We need your help.

Well... I was hoping it wouldn't come to this... but it has.

The ATS discussion board is growing in leaps and bounds... and thus the increased cost of hosting and technology updates.

We would greatly appreciate any donations from members who can afford to pass along a few bucks. Anything you donate will go into a pool dedicated for the costs of hosting, software, and upgrades.

Some of the near term costs are an increase in our monthly hosting due to some recently ordered server upgrades (RAM, HD, management software), software purchases (for our upcoming e-mail newsletter), and possibly paying an experienced professional to spend some time with our server to fine-tune performance.

Use the new donate button on the discussion board home page. And don't forget the main donate button on the ATS home page. Those funds go directly to Simon and his important efforts of researching and tracking down new content for the main site... an effort just as important (if not more so) than this discussion forum.

In the future, as we establish a history of solid traffic, we will likely move to non-intrusive advertising as a means of support. (Don't worry, I won't let this place degrade into a mess of pop-ups... no pop-ups... no spam... no flash ads... no ads with sound... and advertisers must provide contributions to the community like prizes and other premiums)

Even if you can't contribute, thanks for helping to make ATS the great place it is, and keep on keeping on!




[Edited on 27-6-2003 by William]

I will be glad to contribute. Please provide information on how to do so.

There's a new PayPal donate button on the discussion board home page.

Do we have a way for setting up a P.O. Box or other address in which to mail money orders, for those of us that a. Don't have credit cards and b. Don't use pay pal.

(Sorry just asking, my boss just had his credit card number stolen off line, $7,000 was charged to it, he didn't have to pay it but it was a pain to fix)
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Be Cool
K_OS

hmm...I do have Simon's address and other info, but I'm not sure if I can just post is here.
I think it's best to send Simon a u2u...

In reality, onlie credit card fraud is rare, and hard to do... it's just that when it does happen, it gets publicity.

Just think about it... online transactions don't touch human hands (unless a cheesy site doesn't make the right security, PayPal's processing security is very tight)... however, just think about who you hand your credit card to in stores, or even worse, through telephone orders.

A bit short on cash at the moment William but as soon as I'm earning again I would be glad to help.

Really... only help if you can. I really don't want anyone searching for money to donate... I would much rather people take care of their own needs first.

William. I just applied for a Paypal account, but you have to go through this weird deal where they steal 1.95 from your credit card, and then you have to wait until that transaction shows up on your cc statement and there will be a 4 digit member number on that line item.

SOOOO...I'll check my online statement every once in a while and when I get my magic number, I guess I'll be able to complete it.

I had a paypal a long time ago, and I don't remember it being this convoluted...maybe this is part of their increased security.

William,...

I'm broke and out of a job so i can't help ya out with cash... maybe i can donate some of my linux admin expertise... if so let me know...

Now i don't want to scare you or something... but eh... take a look at these articles on pay pal....

Story #1
Story #2
Story #3
Story #4
Story #5

Seems to me that we don't want to use these services if only for the protection of our (ATS members) personal data and to prevent abuse thereof.

But that's my opinion.

A solution would be a donation to a bank account.

If ya need some help from a sysadmin... let me know... i might be able to help... performance monitoring and tuning is one of the most dificult things to do well... so finding someone on the board that has experience in that area might be tough... i'd be willing to give it a shot.. let me know what kind of help ya need. U2u me or mail me if ya want my CV... or if ya want to let me know what kind of help ya need.

Well, this is kind of scary and then there IS the jack-booted Fed guy thingy too.

If I could be so bold as to suggest a solution:

If you could go get a PO box just for this very thing. Then that would help us.

Regards.

I really Dont like Using credit cards for stuff like this. If there was an address where I could send a money order that would be awesome.

Originally posted by MrFreeze
Seems to me that we don't want to use these services if only for the protection of our (ATS members) personal data and to prevent abuse thereof.

Well... those articles have nothing to do with PayPal technology/security, and everything to do with scammers targeting gullible people.

Jack-booted fed guy? Huh?

Yes, my reference was to the fact that there ARE some people on here who tend to be a little paranoid of Government agencies tracking them down...

and after that thing with the guy in Rachel, I can see their point. I'll probably go ahead with my PayPal when I get my magic number, but I think it would be nice if you could set it up to where this could be handled as close to anonimous as possible.

My reason for asking is that (believe it or not) I do not have a single credit card.

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Be Cool
K_OS

Originally posted by Valhall
but I think it would be nice if you could set it up to where this could be handled as close to anonimous as possible.

Using a third-party merchant system like PayPal is actually that. It's possible to send donations without me ever knowing who sent it.

Neither do I, it is not as commen as in the US to have a credit card in Europe (I think).
My annual donation will be sended shortly. (in two weeks when my salary is in, I'm pretty low on cash at the mo' )

Originally posted by K_OS
My reason for asking is that (believe it or not) I do not have a single credit card.

That's fine... then don't donate!

Really... you're already donating your time as a moderator.

Just a quick note, those who have made donations in the past to my snail-mail address, this is not where to send donations for the technical improvements.

You should contact William via U2U or e-mail if you wish to make a non-credit card donation.

Yeah.. I suppose I could have made that clear...

However... I don't want anyone scraping together pennies to stuff in an envelope either! And when we don't need any help with technology costs, I'll take the donate button off the forum.

If you have a credit card, and feel like helping out... wonderful. If you don't have a credit card or PayPal acount, no sweat... just keep coming here and posting.


By the way... Simon... I'm very concerned about the combination of your "lonely" mood and choice of avatar... um... everything ok?

[Edited on 27-6-2003 by William]