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We're a bit over $1000 short of our goal for this month and the bills are coming due. The big one, $528 for hosting is due at the end of the week. We've already paid bills for cloud connectivity, ISP, renewal of domain names and bought a switch to replace one our network has outgrown.
Income from Janglewood/QnEZ/Cyberbrats so far just goes to expenses directly related to services offered to our clients and to expanding our access to new services, donations at BigCloset are more than 80% of what we bring in to keep all our TG websites operating.
Until then, we still have bills. Hosting costs and payments on the debt we incurred over the last fifteen years keeping this running and making our hardware efficient, reliable and stable make up the largest part of our bills.
So far, the supporters of BigCloset have always come through for us. And we appreciate that. We know how hard it can be.
Please, if you can, use these links to Hatbox Donations or Janglewood to send us a gift so we can keep on giving back to so many. PM me if you need information on donating via mail.
And if you need hosting services, please think of using QnEZ or CyberBrats.
Hugs,
Erin, Piper, Cat and the volunteers
Comments
Bitcoin
We can now accept donations in bitcoin, the internet exchange medium that isn't exactly currency. :)
PM me for details.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
What's Fair . . . Is
How are you using BC?
Is it a retreat, an oasis when all else fails?
Is it a place where you know your talents are valued, when it seems like the world isn't quite sure about your worth?
Has BC become a billboard for your products?
I run a substantial website and have a little knowledge of the value of an online impressions and also the expense in generating those impressions. I wonder if everyone is "paying the Piper"?
This site is priceless for many, but it can't be price. . .less. I realize that many of us are gravely wounded and are having a horrible time just getting through the day. I also know that the vast majority of us have creativity far beyond the norm and are capable of creating wealth from that talent.
If you're "taking" from this site and are not doing what you can to "give" . . . shame on you. I don't mean you should starve yourself to afford a contribution, but perhaps forgoing a latte a day for a week and sending that money to Erin might make sense.
Erin has said quite often that the expense is building faster than the income this site generates. I believe her. According to the latest figures the Server Fund is not sustainable at current gifting levels.
If everyone gave in accordance to what this site does for them . . . the need to ask would disappear.
I'm not trying to place blame on any one group or person, but BC is not sustainable at current gifting levels. That is not acceptable. There is blame intrinsic to that assessment.
It appears the majority of people using this site are somewhat anonymous and I understand that. . .but the gifting process seems to allow you to remain out of sight.
Jill M I
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Givers and takers
I can say that without a shadow of a doubt I have taken more from this website that I have given so far. I also think that I've given far more than many of the readers. To some extent this reflects my ability to do so and it also reflects my desire to do so. At this point I find it hard to believe that someday I'll wake up and there is no Big Closet. But that possibility clearly exists.
There are other sites that come and go. There are sites that are tattered and are fading. There are sites that attempt to do with this site has done and failed. There really are only one or two sites that have any content that begins to approach what's here. But the real money is in the presentation. Where wIll you go when there is no Big Closet? This is a community like no other in this genre.
I wish I could set up a challenge donation like NPR to provoke you all to match my contribution. I thought about that but I think that this ultimately is a fraud and that all it does is dramatize the need for the money. Maybe it works in small spurts. Therefore the challenge is, if 20 people donate ten dollars each in the next day I will match it. All Erin has to do is send me a PM and I will match it. Any takers? Honestly guys, there's no one out there who is accessing this site who can't afford 5 to 10 bucks. As much time as I spend on this site, as much pleasure as I've gotten from the site, I should and I will do a lot more. If it's still here!
Please send the money and say, Val sent me......or not. ;-)
JUST SEND THE MONEY!
http://youtu.be/uozRvBFxWaQ
I love you guys
Val
some $ will be on the way
I transfer some $ to paypal and waiting for it to transfer in should be able to send by weeks end then I hope to do this once a month . Only 1% of what is needed now if other can send 1% you will be in great shape .
HELP KEEP BCTS OPEN
HUGS RICHE2
Dollar card
I have a pre-loaded FairFX card which is loaded for dollars for when we visit the US. There's much more on it than we're likely to need, and I'd like to pass some of it on.
However, using a dollar credit card seems to require a US address, which this card doesn't have. Using one of my UK cards kind of defeats the object, since there's a currency conversion involved.
However, I can buy things in the US sometimes using the FairFX card, especially when it's something over-the-net like Baen books. Is there some way I can give you some money, or am I asking the impossible?
Oh, and I really don't like PayPal if I can avoid it. If anything goes wrong, their arbitration practices remind me of North Korea.
Penny
I really don't know
That is a mystery. I'm not sure how to do it.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
If you need a US address, I
If you need a US address, I can provide my PO box or something similar.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Maybe...
If it works like a credit card, you may be able to buy an Amazon Gift Card (delivered by email) on the Amazon site, then use the gift card through the Hatbox?
Maybe creating a second Amazon account if you specifically need a US address for this and using a random US address (unless Amazon's system gets hung up on prepaid cards with no address attached) if Amazon requires an address?
Far fetched thoughts, but that's all I have.
Or...
Many grocery stores in the US typically have $25 or $50 gift cards that you can buy, then load onto an Amazon account. Hatbox that, and voila.
Again, use any US address on a second account (such as your hotel's address, for example) if it gets hung up on being a US Amazon account.
It is a credit card
I've used it in the US to buy meals, books, pay hotel bills. Presenting in person is no problem.
The problem is that the address it is registered to is in the UK. Some US websites don't seem to understand that a card owner can have an address that is not within the US. (Some websites have difficulty understanding that the US isn't the only place in the world.) That's just poor imagination/system design.
Baen Books is happy to take my dollar card and let me buy books from them, why can't other systems do the same?
Penny
ZipCode Verification.
The issues in a lot of instances, is that the credit card authorization companies don't allow for it.
In an attempt to reduce fraud, many gateways require a ZipZode/PostCode verification, which in the us is generally a 5 (or 9 if doing zip+4) digit NUMERIC ONLY code, so that's how the systems are coded. I have friends who have had issues using UK or even US CC's with UK postcodes at retail stores like Walmart because the bank wants a zip verification and the system doesn't allow it to be entered correctly.
Credit cards and usage from outside of the US
I have more or less the same problem as a Dutch citizen. The only way for me to send you guys money is by using P+ayP+al. And every time I think 'oh yeah I should send them some' I am confronted with the same problem, going through my huge archive to find the email address I need to use to send my contribution using P+ayP+al. It might be that P+ayP+al isn't the cheapest way for you guys to receive your donations and that you don't advertise it because of that. But it's the only way available to me.
Maybe you could make a list or something like that with all the ways to donate and the costs connected with that way. So you make it insightful and as easy as possible to make a donation and people are aware of the costs so they may choose the most cost efficient way to make a donation available to them?
Last year my donation included the costs by P+ayP+al so you received a nice round amount (at least in Euro if I remember correctly ;) )
Edit: and put that overview of ways to make donations on your home page of course!
Yours, Leontine
P+A+Y+P+A+L
We can't put a P+A+Y+P+A+L donation button on BC because someone complained to them that we had adult content. And yet, you can buy all kinds of rougher stuff from Amazon using the P+P+ service.
We do have a P+P+ button on the Janglewood.com page.
Hugs and thanks,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
How to GIVE a GIFT using P.A.Y.P.A.L.
Below you fill find a diagram we made for those who seem to miss the P.A.Y.P.A.L. link on the Janglewood, LLC homepage (http://janglewood.com).
Again, this is necessary due to the fact that P.a.y.P.a.l. does not like doing business with those that host "Adult Material". As such, we keep the P.A.Y.P.A.L. links on external sites/domains.
Yes, I saw that
Doesn't help. I have dollars I want to unload. If I want to send dollars, PayPal expects me to put a US address in for the card.
If I change the country, PayPal will accept a UK address, but then the money from the dollar card will be changed into Sterling and then back into dollars, incurring a double exchange rate whammy.
Penny
Matching Donations
Sorry to say that no one has responded to my challenge. So let's try this a little bit differently. I will send in the hundred dollars now. Anyone willing to match? Anyone willing to match in $10 increments?
Erin, ideally I'd like to send this via PayPal. This would avoid the 3 to 6% charges of Amazon Payments. Any thoughts on this for the future?
Val
Lo and Behold
Praise the Lord and pass the donation basket. My comments were delivered directly to the end of this thread where it shows me exactly how to donate via PayPal. My next step is to go directly to PayPal and test the theoretical link. Please join me in supporting Big Closet.
Val
Already there
Just that.
I sent money before the
I sent money before the thread started - through PayPal.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.