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First things first: I have no official affiliation with BCTS as a business entity. Outside doing a few stories for Hatbox/Patreon and the occasional cover, I have zero input into the goings-on or function of our site.
That said... I love BCTS, and want it to succeed. I've been an official member for almost 16 years, and I've picked about for longer than that. I've been a member of this community for longer than I've been able to legally drink!
And I want this community, this place that so many of us love, to still be here in another 16 years, for the next generations of young trans writers to be able to enjoy.
It bothers me a lot to see how often Erin has to ask people for donations. I contribute what I can -- whether that be stories, or my Patreon membership -- but the truth is I can't really afford to financially give to the site as much as I'd like to. I know that a lot of others are in the same boat, and even MORE are scared to have their support of a site like BCTS show up on their records.
None of that changes the fact that the site DOES need more funding, though. That I know for the fact BCTS makes zilch in terms of profit, and often costs Erin more than it brings in.
That if things don't change, no amount of love or care is going to mean we'll have our site if or when Erin can't keep it up herself.
I can't fix this. I don't have the tools, I don't have the know-how, and I don't have the right to.
But... I CAN ask questions.
So, here's my question: what are some things you think BCTS could have or do that would mean you might be able to help it survive better?
On the patreon we've kicked around ideas like tee shirts -- both blatant and subtle -- or other merchandise. I've annoyed Erin with other ideas I've had, like replacing the Hatbox with an ad-free subscription option for the site, or trying to expand BCTS's offerings into other media, like YouTube or Instagram or Twitter, to increase the site's profile. The problem with a lot of these ideas is twofold: one, they take time and work the site, and its current team, can't afford or manage, and two, a lot of them would potentially increase negative attention along with the chance of increased income.
Unfortunately... I don't know how to get one without the other. Hence, me asking this question. I want to know what people think we could, or should, do, so that the site doesn't have to beg for money every month. So that Erin can bring on more help to keep things going, to update things, etc.
I'd like to hear everyone's ideas.
Once again, I'm not asking this in any kind of official capacity, or even a capacity to promote any changes. I'm asking because I worry, and I don't want to lose a place that, even with my recent mostly-silence, is still a daily stop for sanity and comfort for me.
*hugs*
Melanie E.
Comments
As you have so eloquently pointed out
BCTS, first and foremost, needs funding. Second to that, I would like to see a quasi-board in place that can help ease some of Erin's pressures on her time, money, even her attention. All this can't be good for her health (I am one to talk, I am too busy trying to outlive my doctors ATM :D). As to the Patreon question, I find myself of two minds; one side says we need to set up a pre-publishing side to have patrons help with proofreading and polishing, while other thinks that may be somewhat unfair to the writers and contributors to BCTS.
The other options you raise also have to be weighed carefully. I also think since this is a community, we need to get more input from others. Do I wish I could help with site maintenance? Sure, but the web has advanced by leaps and bounds since I started editing sites in vi... Heck, I would love to do a poll just to see how many use 2FA or a hardware authenticator like FIDO or such. You have brought many ideas to the table, but there are a lot more questions to be asked. I like the idea of a no ads tier, maybe with a Friends of the Closet page for the advertisers with a trusted relationship for us users as an added feature? Just one amoong many, to be sure. For added benefits, there neds to be more information such as server load, traffic etc., but could be satisfying for those that want to help and have some skills to help evaluate things.
These are just rough ideas and not things that are going to be done, but things to think about and possibly discuss at some point. Take care,
Diana
And, as usual,
I forgot to say thank you for starting this discussion /facepalm
/hugs from a very red-faced Diana
Just to debunk one of the problems with giving
I can't afford to give as much as I'd like to. I'm mostly retired and I didn't plan my retirement. Honestly, I didn't plan to retire, or even live long enough to even consider it. I worked until I was 72 (now I'm 77). I drew SS for 2 years and with that, I was finally able to get together a down payment to buy a house. To be able to find one that I could afford the payments on SS (my primary source of income) I had to move 45 minutes out into the sticks. We bought a 1998 manufactured home in a small logging community. My budget is kind of tight, but doable.
When manage to scrape together a small donation, I donate through PayPal. That donation shows up PayPal as QnEZ : [email protected] and in my bank account as PayPal.
Until I started making donations here, I never heard of QnEZ. A DuckDuckGo search results in:
Pretty much an up and up mainstream business. So what if one of the sites QnEZ hosts is a Trangender fiction site? It would take some dedicated sleuthing to find out it's the parent company for BCTS.
But more to the point, if the people who've read my latest post (on 2022/10/14) donate a dollar each, that would have netted Erin $592 in just over a weeks time. And I'm not that popular an author here and that was an essay on theology and how I relate it to being trans. I can't imagine very many people wanting to read that on a site devoted to fiction. Heck if those who contribute to the daily hit count on all my did the same, that would have generated $78.
Really a dollar per story? I'd say that's a deal. Now if only I could afford to do the same. But you know what? If that was the policy, I'd still contribute my stories so that they could bring in some cash.
I have donated one of my pieces that had been previously published by Reluctant Press. I had to negotiate with them to get the right to publish it else where. Basically I had to give them another story to replace it an allow them to keep it in their inventory.
We all need to do what we can.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Goshdarnit! Leave Us Alone
In answer to your secondary question -- that's what people want -- to be left alone and not bothered.
The constant badgering for money on this site is infuriating.
Even more annoying is the reality that this site needs financial support.
If making a donation to this site involves forsaking food, medicine, paying rent, or other necessities. . .don't think twice. Erin doesn't want your money.
If you're worried about outing yourself through a contribution, send cash to the Janglewood address.
If you think everything on the internet should be free, I agree with you. Then you should volunteer to help create more cash flow through book sales. There are dozens of things that could be done to market the books available through DopplerPress, which supports this site. My guess is DopplerPress could use volunteer help to publish more books. More books -- more revenue -- less relying on donations.
Consider doing what I've done. List Erin as a benefactor on your life insurance policy.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Open-Sourced Site Pieces…?
I've wondered before (and still do) whether any of the site's global layout, configuration, and infrastructure pieces could be made open-source without exposing user content or data. The site already uses open-source software, including Drupal. I might not personally be able to contribute to site development yet — I'm certainly no Web developer —, but even just having the opportunity to help maintain some site code by seeing a path open to spreading the burden of doing that out over more contributors would be great. Reducing the site's dependence on its current small maintainer pool would bring some level and amount of peace of mind, too. Factoring subsystems out to prepare them for public release as open-source software can definitely take work, too, though, so I don't know how feasible starting down that road is.
Always with a song in their heart.
Lyrical magical, confound it all; I've gone and gotten myself stuck lost somewhere deep in the Infinity Library again…
No clue
I have no idea how this would work. Can you PM piper here? She would have to work with anyone helping out with code matters. Thanks!
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
No guarantee of success
given the issues that I'm currently having updating my WordPress blog. I need to do it to update PHP to a supported version and ... Three days so far and I am nowhere near getting it done. PHP + Http server + MySQL are just not playing well together.
It didn't help that on the original system I have a power down right in the middle of doing an update. Grrrrrrrrrrr. Welcome to a corrupted package database.
It is all my own fault for not properly documenting everything I did when I first created the site in 2009. Sigh.
Please don't understimate the job that the likes of Piper and the rest do in order to keep this site operating.
Samantha