***** Happy with your sale? Want to contribute? *****

[Brian]

Thank you Stephen, always been a strong supporter since the beginning.
Add another 2 to the list. And although I don't like to mention names, and he will probably have asked me not to..I have to mention a generous contribution (again) from Rayhan which takes the pressure off for a while along with the other support received from others. Thank you guys....for showing me this place means something out there.

[lonely panet]

whats the count now??

[Brian]

Another 2 to the list Hamish, with 2 promising donations in the near future. So 13 with 2 probables.
Thanks all.

[lonely panet]

Come on guys. Without this forum.

 

No free translations of swords, photos, sayagaki, sake cups, papers or Guido's some what odd German jokes.

 

With out the NMB, you wouldn't get the chance to travel to Japan every DTI and meet people, dealers and great people at kantei's, diners, boat trips and general advice

 

And I did say I'll double my original donation if we get 15 donations in 7 days

[Guido]

Guido's some what odd German jokes

Herr Hamfisch, efferybody knovs zat zee Germans haf no humor!

[Brian]

Hamish, you can add 2 more donations to the list. Hesitant to name everyone as some don't want that, but the list is available if necessary for verification. Thank you all.

[DaveT]

Donation sent, thank you for hosting the board.

[lonely panet]

Banzai  or yatta

[Brian]

Thanks guys, another 2 plus Hamish's promised bonus. You guys rock! Sorry if I haven't gotten back to everyone personally. I do try.

[DaveT]

I ran the Samurai Armour Forum for a number of years and paid for the hosting. I know what this is like when the bills hit and you are low on cash believe me. I always felt that the forum should be hosted for free, but we had a number of members step forward and fund it which took the pressure off.

I used to think about ways to raise the cash, I don't think donations from sales is the way forward as there are many alternative outlets now that are free.
A yearly Fundraiser maybe would be good with a target and list of contributors, there is no shame in asking members to help reach the target.

 

Maybe a yearly small "usage" fee for dealers, armour and sword societies that promote themselves here? They attract members that pay subscriptions after all.
 

[Brian]

Not a cent in over a month or 2. C'mon guys...why must we rely on the same guys time and time again to cover for everyone?
After losing our biggest benefactor recently, things are not getting easier. Sellers, I know times are tough but why do we get more donations from guys not buying or selling anything than we do from the people doing decent sales?

[vajo]

What should i do without that forum? So i sent a little amount to support your work Brian. Thanks for it.

[DaveT]

Brian, please may I ask a simple question.

What is the total cost for operating the forum on a yearly basis?

[Brian]

David,
To be honest (and I know it sounds evasive) but I haven't worked out a total before. Domain names, hosting, security software, forum software all have different renewal dates, and I just tend to pay bills as they come along. Then I need to decide do I cover any of my own fiber costs or is that just part of having the net? That alone is $100 a month. The hosting I am hoping to upgrade to that will take the pressure off space and resources would be about $80/month just for hosting, but it would be vastly superior to what we have now. I

[DaveT]

Personally, I don't think your own home cost apply as it's your personal internet, when I donated it was towards the forum, not Netflix. But the additional costs of maintaining the forum could be covered by the membership. I know that what I said before fell upon deft ears but I will make my point again.
When you have the total expenditure run a yearly fundraiser with a target, the members can see what the target is and how much it and the status. The fund thread can be seen and regularly updated rather than get hidden as this one does. As for selling, there are many places to sell items from Instagram to Facebook so this forum is more inclined to be a social platform and that's why the ones that use it socially are probably the funders. You could provide some of the societies/show shows with some allocated space and ask for a yearly fee to represent, promote and host them. We also have some members with very deep pockets, I guess some are just stingy, pity.

Just my 2 cents. 

[Brian]

David,
We have had fundraisers before, and they worked out well. But those involved raffles and prizes, and are banned by Paypal. Just asking for donations to reach a goal leads to the same people funding the forum as always, and others never doing anything. There are other ways to raise funds..increased benefits and features, but those all involve better hosting and I am certainly not committing to $150 a month expenses unless I know they are not going to bankrupt me.
The main focus is to upgrade the hosting. We have no choice with the resources, space and features we offer. You know how many hundred thousand attachments we have? If we don't do something we are going to implode.
I agree that internet costs are my expense. Of course I didn't really want to go from $30/month adsl to $100/month fiber, but have you tried to run a forum and backups etc while on 4kb/sec adsl? Try it, I dare you I already spend over 2 hours a day here...don't really want to take that to 4+

Plans are to offer dealers their own showcased sections that they will have control over for a small monthly fee. A shoshin oshigata/mei gallery, unlimited pm space, and some small paid for banner advertising. To get Japanese dealers more involved. Maybe a small auction section. All of this will come with upgraded hosting.

As it is, I have had 4 small donations and I will try and send them personal thanks today. Of course it is mostly the usual contributors.
I noted your points last time, as I do with all suggestions. We will run a fundraiser in some form towards the end of the year. As always, time is a limiting factor.

 

[DaveT]

I know your pain, I ran the samurai armour forum with Justin for years. You are better off with a server to server back up and the hosting companies should provide that.

 

Maybe sales and events should have a listing fee, something small. We tried to get banner ads, most dont want to pay for them. Same with dealer areas, I'd be surprised if any came forward.

 

The reality is that your community is divided between gleamers and people that love the subject. That is clearly reflected by who's funding the forum and who's not.

[Stephen]

Time to remind members if your have great sales donations are greatly appreciated. Its what keeps the place going. Not to forget Brian's countless dedication and hours spent.

[Stephen]

What he said last year.
Record number of sales going on of late.
Hope its not just the same reg ppl who are donating all the time. Much appreciated guys. Hope other's step up.

[Brian]

Just a friendly bump. The gold member thing is just about covering hosting. But we didn't cover the recent upgrade costs, and neither the other occasional costs like software license renewal, domains etc.
So if you are so inclined, the store section above has a donation process that is easy, or the donate link under Nihonto Links has a credit card method.
Or sign up as a gold member using subscriptions in the store. Lots of useful small benefits to that.
No pressure, just a reminder if people are inclined. Huge thanks to those that do support us.

[Sunny]

On 11/29/2016 at 10:22 PM, Brian said:

This is NOT a sneaky way of  appealing for donations (although they don't hurt   )
I do want to mention that Paypal has a new way of sending money that is much easier now, and I have signed up an easy link for anyone who wants to contribute or send anything.
it is just http://www.paypal.me/japaneseswords and if you like, you can add a value after that, such as http://www.paypal.me/japaneseswords/100 or whatever, and you can change the currency and value on that page too.
I updated the link above in the donation section. For those who accept Paypal, you can register your own link at www.paypal.me. I find it quite convenient, and just wanted to mention it, as it is easier than logging in to Paypal and going through the whole payment process.
 

I just sent you a donation from my sale .... I know it's not much but hopefully I shall be able to contribute more soon.

Thanks again 

[Brian]

Steve,
Trust me, it all adds up more than you realize. Thanks so much, and all the best!

- B -

[Brian]

Lots of sales lately....I am starting to become aware of how much "behind the scenes" trades and sales happen too. Hundreds of messages and comms daily.
Good to know...the market is active.
So just a liiiitttlllleeee bump

[nickm]

Heard and donation happily sent. Thank you for providing the platform for this amazing service

[Brian]

Phillip, received with thanks. Really appreciate each and every supporter, and glad we can make a difference.

[FZ1]

I haven't made any sales, but advice received since joining has saved me from buying "unwisely", so I've sent a couple of quid out of the money I would have wasted! 

 

[MarcoUdin]

My auto renewal notified me last week for membership, hopefully people have been keeping up with that too.

[Brian]

I HATE to do these reminders. I really do. But with 2 recent donations, and over 40 decent sales recently, I feel like I can maybe just give a polite nudge?

[FZ1]

Just waiting for UPS to actually deliver my package to confirm a happy customer and my next donation will be on the way Brian  (over a week so far from UK to France  and STILL "awaiting clearance")

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

 

[Brian]

Thanks Jon! It's a small but dedicated group of the same guys that keeps us going