[Jean Thibodeau]

Well folks it actually past the time of year to start a FUND DRIVE.

The " myArmoury " bank account is just about dry and it needs a BAILOUT: The Government won't do it and " myArmoury " only needs an extra TRILLION dollars for this year. Well, worth a try

But seriously, at this point " myArmoury " is running on fumes but isn't in the hole so compared to car Companies it's doing great !

Well, started this with a little humour and it's one of the things I like about the yearly Fund Drives is having fun with it and trying to make the Topic thread entertaining as I relentlessly BUMP and RE-BUMP the Thread.

Now, each year some of us go above and beyond and give some generous contributions and I hope there are still some of us with the funds available to give substantial contributions: Big contributions or repeat contributions obviously very welcome but I would like to encourage this year even more than previous years that as many people as possible give small contributions or upgrade their memberships if they have the basic " FREE " membership.

if you spend a lot of your time here and get a lot of enjoyment learning new stuff or discussing stuff you know a lot about with others you have a stake in this place continuing without it having to continue based solely on out of pocket expenses for Nathan !

So if you have never contributed before, but really like this place and would miss it a lot if it goes away, plus want to give a little back to this Community, I encourage you to give a small contribution even if you think it is a small one: If enough people each give $10 even 300 or 400 contributions should be enough to meet basic costs of running this site.

Look at it this way, this site would costs Nathan personally out of pocket ( Assuming zero contributions ) something like the monthly rental of a small apartment ! ( Well, a really small apartment in a bad neighbourhood in a really inexpensive city or town or maybe the monthly fees in leasing a car ). After a year it becomes a big chunk of available cash ! ( A couple of Albions or three at least ! ).

Oh, and this doesn't count the hundreds of professional hours Nathan contributes unsalaried to working on this site every year. ( He obviously sees this place as a work of love and not for profit, but there is a difference between not making any money with this site and having to spend actual cash to keep it running ).

Nathan really feels uncomfortable asking for funds so I'm doing it for him: I keep telling him that it's O.K. but he just doesn't like doing it until I or someone else " pushes " him into it. ( Go figure. ).

I know the economy is still scary but remember small contributions are as appreciated as large ones if they can come in large numbers ! ( Skip a couple of expensive coffee shop coffees or one bad movie and you have the cash for a small contribution. If things are really bad then don't worry about contributing and good luck ).

[Chad Arnow]

Jean,
Let me add my personal thanks to you for doing this. As we approach our 6-year anniversary, it's fun to see how far we've come and the wonderful people who have joined this community.

I know Nathan is uncomfortable with all the attention, but the reality is that this site costs thousands of dollars a year to run, just in hosting/bandwidth/server expenses. Add in the misc. shipping expenses for reviews and contest pieces, plus the legwork required to make those happen and the costs go up. And then there's Nathan's time itself: the coding to add new features and deter hackers, the editing and formatting of reviews, sourcing images for articles, retouching pictures from a variety of photographers, being a presence on the forums, and answering the many questions he receives via PM, etc. I'm sure I've left costs and time-consumers out, but you get the idea.

The donations help offset many of these costs, but more than that, they show that all that time, effort, and money mean something to our readers. They show the strength of this community and its place in our little slice of the world.

Thanks to all who donate!

[Blaz Berlec]

No good deed goes unpunished, and I blame this site for my recent Albion Earl purchase. It's only fair that I add my part and help with this overriding evil plan of the site.

My sympathies to all the new members. Resistance is futile et cetera.

[Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz]

Hey, I'll be happy to slip the site a coupla' fins ... as long as Chad lays off, and Nathan
stops reccomending the search-engine every time someone tries to get involved in a
conversation !

B-)

[Scott Kowalski]

[M. Eversberg II]

The search engine is good, the search engine is great, we surrender our will as of this date...

M.

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz]

[Sam Gordon Campbell]

Hey Matt; I thought it would be more along the lines of "I pity the foo', who does not donate"

[Jean Thibodeau]

Well I think we should encourage donations but no one should feel pressured to do so and although we might want to make jokes remember that one should re-read one's posts to be sure they might not be misunderstood and taken seriously !

Jokes work but irony. leg pulling, friendly sarcasm can easily be misread. ( This is a common problem in written communication as a friendly tone while teasing doesn't register ).

So, thanks to those who have already donated.

[Roger Hooper]

Is Paypal the only way to donate? Many may wish to make a contribution, but for whatever reason, can't, or don't want to use Paypal. If you gave out an address and a specific payable name (myArmoury.com ?) then forumites could simply send in a check.

As for me, I made a donation via paypal

[Chad Arnow]

[Bryce Felperin]

[Jean Thibodeau]

I have no idea if it's a good idea or not but making this site an " official " non-profit organization probably implies a lot of bureaucracy and record keeping to various levels of Government that only a LARGE administrative staff could handle and would be more trouble than it's worth. ( A LARGE administrative staff is something Nathan doesn't have and the time he already spends running this place is already a heavy load ..... Who knows an official Non Profit Charity probably means having a board of directors, official meetings, reports on money IN and OUT, you get the picture ! Unless one is dealing with millions of dollars more trouble than it's worth. Or if one has a large group of volunteers to handle the extra work ! )

In any case this Topic thread is really not about trying to re-organize the structure of the place only paying the " Hosting " costs and other miscellaneous cost, that can add up, over the year as Chad mentioned.

One work around the Paypal thing is having a friend who uses Paypal already and have him or her send the payment and make out a check to them: I only mention this because I have done this for another member here in Montreal that I personally know who also doesn't use or want to use Paypal.

[Jean Thibodeau]

I do find it encouraging to see people donating who are new members or longtime members who don't post very often or have never posted give a donation.

It's also fun to notice that people from all over the World are also part of this community.

[Douglas G.]

Jean, Duder!
I'm in again, glad you kick this can off so we can cowboy up and keep our forum going! This last year I
won an edged weapon in a forum contest. I never win contests. So here's a place where I can read and
comment about swords with other's who ARE also interested in them, AND win a swell prize! I would therefore
urge my fellow forumnites kick in! At the least you keep the forumn going, and who knows? The next contest it could
be you Nathan emails about your prize!


Cheers!

Doug Gentner[/i]

[Greyson Brown]

Frankly, I am not one of those people who can give extra. I upgraded my membership a few years ago, and I hope that my annual contributions from that choice help keep myArmoury.com alive and help keep Nathan from having nervous breakdowns (he at least knows that he will get my membership fee each year). My choice has meant that I did not get quite as many entries in a few of the competitions, but it also meant that I was able to enjoy a resource that has been invaluable to me.

Just to prove what I mean by "invaluable," I was able (through this website's PM system) to get a copy of a document -- just in case it comes into question, I would like to point out that I gained this document legally, but one of the members (it was Vincent Chevalier; he deserves credit) here was able to help me penetrate a language barrier that I could not on my own -- that may some day be part of my Doctoral dissertation (even if it is not, I intend to use the information to provide medieval historical research that is not available today).

What I detailed above is only a small part of the contribution that myArmoury.com has made to my life. We won't go into the ways that it helped me develop higher standards (for the assessment of everything from swords to tires to ties), or how it helped me connect with others who have the same interests.

No! wait . . . I am going to go there. I hope that the people I mention will not be embarrassed or offended, but I met Josh Warren and Patrick Kelly through this website. Prior to meeting these fine men, I had not ever managed to be in the same room with people who appreciated my love for historical swords. I knew several people who liked Highlander katanas, but that was not the social group I was looking for from fellow collectors. Yes, Josh likes armour more than swords. And Patrick's interests are earlier than mine (and I hope his wife will forgive my artistic license in beginning a sentence with a conjunction). Still, these people, and this site, helped me to connect with others who could understand my interests. If we are honest, a great portion of the internet is devoted to exactly that.

I am not asking anyone to give more than they can. Frankly, I am not asking anyone to give anything (Nathan and Jean; I hope I don't hurt you here). What I am asking is that people consider how this site has benefited their hobby (and, in some cases, their professional interests). I chose to upgrade my membership because that allowed me to budget my expenses better. You may find that a one time contribution fits you better. You may find that this website is not worth your support (I'm not going to dodge that rotten fruit because we all know that you would not bother to read this far unless this website had at least a modicum of significance to you). Perhaps you are only inspired to donate when there is a contest. I hope the last option is not the case, but we all have different circumstances. My choice was to pledge an annual dollar amount through my membership upgrade because my word is the best I have to offer. For others, circumstances might be different; I simply ask that you consider the significance of this website in your life. I hope you give more to your church (if you are religious); I suspect you will spend more on comfort items. Regardless, do not overlook the significance of myArmoury.com.

-Grey

[Stephen Curtin]

Hey guys, I dont have the time to post here very often these days but I do lurk around here often enough so I'm glad I was finally able to contribute a couple of quid. myArmoury is one of my favourate sites so keep up the good work everyone

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Jean Thibodeau]