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Funding TVF!


rodney69

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I just want the site to stop going dark. It's become my favorite pass time reading this site. Whether at home doing my data inputting or at work. So count me in, I'll hit that button later this evening

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In the past members and suppliers both have donated equipment for a raffle and all the proceeds went to Vendiscuss.

Steve used to run a sidebar that showed how much members contributed to the site. It was important to me at that time to be near the top of the list, because of how much it helped me.

I think that's a great idea hillbilly

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I would love to see several of the ideas implemented. As useful as this site is to as many people as it is this site should not only be able to pay for itself but should be making steve money. I would prefer steve to just lay down a plan that includes membership fees, advertising fees, classified fees and whatever else then all the back and forth trying to get this member or that members input or approval. Thanks for your effort Rodney but this thread should be proof enough a democracy does not work in this setting.

Your right. It also seems that people hold on to the stigmas of locators and throw me inn with that group which bothered me more than anything. I feel completely insulted and will definitely keep that in mind before I participate much more. I will operate my company as I always have, it's a matter of morals.

As far as input on here, it will be more limited as I now see that I can only be a locator OR a vendor. Since I am able to help more willing people by locating, that's the avenue I choose.

I apologize for letting some things get to me and responding on emotion.

have a great day.

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If site needs money to keep going I will contribute. If all members that use this forum regularly would just give a little each month it would be enough to sustain forever. You will always have takers that won't give no matter what. You can count me in as a monthly contributer as long as forum doesn't sell.

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Agree with Mainor and BB. Come up with a monthly or annual membership for those of us who are here all the time and the people who pay it get a "contrbuting member" tag or something like that.

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Actually there is an interested buyer out there. I know that there have been some efforts to contact Steve, but I have no information where that process is.

 

Watching all this unfold has been interesting. The truth is if ANY of the people responding to funding requests or talking about it would just do so the "problem" would not exist. So, the talkers are just talking for an audience. If you are so inclined just send some money. How pointless and self aggrandizing the talk is.

 

If one of the solutions is a "user fee" I would not be opposed at all. Volunteering money is another issue. This is not my dream it is someone else's and in the spirit of free enterprise and capitalism let the activity rise or fall on its own economic merits. I would gladly pay for value received. I have spent a  lifetime accumulating knowledge about vending and while I am always willing to help the idea that I should just give it away has always been demeaning. My work is worth something, I will share it, but why should people ride for free?

 

Back to the interested buyer. I know these people and they have more to offer this "community" than any independent buyer. It is an extraordinary opportunity that I hope becomes a realty.

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The truth is if ANY of the people responding to funding requests or talking about it would just do so the "problem" would not exist. So, the talkers are just talking for an audience. If you are so inclined just send some money. How pointless and self aggrandizing the talk is.

 

I think the problem are the members who are not talking.

 

Many of us who are "just talking" have already given more to this site than 99% of the other members that use all the site content but give nothing.

 

I agree that people should not "ride for free". To that point, would it not be foolish for any of us to give more money just to benefit an eventual buyer who we may disagree with? 

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I think the problem are the members who are not talking.

 

Many of us who are "just talking" have already given more to this site than 99% of the other members that use all the site content but give nothing.

 

I agree that people should not "ride for free". To that point, would it not be foolish for any of us to give more money just to benefit an eventual buyer who we may disagree with? 

 

I think the whole "save TVF" movement is really confusing. Is there a donation drive? Are there new rules? Membership tiers? Is the site being sold?

 

Why isn't Steve, or anyone on his behalf, making an official announcement on this? Or, perhaps more importantly,why are so many members discussing all the different ways to "save" TVF, while presumably having no idea what any of the potential options are?

 

If the site is being sold, what would the objective be in calling for donations? If that were really an option, why wasn't that tried first? It seems more likely that the decision has been made to sell. 

 

In my opinion, there's little value to be received for making a donation if the site has already been sold or is about to change hands. Those pledging their intent to make a donation to keep the site free and operating as is may very well be misguided, and in for disappointment with new owners and their plans for the forum. 

 

Why isn't there any official announcements or communication about this? Changing the logo to a "for sale" version is such a strange way to handle this. And we're a community? 

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I think Hippos reply was specific to this thread as well musser. And I agree with him. People that are willing to contribute to a place that has helped so many are not the problem.

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As a relatively new member with a small full line business I will chime in.  I have not donated, don't really know why, it certainly hasn't been obvious where to do so, how much is needed or when the site needs money.  I also doubt I am going to remember to donate on an ongoing basis.  However, the value of the forum is obvious to my business and that business could clearly afford a modest membership fee.  I would support that, and be happy that I didn't have to remember to donate or watch for threads like this one.  I imagine the reason to not go that route has been that it will exclude the casual member or newbie.  Or maybe it is at odds with the vision of the owner, or maybe it is at odds with creating value out of a site with lots of users rather than a much smaller number of members.

 

Those are things I don't have the answer to.  I do imagine that there is enough support for a membership based program.  That would stabilize the site for a year at least, which would give time to look into revenue models that would make it sustainable long term and open to all.  If those revenue generating ideas don't work out, I would think the membership fee model would work on an ongoing basis.

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I would imagine the problems with running this site are both time and money. Losing 2 moderators obviously multiplies the workload, and I can imagine Steve having issues with time, especially when trying to run a website that I don't think is meant to make a profit, but is there to help people become successful at this vending business.

 

I can see Steve wanting to move on. After all this site takes time and effort, especially with moderating. I do see that he hasn't logged in since Jan 18, so that does make me wonder what's up, and if his life has just gotten too busy, or if he has had a life altering event.

 

If it's time for somebody else to take over, I just hope it's the right person. The right person could build this website to become even bigger, and better then it is. But the wrong person could destroy it. I've seen it happen.

 

I also know a person who sold a very successful website (online magic shop,) only to find out it was turned into a porn site. (They only bought it for it's #1 ranking on Google.) This hit his reputation, and unfortunately, because of the nature of the website, a large percentage of visitors were under 18.

 

I could see more then one person going in on this, although partnerships have their own issues. One person needs to be in charge, and all functions need to be designated, because if two, or more, people are supposed to do something, too often nobody does it, expecting somebody else to do it.

 

On a side note, I want to recognize the BeaverVending (Beaver Machine corp.) for offering to donate a machine to be raffled, to help keep this site up and running. 

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I would like to thank Rodney for his very generous donation that got us back online and for taking it upon himself to start this topic. Unfortunately, this is a topic that I do not like to talk about. However, if I can't get over my distaste of this topic, I will always struggle to keep TVF online.

 

It is true that I can no longer keep this place going by myself. I want to, but I can't. When I came to this realization, my only hope was to offer the site for sale to a member who I hoped would continue on. After reading all of the posts in this thread, another realization came to me. I don't have to do this by myself. Just because I can not afford this place, that doesn't mean that those of you who enjoy this site can't.

 

So, with that, I've re-vamped the donation area. Instead of just a blanket "Donate to help" area, I've itemized our operating costs by month and added a progress bar to each month so anyone can see exactly where we stand. Anyone can look at the donations page and see exactly how much time TVF can remain online at any given moment. I will also recognize those of you who donate each month in a "Contributors" topic so everyone will know who they can thank for any given month. If you wish to remain anonymous, please tell me BEFORE making a donation.

 

This new donations page will eliminate the surprise outages as you can see exactly how much is needed and when it is needed by.

 

With this new transparent donations system, I would like to re-affirm my commitment to all of you. Rhett and I will be here to run and maintain this site for all of you as long as you do your part by checking the donations page frequently to see where we stand. I promise the site will not go dark in any month that the donation progress bar is full.

 

To visit the donations page, go here.

 

You can also access it using the "More" tab at the top...

 

post-1-0-98346000-1426897357_thumb.png

 

Or from the "Donations" link in your client area.

 

Thank you in advance.

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Looks great Steve.  The only suggestion I would make is that this announcement deserves it's own post pinned at the top of every forum. It's important enough that I'm afraid buried four pages deep in a thread it could be missed.  

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Steve, 


Sorry, is there another way to donate, Ive tried to donate and it states that I can not use my card because I have a pay-pal account and must use that. I do not have a pay pal account so that is in error. Why does it default to pay pal when I try to use my card?

Thanks

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Most forums I visit if they have a supplier section, the business pays a yearly fee to advertise on the site. If additional revenue can be generated through a credit card ad, that is additional money to cover expenses. There could also be TVF merch availabe, I think people are more inclined to give money, if they are getting something in return. Im sure Steve knows all this, and maybe its simply not a money issue. Maybe he doesnt want to spend the countless hours it takes to operate a forum, all the while not getting paid for it. If it was a matter of raising a $100 a month,I think he could do that easily.

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There are some veterans in here that give out all the knowledge and I don't think they owe the forum a dime, but all us newbies (including myself here) should probably keep it going until the next generation rolls around and we are the vets. Just my opinion. Everyone has a conscience so they can let that guide them.

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Steve,

Sorry, is there another way to donate, Ive tried to donate and it states that I can not use my card because I have a pay-pal account and must use that. I do not have a pay pal account so that is in error. Why does it default to pay pal when I try to use my card?

Thanks

Good question. I have no idea. It does ask me how I'd like to pay. Either PayPal or credit card. See attached pic.

Most forums I visit if they have a supplier section, the business pays a yearly fee to advertise on the site. If additional revenue can be generated through a credit card ad, that is additional money to cover expenses. There could also be TVF merch available, I think people are more inclined to give money, if they are getting something in return. Im sure Steve knows all this, and maybe its simply not a money issue. Maybe he doesnt want to spend the countless hours it takes to operate a forum, all the while not getting paid for it. If it was a matter of raising a $100 a month,I think he could do that easily.

Jmac, thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, I've tried most of the suggestions here. We've tried to sell ad space, no one was interested. We offered TVF merch, no one was interested. We can no longer run raffles due to past legal issues.

Raising $100 a month is not too much of an issue. It is sustaining the revenue consistently from month to month that has been problematic.

I hope everyone here understands that when the forum goes offline for nonpayment, it is not because I'm trying to punish anyone for not donating. I am not taking on an "I'll show them" attitude. It bothers me more than anyone here but when the host asks for money and there's none to give, THEY flip the switch, not ME.

I am not asking anyone for anything except to start looking at the donations page. It will clearly tell you how much time we have until the switch is flipped again and how much is needed to get to the next month. Right now, because of Rodney, this thread, and those who gave since, we are good until May 31.

post-1-142695010068_thumb.png

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Good question. I have no idea. It does ask me how I'd like to pay. Either PayPal or credit card. See attached pic.

Jmac, thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, I've tried most of the suggestions here. We've tried to sell ad space, no one was interested. We offered TVF merch, no one was interested. We can no longer run raffles due to past legal issues.

Raising $100 a month is not too much of an issue. It is sustaining the revenue consistently from month to month that has been problematic.

I hope everyone here understands that when the forum goes offline for nonpayment, it is not because I'm trying to punish anyone for not donating. I am not taking on an "I'll show them" attitude. It bothers me more than anyone here but when the host asks for money and there's none to give, THEY flip the switch, not ME.

I am not asking anyone for anything except to start looking at the donations page. It will clearly tell you how much time we have until the switch is flipped again and how much is needed to get to the next month. Right now, because of Rodney, this thread, and those who gave since, we are good until May 31.

If that doesn't work, there is a way to invoice for cc using PayPal by email that is for cc and let's even customers of PayPal only pay by cc.

If you need help with that, look on billing options on PayPal. There is a way to invoice through email, it builds a link you can copy and paste.

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