by NightLo on 06/07/2010 12:42 PM

Dear all,

Obvisouly I owe you all a formal introduction...as I never imagine myself being nominated as one of the site administrators...knowing myself who is mostly passive, I really cannot help contribute much apart from regular finance support! Yet new role demands more contribution, so finally I find some courage to take up more responsibilities!

First of all, I would like to collect opinions on how to improve the site...e.g. what do you want to add? what would you want to delete..such and such, just come forward to my lj account and leave comment, though I may not reply as soon as possible, but it is my habit to check at least once a day...so please don't be shy and leave words @nightlo.livejournal.com!

by Fallen Angel on 05/07/2010 04:46 PM

I went ahead and donated the $45 needed to make our 6 month payment. No one else stepped up to the plate on this one.

I want to thank NightLo and Cress for being such dedicated users of the site. I am making them both admins, with full site privileges, as part of my thanks for helping so much with donations.

I went back through the paypal donations for the last year. We have had a total of $613 dollars donated. Of that amount, NightLo and Cress have donated $505, Thats more than 80% of our donations for the year. So a huge thank you to both of them for keeping this site going the last year. Without them I am quite sure I would have grown fed up and closed the site.

I honestly don't visit the site much anymore, I am busy with work and other projects and essentially let the site run itself, our current admins usually let me know when there is a big problem and I can look into it.

After looking at the donation history, I can say I am honestly embarrassed that for the number of users, members, and authors that use and visit this site EVERYDAY, no one, no one is willing to step up and help with the costs of running it.

50,000 users
2,000 authors

And only 2 of them are donating? TWO?

Embarrassing

At this point, if your not willing to support the site, leave. Take your stories, your bookmarks, your reading time, to some other site. At least with you gone, the operating cost would go down for those users who actually want to support the site. If it were not for the commitment that NightLo and Cress have shown this site, I would close it right now. That is exactly how annoyed I am with everyone.

I do not want to hear, that you don't have money. No one does. I don't want to hear you don't have a credit card. I offered my address at one point to those that would email me wanting to donate. You know how many did? ZERO. So I don't want to hear one excuse. If even a FRACTION of the authors, or members all just donated a damn dollar, this site could run for years. Instead the same 2 people donate over and over and over again so you can use this site. And am damned annoyed.

So much so that I am not sure why I am still typing this.

by Fallen Angel on 05/05/2010 01:48 PM

We have gotten donations of $120 and $80 respectively (THANK YOU NightLo and Cress!!!).

So please help out! we only need $45 more by the 7th, thats FRIDAY, and we meet our goal. Otherwise we will need $100 by next month! Please chip in!

Goal: $300
Current: $255

by Fallen Angel on 05/03/2010 12:04 PM

Current: $55
Goal: $300

Needed: $245


Edit: NightLo is putting forward 6months worth of donations...

Proposed amount needed: $125

Edit: Cress is willing to put forward $80

Proposed amount needed $45

Even with these proposed donations, we need $45 more by May 7th, which is when the bill is due. If the amount is not donated by that time, $55 will be deducted, and we will have another month to come up with the $300

Currently we have not had any new donations, and we have just $55 in the paypal account.

by Fallen Angel on 04/26/2010 12:07 PM

We had $10 in donations in January, and a $40 donation last week. So currently we have met our goal for ONE month payment due on May 7th. However I think we have all enjoyed having several months of me NOT having to harass you all for donations. So please keep in mind, if we can get $300 in donations between now and May 7th then that will pay for 6 months!

Current: $55
Goal: $300

Needed: $245


Edit: NightLo is putting forward 6months worth of donations...

Proposed amount needed: $125

by Fallen Angel on 02/23/2010 10:03 AM

I am sure many of you noticed there have been problems accessing the site for the last few days. One of the database tables crashed. It has been recovered and repaired. However it is possible there is still corrupt or lost data because of this crash. Please be sure to report these issues to the Message Boards

by Fallen Angel on 01/20/2010 03:13 PM

So you might have noticed the site has been offline ... and now there are some changes.

About a week ago someone exploited the site and caused a massive amount of traffic to be filter through our site. Hosting service wasn't real pleased and shut down the public access.

I was forced to do the upgrade that I have been putting off for months and months, with no prep. I backed up what I could, but some things might have been lost. The forums had to be completely deleted.

So please be patient, I am sure there are bugs and bugs and bugs, and I am really busy right now and will get to them as I have time. My first priority will be getting a forum back up that you guys can post this problems to.

For now, just respond to this news items with whatever you notice ...

Thanks!

by Fallen Angel on 11/13/2009 11:25 AM

For the record ... in attempting to reach our goal of $300 I have only seen 1 new donator

Totals are updated.

by Fallen Angel on 10/22/2009 12:09 PM

In the interest of stimulating all of you members into donating. I have made a large donation myself.

I have advanced paid our next bill, and donated a $100 on top of that.

Our next bill is due Dec 4th. And if we can get a total of $300 between now and then, we can pay for a full 6 months in advance! That would get us through may of next year!

So current total is correct ... that leaves a little over $150 for you guys as members to donate. If we don't make it ... well it will pay for about 3 months of service.

Thanks to those special people who have donated each and every month, I am sooo proud to have you as members ...

For the moochers, I am really disappointed and this is your chance to help make up for the mooching!

by fallen angel on 08/25/2009 07:31 PM

We are pretty low late in the month this time around. Last month I donated a little extra to get us matched up, but I can't add more than $20 to the pot this time. I had some major bills come in late and hit me all at once ... so I only have a few lonely dollars in my account to get me to next paycheck.

I updated the donation amount, last donation was on 08/23 I am not adding my donation until right before we are billed, I am hoping my next paycheck goes thru before the bill is due, to be honest. So if you have been thinking about donating this would be a good time since I am short, and we are a bit behind this month

--- Thank you to the big donater that assured we would not be short this month!!!

by Fallen Angel on 05/05/2009 07:20 PM

Got 2 donations just before bill came Total of $35 ... I matched that with $30 (a little short this paycheck)

Current total at the top is correct.

by Fallen Angel on 03/26/2009 06:38 PM

Since I said I would match what you guys donated, and you donated so much last month, and we were so close to the $55 needed for this upcoming payment. I went ahead and put in $100.

So we are good for this month and next month. From here on, at the end of the month, I will match whatever has been donated. I will do it at the end of the month, mainly so I am not making multiple small additions.

Thanks to everyone that has supported the site by donating!

by Fallen Angel on 03/03/2009 12:50 PM

I'm back! And wow what a week of vacation can do for a person! ... And you guys are awesome ... we have about $90 dollars in donations ... so well on our way to next month's payment.

I have been thinking about the request for a different, cheaper server. The problem is our hosting costs aren't high. Its just the package upgrades I have gotten over the years to keep up with the bandwidth the site uses from so many visitors.

I am sure I could find a cheaper server.... but the issues that come up from moving are a bit daunting. Plus I happen to like the hosting company I am using. I know them, they know me, and they have been very helpful towards stretching our bandwidth limits when I needed them to. Helped get rid of viruses so the site was never down long.

I am finally in a stable job working full time again. So I have decided to match the donations every month. If you guys donate $10 ... I 'll put up $10. You donate $50, I will too. Hopefully that will go a long way to keeping the site going.

Let me know what you think!

by Fallen Angel on 02/16/2009 08:34 PM

The current donation amount at the top is correct. Our last donation according to Paypal was on Jan 31st. Our last bill was on Feb 3rd.

On Thursday Feb 19th I am going on Vacation for a week and a half .... and while I may have internet access at the hotel I am staying at, I really don't plan on being inside to use it ;) So chances are my last time to check the donation totals for you will be weds or thurs before I leave. If you plan on donating please do so soon so that I can confirm we have reached our monthly goal.

Otherwise I won't be able to do anything until after I get back.

*waves*


EDIT on 02/20/09 - Still no donations. Amount up at the top is still correct.

by Fallen Angel on 12/30/2008 06:15 PM

Google Ads - Sucks! They vetoed my appeal (no reason given), so no more Google Ads. I haven't really had time to look at the other add options. I know the few I looked at were more invasive that google and involved popups which i hate. So for now we are back to donations only to keep the site going.

Thankfully we had some great donors the last couple days and have enough for the bill coming up and will into the one for begining of Feb. So way to go!

And since I plan to party like no ones business tomorrow ....

Happy New Year!!!!!

by Fallen Angel on 11/07/2008 09:10 PM

Well it looks like Google Ads has closed my account. The email I got implied I had violated the terms by clicking on my own ads. There was a link to appeal the closing of the account which I used to let them know I had only clicked on the ads early when there were first added to confirm how they worked. I have waited all week for a response and still have not gotten one.

Along with closing the account, any and all money earned was "returned to the advertisers"

So I have been a little peeved all week.... still am until I hear back on my appeal.

I am looking into other ad options but most seem a bit more involved than I really want to try. But I am still looking.

I also have updated the donation numbers at the top. Sorry I had done this on like Monday but I must not have saved before I closed my window!

by Fallen Angel on 10/10/2008 07:13 PM

Sorry about the late update to the donations. I just went full time at work and learning 2 new areas of work ... left me a bit thin. Im actually still stuck at work and taking a mini break ...

We had a very large donation at the beginning of this month so we are already good for donations for the end of the month... and we need very little to have next months. So big thanks to that donater.

The ads/clicking did really well in Sept. We manager to rake up a total of 47.44 by the end of Sept. Which is a good 16.00 from when I last posted. However this month we have made a huge drop ... less than 45 clicks for October total and a few days there were no clicks at all. None. So we have made 1.17 for the month of Oct so far. Less than 3 cents a click.

Please remember the more clicking, the more money we get per click. We need to try and average 30 or more clicks a day.

Thanks everyone!

by Fallen Angel on 09/30/2008 09:56 PM

Plagerism will not be tolerated on this site. Posted stories that are not your own or without the original authors permission will be deleted immediately. Any repeated offenses will get your account deleted.

For those that reported the recent problem, thank you!

by Fallen Angel on 09/16/2008 06:44 PM

Total number of clicks: 467
Average amount per click: $0.06
Current Ad Totals: 31.12

Clicks on:
Sat (09/13/08) - 26
Sun (09/14/08) - 34
Mon (09/15/08) - 14
Tues (09/16/08) - 1

Current donation amounts at the top of the page are still correct. remember that ad money can not be used until the account is over $100, Google does not pay out in smaller amounts. So please keep donating.

by Fallen Angel on 09/04/2008 06:39 PM

Donations: $20
Ads: $24.10

Okay, I have recently come to the understanding that we have 2 types of ads: The kind with links to Buy this, Join here, Order this, ect. These are the ads we get money for clicking on. When we don't have ads for certain time slots we get 'Public Service Announcements' instead. We don't get paid for clicking on those. It does however count towards our click activity, which does lead to more paying ads. So yes, please keep clicking. Click a lot on the paying ads tho.

Clicking has taken a major nose dive this week. You all as users wanted to do this so I would stop asking for donations. This means if your not donating you need to be clicking. I hate it. But that's what it takes. We were averaging 30+ clicks a day at first. This week has been 10 or less and its showing.


09/12/08 - EDIT:
YouTube was removed. No one was clicking. Not creating any revenue. Also I agree with NightLo ... it was kinda tacky and didnt fit with the site.

Some more info on clicking ... a pattern is emerging. It seems when we have 30-40 clicks in a day we get the more profitable ads and thus make $3-$5 in a day. Days we have less than 15 clicks a day we barely break 20-40 cents. So keep that in mind when your clicking!!!!

by Fallen Angel on 08/25/2008 01:37 AM

Keep Clicking! Looks like the clicking went down a little this weekend ... Also the amount per click seems to have gone down but it seems from Google thats normal.

Anyways we have:

$19.48 in ad money.
$56.00 in donations.

I dont get any of the ad money until the account reaches $100 and its only transferred at the end of the month. I think it would be best to save the ad money until we can afford 6 months or a year in advance and use donations to pay for the monthly cost until then. Mainly since I have to waste until its $100 before I get anything anyways.

Let me know what you think

by Fallen Angel on 08/18/2008 01:01 PM


When do I get paid?

We'll send your check or EFT payment within approximately 30 days of the end of the month in which your account balance reaches US$100, unless a payment hold exists or unless otherwise agreed to in writing (including electronic mail).

For example, if you earn $40 in January and $70 in February, we'll send payment to you by the end of March.

If your account balance is less than US$100 at the end of the month, we'll roll your earnings over to the following month, until the payment threshold is reached. Balances include the combined earnings of AdSense for content, AdSense for search and referrals. You can review the Life of a Payment diagram below for a more complete picture of the payment cycle.


----------------------------

We currently have 89 banner clicks, and have accrued $13.70

by Fallen Angel on 08/14/2008 10:26 PM

So I added the ads. They require clicking to make money. Not enough clicking or donating means the site goes down.

EDIT
Looks like we get $0.10 a click ... we've had 20 clicks and made 2.11

Looking at the info the rate may go up based on page impressions which I gather is higher traffic and more clicks links back to this site being the referrer ... so more click from more users equals more money .... I think there is some filtering for same user clicking repeatedly ... Honestly I'm new to the ad stuff here.

I will add the ad funds to our donation amount every few weeks ...

by Fallen Angel on 08/12/2008 07:08 PM

Thanks to the input from my last news post I will soon be adding advertisements to the site. Expect to see ads and pop-ups. Once they are up please click on them frequently.

Oh, and the donation amount is current.

And I will try to stop making so many posts about the status of donations and lack there of.

by Fallen Angel on 07/14/2008 02:46 PM

It is halfway through the month and we have not had any donations thus far. I would like to point out that the same handful of people have been donating every month. There are plenty of you that use this site that can help. Please help this site stay open. Donate.


EDIT (response to comments)

I try and keep the donation status updated fairly frequently. The monthy payment for the site is automatically taken from the paypal account now. If we want to save for a year at a time, we have to donate above and beyond the monthly cost.

As for younger members without credit cards, I have offered to email my address to those ppl who ask in the past. When I did this I did not get one single donation from the people I gave my address out to. I would prefer not to give my address out for no reason.

We have over 35,000 members. I am sure quite a few of those are old enought to have credit or debit cards for online donations. Considering the number of members and authors this site has, it should not be near as difficult as it is to get donations. Honestly the longer this goes the more convinced I am to just close the site.

I am leaving it up to you all as members and users of the site to determine the future of the site.