Accountability

[Cold Beer]

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.

I can't dissagree more. When you give money to a friend in need, you expect accountabiltiy. This is NOT A GIFT. If I give a friend money I expect that it will be used well within the parameters of the need based on what I know about the person. I don't give out handouts. What assurance do I have that the money is being used well?

None.

It's nice that there are good intentions for the money, but we all know what the road to hell is paved with...

If Morrus wants to use this forum as a means of income, then he needs to run it like a buisness. Charge us for usage, or expect the boards to go under.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong...

 

[jgbrowning]

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.

Asking questions is cool. But it's all in how you ask. I'm dying to know what morrus is going to do with the money. I know he'll pay of cyberstreet and pay some in advance and I imagine there's a very very good chance of some sort of server upgrade, but other than that I don't know.

Knowing him, he'll probably find it hard to use any of it for anything besides something directly related to the site, but I'd love it if he did take the missus out for a nice date and maybe a weekend trip. He's put a lot of effort into this site; I think he deserves it.

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?

What gets my spirit down is watching what was given with pure heart and out of a sense of community (unlike no other place I've ever seen) turn into a sense of accountability. That somehow now Morrus is responsible to us who gave him money, simply because we gave a lot of it. That's a fine distinction, but words like accountability and assurances imply a completely different relationship than friendship or comradery. They're the words people use when investing or when making business arraignments.

This is what brings my sprits down.

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

I'm not upset, just wanted bring up what I think are important distinctions to keep in mind. I think it's important to ask questions, but more as a "Heya, what are you going to do?" type rather than, "what assurances do we have now that we've given you some of our money."

joe b.

 

[Dimwhit]

First, let's remember that if 16k was raised, it can't all go to Morrus. Expeditious Retreat has to pay fees and possibly taxes on it.

Also, Morrus already mentioned many things he's planning to do. EN World has been in debt for a while. Not only the $1600 for hosting, but they had old shipping costs to deal with and other things, all of which Morrus said would be paid off. Plus he said he'd be buying a new server as well.

I think that out of the money he'll actually get, paying off debt, getting a new server, and paying a few months ahead for hosting will probably be close to it. And I think that 's great! Morrus shouldn't have to be burdened with debt becaues of EN World. Remember, our donations were to bail out the website, and we did. Morrus' track record (as well as those helping him out) are good enough for me. I'll trust he does what needs doing.

Now if he went and blew all the money on a horse that didn't even finish the race rather than taking care of things...well, I suppose we could get ticked then. But I'm not worried about that.

So let's relax and be happy that our favorite website is sticking around for a while!

 

[EricNoah]

Ok, folks, let's try to remember what makes this a great community -- the way we treat each other. Don't assume the worst simply because the question doesn't make sense to you.

 

[Cold Beer]

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.

Thanks Vas. This is what i'm talking about. Even charities have to report their accounting....

What's the buisness plan for Enworld.org?

 

[Morrus]

There won't be any quick decisions made, folks. I'm going to do some careful thinking, I'm going to talk to people and get recommendations and advice.

All I know for absolute certain is that $2000 will go immediately to Cyberstreet and that ENnies debts will be paid off.

Options include but are not limited to advance payment of hosting and a server upgrade. I don't have a clue how much the server would cost yet (I've had various people tell me it would cost differing amounts between $1000 and $5000, so some careful investigation is needed).

Asking questions is cool, but let's try and do it in a way which doesn't sour the mood which has been prevalent here over the last day or so. Let's let people feel elated and triumphant for a little while, eh?

 

[just__al]

Accountability, Schmaccountability. I donated money to give back to a community who's members have given me sage advice about DM'ing my campaign, facinating story hours and a reminder that gaming isn't just for geeks its for everybody. If you didn't want to help keep this community alive, why did you donate?

I should have become a community supporter a long time ago, this crisis was just a nice little reminder. Hell I give 25 bucks a year to livejournal and that site is just a collosal waste of time. This site is a resource and has seriously improved the quality of my gaming and the people I game with.

Thank you Morris and all the members of this community who collectively conspire to decrease my non-gaming productivity.

 

[jgbrowning]

nevermind


joe b.

 

[Mark]

nevermind


joe b.

ditto

 

[Cold Beer]

nevermind


joe b.

*disarms flamethrower*