Are you generous?

[LeeCHeSSS]

Beloved members!

I hereby implore your benevolant hearts to be gracious and hear out my request...

Online-Roleplaying.Commodities is needing a better server - you all must've experience nasty down time lately - and Paul and I have been exploring some posibilities. We've tried a virtual server, but that turned out to be a no-go before we even got around to install a test version of ORP on that server - simply because we could not install / update our own software.
The only other reasonable option is buying a dedicated server. Initial purchase of the server costs 1249 US Dollars (plus 150 US Dollars setup-fee - totalling about 1150 Euro) and from then on, we only pay bandwidth (45 US Dollars - 36 Euro) per month. I myself can easily pay the monthly fee, but the initial amount is a bit steep.
This is where you lovely folks come in: I'm asking you fine folks to chip in any amount you can spare; even if donations total less than the 1150 euro, that would make it more reasonable for me.

So please dear folk, head over to the home page and click on that paypal button!

[itches]

I can't give you money, but I can give the several souls of children who will never be born.

[LeeCHeSSS]

Okay, that scares me...

Anyway, I reckon that I will have to put something back in return for donations. Something similar as Enworld's Community Supporter thingy. Anyone got ideas?

[nightinverse]

I wish I had something to donate, but at the moment I don't.

Ideas for donation benefits? I think that the site pretty much warrants donations on it's own, but I see where you're coming from. Well, the way this is laid out doesn't leand itself to particular benefits. I have some ideas though...

1. Increased number of Private Messages: 70 ---> 100?
2. Title Change: [Contributor]

[LynMars]

*Tosses a tiny bit of money at Danny*

No where near enough, but if I had more to spare, I would. Maybe once this whole finding-new-place-to-live-thing gets settled.

Really, people, if all you can spare is, say, the cost of a gamebook or a video game if you're really surly, every little bit is enough. Given the number of active members on the forum, if that's all anyone contributed, it'd get the job done. After all, it is a service being provided to us that we obviously all enjoy enough to stick around and keep playing here. I mean, where -else- do you get an itches, just for instance? ;)

Let's try to avoid a large string of posts consisting of "Oh, sorry, can't." Get that a lot on another forum when this sort of thing comes up...And it's right annoying to read and likely discouraging to the staff when that's all people post.

And the souls thing disturbs me, too >.>

[Gnarsh]

Donation has been given.

[BigRedRod]

Okay, that scares me...

Anyway, I reckon that I will have to put something back in return for donations. Something similar as Enworld's Community Supporter thingy. Anyone got ideas? I think the standard idea of a little badge under the name that marks out those who contribute would work, despite how tacky it is. Or, and I'm not sure this is a good idea, you could always make a custom title the reward

[itches]

2. Title Change: [Contributor]
Please let's not attach a large sign to the people who donate saying "I've Donated"

[PaVel]

Custom title is a nice reward

maybe an e-mail adres, or are those allready free ?

[itches]

Yes, e-mail address! Orp-Mail is closing in less then a month.:bored:

[LeeCHeSSS]

The email addresses have always been free, but I am actually closing down ORP Mail.

I think the increase in PM's is a good idea, and probably some other benefits similar in nature...
Ross is right about titles, it might only serve to encourage elitism; I've always done my best to prevent that from appearing on ORP :)

[PaVel]

well I don't know the reason of shutting down orp-mail, but I'm sure I would be able to forward mail to other adresses....

[BigRedRod]

Ross is right about titles, it might only serve to encourage elitism; I've always done my best to prevent that from appearing on ORP :)
That isn't really elitisim though, as it is about nothing important. It's more just waving around your e-wang.
Elitism is a good thing for the site. Afterall nobody wants to play in a game with crappy players and a crappier DM if they can avoid it.

[itches]

It's more just waving around your e-wang.
Then let's not take half measures! Make the tag a variable that changes to show how much you've donated.

Based on the current market value of said souls.
http://atlas.walagata.com/w/itches/100.jpg

[BigRedRod]

I like it, it lets you know who has the biggest penis at a glance!

[PaVel]

Well we could pop in a special award, danny and I could take you out drinking. Would that be something for the highest donation ?

[nightinverse]

Afterall nobody wants to play in a game with crappy players and a crappier DM if they can avoid it.

However, a contribution really has nothing to do with roleplaying ability...

[PaVel]

However, a contribution really has nothing to do with roleplaying ability...
Well actually this is not true, you do become a better roleplaying if you contribute to our cause.....

:cool:

[BigRedRod]

However, a contribution really has nothing to do with roleplaying ability... You misunderstood what I was saying. Danny claimed that elitism was a bad thing, I claimed this was not true, we're trying to avoid the site becoming a super best friends club of core members but it would be a good thing if we were more elitist

[nightinverse]

We're already elitist, why beat around the bush? There are Epics, and there are regular users- a distinction based upon numbers. There are GMs and there are untitled players- a distinction based upon assumed responsibility.

How do you propose we practice an effective elitism that is based upon merit? Keep in mind that post regularity, post length, time-devotion, assumed responsibility and monetary contributions are not applicable to measuring what is essentially a subjective position.

I simply wanted to point out that any kind of easily generated elitist system fails to distinguish between poor and good roleplayers with any accuracy.

[BigRedRod]

We're already elitist, why beat around the bush? There are Epics, and there are regular users- a distinction based upon numbers. There are GMs and there are untitled players- a distinction based upon assumed responsibility.
We really aren't. New users have no way of knowing whether a game they are signing up for is going to fizzle and die within minutes and old users have no way of deciding which new users are diamonds in the rough.

How do you propose we practice an effective elitism that is based upon merit? Keep in mind that post regularity, post length, time-devotion, assumed responsibility and monetary contributions are not applicable to measuring what is essentially a subjective position.

I simply wanted to point out that any kind of easily generated elitist system fails to distinguish between poor and good roleplayers with any accuracy.
A simple rating system / general feedback thread would work, so long as everybody is mature to take criticism that is.

Anyhow, this is leaving on an exciting tangent. The moral is, elitism is a good thing and should be encouraged. What Danny wants to avoid here isn't really that, but it segregating the site into little groups which aren't accessible to new users so that they feel shunned upon arrival

[LynMars]

The Nice forums ( http://nice.purrsia.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi ) offer custom titles (that have to be approved and the members can't change themselves) for donations of $5 or more. If one has multiple logins, or wants to donate for their friends' accounts, they allow that too. They're usual titles are simply "member" though too, only really changing most times for "moderator" or "admin".

Another friend I talked to agreed that in most cases, a small note in one's profile or on the info bar where it says Join Date, Member #, Location, etc, isn't necessarily a bad thing, and usually doesn't inspire elitism; it just means that at some point, that person had some cash available to donate to a site so they and others could continue to use it. Yeah, there's an e-penis thing there sometimes, but it's usually not too major of a deal if you don't make it much of one, beyond just showing some appreciative recognition of the contributors so others consider it a bit more maybe themselves.

Me, I'll go either way on the matter. If my measly donation gets me a little thingie attached to my name or in my profile, that's okay. If I get nothing, that's okay too, cuz I know I did something anyway.

[Gralhruk]

My vote is for increased PM storage or the like, as opposed to any kind of title/badge/notation thing.

[nightinverse]

Yeah, I think the PM storage is the best way to go.

[LeeCHeSSS]

So far that won't be a major hit on the disk space used; seeing as there are only 3 people who would get that ;)

[Cadrius]

PM space is a practical reward. A little icon that you can see while clicking on someone's profile would work as well. That probably wouldn't inspire elitism. Then again, I'm a walking case of why elitism is bad. If it were up to me, I'd shunt 90% of the boards into a subforum called The Crap Hole. Ah, that's not true. It'd be 85%.

So, yeah, PM space sounds like a good thing. Although, rewards or not, I'll still float some money your way.

[Gralhruk]

Danny, check your PMs.

[nightinverse]

Cad, it's twice as funny because of your title change.

[itches]

Less then 10% raised so far. Is there a date when you're hoping to have the money by?

[LynMars]

I almost wonder how many folks have even seen the topic; lots just link directly to the forums they play in...

[PaVel]

itches, the sooner the better off course.

well we just could send everyone a PM on the site. Don't know what Danny thinks of that

[LeeCHeSSS]

Quite a valid point, Lyn.
I'll probably have to send out a PM to everyone - something I've never done in the site's entire existance.

[PaVel]

there has to be a first time for everything Danny ;)

[LynMars]

An announcement like when you're talking about archiving unplayed forums every few months may work, too. Then it's seen at the top of each game forum. Seems like a bit less work than PMing everyone. >.>

[Lando The Archmagi]

I can't afford a lot, but I do intend to contribute to the server fund since I'm enjoying playing and GMing here. :)

[Cadrius]

Quite a valid point, Lyn.
I'll probably have to send out a PM to everyone - something I've never done in the site's entire existance.

Oh no! Spam!

It's probably a good idea. Although, I'll say that I often times don't notice PMs unless I'm expecting one.

[PaVel]

Doesn't the site have a notification when you receive a popup....

but then, with all those pop-upkillers installed

[itches]

Actually since the upgrade I no longer get PM popup things when I look at the main page. Which is annoying as it then won't popup when I goto another page and it's easy to miss that little 1. Been meaning to complain/bitch about that.

[LeeCHeSSS]

Yup, 3.5 is nasty when the main page relies on 3.0 code :)

EDIT: I'm currently in the progress of replacing it with another - testing is in progress.

[Zero]

Option for snail mail?

[LeeCHeSSS]

Sending money by regular mail is very insecure. I could provide you with my international bank accountnumber if you want to?

[BrianL03]

As soon as I get my first paycheck, I'll shunt a bit of it your way. I have to be a bit stingy, though, as most of the paycheck's going towards textbooks, rent, and utilities. But you'll get at least $10!

[Zero]

I'll look into paypal.

[Wired*Nun]

My donation is coming soon, I really have got great value here and will be happy to contribute.

Now, if there were a way to download/backup my entire game in one easy click, that would be worth some extra donations. I shudder to think what mutilations to my psyche will result if, for example, I can't maintain this stuff in some backup form.

Is there a way to do this without saving endless archive pages?

- The Nun

[PaVel]

Well I don't know for sure, but I think such a thing is possible. I like where the donations are going to. off course I would donate something of my own, but the 'friendly' people of the taxes want my money too. :disa.ed: always nice to pay taxes.....:dead:

[LeeCHeSSS]

I would probably have to write a small hack to create a mysqldump of one specific game. It would be easy to import again, but hardly readable to regular non-geeks :)

[PaVel]

well you could just export a nicely formatted text-file. I guess it's only for your own reference.Backups would be our part to do I guess

[LeeCHeSSS]

Wow, we're already at 25%!!

I honestly love you guys.

[Setzer Gabbiani]

Man, it's been a while since I've read up on nongame forums. I'm still saving for my car insurance, but I can write off some cash for the cause. Don't have a credit card though. Unless debit works over PayPal I'll need some info for sending.

As for rewards, I'm not a fan of custom titles (Used to be, but no). Aside from the PM space, perhaps a slight increase in avatar or sig size. Better yet, some control over the avatar size itself (I always end up stretching my pics, so it'll look better for my ilk). May well post a poll for this, if anyone wants to.

[Gnarsh]

Debit works over Paypal, Setzer. Either that, or I've committed fraud.

[Setzer Gabbiani]

Awesome. I'll do it tomorrow, since I don't have my bank books on hand right now. Trust me though, it'll get done.

[LeeCHeSSS]

Hmm, how much larger an avatar would you think necessary? I'm not a big fan of allowing members to show their clashing colourful pictures that don't match with the rest of the site ;)

[Setzer Gabbiani]

Oh, I'm not talking those giant pics like on OCReMix, more like increasing it to 50x50 pixels. Or the possible option of selecting how many vertical or horizontal pixels a pic is contained in.

Edit: If that is indeed possible.

And whoever told me you could Paypal with a debit card, you'd best be right. Always calling it a credit card on the screen kind of freaked me out.

[Cadrius]

It's been possible to use a debit card with PayPal for quite some time now.

[Setzer Gabbiani]

Then it probably worked. Not trying to sound extra-generous or anything, I just ask a lot of questions. Also, since this is an important subject for the board, could we front-page a poll of proposed rewards? I'm thinking avatar size, sig size, PM size, title. If anyone else has ideas I'd throw them in now, so we can leave the poll up as long as possible until this is done. My opinion is that a democratic setting for the desicion would probably be best here.

[LeeCHeSSS]

When have I ever done it the democratic way? :)

The avatars have always been allowed up to 60 by 60px since this site began...

[Setzer Gabbiani]

I stand corrected. For some reason the one I was looking at said 40x40. Hows about 75x75 then?

And about the democratic thing, sure. Not like I've seen real democracy in action anyway. But political rants are for another time.

[LynMars]

Democratic method aside, there is something to say about giving it a vote; if you know what people would be willing to get as a bennie for contributing, it may encourage more of them to donate, if what's being offered as a perk is something a lot of folks want.

[nightinverse]

Don't forget avatar size can take two directions, size on disk (kb) and size on screen (pixels).

I prefer the former.

[Lando The Archmagi]

It's been possible to use a debit card with PayPal for quite some time now.

I just donated using Paypal myself. :)

[LeeCHeSSS]

Well, I'm not stopping anyone in creating a poll ;)

[PaVel]

Democratic method aside, there is something to say about giving it a vote; if you know what people would be willing to get as a bennie for contributing, it may encourage more of them to donate, if what's being offered as a perk is something a lot of folks want.
Well I am not against your idea, it needs some tweaking.

If we are planning to do such a thing, it should be in de form of a subscription. Otherwise you'll get people who donate $1 in order to reap the benefits.

Otherwise people would donate $100 would get the same benefits as people who donate far far far less

::: DISCLAIMER :::
This is my opinion and not by default also Danny's (LeeCHeSSS) so don't be afraid, it would just how it would be if I would call the shots, but the shotcaller is Danny
::: DISCLAIMER :::

[Cadrius]

I doubt any would begrudge you for expecting a reasonable minimum contribution. Hell, NPR does it.

If you wanted to get fancy you could have a scale. Donate $10 and get extra PM space, but donate $25 and get a nudie pic of itches and BRR. You get the idea.

I wouldn't stress too much about what people get or how it's done. These are merely incentives to get people to shell out. Just set a policy and stick to it.

[LynMars]

...donate $25 and get a nudie pic of itches and BRR...

Isn't that more like, I dunno, punishment? ;)

[Cadrius]

How very true. Make it the reward for anything less than $25. That'd get people to donate more in a hurry.

[Flagg Thornington]

I'll donate at least twenty-five dollars to avoid seeing either nude picture.
Is pay pal the only method? I do not disclose any financial details over the interweb.

[Cadrius]

Either? Who says they aren't in the picture together?

[itches]

BRR actually. I suggested it, saving time, film and everything, but he just wouldn't hear of it. Apparently he's not secure enough in his heterosexuality to have gay sex with me.

[Gnarsh]

Those damn homophobic Brits.

[PaVel]

I'll donate at least twenty-five dollars to avoid seeing either nude picture.
Is pay pal the only method? I do not disclose any financial details over the interweb.
you can contact danny for some international banking details

[Flagg Thornington]

I'm not secure enough to have gay sex with Itches. It would be twisted and I dare to say possibly fun...

[itches]

Thank you ... I think.

[Cadrius]

I'm not secure enough to have gay sex with Itches. It would be twisted and I dare to say possibly fun...

I see someone's been talking to the local kangaroos again.

[LeeCHeSSS]

What, you mean he's from the island too?

[Cadrius]

No, I mean word of itches' proclivities has spread beyond the local marsupials.

[itches]

Sometimes fame is a curse.

[LeeCHeSSS]

Goody, past the 30% mark - though many have already donated, so I should probably expect the donations to dry down a bit.
But so far you've all made sure that the cost will hurt significantly less on my bankaccount.

[itches]

I would donate money to help, but I don't want to.

[LeeCHeSSS]

But but but, you already did!

[itches]

Lies! Evil lies designed to ruin my reputation.

[LeeCHeSSS]

Actually since the upgrade I no longer get PM popup things when I look at the main page. Which is annoying as it then won't popup when I goto another page and it's easy to miss that little 1. Been meaning to complain/bitch about that.

Does it work now? And does the main page do any other things better/worse?

[itches]

The links in "The Latest Posts" section point you to the beginning of the thread instead of the end. The fact that it stops being bold once you've clicked on it is useful though.

[BigRedRod]

The links in "The Latest Posts" section point you to the beginning of the thread instead of the end.
Too slow old man!

[LeeCHeSSS]

Fixed!

[itches]

Ah ha! When it reverts to the non-bold "you've already viewed this" it reverts to linking to the first page! Sure I may be nit-picking now, but as a freeloader on this site I have the right to complain about pointless stuff!

[LeeCHeSSS]

Hrmm, I'm being daft sometimes... :)

[PaVel]

So, we had a server slowdown again, luckily I was at the scene when it happened so downtime was limited.

[BigRedRod]

On the scene before any "Battlestations!" messages had been transmitted.

[itches]

Has the paypal button been removed, or is there an error on my end that stops me from seeing it?

[LynMars]

Think it's just you, itches, I'm seeing it just fine.

[LeeCHeSSS]

The server has been bought, and will be set up and made ready for moving the site...

[itches]

It was just me, I can see it again. Danke.

[itches]

Any idea of when the move will happen?

[LeeCHeSSS]

Soon, the server only needs basic finetuning before it is ready for you folks :)

[nightinverse]

*Sacrifices surplus virgins*

[Setzer Gabbiani]

*Sacrifices surplus virgins*

Now now, you know that there are no such things as "surplus" virgins. You can never have enough virgins -- they run out so fast.

[LeeCHeSSS]

Two of my sites have been moved and seem to work without problems. Next weekend, ORP will likely be moved...

ORPmail will cease to exist, along with freeport and prometheus subdomains (unless the authors object)...

[itches]

There shall be much mourning.

[BigRedRod]

What was the Freeport subdomain?

[itches]

http://freeport.online-roleplaying.com/

[BigRedRod]

I'd not seen that one before. Strange, seeing as how I played in that game

[LeeCHeSSS]

It never was actually finished...

[LeeCHeSSS]

Good job folks. We passed the 500 dollar mark.

Even though we ARE on the new server now, donations are still coming in. Marvelous :)

I will implement the benefactor-benefits as discussed really soon...

[itches]

We settled on the hooker/stripper combo didn't we?

[LeeCHeSSS]

For me? It's a somewhat odd donation, but I won't say no to a female stripper...

[itches]

That could be arranged. Assemble Team Stalker!

[nightinverse]

Do they transform?

[My Fellow Gamers]

How often is the fund bar on the home page refreshed? just curious .....

[itches]

Well it was put up in Jan when ORP needed the new server, since then I don't think it has.

[LeeCHeSSS]

Actually, I have refreshed it a few times.

[itches]

Refresh as in back to zero, or refresh as in update? It just occurred to me that My Fellow Gamers could have meant the latter.

[akiko]

I think he has it continually updated. As in I donated a few weeks ago and I saw the exact amount added to the running total one day. I think he updates whenever he gets a donation.

[LeeCHeSSS]

Updated then.

And akiko, don't make me look better than I am: I'm lazy by nature, I usually update it once in a while - you just were lucky to have your donation added quickly :)

[My Fellow Gamers]

I have donated as well and have not seen the change, that is why I asked. Thanks for the answer.

[LeeCHeSSS]

Well well, after having updated the donation-status, I discovered that we passed the 50% line...

[My Fellow Gamers]

We passed 50% but it has been a long time, do we have a date by which to raise said amount?

[LeeCHeSSS]

No, the server has already been bought. In fact, you're using it right now.

That doesn't mean you should stop donation though :)

[hedgeknight]

How much more do we need? And what is the deadline?
-g-

[Dusty Trails]

From what I'm seeing, it's only at 50.9%. $686.06 USD to go.

I didn't really notice the paypal sign. It's become background noise on the internet to me. My suggestion for what it's worth is: the request for funds might be better located above the Poll section on the left and perhaps a pie chart would catch some extra attention for you.

I'll definitely donate, but I'd like to know more about what the server is and generally how it's configured.

[LeeCHeSSS]

The paypal button is fine where it is; I don't want to appear as the begging type. Any donation is more than welcome, even though I've already bought the server (the site has been running on it for quite some time now).

I wonder why you would want to know about the configuration though.

[Dusty Trails]

I work for the Canadian federal government and part of my duties is to help people in my department get the right kind of hardware for their needs. This server seems to be running quite quick and is handling database activity very well IMHO. I'd love to know what's on the back end of this so I can possibly replicate it and possibly save some taxpayers some $$$... or maybe buy one or more for my own apps at work. :)

[LeeCHeSSS]

Well, I've bought the server over at tera-byte.com and we try to keep MySQL and PHP up-to-date...

[Dusty Trails]

Thanks for the info.

[Dusty Trails]

I saw something about MySQL and the impending changes to the Daylight Savings Time (March 11th) that you may want to check out. I don't know if it applies in your case. Just thought I'd mention it since ORP time stamps all posts.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/time-zone-support.html

[zachol]

Yay for things finding themselves back on the to-do list.

[LeeCHeSSS]

Yay for Patrick!

[zachol]

...

A pseudonym. Totally a pseudonym.


Allow you to pay without revealing your purchasing information. Protect against identity theft and fraud. Sonuva...

[LeeCHeSSS]

Hmm, did I say something I shouldn't have said?

[BigRedRod]

I'm confused. Why did this thread get bumped?

[LeeCHeSSS]

He donated. I like donations. Ergo, I like him.

Hmm...

[zachol]

Why shouldn't this thread get bumped? I mean, seriously?

Donations?

Yes?

[GeekEclectic]

Hullo, back from yet another hiatus. Looking for donations, eh? Not sure what to offer? Personally, I'd like to change my username and get me a custom user title. What would those run me? ;)

[itches]

We would change your username for free, all you'd have to do is ask.

[GeekEclectic]

Can it be GeekEclectic ?

And I'd still like to donate. I've always liked this site and would like to help out. How much for a custom user title?

[itches]

Just to confirm, you want to be changed to GeekEclectic? Once I edit this you will need to log in as GeekEclectic.

As to a custom usertitle, there currently is a system in place. We'll have to wait for LeeCHeSSS to get on to see if he wants to change it around.

[zachol]

Custom titles come about at some random number (1k? 4k?) of posts.
I'd personally think it reasonable to give this ahead of time to anyone who donates, along with a some manner of title in the brackets.

Like, something in addition to "Epic Admin" or "Epic GM" or whatever.


I don't know what, and my opinions really don't matter anyway, but that still seems reasonable to me.

[LeeCHeSSS]

Right now there is a system where you go through various set titles until you reach 2000 posts. At that point you earn the right to choose your own title. It is worth mentioning that if you choose a title that is not undead-themed, you also earn the right to be ridiculed, beaten, harassed and tortured by itches.

The only reasonable benefit for donating that I can think of is an increased PM storagelimit.

[Tashalar]

The only reasonable benefit for donating that I can think of is an increased PM storagelimit.
Which would be rather nifty.... hrhm....