I'll see if I can pledge something.

At another forum I used to frequent, they had an interesting system: If you donate, you get a cool looking "Patron" banner next to your username (a different one depending on the amount donated).  Also, at the next level, you get a domain email address.  In this case, something like "[email protected]".  At the levels after that, you get a sub-domain with some space and bandwidth also dependent on the amount.  So "www.yourname.omnimaga.org".  I think there were 4 levels ranging from 5 to 60 dollars and then you would renew it each year.

I wonder if a similar system could encourage more people to donate.  I know a lot of people here are younger and live with their parents and might not have a lot but if they tell their parents they are buying a sub domain to host their own website, it would be much more likely that they get money for that.  It wouldn't cost omni that much either, certainly far less than the pledge rate, because sites like that generally have very low bandwidth.

Just a suggestion 

I think a subdomain would be nice for donors.

Subdomains are nice, but if it would just point to an IP, maybe an email would be better. I just got paid today so I may be able to spare like $5-$10.

I think it looks pretty good, plus it is recognizable as a PayPal button, which gives users more peace of mind that they aren't about to empty their bank account into a scam.

Quote from: jkag on July 12, 2011, 04:02:16 pm

Subdomains are nice, but if it would just point to an IP, maybe an email would be better. I just got paid today so I may be able to spare like $5-$10.

Well I'm thinking pointing to a domain ( or redirecting to another url ) would be only if we don't want to also have to host a bunch of other people. If we are ok with that though then we would give some space as well.

Or we could just let the user choose.  I bet some people don't want to make a whole new site.  Or we could provide them a subdomain on ca.lc if it is actually bought. 

I think it looks pretty good, plus it is recognizable as a PayPal button, which gives users more peace of mind that they aren't about to empty their bank account into a scam.

I agree with Sir.  I'd rather stick with the default Paypal image.

http://www.aspirationhosting.com/sharedplus.php
AspirePlus2
and I don't know about the 1and1 account I'd have to do some looking into it but I don't have the info atm.
I agree though it is pretty steep. I'm wondering if we should look around and see if we can get another better deal ( although make sure to do a good background check on the hosting and make sure they have been around a long time ).

0.o that is friggin expensive to the point where I'd say you are getting ripped off to the extreme. I get way more than that and I pay a whole lot less. I don't know why you guys moved from 1and1 but surpass has served me and Kerm very well over the years and is hella cheaper. But if you are gonna ask for donations you had better be trying to get by without as best as possible first and it sure doesn't look like that.

And I still feel like asking people to pay for Nethams VPS is wrong, and IRC bot should not need a VPS and if he wants members to pay he should be looking for the cheapest way possible to host it, not be getting massive overkill.

We are actually discussing things right now about this. We might be able to cut it by a lot.
We will announce when we figure it out.