Feldgrau.net

Fellow Feldgrauians!

I've been using this excellent Forum for more than a year now and have subsequently spent many, many hours logged in. This is truly a great Website and Forum that Mr. Jason Pipes provides for well over 8.200 registrated members that have posted well over 128.000 posts and replies. It makes me very concerned when Jason writes that...

I need at least $200 a month currently. That cost allows us unlimited server space, up to 256k of bandwidth usage per second measured as an average per month, a full featured unlimited php database, unix shell access, direct server support, custom reboots when problems occur, and all hosted on a dedicated server. I've been over the discussion here before regarding cost as some people simply don't understand how it could cost so much to host a site, but sadly that isn't open for discussion. I've been hosted on our current server for over 4 years and have become firmly entrenched on it, moving would be a nightmare in addition to the fact that what we are paying for is NOT expensive considering what we are getting. Trust me, I've done my homework.

That being said if we can get 20 people to donate $10 a month, or 40 people to donate $5 a month, or 100 people to donate $2 a month we would be in great shape. Right now we have about 5-6 people donating $10.

http://www.feldgrau.net/phpBB2/viewtopi ... 7&start=30


$200 a month for maintaining Feldgrau as a top-notch WWII Website... Why is that even a problem? Personally, I'm more that willing to start donating $5 - $10 per month. For me, it's worth it! I will contact Jason to see how this is done most expediently...

COME ON, FELDGRAUIANS


With best regards,

Krollspell

Maybe he should make a "sticky" thread about how one can donate, remember the members regularly and most importantly how much is still needed every month?
(Or maybe a "paymaster" can take over those duties?)

I surely would appreciate that and pay my due...

Thanks for the comments so far! I have implemented a much nicer system to allow you to subscribe to Feldgrau via the following link. It provides a complete list of how many people are subscribed, what the current subscription rate is, who is subscribed, when it was last updated, etc, along with a direct link to make the subscription.

Subscribe!

Remember, Feldgrau is and will always remain free, but those that can afford to help keep it online are asked to step forward and help make a donation on a monthly basis using this new system.

To sweeten the pot even more I am going to provide ongoing subscribers with free gifts, a drawing, special discount rates at online book stores, and much more!

free gifts and drawings.... what's the drawing of?

Fellow Feldgrauians!

I have finally started my new life as a subscriber of this greatest of Websites/Forums! And you know what, it doesn't hurt at all...

So everyone... C'mon and contribute to give Jason the means to keep Feldgrau at the highest of levels I would really hate to see Feldgrau loose quality/disappear because of monetary reasons...


With many more hours of reading and posting to do...

Krollspell

Hi guys,

I need some help with this Paypal thing.
I tried to register in order to be able to make a monthly contribution but I got stuck.
Paypal asks for a creditcardnumber. But I don't have a creditcard. The cards that come with my bankaccounts are usable to make payments in shops and services (all over the EU) and get money from a machine (Worldwide). They suit my needs perfectly because I can pay for whatever I want, wherever I want. Except on the internet because it isn't a "real" creditcard.
Is there another way to get around this obstacle to making a contribution because frankly I'm not willing to subscribe to a creditcard company just for one single $5,- payment a month.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Paul

In the US, they call that a debit card. These debit cards have the same number system as a normal credit card and can be used in any way a real credit card can be used, both online and at a store. The only difference is the funds come from your bank account directly and are not credited to you and billed later as with a credit card. Not knowing how your card is set up, maybe it's similar? Have you tried using it online?

Hi Jason,

There is a difference between the US system and the EU system of cards. So the debitcards here don't allow all the functions of a creditcard. I contacted both banks I have accounts with and one of them offers a creditcard which I'll apply for this week. (Sod the ideal of never living on credit )
This got me thinking about the whole payment business and I did a little (Google)research on it. In the EU it is well known that in the US most payments are done by creditcards. This practice is not so common in Europe although the number of Europeans with a creditcard is steadily growing.
The US Treasury Department site claims that in the US there are about 12.7 creditcards for every US household while the Dutch National Bank states that about 60% of Dutch households have a creditcard at their disposal. Quite a difference. Besides that the cards aren't as easily obtainable. Usually they want someone to earn a certain amount of money a month in order to be able to get one or have a steady job while many people work for employment agencies (if thats what they're called in English) and therefore they won't be able to get one. I think that a creditcard may be out of reach for many people on this side of the pond.
I guess that more Europeans will run into this problem when they want to make a contribution so I wonder if it would be wise for you to allow for a different way to make payments. For instance by having a special account that people could make a monthly automatic transaction to?

Paul

Maybe there could be really an easier solution for us backward Euros?

How about that:

http://www.moneybookers.com/app/

We could upload money from our bank account and send it to Jason's email....

I didn't have a problem. I'm donating each month through Paypal and I am a European. You have to open a Paypal account, which does not take long, and then you follow the directions Jason provided via the link to set up Paypal's equivalent of a bank standing order.

PK

in one or 2 years time, when I seriously have some money, instead of begging my parents for money to buy war books, models, toyes, etc, I will donate through Paypal, rest assured. This is one of the best history forums i have seen, help it guys!

If I am not mistaken, though I usually am, the $5 was a donation that did not have to be every month. That is why it was decided to be $5. Jason knows that some of the members do not have a healthy income and maybe $5 is all they could afford for the year. Maybe $5 every 6 months. It is a donation that most if not all members can make. (1 wk worth of coffees)

Something to think about. If every member makes at least 1x $5 donation the costs for the site could be maintained.

All Feldgrauians!

The Feldgrau Subscriber thermometer is up at 50%
Now it's just some 20 more Subscribers to go for the Goal...

This is a great Website/Forum with many frequent members/posters
so don't hesitate to help Jason keeping it up. All contributions counts!


You can do it!

Krollspell

Thanks for the mention!! It's GREAT news that we are up to 50% of the goal, a HUGE thanks goes out to the folks listed that have gone out of their way to donate $5 a month to help support the site.

In addition, Feldgrau has just brought on a major new sponsor, Brown Reference Group, publishers of the new WWII German history magazine called German War Machine. The first issue will be out in Sept. Contact them via the links now available all over Feldgrau and let them know you learned about their magazine here! The success of their magazine will be a great success for Feldgrau as well.

Paulus II wrote:Hi guys,

I need some help with this Paypal thing.
I tried to register in order to be able to make a monthly contribution but I got stuck.
Paypal asks for a creditcardnumber. But I don't have a creditcard. The cards that come with my bankaccounts are usable to make payments in shops and services (all over the EU) and get money from a machine (Worldwide). They suit my needs perfectly because I can pay for whatever I want, wherever I want. Except on the internet because it isn't a "real" creditcard.
Is there another way to get around this obstacle to making a contribution because frankly I'm not willing to subscribe to a creditcard company just for one single $5,- payment a month.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Paul

Hi Paulus II! I subscribe and it doesn't hurt. I seriously can't believe anybody couldn't afford $5 a month, that's $1.16 per week - come on! I also don't have a credit card, I have a Visa debit card, and I use it for heaps of overseas payments, mostly through pay-pal for ebay, but also for subscriptions to magazines, dvd purchases etc. Surely they have debit cards in Europe? Check it out mate, I can't believe that visa and the other big credit card companies don't make this service available in Europe!

Troy