Contributions to the forum

[Morph]

Hi guys

This forum was originally started by Demon quite a few years ago and he has pretty much supported the running costs on his own since then. There have been times when companies have made donations but these were few and far between. The forum was hosted locally but due to rising costs was moved offshore. This worked perfectly for a couple of years but finally resulted in a number of issues with performance and access which drove us to make a decision to move it local again

Dark Helmet was tasked at moving the forum local, using his vast knowledge, expertise and contacts and finally it is back on SA territory, much faster upgraded and available to all. Well done DH

However this has created a dilema. We now have the higher SA costs to contend with. DH is carrying majority of the costs himself for the moment.

The admins got together and started throwing ideas around such as charging for private and commercial ads, once off registration fees to training schools and the general consensus was NO, we will not charge for the services of the forum.

As admins the general consensus was that we personally would happily contribute monthly to the forum, but this will not be enough.

So what we decided was to open this up to our members. We have a pot, managed by the admins. We would like to ask for donations, from members and other interested parties. All donations will be paid into the pot and the forum will be managed from there. Once the pot starts emptying, the hat will come off once again. We have a sizable donation from Misasa already

What do you guys think?

Added by Demon.....accoutn details are as follows:
ACCOUNT NAME MICROLIGHTERS FORUM
BANK ABSA
ACCOUNT NO 9203583195
BRANCH 632005

[grostek]

Excellent idea,

Count me in.

Gunter Rostek.

[DarkHelmet]

Has anyone noticed the url lately?

www.microlighters.co.za is alive again - microflying redirects you here!

[gertcoetzee]

I am sure most on here have no problems with contributing to the forum. What is running costs per month? Bank details?

[Carel]

I shall contribute, please make avaialble banking details.

Carel

[DarkHelmet]

For purposes of clarity - it is running on a server I have in Cape Town. My company gets invoiced monthly for the server and the bandwidth used. Our current rate is R0.14 per MegaByte served - before I started hosting microlighters I was paying R0.19 per month - all my customers score thus

I contribute my hosting fees outright as my donation to the site - no hosting charges to host the site. We have no size limit - just a question of drivespace. It gets backed up daily, sits in a UPS/Generator server centre and I do the odd manual backup myself as well.

So, I am thinking, I monthly invoice for the fees (at cost) and post the invoice here, including a statement of the account - preferably a company with a VAT no so we don't get screwt by gvmt. I do not want to get involved in running the funds, I will present the costs that I incur and another person effects the settlement of the account.

My company also has debit order facilities.

[RV4ker (RIP)]

Am in. Bank details.

PS
Just a thought. many register and then dissapear. Doubt the R15 a year will cover it, but I happy to do monthly contribution as well. Not on that 1 or 2 oukes carry the PUB...

[andreb]

Each time I log onto the site I get new sessions opening advertising some casino or another. I thought this was how we paid for the site. Obviously not.....suppose I shoudl call our helpdesk at work.

I will be happy to contribute. Just pass on the bank details.

[The Agent]

Lets have the bank details and please R50.00 min cotrabution guys.

When you need answers you are quick to ask on the net so what will R50.00 bucks be, naada.

I think it's running well and very fast I must say.

A job very well done.

[Tracer]

agree with Agent....

[Grumpy]

Hi guys compliments on a job VERY well done. I'm addicted to this forum and gain valuble knowledge from it. Nevermind the contacts, advertising space and all the other benefits we get from it for mahala.
I will gladly contribute but think it will be difficult trying to get a monthly bit from guys, nevermind the admin etc. Also a new member will not know what value you get from the forum so will probably not be to keen to donate initially.
How do you feel about a sponsor? Maybe a company who is in the business of supplying to or manufacturing of Microlights or even an outsider like Vodacom, Mtn, Etc. I'm sure a banner 'clickover' ad for them in the blue page heading would suffice. (Imagine a direct link to a parts supplier for eg.) There is a lot of BIG money available for the right idea.

[Griffin]

I am more than happy to contribute. It will be more than R15 if we look at the active members. My guess is that more than half the registered members have zero posts.

A few ideas:
A competition. Buy a R/C helicopter and raffle it (E-Sky King 2 is about Rk2.)
A breakfast fly-in with proceedings going to Microlighters.
A request that members selling an item through the forum make a small donation.
A tax on the Ducks posts

[Tailspin]

A few ideas:
.
A tax on the Ducks posts

Problem is Duckie falls under the OLD AGE section so we need to give the old man a discount due to his "BC" age group

[Morph]

Thanks a lot guys. As far as monthly payments go DH can set this up as a debit order or you can, on internet banking or going to your branch.

Next is the bank account. We need to find the cheapest way of setting this up. No need in paying unnecessary bank fees

[Tracer]

I like the fly-in idea (although I will be driving in ), with proceeds of donations/contributions going to the forum...