is unsustainable for me.

I have options to reduce the hosting costs by moving the site to a significantly smaller server, but this would come at the price of a noticable drop in performance; for a site which is a little sluggish at the best of times, this is a last resort.

Instead, I'd like to propose a fundraiser! A bar shall shortly appear at the top of the website, visible to anyone who hasn't purchased a premium account; this will show the progress towards a fundraising goal of £750, enough to keep the site running until next Christmas!

I'd like to encourage everyone who enjoys the sense of peace and wellbeing that being a part of Read and Find Out gives them to either donate, or purchase a premium accounts, and help support the site.



But wait, there's more!

I can appreciate that folks might be unwilling to support a site that's been largely static. I still believe RAFO has a rosy future ahead of it, and so will commit to developing additional features for each fundraising milestone we hit along the way:

  • At£250, I'll integrateMarkdown, making it easier for peeps to include HTML in their posts, without needing to mess around with HTML tags.
  • At£500, I'll add the facility for folks to completely customise the look and feel of the site by allowing custom CSS.
  • At£750, I'll resurrect the old wotmania CMB3, commonly held to be a record of some of humanity's finest moments.
  • For every£100above the target of £750, I'll bring back another wotmania messageboard, starting with the community boards.


All you need to do is support the running of the website by either donating, or buying a premium account!


If you've any questions or concerns, please reply below or drop me a noteboard and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Thanks,
Ben
Amy

By the way, I miss you too.~KB
1971-2006
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Fundraising - 08/11/2012 09:59:35 PM 43542 Views
\o/ - 08/11/2012 10:11:08 PM 1127 Views
Wow, look at us. *NM* - 11/11/2012 03:35:48 PM 615 Views
Wait, so you have old wotmania CMB posts?? *NM* - 08/11/2012 10:13:48 PM 660 Views
I do, but in a very unusable state. - 08/11/2012 10:18:07 PM 1177 Views
In that case the check is in the mail! - 08/11/2012 10:33:11 PM 1135 Views
Man I've gotta say. - 08/11/2012 10:16:54 PM 1042 Views
Yeah, no Paypal working for me. - 09/11/2012 03:43:21 PM 1096 Views
You're brilliant, Benjamin. - 08/11/2012 11:02:05 PM 1214 Views
I already have a premie account, but I would still like to see the progress bar. - 09/11/2012 05:20:21 AM 1185 Views
Thanks, I can see the progress bar now! - 09/11/2012 03:25:12 PM 1102 Views
No problem. - 10/11/2012 09:11:28 AM 1048 Views
Had you considered professional gambling as an income stream? - 09/11/2012 11:27:16 AM 1020 Views
Give me a couple of weeks and I can send you money. - 09/11/2012 09:40:05 PM 1124 Views
I intend to leave the fundsraiser up for a while yet - 10/11/2012 09:12:36 AM 1057 Views
I should be able to chip in a few quid in around a month if all goes to plan. - 09/11/2012 10:01:52 PM 1148 Views
Thank you - 10/11/2012 09:12:57 AM 926 Views
Money is kind of tight for me right now... but I'll buy a premie to chip in. *NM* - 10/11/2012 02:59:58 AM 664 Views
Thanks! - 10/11/2012 09:13:29 AM 1050 Views
Bought a premie... - 10/11/2012 07:42:28 AM 1010 Views
Helene! - 10/11/2012 09:14:02 AM 1029 Views
Thank you all so much for your support thus far! - 10/11/2012 09:03:51 AM 964 Views
Thanks for all you do Ben *NM* - 11/11/2012 12:47:37 AM 596 Views
Thanks Ben! *NM* - 11/11/2012 01:47:03 AM 688 Views
Bought a Pemmie Account, thanks Ben. *NM* - 12/11/2012 08:08:07 AM 743 Views
You can also buy merchandise! - 12/11/2012 10:13:51 AM 1444 Views
If we reach 1000 can we have chat? *NM* - 12/11/2012 12:53:51 PM 625 Views
How much to bring back chat? *NM* - 13/11/2012 03:04:30 AM 682 Views
How much to bring back wSE? *NM* - 13/11/2012 04:13:00 AM 792 Views
How much not to do that? *NM* - 13/11/2012 06:30:17 AM 567 Views
Yes, it is vitally important that it doesn't happen. *NM* - 13/11/2012 03:35:31 PM 605 Views
But we'll have prizes! *NM* - 13/11/2012 10:19:04 PM 596 Views
*NM* - 13/11/2012 10:19:40 PM 604 Views
... That's a lot of $$ per month - 18/11/2012 12:44:56 AM 1082 Views
I can pitch in with 27 pounds , will give it to you in person? - 20/11/2012 12:04:52 PM 995 Views
Premie'd myself *NM* - 26/11/2012 06:20:51 PM 705 Views
What level would bring back the old Wild Wild West Chat? *NM* - 26/11/2012 11:32:24 PM 646 Views
Ooooh, only around £5,000 or so *NM* - 27/11/2012 08:25:18 AM 607 Views
You heard the man, start spending people! *NM* - 28/11/2012 07:00:31 PM 645 Views
So being a constant lurker...... - 28/11/2012 10:45:51 PM 1116 Views
Do not take this down until the wotmania Other Fiction messageboard is resurrected! - 14/12/2012 11:15:30 PM 1041 Views
Wow! The Dollar sucks! - 14/12/2012 11:21:34 PM 926 Views
Um, I don't think that's possible? - 14/12/2012 11:49:46 PM 958 Views
- 15/12/2012 12:08:27 AM 929 Views
Weeee, CMB3 here we come. Or something. Also, Ben: - 20/12/2012 09:10:55 PM 1305 Views
Yeah, fixed it yesterday morning. - 22/12/2012 11:16:09 AM 1348 Views
I contributed! - 22/12/2012 12:25:38 AM 968 Views
Thank you! - 22/12/2012 11:16:48 AM 1134 Views
How much did you raise in total, Ben? *NM* - 26/12/2012 02:42:12 PM 651 Views

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