Member Donation

[The Batman]

I think it would be cool if there was a place where we could donate money to this site, like a paypal account where we could send money too. I know this is a nonprofit site but still this stuff gets expensive and it would be great if we the members could help out.

[Mzor203]

Yep, because you know, I would donate.

[MoveAlong]

I think it would be a good idea and a great help to the site, although I think it would be best to make something like that happen through PM or email with an administrator, not a feature on the site.

[Maverick]

The admins seem to do have everything covered.

I don't think it would be a good idea to start accepting donations. It can cause problems where people may think since they donated that we owe them something (like a staff position) or they are above the rules and feel they shouldn't get infractions, etc.

[Antares]

Ooh! Ant has a light green black :D
lol
Also, a lot of the things are provided via the GovNetwork as far as I know. So idk

[The Batman]

Yea but still I don't think it's fair that the admins do pay for all of this what if it we could do it over pm or email or something.

[Mzor203]

Yes, it may be true that they seem to have things covered, but when Kiros paid $50 for the blogs out of his own pocket... err... yeah, I dunno, I think he shouldn't have to, especially seeing some of his blog posts about the hard times he was going through.

Just make it so you have to email or pm an administrator and they will tell you that it doesn't give you any special rights.

[Oblivion]

I think its a good idea. I recently set up a paypal account for my forums to support hosting since i can't pay for it ATM, and there is a donate page.

[redcar]

Also, a lot of the things are provided via the GovNetwork as far as I know.
Nope we are pretty much self sufficient.

It is really cool to see people wanting to help out VT, it shows this place really has a good solid future with a member base willing to part with their money for it. But we are fine. The occasional bills that need paying we pay and are never any hassle. Thanks though for the offer.

[-Silence]

Kevin had a donation button on his site, and I donated, didn't expect anything by it, but I'm sure that there would be people that would. What if you had just donated and then did something horrible and got banned, I'm sure that wouldn't go over to well.

Also, wasn't there some huge fiasco between Kevin and Thomas over donating money? I'd hate for something like that to happen here.

[Kiros]

Well I remember when Kevin 'donated' the smiley pack for our site to use when we still had phpBB. He felt that he deserved special attention for that, and that's basically how a small revolution started. When we implemented the new rules of the site (which we never really had before), Kevin didn't want it, and because of that, his 'followers' didn't want it either. Since I had explained it all, Kevin got fed up with me and then demanded that my position be revoked and the counselor position be deleted. It was Kevin, Nick, Matt, and some other names (which I don't feel like publicizing) that were against me and anyone that backed me up.

I believe that was around the beginning of 2005... :|

Anyway, I appreciate members willing to help us out, but I think that we can handle it. In the past, we've been completely against this because of both legal and moral reasons. I don't think that will change anytime soon, but if VirtualTeen grows into an actual organization and we register it with being non-profit, then we might (might) see one that would go directly to the organization's funds.

As for the moment, we are simply a non-profit group working under another non-profit group. So if the site grows, the possibilities might too, but I don't think we should worry about something like this anytime soon.

[Oblivion]

^^ Not me nick of course :D

Anyway, i understand ben that makes sense.
I agree it would cause problems with people feeling you owed them something because they donated. An idea: It could be completely anonymous, and if they donated thay had to agree not to say anything? Because then it could be open to anyone who wants to help genuinely, and you could issue infractions to people that wanted special things or something (braking their agreement). I don't know, just an idea. :)

[japanman]

hmm k n donatins I know i could draw you a kitty ya that would ya he could cheer you up =D

[george]

Hmm......I wonder if we will still be visiting this site when we are all like 30 years old :lol:

But yeah, I can see how if someone donated that some people would think that we owed them something. But then that kind of defeats the whole point of donating seeing as how its to help out.

By the way, who's Kevin and all those people that Ben was talking about?

hmm k n donatins I know i could draw you a kitty ya that would ya he could cheer you up =D
^^ I'll draw you a hundred dollar bill :yeah:

[Sugaree]

It would be a good idea. But, as Ben said, it's a non-profit orginization.

[Oblivion]

Non profit means they make no profit. If all the money is directed to this site, then it is a non profit organization still. You could even pay the staff and it would still be non profit. Like the YMCA. It costs 90 $ a month or something, and its non profit. They have to pay for equipment (domain/hosting for us) and staff (Ben, Alex, Triple7, and all the mods)

[The Batman]

Staff positions are just voluntary so they woudn't get payed.

[Maverick]

Although if you wish to donate to the staff my paypal account is always open. :D

Kidding, of course. ;)

[Underground_Network]

^^ This thread is making me hungry for donuts... Is that a bad sign?

Anyways... I think member donations could get a bit out of hand, and some people definitely might expect to be treated differently because they donated some money, so its better to just forget about it, at least for now. It's probably not going to happen, and its not a big deal if it doesn't happen. We're showing our appreciation towards the guys who run this site by coming back almost each and everyday and they're most likely glad that they're site has influenced so many lives and helped out so many people, in my opinion, that's payment enough. Though if they ever did open up donations, I would be one of the first to donate for those very reasons.

[Oblivion]

Sure you are :rolleyes:
Lol well anyway, Mav what do you think of my anonymous idea?

[Antares]

Nope we are pretty much self sufficient.

It is really cool to see people wanting to help out VT, it shows this place really has a good solid future with a member base willing to part with their money for it. But we are fine. The occasional bills that need paying we pay and are never any hassle. Thanks though for the offer.

Oh really? I thought that like the vB License was paid for by the network. And the domain or hosting one of those. Okay nevermind. I will shut up now :P

[Oblivion]

I think Alex paid for the vB license out of his pocket.
Ben was switching from phpBB to vB Hard?

[Gavin]

It's a really nice suggestion, but i don't really see this happening sometime soon

[Maverick]

Ben was switching from phpBB to vB Hard?
That really has nothing to do with the suggestion.

[Kiros]

Oh really? I thought that like the vB License was paid for by the network. And the domain or hosting one of those. Okay nevermind. I will shut up now :P

If the network paid for our stuff, like domain hosting, vBulletin, and all other site-related expenses, that would be glorious. Unfortunately, it's not like that. When Sam was around, things were great. He paid for quite a lot to keep the network and its projects alive. Now, after Sam passed away, the network is mainly just a metaphoric connection between some of the projects. There's no group of people that have a board room meeting every month and decide on important financial matters. As far as I know, Ricky manages the GovTeen.org website, and basically, there's nothing to change about it. Ricky will answer questions sent to the webmaster account and such, but there is no real network at the moment. As I said, it's just a metaphoric link among the projects. Someday, that might change. In fact, later in life, I'd like to see that happen, and I would like to be a part of that. That's all I'm saying right now, though.

In conclusion, the "network" doesn't fund projects anymore, except some of the staff among the projects cough up their own money to make things happen - such as annual costs for domain hosting and software license renewing.

At any rate, I have something kind of funny to mention. Waaaay back when I wasn't a staff member, I suggested the same thing. That must have been over 3 years ago... Anyway, at the moment, we will not set one up, but when the internals of the network change, we will see new possibilities.

[Antares]

Okay, that clears it up on my end. Thanks!

but yeah i seriously thought that the "network" funded some or most. but yeah nevermind. well great job you guys!

[ShatteredWings]

my two cents (no pun intended)

it's an intersting idea...obviously ben has said 'no'. i have something to add aswell

alot(no, almost all) of the users are under18, and i bet i'm not the only one who would probably be killed (figurativly) if their parents knew about the site..

having the feture would likely make users feel a bit obligated...

[/end two cents]

[Aηdy]

I mentioned this a while back to the admins, but they have it covered.

[Close102]

i know that im a bit late to the disgussion but i think it is a bad idea just beacuse of special treatments they may think they should get. also lets say we did do this, what if someone donated a ton of money and then Alex or Ben (not that i think they would do this but future Admins might) takes the money for themselves and just says that they updated something. that is why i think it could be bad because face it we are all strangers to everyone else on the site pretty much.