The future of OTF

[Mr Delicieux]

I'd be happy to contribute something.
It wouldn't be a great amount, I'm an overseas subscriber, and still not fully established in my new country of residence so need to take that into account.

[Jobi1]

You know, on that, I note I am being charged ?26.40 for my WSC sub, but a check on the website suggests it should be ?38. I suppose I may have locked into some kind of deal, but I would hate to think I am robbing them.

I've been locked into a sub deal for I think at least 20 years that sees me pay even less than that, which made me feel slightly guilty and is why I was happy to join the WSC Supporters Club when they launched that last year. It all starts to add up, but I'm sure I could find another couple of quid a month to direct towards this.

[Balderdasha]

Just made a one-off donation to WSC. Will happily pay a regular small fee for OTF (2.5-3 pounds per month sounds fine). Prefer no ads, non-mandatory contributions, free at point of access.

[Felicity, I guess so]

I'm in, wherever and however the payments get set up.

Prepared to sell...my hamster (as in an old Mark Steel routine about leftie papers' fighting funds)

[Toby Gymshorts]

Tell me when, where and how much and I'm in.

I can't imagine a world without OTF.

[diggedy derek]

This thread is basically like when the guy who's been organising your five-a-side game for the last five years discloses that there's some players who never coughed up and he's been quietly making up the shortfall without telling anyone

[sw2borshch]

You know, on that, I note I am being charged ?26.40 for my WSC sub, but a check on the website suggests it should be ?38. I suppose I may have locked into some kind of deal, but I would hate to think I am robbing them.

[Levin]

Yeah, this thread has left me feeling massively guilty. I'm going to be making a payment to the current system and WSC anyway as well as actually paying when we come up with a new system.

[sw2borshch]

Put me down for the ?30 a year too. I have just noticed this thread and it's come as a bit of a shock.

I am correct in thinking I shouldn't pay anything yet?

[Hot Pepsi]

Perhaps we need to have an annoying pledge drive interrupting our enjoyment of the board for an hour or so a day, but offer tote bags and mugs to people who pledge enough.

[Antepli Ejderha]

(?30 not an option? ?25 instead?)

This is giving to WSC as I understand it.

The 30 pound figure was just a rough number given as we'd guesstimated costs to be 3k and with 100 members giving 30 pounds that gives us the costs.

All these details to be considered and decided on.

[Guy Profumo]

https://www.onetouchfootball.com/donate/

The donation page link in case anyone is interested.

(?30 not an option? ?25 instead?)

[Sam]

I'm also against the idea of contributing, erm, contributors being visibly marked out in any way. Perhaps steveeeeeeeee's suggestion could be a goer, though.

Another thing that's just occurred to me, again as someone who has a product up on Patreon, and also as someone who, for a couple of blessedly short weeks (because I was awful at it) was a chugger half a lifetime ago, is that recurring payments make it a hell of a lot easier to budget for things. That's why charities always prefer you to give them a small monthly direct debit than a hundred quid when a TV fundraiser comes around. Obviously if people want to donate on a one-off basis as and when they can then they should, and I don't want to discourage anyone from doing so, but what will keep the board online in the long term is Snake (or whomever) knowing that (say) 100 people have paid their ?30 for this year, and unless something unforeseen comes up will be paying another ?30 next year, and so on. I think it's worth pointing that out for those who could go one way or the other.

[Sits]

30 pounds was a default round number derived by dividing the estimated current hosting costs by the number of active users

It is probably a bit high, but then again not all active users will be able to contribute

Just as there should be an option to pay more, there should be an option to pay less.

[Sits]

As for reward, a link to my username on a donators page would do me. It would also motivate me to maintain/not forget my subs.

I'm still uncomfortable with any visible distinction between members. Maybe something sent to donors but not something on the board.

[ursus arctos]

30 pounds was a default round number derived by dividing the estimated current hosting costs by the number of active users

It is probably a bit high, but then again not all active users will be able to contribute

[danielmak]

I know this may be more difficult, but it seems like three payment options could be set up and framed for people: (A) One time payment with a suggested amount (people would choose this option if they have the cash at that time and don't want to mess with monthly payments), (B) One time payment that understands some folks want to help but money is kind of tight and they don't know what their finances will be like going forward, (C) set up a monthly automatic withdrawal from Paypal or some other source (the Blizzard has this option for their print journals, although it is quarterly).

Personally, I would pay a reasonable amount per (A) above so I could be set for the year. I don't need anything special for that, as others have said. The fact that people are genuinely nice on this board, helpful when others have questions, up for conversation is the payout for me personally. I didn't read far enough back to see why 30 pounds per year became the number most used on this page of the thread, but that would be good for me and paying that in one chunk on day 1 of the new payment system would totally work.

[Benjm]

I'll definitely pay.

Aside from the basic wish for the board to continue, the biggest inducement to donating for me is having a clear understanding of where the money is going and what it is being used for. I used to have a regular payment here and for The Quietus too when that had a similar donation model (albeit more heavily promoted). In both cases, a big reason for not keeping up the payment was not having tangible evidence or feedback that it was achieving anything. Even "we need X people to pay Y amount" makes the situation more concrete. I'm not bothered about enhanced member benefits as such, beyond that kind of information.

[steveeeeeeeee]

As for reward, a link to my username on a donators page would do me. It would also motivate me to maintain/not forget my subs.

[steveeeeeeeee]

Count me in for the 30 a year option

[San Bernardhinault]

The reward should be smug righteousness. Which is surely something that almost every OTFer cherishes above anything material.

[Sean of the Shed]

I think there should be the option to pay monthly by subscription or a bi-annual or an annual fee, but also the option just to join without charge, as others have said, this would otherwise deter new members and the board would just slowly die.
Maybe there could be some reward for being a paid member? I understand why WSC cannot continue to support the board financially but could they maybe come to an agreement to offer additional discount on purchases to paid members in return for continued links to the forum?

[Cal Alamein]

I’m definitely in for a monthly or yearly payment.

[Antepli Ejderha]

I'll post the stats in a separate thread, more for reference than anything.

Thanks Snake

[Snake Plissken]

I'll post the stats in a separate thread, more for reference than anything.