More Bandwidth and Revenue Needed

[nasaryaa]

Hey,guys well is that i had this other program and i kept giving donations, but no results on downloading.zero, nada. so iam trying to find out because you never know what might happen.

[Zarxrax]

Hey,guys well is that i had this other program and i kept giving donations, but no results on downloading.zero, nada. so iam trying to find out because you never know what might happen.

Can anyone understand what this guy is saying? Please put your question or statement in proper English.

[Kirtai]

I have been using this site for about 2 years now, and I find it extremely useful and fun. I had been holding off on a new donation, because when I originally donated, the donation page said "no more ads": and didn't mention a timeframe (actually, I think it said "ever" but I'm not sure). So, I was really surprised come Jan. 1st of this year when I was getting "bugged" to donate again. If I had thought I was going to have to donate on a regular basis, I wouldn't have donated as much the first time - it was a good amount.

That being said, I love the .org, and plan on posting a donation as soon as I finish this post. My suggestions are that maybe there are other people like me, who got a little hacked off at this change of wording. I see now that the ad says "no ads for a year," and that is good. One thing that might make one time donators (or notime donators) donate again is some sort of incentive, based on the donation amount. Here are some ideas:

Forum goodies:
Titles for donators based on amount donated
Avatar bonuses, or cookies

Profile goodies:
Titles
Avatar bonuses
Featured Site Supporter: Make a front page showcase of the users that donated a certain (goodly) amount, with links to their profile pages.

Tangible Goodies:
Make like PBS- If you donate:

$X - bumber sticker for a-m-v.org
$XX- a-m-v.org keychain
$XXX - Anime CD
or something. You get the drift. Any of these ideas work?

[Zarxrax]

With what Kirtai said, I was also surprised when one year passed since my first donation and the ads appeared again.

I think the current donation page can be a little confusing. I would suggest a community-involved restructuring of that section of the site. Maybe have something like a wiki set aside for people to contribute improvement suggestions. People could create images and better organization and such, to help make the pertinant data stand out and make sure everything is clear and easy to understand.

[Kirtai]

Also, <whew> you could try making it a little easier to donate. I just donated, and it took me close to 45 minutes. It started easy enough, I made a pledge, and went to pay it on Paypal ( which by the way, the fees aren't that much for donating from your account - buy a stamp and envelope would cost about the same, especially on a low donation!) where I had trouble.

I hadn't realized that I couldn't use a credit card if I had a Paypal balance ( which I do - I get paid through Paypal{selling renaissance costumes}) So, I went through a lot of searching FAQs and forum posts to find out what that was I read on the pledge page about using Paypal, and couldn't find that info anywhere. I couldn't get back to the pledge page because it said I still needed to pay for the first pledge, but I didn't know how! So, I ended up saying "screw it" and paid with my Paypal balance.

The moral of the story is : Make donations easier!

[FerioDh]

Well, perhaps I missed it (I skipped a few of the pages in the middle of this thread), but what I don't see is any comment about those of us hosting Direct-linked videos. The reason I haven't donated is because I'm paying for my own bandwidth for my seven vids. Essentially, I feel that I am giving to the community by contributing my own download costs, thus easing the burden on the org. I do think that the problem outlined in this thread was inevitable with the offering of the Local option, but if the mission of the site is that vids be available, I think it's best to have as many venues for that as possible.

HOWEVER, I do think that there should be some concession for those of us who are contributing our own hosting. Maybe just an application to not be considered a "leech" would be sufficient. I don't need all the perks, just some acknowledgement that even without donating I am in fact doing my part.

[Phade]

Hey,

aielI_Ileia: Try it now.

Kirtai: Sending out physical "thank you" presents would be nice but would require us to purchase them, store them, package them up, and ship them out for each donation. Unfortunately, we (as in me) don't have time to do all that.

FerioDh: That is very considerate of you to provide you own video hosting. However, do you only download non-local videos? If not, you are contributing to bandwidth use. Why not take the annual cost of hosting your videos, divide by two, and donate that amount? You would cut your hosting costs in half and help this site at the same time.

Phade.

[Vancore]

I donated to this site a long time ago and I think the only reason I did it is because I had a chance to meet Phade in person. If it wasn't for that meeting I probably still wouldn't have donated, reason being that I have my own website to pay for. I could get rid of it but I like haveing a website handy.

My point, phade should attend more cons.. wait.

Actually I agree that adding rewards (OT forums, Title's, Ad's for people's AMV's, other things that were mentioned, etc) would be a good incentive for people to donate (Creators anyway). That and a cap of 25kb - 50kb for non-members may be a good idea for people just looking to download a lot. For me tho, the best incentive to donate is just meeting the person responsible but I know that can't be done all the time.

Since I go to this site often, read most of this forum about donations, made these comments and won't be attending AWA this year, you will most likely see a good portion of my gas money I would have spent for the trip going to this site soon.

[Brsrk]

I donated to this site a long time ago and I think the only reason I did it is because I had a chance to meet Phade in person. If it wasn't for that meeting I probably still wouldn't have donated, reason being that I have my own website to pay for. I could get rid of it but I like haveing a website handy.

My point, phade should attend more cons...

Doing that this weekend. And, agreed. Phade should attend more cons if he gets the time

[derobert]

I donated $50 back in April, but right now I get the same nag screens as people who have given nothing ever.

You shouldn't be (unless you're not logged in).