You may be aware that I have added a facility to enable donations to be made online by credit or debit card to cover the running costs of this board. Up until now I have financed all the costs including advertising but my finances are overstretched now and I can't continue to finance this site on my own. It would be a pity to close the board just when it seems to be developing a keen following.

Most websites that are "free" to the internet community are actually loaded with advertising which makes loading the site a chore and, in the case of messageboards, inhibits freedom of speech. If you're an ex BBC poster then you know what I'm talking about. So, as far as the future of this board is concerned, the choices to keep the board open are:
1) to carry advertising (includes affilliate programmes) and slow the site down as well as lose freedom of speech, or
2) to join a partner site who will carry the operating costs and replace our logo and domain name with theirs, or
3) keep our identity and independence by covering the cost from member donations.

Your feedback is needed for us to make a decision.

For those of you who would like us to remain independent, if possible, you probably want some idea of the operating costs.

Total current running costs 2004/5 Feb-Feb:
K100 web server plan: £100 annually; Monthly transfer GB: 5 GB; Disk space: 100 MB; 74 MB used
Chat Room: £56 annually
vBulletin Software Upgrades: £16

Total: £172 annually at current membership levels.

Google Adword £1,689.41 incl VAT
10,231 Clicks to date; Avg CPC £0.14; Cost £1,446.17

K400 web server plan: £180 annually; Monthly transfer GB: 8 GB; Disk space: 400 MB

Comparison between K100 and K400
http://cp.uk.assimilatedservers.net:...oft.hsphere.CP

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Two main issues involve the server and webhost service cost (currently £100 annually on the K100 plan) and the advertising via the Google Ad which many of you have seen. Due to the vagaries of search engine rankings the strategy which gives the best chance for our site to be found by potential members is with the Google ad which appears for the keywords - cricket forum. These ads can be placed on other cricket sites and/or just search engines like Google, AOL and Ask Jeeves. The cost difference escalates enormously if we run the ad on other cricket sites. Approx £1,700 annually (for other cricket sites and google search engine) compared to about £150 annually for the ad to appear only on Google and a couple of other smaller search engines.

Midway through this month I stopped allowing the ad to appear on other cricket sites to reduce the cost burden to myself. Consequently, the traffic to our site has reduced considerably and so has the number of people joining the board. That was to be expected.

Regarding the server costs we are running about to our maximum allowable bandwidth threshold of 5 GB and it will soon be necessary to upgrade to the K400 plan which provides 8 GB of bandwidth per month. This will up the cost to about £180 annually.

If you would like to make a donation to support the forum and keep it open then click the on the top of any page. Unfortunately, Pay Pal has no arrangements with some countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh so members from those countries won't be able to donate at this time. If you don't have a credit card or debit card but have a bank account you can still donate by creating a Pay Pal account so funds can be transferred.

Another question arises about donations and that is: "Should donations be made public on the board along with the name of the donor? Many forums use donations to cover their operating costs and some include various systems to show who has donated and how much. Checkout this idea on the bowlie forum in the What's Going On section where they display the donations on their site: http://www.bowlie.com/forum/ http://gamesxposed.com/

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Administrator

Unfortunately I'm still dependent on other people my self for my financial needs, namely my parents, so even if Pay Pal had arrangements with Pakistan for collection of donations I wouldn't have manage to contribute anything, since I doubt my parents would have been kind enough to make donations on my behalf. I do get pocket money though, but in recent times I've gone completely broke buying My Side and My Life In Pictures. .... BUT..... there is some light at the end of the tunnel....I prmoise to contribute something the day I start earning my self. All you have to do right now Mike is to keep this place running until then! For the record, that might take about a minamum of 5 years He he!

In seriousness, I feel quite indebted really, you do all this just for our sake, that is really so very nice of you. Thanks a lot.

I hope you get a lot of donations. And also that you get help from divine sources. I'll pray for you.

To summarize the amount we need to cover costs:

K400 Plan, Google Ad appearing only on search engine results, Chat Room, and Software upgrades - approx £410 for 2005.

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Administrator

While this sum of money is a fair one for one person, the members collectivly should be able to raise it with ease. I will kick in $10 Aussie monthly and not even notice. My only problem is that the the forum may well end up being funded by the minority. In any case, our independance is paramount. Lose that and the forum could well go to the dogs as many others have on the net. My only question is : i am suspicious of internet transactions. If i wish to remain anonamous for personal and legal reasons, will that anonymity be compramised?
I think the section showing our funding levels should be added. Keep us informed as to the situation please Admin. We should stay independant if possible.

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The thought police are everywhere..............

I am more than happy to make a small monthly contribution, given the hours of entertianment I have had using this forum. I think it's an excellent idea, and I agree with Seamers idea that it would be usful if we could be kept updated of the funding situation.

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Hope is a good thing...maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies...

If the top 30 users chipped in £10 and the next 30 chipped in £5 we'd collect £450 and exceed our target. That simple scenario is already prejudiced by the fact that Pay Pal doesn't have arrangements with some of the countries our members live in. Having said that, one bright member is getting around that by sending me a cheque in the mail. Pay Pal have a privacy policy which you can read. For my part, I will receive a notification with the email address you stated to receive the paypal receipt. That will allow me to email you to verify that paypal have notified me of the transaction. I think it is important that you do have a record that I received your donation. To bypass the online transaction your option is to send me a cheque through the mail, as one member is doing.I've thought long and hard about whether to revise the target down as the donations come through but decided against that because it may encourage members to wait until the target is nearly reached before making a small token donation. My main concern is that the cost burden is shared between as many members as possible. I'm concerned about fairness and that frequent users should bear most of the cost. If I'm satisfied that equity and fairness have been achieved then I'll try and give some donors a credit for 2006 where I feel they have been overly generous if the target is exceeded and there is a surplus. For example, let's say someone donated £200 today. How motivated would other members be to contribute a fair amount? They may donate £5 instead of the £20 they were going to donate before being influenced by the large donation. I don't want to publish donation amounts and donor names because that could instill resentment with members.

If you are a student but also a frequent user then £20 or £10 may be too much. You may not even have a credit or debit card. Better to PM me about your situation so we can work out some compromise.

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Administrator

Hi Seamer.
let me put your mind at rest here, I have a deep rooted mistrust over internet payments and of direct debits.
But I only give my details to trusted sites, like Tesco, Comet, these are large stores, that are houshold names.

This is a trusted sight, I pressed the donate button, and within a minute I had a pay reference from Pay Pal, I had the option to save my details, but I declined, I would prefare to fill the form in again, as I think you would.
Yes it is safe, I dont give my details with ease.

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Ern

Like Zainub, I am also dependent on others.

My ol' man once used his credit card to buy me a $50 soccer (football) shirt. I got the shirt alright...2 months later.....but we also found out this credit card had $400 used on it.

I wouldnt expect this to do the same, but the only site my folks ever make transactions on is huge Supermarket Chains.

Same here

I'll trade ya that football shirt.

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Administrator

Thing is that $10 would only be worth about 3 pound... Oi Pommies... tell you're goverment to put the economy in more debt and then I'll give you all the money you want!

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It's hard enough to remember my opinions, without remembering my reasons for them!
Nietzsche