Accountability

[Cold Beer]

$15,000, folks...

*goes out on a limb*


Ok, so we've saved the (en)world for now. We've all seen the money come in and now the site stays up...so now what? What happens when that money runs out? How is that money being put to use? Who's responsible for it? What guarantee do we have that in a few months there won't be another crisis and we need to hold another "Chat-a-thon" to save the Community, and Morrus' collective butts?

Any ideas?

Am I the only one worried about this?

 

[Darrin Drader]

Of course you aren't the only one worried about this. Even with the server upgrades and such, the money raised should be good for a couple years now at least. So yeah, what assurances are we going to be given that the money is going to be managed well now that there is a pile of it?

 

[jgbrowning]

People, it's a gift. If Morrus trusts me enough to let me sit on 10k that you all gave to him, you should trust Morrus do what he needs to do to the best of his ability. When you give money to help a friend, don't expect an accounting of how all of it's going to be spent. When he went to Gen Con, no one asked to see an accounting of his expenses there...

I know it's a lot of money. That shouldn't matter except to make everyone proud for being part of a great community. I've (and I'm sure others like Eric and Morrus) have been working pretty hard for the past two days to keep things up and going. Talk like this gets our spirits down and loses sight of why we did this to begin with: to preserve what we had already, not to demand more.

joe b.

 

[EricNoah]

I think your "assurances" are that Russ will continue to do the best he can to run the site as well as he can with the resources that he has because he loves running EN World. When he starts to run out of resources, hopefully he'll make it clear that more are needed. If people still think it's worth it, they'll donate again when it's needed. If they don't, they won't.

Donating to EN World is no guarantee that Russ will choose the service provider you think he should choose, or upgrade to the server that you think he should upgrade to, or charge $40 for CS accounts instead of $35, or anything like that. I hope that doesn't sound too harsh or anything, but I'm just hoping that folks donated out of a sense of trust and not the desire to micromanage the webmaster into the ground or something.

 

[alsih2o]

there are no assurances.

what there is is a track record of making aplace that is as friendly and helpful as possible.

the best indicator of future performance is past performance(imho) and i think what we need to focus on is morrus' previous handling and his obvious deidcation to what he is doing.

please, everyone try to remember why you donated. becaus eof what this place is, not what oyu want it to be.

 

[Emiricol]

Considering everyone who donated did so on faith, I think their hearts are in the right place. Asking questions, politely of course, ought never be a threat if intentions are honorable. I don't see quite why that would get your spirits down. Do questions reduce the $15,000 people raised in 12 hours for this, my favorite place on the Web?

I don't think there's any real reason to get upset on this. And I know from other threads a variety of solutions are being discussed. I'm sure once Morrus and co decide on a course of action, they'll let us know what is happening

 

[barsoomcore]

If you'd wanted double-entry accounting and daily reports, you should have asked for that before you gave.

The verb in question is "give". Not "lend" or "invest" or even "make available" -- it's "give".

Like Eric says, if you find yourself unhappy with the use to which the money is put, don't give anymore. But if you want conditions attached to its use, you shouldn't have given it in the first place.

 

[Mistwell]

The thing is, it ISN'T a lot of money. Morrus should be able to make enough money running this that he doesn't feel forced to get a different job, because the work necessary to run these boards IS a job. He should be able to pay his mods a bit of money, and pay for reporters and reviewers contributions. Other major boards in similar fields are able to do this. Comicbookresources.com, for example, is self-sufficient and pays for its owner and reporters, and is able to sponsor some things in the larger comic book community. EnWorld should be able to do the same thing.

$16K doesn't even come close to covering the costs, paying Morrus enough to live on, and paying some mods, reviewers, and reports a bit of money for their time. It's chump change in fact.

I think it is sad that there is even a question about the accountability of Morrus and these funds.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Dude, it's a donation.

You want assurances, go buy some stock in something with a board of directors. Like Enron.

 

[Vascant]

Perhaps people missed the point of what I think Cold Beer's post was concerning...

Most places that I give a financial investment to have a business plan, something that states why they are there and what is it going to take to stay a float and even prosper. This seems to be missing or have gone array.

The issue was lack of funds, this has been resolved..
Now for a more important issue, how to not get here again.

I did not donate anything, I invested in a place that I use daily to figure out whats going on in the D20 world. What do I expect in return, service as the same I have received in the past. I think Enworld just needs a plan, a business plan.