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Newsletter for September 2nd, 2006 - Fundraising Celebration!

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mouser:
Newsletter for September 2nd, 2006"Fundraising Celebration!"

"If you read nothing else on our site, get glasses!"

1. Site News - It's Time for our Yearly Fundraiser! Woot!!

Once a year we hold a fundraising month where we ask everyone who likes DonationCoder.com to reach into their pockets and see how much they are willing to spare to support our site.  Whether you are a first time donator, or an early supporter who's ready to make another donation, your contribution means a lot to us.

Yes, it means a lot. In almost 2 years, your donations have enabled us to go from a $30/month slow hosting provider to a $200/month fast dedicated server.  It's only because of donations from people like you that we have been able to spend so much time working on the site and improving it every week.  Take a look at some of our past newsletters and you'll see that we have never stopped trying to enrich and improve this website and the software on it - and your donations have made that possible. 

Your continued financial assistance is what makes this website possible.  In the year since our last fundraiser we've welcomed more coders, added tons of new features, like the Blog, the new newsletter system, the podcast radio show, and much more.  We've also released tons of new programs and added new sections to the website, like the programming school and mini-reviews.  And your donations have recently allowed us to acquire a second web server which will be used to host additional coders and writers, and safely experiment with new services while maintaining the stability and security of our main server.  Your donations power our efforts.

DonationCoder.com was founded on the belief that it was possible to create an ethical and also financially viable donation-based website, despite all of the obstacles and advice to the contrary. Very few people thought it was possible to fund a site like ours on voluntary donations, but you proved them wrong in a dramatic fashion - DonationCoder.com may be the single most successful example of a software site funded entirely by small individual contributions (read more about the ideas behind the site).

So now we ask for your financial support once again. Your contribution will allow us to spend more time coding and creating stuff that you love (and that we love making). Every day we study new ideas, make plans for new software, experiment with new features, and try to make more new coders feel like home.  We're inviting you to look at what your past donations have been able to create.  If you like what you see already, just picture what more we can accomplish with your continued donations! We look forward to having you as a supporting member of our community, helping us create something special different together.

Your continued financial support is also critical to helping us welcome new programmers on the site - throughout September 100% of your donation will be credited back to you in the form of DonationCredits, which we encourage you to give out to the coders on the site. And if you can't afford to make a financial donation - there are tons of other ways you can help us: Tell your friends about our site and software; leave comments on download sites about your favorite programs of ours, submit bug reports, write a review, help out other members on the forum, etc.

How much should I contribute?
We know it's not easy to figure out how much you should contribute to a site like ours.  Think about what you spend on software over the course of a year, and then ask yourself if it might be worth a contribution of maybe $50, not for what we've already created, but for the new software that your contribution will help us create in the upcoming year.  Software that you will benefit from.  If you're still unsure, check out our Scientifically Proven Optimal Donation Amount Chart for some additional guidance. We accept donations in any form (PayPal, credit cards, shareware services, money orders, checks, rare gems, hand-drawn art, etc.).

ready to contribute?


2. A Special for September Donators -  Last Chance for a Lifetime Deluxe Membership!

Some very significant changes are coming after September's fundraiser, and this is your last chance to take advantage of our lifetime universal license offer:


* Throughout September, a one-time donation of any amount will grant you a non-expiring license for all current and future software developed on our site. Everyone who has donated prior to October 1st, 2006 will automatically be upgraded to this Deluxe status on October 1st.
* After October 1st, this will change. In an effort to encourage donations directly to individual authors, after October 1st you will have to designate some donation credits (an amount of your choosing) explicitly to each author whose software you want, or else make a substantial sized donation to an author and site fund (perhaps $60) to get Deluxe status.
* Even with this new change, keep in mind that it will be possible to keep using the programs freely forever, or else donate as little as 1 cent per author whose software you want to license.  However we believe taking advantage of the September offer will clearly offer you some advantages in convenience, status and more.
And good news for new donators and existing members alike:

Every donation made in September will be credited back 100% in the form of DonationCredits (instead of the normal 50%).  This means that you will get back your entire donation in the form of credits which you can give out to individual authors on the site (or to the site fund) exactly as you see fit.  While we humbly request that you choose to allocate some of your credits to the site fund, it is entirely up to you (if you donated in August and missed this deal, send me a forum message and I will give you the full 100% credits for your recent donation as well).  And of course, all donators are eligible to participate in our monthly shareware giveaway and discounts.

3. Massive September Discounts and Giveaways
To celebrate the fundraiser and our 2nd year of operations, we're featuring discounts and giveaways of a massive collection of some of the best shareware available anywhere.  Many thanks to all of the companies who donated software for us to give away, and who provided very generous discounts for all of our members, including:

* WebSite Watcher, Genie-Soft Backup Manager Pro, Surfulater, TechSmith Camtasia, TheBat! Pro, FontCreator Pro, XYplorer, UltraEdit, Help & Manual, Zoom Player Pro, EssentialPIM Pro, CD Bank Cataloguer, TextPipe Pro, Font Expert 2006, Power Archiver, DHTMLMenu, SlySoft AnyDVD, Guitar and Drum Trainer, Collectorz Triple Bundle With BarCode Scanner.And if you're not in the mood for software but want to show your DonationCoder.com pride, you can also enter to win one of the following:
* DonationCoder.com Collector's Mug, Rare Handmade Cody Mascot Figurine, DonationCoder CafePress Item of Choice.
4. The Great DonationCoder.com GTD Experiment of 2006 Begins!
Do you want to learn how to better manage your time and energy, and not waste time thinking about useless stuff?  Join a bunch of us spending three months, from September 1st to December 1st, practicing time management principles (GTD, GED, and others), and sharing our experience.

* Sign up and participate in the three-month GTD experiment - The First Assignment is Already Posted!
5. Software Updates and Releases
DonationCoder.com is first and foremost a site about software. What's new since our last newsletter?

* The Form Letter Machine v1.03.02
* Flipbook Printer v1.07.01
* LaunchBar Commander v1.55.03
* GridMove v1.19
* Browse the entries for the C++ Builder Contest - Winners to be Announced This Week!
6. New Mini-Reviews by Members
The mini-review section is looking great and Josh is doing a superlative job as the official demo screencaster on the site.  If you have a program that you think deserves a screencast, be sure to drop Josh a note.

* XYplorer File Manager
* What was that word I was looking for....Mobysaurus Thesaurus
7. General Software Discussion
Lots of great software discussion on the forum in the last two weeks:

* Personaltechpipeline.com Review: Five PC Firewalls
* Windows Vista Pre-RC1 build available for download
* Podcast Recording Application
* VMWare Ultimate Virtual Appliance Challenge Winners Announced
* Goodnight Timer - reduce sound volume gradually as you sleep (plus IdleMute)
* Mulberry Email client is back NOW FREE
* Best Matrix screensavers?
* Need Virtual Desktop software recommendations
* I cant see any thumbnails in explorer anymore!
* "Write on Screen" Tool
* New version of App103's ToDoList released
* Software Frustrations - the new sh*tware forum
* inline search highlighting in word?
8. Web Discoveries, Debates, and Articles
What's worth reading on the web? With so much information out there it can be hard to know.  Here are some recent discoveries we're talking about on the forum.

* The Great Software List Site Gets a Big Update
* Article: Is AOL 9.0 Malware?
* Short Article: 10 Top Tips For Protecting Yourself At Hot Spots
* Dead 2.0 Blog: Anti-hyping Web 2.0 since 2006
* Article: How Much System Memory Is Really Enough?
* Cool website: usbgeek.com
* Top Ten Video Sharing Websites
* Free Novel Downloads
* Best places to get information on web hosts - (Best Of Web Series)
* Having trouble finding the right tool to set up your network?
* Free domain name generator
* Flashforward Conference and Film Festival: Sep 11-14, 2006
9. Fun and Games
Who ever said not to mix business with pleasure? That's all we do here! 

* Jay Is Games: Flash Programming Game Contest Winners
* Wordy: Flash Word Game Like Tetris
* Tactical Assassin - another very cool flash game for you to try
* Pen Tricks - Procrastination Perfection.
* Harry Potter isn't the only one with gross-sounding candy....
* Here's a another very cool flash game for you to try
* For you visual learners with existential issues, VideoJug Explains Life on Film
* Here's a helpful snake...one that puts out fires!
* David Brent spoofs Microsoft in his training video!
* Fake scientific paper generator - watch the funny presentation video
10. Developer's Corner
Our site isn't just for coders, but we like to keep up with the latest issues in software engineering and web development.

* 30 Borland Delphi/Turbo Screencasts
* Short Article, Hindsight 2.0: Lessons From A Failed Web 2.0 Startup
* Free Programming Training CD's
* A very nice text about developing open-sourced software
* To Limit Or Not To Limit
* Examples of Collaborative Development and "Open Source Intelligence"
* An example of how social networks can be used to assist in decision-making
* Code-sharing site - with user-ranking
* Positions are available to write software for StumbleUpon.com
* Tales from the Proprietary: OSS is good for your business model
* Borland's Museum of Antique Software
* CTU: 10 common misunderstandings about the GPL
* Interview with book author about Lean Software Development
* What to use to create a site-index?
* Thoughts on What's Wrong with the Business End of Blogging..
* rsnapshot and rdiff-backup : mirroring and backing up your website smartly
* Welcome Comrade! Manifesto Games for Indie Developers
* MS giving away Game Dev Kits for 360 + PC
11. Site of the Month
Our site of the month for September 2006 is one of the original sites focusing on time management for geeks:

* 43folders.com
Did you know that our site is entirely funded by voluntary donations from people just like you?
Take advantage of the special offers for contributors during our September 2006 fundraiser:



Special thanks to Mobysaurus for helping prepare this month's newsletter.

jgpaiva:
AhAh... Love the new cody!
And the new quote "If you read nothing else on our site, get glasses!"

mouser:
that's actually Cody's eccentric uncle who's starring in the newsletter this week.. he's the rich one in the family and when he heard we were doing a fundraiser he insisted he be in it.  I think he thinks he's going to be getting royalties or something..

and special thanks to mobysaurus (anderson) for the help with this newsletter, couldn't have done it without him.

mouser:
I've gotten a couple of emails from charter members of the site who donated in the early days and were unsure about whether they had to donate again or else miss out on some benefits.  The answer is absolutely no.  If you have already donated in the past, regardless of when or amount, you are already entitled to all of the benefits of the site forever.

Of course we are asking our long term members to consider making another donation if they continue to appreciate what we do here, but when we say you only need make a one-time donation, we mean it.

ps. Discussions about the fundraiser are best done here: https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=5023

momonan:
Great job on the newsletter, Mobysaurus.  What an awesome contribution to the site. :Thmbsup:  It's really good to get the communication -- especially in such a rich and useful format.  Some DonationCredits coming your way. :)

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