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Last post Author Topic: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?  (Read 95854 times)

barney

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #100 on: February 23, 2011, 01:46 PM »
No one but the charity and none are the answers for the smart alecs out there.

Guess I'm a dumb alec.  You kinda, sorta left out the warm fuzzy and the self-satisfaction and the [possibly misplaced] sense of worth  :P :P :P.

All of which could be applicable to this topic - trick is knowing how to trigger it  :-\.

40hz

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #101 on: February 23, 2011, 04:35 PM »
What do people *think* the pledging concept is?  

I see it as an incentive.

That's not what *I* see it as, which is maybe why we have a disconnect.

If you walk for the united way, and get pledges towards your miles walked or completing a walk, who is getting anything from that?  What's the incentive?  
 
...

That was my thought behind the idea.

It also provides a sense of shared purpose and community for people with a high personal need for affiliation.

Not necessarily a bad thing. But many times it engenders a false sense of "doing" that takes on a life of it's own if you're not careful.

In a city near where I live, there's this big drive to get all the kids under the age of ten photographed annually.
 
This is for identification purposes in the event one ever got kidnapped. They don't have many kids go missing there. And kidnapping has never been a common crime there either. But it's a hot button topic that caught the imagination of enough people that a non-profit got formed to make the "ID Your Child" thing happen.  

They solicit contributions to help keep the service cost down for everybody, and to provide ID photos for people who can't afford it.

But here's the problem. You can't just make a contribution to them. You have to "sponsor" one of their activity participants. When asked, I told them I wasn't interested in supporting their "walk" but that I'd be happy to contribute $20 to their cause. They refused it. I was told you had to sponsor a walker or they couldn't take the contribution.

Apparently, this walk was a big deal thing for them. So much so that they turned down a cash contribution to their cause because I didn't want to be "incentivized" to make it.

So tell me which was more important: making sure there were current ID photographs of the little kids on file in case (god forbid!) the police ever needed them - or - making sure everybody who donated was on the same page for how contributions should be solicited.

Like I said, these things sometimes take on a life of their own and get in the way of accomplishing the intended goal.

P.S. Ran into the same thing recently with a charitable group that was out selling raffle tickets. If you wouldn't take a ticket, they wouldn't take your money.

 :huh:

« Last Edit: February 23, 2011, 08:41 PM by 40hz, Reason: Fixed some spelling my iPhone fixed on it\'s own. »

cranioscopical

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #102 on: February 23, 2011, 06:54 PM »
If you wouldn't take a ticket, they wouldn't take your money.

Give 'em the bird — that'll raffle a few feathers!

KynloStephen66515

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #103 on: February 23, 2011, 08:06 PM »
P.S. Ran into the same thing recently with a charitable group that was out selling raffle tickets. If you wouldn't take a ticket, they wouldn't take your money.

Did you know that in the UK, even if your working for a charity, you can carry those collection tins...but if you rattle them, you can get arrested as its then classed as "begging"  :huh:

mouser

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #104 on: February 23, 2011, 08:11 PM »
stephen try to make your signature bigger, i can still see some text on the page.

JavaJones

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #105 on: February 23, 2011, 08:17 PM »
stephen try to make your signature bigger, i can still see some text on the page.

Haha, I was thinking the same thing...

- Oshyan

40hz

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #106 on: February 23, 2011, 08:43 PM »
P.S. Ran into the same thing recently with a charitable group that was out selling raffle tickets. If you wouldn't take a ticket, they wouldn't take your money.

Did you know that in the UK, even if your working for a charity, you can carry those collection tins...but if you rattle them, you can get arrested as its then classed as "begging"  :huh:

Maybe they should hire Brittany. Every time she shakes her little "can" the dollars roll in. ;)

nosh

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #107 on: February 23, 2011, 10:27 PM »
How come people aren't more excited about my new card game?  :mad:

That depends. Does the winner get to eat Cody?

tomos

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #108 on: February 24, 2011, 04:21 AM »
How come people aren't more excited about my new card game?  :mad:

I didnt say it initially (cause it may reflect poorly on me...) but it made me think - oh, I will upload new credits if I have the chance of winning that!
(I have credits I could donate to the site, but I believe only 'new' credits count for the fundraiser and the draw)
Tom

lotusrootstarch

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #109 on: February 25, 2011, 01:01 AM »
Look guys since the last fundraiser 2 years ago, there:

1. Has not been any major changes/additions to the functionality of the site

2. Has not been any major changes/additions to the looks of the site

3. Has not seen any noticeable additions to the number of active members of the site

4. Is no addition of any major software application

5. Is a few event hosted here which earned virtually no public attention (this year's NANY, in particular, which is by now literally forgotten
)


Now if you look at the fundraiser before the last:

All these bullet points that I said above stilled applied if they were posted at that time!!


As someone who donated in the last two fundraising events ($20 and $15 under a different username) my point is:

If there's no major progress in the last 4 years, then what's the point of raising funds! Where did all the money go to?
Get my apps in Android Market! Go droids go! :)

« Last Edit: February 25, 2011, 01:10 AM by lotusrootstarch »

mouser

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #110 on: February 25, 2011, 01:18 AM »
EDIT: I've moved my original reply to lotus to this thread.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2011, 10:22 PM by mouser »

mahesh2k

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #111 on: February 25, 2011, 01:24 AM »
As someone who donated in the last two fundraising events ($20 and $15 under a different username) my point is:
If you paid donations, then why hide behind sockpuppet ? I mean there is no need to have sockpuppet to voice your genuine query. Unless ofcourse you have some no good intentions for starting some mess. It socks to see sockpuppet ya know.

Where did all the money go to?

Do checkout hosting fees of softlayer dedicated servers for 2 years. Do get info from mouser about two servers that DC owns and the size of dedicated servers( space and bandwidth). Once you get all this info then come and rant the same negative tune in two different threads.

skwire

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #112 on: February 25, 2011, 01:25 AM »
Where did all the money go to?
-lotusrootstarch (February 25, 2011, 01:01 AM)

Do you realise what it costs to host a site of this magnitude?  It's hardly free.

lotusrootstarch

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #113 on: February 25, 2011, 01:28 AM »
Where did all the money go to?
-lotusrootstarch (February 25, 2011, 01:01 AM)

Do you realise what it costs to host a site of this magnitude?  It's hardly free.

Sure tell me why we need such a beefy ($300/month?) server for just:

175 Guests, 24 Users (2 Hidden) Users active in past 30 minutes:

I can host such a site (which is basically now a low-activity forum) for $50 a month on a VPS, that is $600 a year in server costs.

Really correct me if I'm wrong, kindly give me an example of a reputable $50 VPS that cannot handle the load or traffic.
Get my apps in Android Market! Go droids go! :)

« Last Edit: February 25, 2011, 01:30 AM by lotusrootstarch »

lotusrootstarch

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #114 on: February 25, 2011, 01:33 AM »
175 Guests, 24 Users (2 Hidden) Users active in past 30 minutes:

(that is just ONE active user activity every 10 seconds, do you even call that load?)
Get my apps in Android Market! Go droids go! :)


mahesh2k

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #115 on: February 25, 2011, 01:34 AM »
I can host such a site (which is basically now a low-activity forum) for $50 a month on a VPS
Really ? so you're saying 50$ VPS can stand direct download links of some softwares on this site ? plus member blogs/sites, member software and respective bandwidth usage ?

mouser

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #116 on: February 25, 2011, 01:36 AM »
EDIT: Move reply to this thread.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2011, 10:24 PM by mouser »

lotusrootstarch

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #117 on: February 25, 2011, 01:39 AM »
I can host such a site (which is basically now a low-activity forum) for $50 a month on a VPS
Really ? so you're saying 50$ VPS can stand direct download links of some softwares on this site ? plus member blogs/sites, member software and respective bandwidth usage ?

Obviously you are not familiar with the hosting industry, in that case I'll point you to a random google query result:
http://www.solarvps.com/linux-vps.php
Get my apps in Android Market! Go droids go! :)


mahesh2k

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #118 on: February 25, 2011, 01:44 AM »
Obviously you are not familiar with the hosting industry, in that case I'll point you to a random google query result:
Blah. Blah. Do you even understand when hosting companies suggest you to move to dedicated server ? Obviously YOU are the one who is not familiar with hosting industry.

mouser

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #119 on: February 25, 2011, 01:46 AM »
Just a quick note: The day we moved from a VPS to a dedicated server was one of the best days in the life of this site.

On a VPS you are sharing a server with other sites and have no control over what they are doing -- leading to huge swings in responsiveness of the server and contentions for resources, and no way to figure out why things are going wrong when they do and the site grinds to a halt.

Trying to host a site like DC on a VPS would be (and was) an exercise in frustration for everyone.   Gothic, who does all the server administration for DC and has been a life saver could tell you more about the nightmares of trying to run a big site on a VPS.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2011, 01:47 AM by mouser »

mouser

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #120 on: February 25, 2011, 02:00 AM »
One last thought -- I think it might be productive to have a thread on things we are doing poorly here on DC -- and ways we could improve.  There is always room for that.

But if you think about it -- what are we asking people to do during the fundraiser?  Donate whatever amount they want -- commensurate with the benefits they get from the site.  It seems kind of hard to argue that we haven't done enough to warrant asking people to donate what they feel the site is worth to them..

ANYWAY,

let's get back to keeping this thread positive and on topic -- and i'll invite loutus to start a new thread for discussing constructive (hopefully!) criticism.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2011, 02:08 AM by mouser »

lotusrootstarch

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #121 on: February 25, 2011, 04:59 AM »
Mouser u know ur argument, while seemingly valid, is like saying Red Cross does not need to have accountability for the donations they receive -- because people are free to donate whatever amount they like, whatever they feel the org is worth to them.

I know that when the fund-raising event gets scheduled, it's done on time. And to hell with the roadmap, the planned stuff, the ideas, they all get sidetracked and mothballed until next time there's an event like the fundraiser and all these get brought up to the front all over again and then forgotten again.

If we were to bring back today someone who initially visited the site and participated on the forum back in 2009 when he donated during the fundraiser, will he be able to perceive any noticeable development to the site after two years of absence?

I'll bet he'll have a strong feeling of "isn't that the same old sh*?".
Get my apps in Android Market! Go droids go! :)


lotusrootstarch

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #122 on: February 25, 2011, 04:59 AM »
[removed]
Get my apps in Android Market! Go droids go! :)


tomos

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #123 on: February 25, 2011, 05:06 AM »
@ lotusrootstarch -
I'm wondering why you keep coming back - i.e. what (if anything) do you find positive here to make it worth your while coming back and posting.
Tom

lotusrootstarch

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Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?
« Reply #124 on: February 25, 2011, 05:13 AM »
@ lotusrootstarch -
I'm wondering why you keep coming back - i.e. what (if anything) do you find positive here to make it worth your while coming back and posting.

Because you guys can potentially do better but with all the yes-sayers and fanboys around it's pretty hard to really move ahead you know.
Get my apps in Android Market! Go droids go! :)