Appeal to Support EN World!

[underthumb]

I enjoy EN World, and I think it's perfectly reasonable to offer new (for-pay) services and products. However, I'm somewhat uncomfortable with the request for donations in combination with these offers. That is, is EN World a business or a charity? Trying to be both creates dissonance. It shouldn't be necessary to appeal to people's good will if you have goods or services that are valuable. Doing so makes me feel uncomfortable as a potential customer. My suggestion is to focus on one or the other.

 

[Henrix]

However, I'm somewhat uncomfortable with the request for donations in combination with these offers.

I find that to be a very weird argument, really.

Why is it problematic to offer to pay to help support something as well as have a regular payment? One time donations or monthly recurring ones that gives you small perks.

Many non-profit organisations* have such things, and En World won't be making any profit - we hope that it'll be able to pay Morrus for his work.
I have no idea what form of organisation EN World is, or will be, but it won't be a new WotC - at least not for quite a while and quite a few changes.


I don't know how it works, but I suppose that if EN World became a NPO it would be tax exempt in the US, right? (I have really no idea how that works, in particular if it's a british NPO. It just struck me as Escape Artists (the people behind EscapePod, PseudoPod and PodCastle) are undergoing such a change.)

* And non-profit organisations aren't just 'charities'. It's basically a form of company that delivers no profit to it's owners. (But like all companies it may, hopefully, pay those who work for it.)

(My ignorance of US and British law may have muddled this, please excuse me in that case.)

 

[Bold or Stupid]

Well since I seem to spend half my like lurking here, so as soon as my finances have settled (buying a house, aaaargh) I'll be getting a monthly subscription.

 

[Nifft]

I enjoy EN World, and I think it's perfectly reasonable to offer new (for-pay) services and products. However, I'm somewhat uncomfortable with the request for donations in combination with these offers. That is, is EN World a business or a charity? Trying to be both creates dissonance. It shouldn't be necessary to appeal to people's good will if you have goods or services that are valuable. Doing so makes me feel uncomfortable as a potential customer. My suggestion is to focus on one or the other.

Eh, think of it more as an invitation for those who may have a few extra bucks to throw around, and less as a tax write-off (which it isn't, because EN World is not a charity).

Cheers, -- N

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

I've been meaning to re-up for a while, and the $3/month model works well for my budget needs. Thanks again Russ for this site and all you do.

 

[freyar]

Ooof. Any chance you could add a Canadian dollar option to the payments? (If that costs you, don't bother!) Long story short, my bank just made USD purchases a lot less convenient for me, so switching to monthly makes it tougher to re-up (which I was just about to do).

 

[Kirnon_Bhale]

Just couldn't stop myself - especially since I come here daily.

 

[jeffh]

I too come here nearly every day, though according to my stats I only post, on average, about once every three days. So subscribing is the least I can do.

Why did I wait until just now, instead of doing it as soon as I made my previous positive remark about the subscription model? Just to time it so it hits on the first of the month.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Hi Morrus,

Having seen that you've just abolished the year long subscriptions a few days after I bought one, I'd like to change to the monthly payment system. I've only just bought the 3 year subscription, so hopefully this can be sorted out easily.

I'm forwarding back the PayPal receipt to your gmail address and we'll go from there. I'd rather be one of the people giving you a steady income, it seems the best thing to do.

Taking this on as a business is a huge proposition and I wish you all the best for it.

Have you thought about attending UK Conventions (or getting volunteers to do so) with an ENWorld stand, giving info on what the site can do, acting as an easy place for UK D&D players to meet outside of the RPGA, etc? Getting Charles Ryan on board with that kind of thing could help UK D&D a lot. Not sure about the costs but advertising the site in that kind of way could help get more supporters.

thanks,

Matt.

 

[jasonbostwick]

Would it be possible for Community Supporters to have the ability to turn off the newly introduced ads that appear horizontally in between posts in threads?

Fewer ads was the major draw for me to get a CSA, and these in-line ads are far more intrusive than the header and sidebar ads I can disable - frankly I'd take those back if it meant I could disable the in-line ads.