How can we sponsor Apolyton without buying something from the store?

DeepO · July 31, 2002, 07:23

This may be very well known information, but just not to me... I was wondering if there are other possibilities to support Apolyton then the store. I'd don't like to buy merchandise -- even if I think many of the Apolyton things are cool -- and never do it for any 'good cause'.

So, two questions:
1. How does the banner adds work? Does Apolyton receives money whenever we see them, and is it a pure pageview thing? Or, is it a 'click the banner' thing, and would Apolyton gain something if I was to click one banner once each day that I visit? Or do we actually have to buy something on Amazon, Chips&Bits, etc ?

2. Is there some Paypal or other account were we can send money to, as much as we want (Don't expect miracles

), and totally free? E.g. I feel like donating $5 right now, but I don't want to spend $30 on the store so that Apolyton receives those $5.

I've briefly looked around the web site, but couldn't find any information on this...

DeepO

aaglo · July 31, 2002, 07:27

"donate money to apolyton?"

Does apolyton pay taxes?

DeepO · July 31, 2002, 07:34

erhh... I don't understand. They surely will have bills running the site, internet access is not free. I don't care if they pay taxes or not, I was not hoping to give money to some government, mine is already asking too much.

DeepO

spartak · July 31, 2002, 07:43

I wouldn't worry.

aaglo · July 31, 2002, 07:55

They will suck your wallet through the cable... beware.

DeepO · July 31, 2002, 07:58

Quote:

Originally posted by aaglo
They will suck your wallet through the cable... beware.

Why did you think I was asking for some independent service, like Paypal

(unless, of course, Paypal is already Apolytonized as well)

DeepO

Zealot · July 31, 2002, 08:03

IIRC the banners only give money if you click AND buy something.
The popups give money just for being seen, so if you want to "donate" anything, switch to the ultra-special view and let Apolyton opened for at least 12 hours everyday, since only one popup window appear every 6 hours.

rah · July 31, 2002, 09:15

Maybe the store could sell certificates of sponsership. (or any vague named item) where no product is shipped and (except for a small processing fee) the balance could go straight to Apolyton. There could probably be thread in the Community forum that lists people that have purchased them. (not mentioning the amount of course) I would have done that. But bought a shirt instead. I doubt the site made much of a profit on the shirt.

But, it was the only available way to support the site, without volunteering time that is.

Rich

DeepO · July 31, 2002, 09:43

Rah and Zealot, thanks for the replies, but don't you agree that it would be quite easy to set up a Paypal account for those loose money tranfers? I've seen it happen at www.b3ta.com when they didn't receive enough income from banners anymore to keep the site online. They gathered some $4000 IIRC...

DeepO

rah · July 31, 2002, 09:48

Yes, it probably wouldn't be hard. And I really do think quite a few people here would do it. (not counting the poor students who are better served spending their spare change on beer and women)

Rich

Skanky Burns · July 31, 2002, 09:50

I spent $45.00 au on the frosted mug to support Apolyton. I was banned the next day.

Harovan · July 31, 2002, 09:55

Quote:

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
I spent $45.00 au on the frosted mug to support Apolyton. I was banned the next day.

May be there should be a new "sign of sponsorship", like a little medal, worn below the country flag, to prevent the mods from banning/PCRing the "wrong" people?

Skanky Burns · July 31, 2002, 10:24

Well, the order was still being processed, so I wasn't on the "safety" list yet when I decided to... complain about someone else being banned...

If only I waited an extra day.

Robert Plomp · July 31, 2002, 10:59

Of course I could use the HTML-loophole to put "I bought a t-shirt from the store and still got banned for 10 days" in the flag-field

Skanky Burns · July 31, 2002, 12:24

Of course, by doing that you would have to edit it to read 20 days...

/me shakes head at silly mod.

DeepO · July 31, 2002, 12:38

Actually, if I was to make a donation, I do not want to get any advantages, and certainly I wouldn't want to be placed on a safety list. That would sound like you're only supporting the forum in order to have more credit when misbehaving, which would totally corrupt the feeling of being here. People can pay, and all their sins are forgivven... argghhhh!

That would mean Mingapulco turning into a banana state

DeepO

The Pioneer · July 31, 2002, 12:52

That's a great idea DeepO, I'd chip a little too if Apolyton could arrange that. I wouldn't really care if I was named in a list, I actually rather not be listed. I wouldn't want any special treatement either since I am always behaving myself

.

Thanks for the advise Zealot, i did not know that I supported Apolyton by being on all the time, I am on most of the time at work so I am already chipping in my 2 cents I guess

Zealot · July 31, 2002, 12:52

Quote:

Originally posted by DeepO
That would mean Mingapulco turning into a banana state

DeepO

Er... uhh... nevermind!

MarkG · July 31, 2002, 13:58

Quote:

Originally posted by DeepO
1. How does the banner adds work?

normal(468x60 non-popup) banners pay based on actual purchases made through them. for example if you click on an amazon banner and make a purchase from them in the next 24 hours, apolyton gets a percentage

pop-up banners pay based on just being viewed

Quote:

2. Is there some Paypal or other account were we can send money to

we dont have any way to accept donation. thank you very very very much for the thought but we're not fond of the idea...

DeepO · July 31, 2002, 14:35

Quote:

Originally posted by MarkG
we dont have any way to accept donation. thank you very very very much for the thought but we're not fond of the idea...

In this case, I hope you don't mind that I just continue viewing banners... If I ever feel the need to buy something from Amazon, I'll think about clicking from within Apolyton.

DeepO

The Pioneer · August 1, 2002, 07:46

No problem Marko! I will click on Amazon when I am buying and I am looking at the banners no problem.

Skanky Burns · August 1, 2002, 08:19

Quote:

we're not fond of the idea...

Why? It seems like a win-win situation to me.

Robert Plomp · August 1, 2002, 08:22

I think it will give the mods ethical problems like "Can I ban someone who donated $25 to apolyton" and all that.

Besides that do they run the rist that groups of donators will claim ownership of Apolyton.
Not that every one who donates will do that, but it will come with problems for sure.

DeepO · August 1, 2002, 11:27

Cybershy, that shouldn't be a problem, a simple disclaimer would suffice (e.g. 'By donating money to us, you do not get any priviliges on our site'). Besides, Paypal is anonymous, it would require a bit of backtracking before my Paypal account would be linked to my nick... I don't use the same e-mail address.

I suspect it is more of a problem of having to pay for their services, Paypal is not free, and in order to be able to receive enough donations, they would need a professional account (Meaning a dedicated bank account for Apolyton, if they haven't got one already). But still, I can't see the risk, I'm sure that more people will use it than that they will need to pay for it.

But hey, it's Dan's and Markos' choice, if they don't want my money, fine by me

DeepO

DeepO · August 1, 2002, 11:29

Besides, maybe Apolyton could use the extra cash for a server upgrade, the past few days I've received tons of 'the server is currently busy' messages, or 'the maximum number of users has been reached' messages... I got another one just posting the last post.

DeepO

MarkG · August 1, 2002, 15:19

Quote:

Originally posted by DeepO
In this case, I hope you don't mind that I just continue viewing banners... If I ever feel the need to buy something from Amazon, I'll think about clicking from within Apolyton.

thank you DeepO, no problem at all!

MarkG · August 1, 2002, 15:22

Quote:

Originally posted by Skanky Burns

Quote:

we're not fond of the idea...

Why? It seems like a win-win situation to me.

the idea that some people are giving money for something that others are geting for no money, is creating the same mess in our heads as forcing a computer to divide a number with zero

Colon™ · August 1, 2002, 16:18

Quote:

Originally posted by MarkG
the idea that some people are giving money for something that others are geting for no money, is creating the same mess in our heads as forcing a computer to divide a number with zero

How so? It's not like you'd be forcing anyone to donate some cash.

tniem · August 1, 2002, 20:00

Quote:

Originally posted by Colon

How so? It's not like you'd be forcing anyone to donate some cash.

Because someone then raises hell when they get a PCR and complains they just gave a bunch of money. People see it as a way to buy there way out of trouble. I could see it being a big problem.

tniem · August 1, 2002, 20:03

If they want to do something like the donation system that might work and actually be good for site, they should set up a thing where you pay so that you do not have to see ads. I know Slashdot went to something like that. Have it something really reasonable. Like 10000 site page impressions for $5 or whatever you think the popups generate for you. Make it totally optional. I think you could do something like that and generate some revenue. I would do it.