[Jean Thibodeau]

[Leo Todeschini]

Well Jean, you are yet again the enforcement arm of myArmoury and well done for that.

Why is this site important to me? Clearly, because it educates in a way no other site does for breadth and quality of information, as a seller/maker and participant it gives me a platform and a resource no other place does and all that aside I love the level of interest it gives me personally and I love the fair handed and consistent level of 'decent' conversation and moderation that Nathan and the team manage somehow to maintain.

Its a great place and of great importance and significance to me, personally and professionally.

$100 is nearly on the way: the only problem is that you have failed to tell me where.....

Come on everyone - that is 25c a day.....is MA worth that? You work it out and let your wallet decide.

Tod

Now paid up - come on guys; its a pittance for what you get in return.

[Nathan Robinson]

Thanks guys. I appreciate this.

I'm not working a full-time job right now (long story) so the income isn't really there for me. It's been an interesting year to say the least. I've been selling off some collection pieces to add to the ol' bank account, but this isn't anything to be sad about I suppose: I've needed to reduce that collection I had!

Any donation certainly helps the out of pocket situation that the site creates for me.

I've been working on some new content for our anniversary and you'll be seeing that soon.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Oh, thanks Leo I just sent in my own payment using the Paypall Donate button at the bottom of the home page or at the bottom of Forums page.

It cost me a bit more than usual because this year the Canadian dollar is very low compared to the U.S. dollar at around $0.75 U.S. dollars.

Last year it was at par with the U.S. dollar ..... ouch !

Well, we seem to have crossed the first hurdle at $500 but there is a way to go, the first few donors have been very generous, but as with each year even $10 can help a great deal if enough people contribute.

And, yes I think that makers have a great resource here on "myArmoury" that lets them be known by many likely buyers and they should donate even if only in their own interest.

As Leo mentioned this site is also a source of inspiration because any maker who loves his work can get a lot of useful feedback and motivation communicating with knowledgeable people who can really appreciate their work .

At the risk of embarrassing Nathan it's both surprising and admirable that he is still supporting the existence of this site with his own money up front even when his employment may be iffy and not full time at the moment: The least we can do is at least pay for the annual hosting costs !

So, I'll let this Topic develop for a few days before giving it another " bump ", but that doesn't mean that others shouldn't contribute some motivational " Bumps " to the Topic in addition to making a small ( or large donation if they can afford it )

[Vasilly T]

Good God I hate paypal and it's support. I can't access my account for some reason, neither I can create another one since my debit card is tied to it and those guys can't help me in any way.

I remember I could make a payment before without logging in, is it still possible?

[Dan Howard]

Thanks for the reminder, Jean.

[Olov Tidemalm]

Jean: This is a really good thing you're doing. I must admit that without this reminder I would most probably not remember donate to this site. (:

[Mark Griffin]

chipped in something, thanks to Nathan for keeping up such a useful site

[J. Nicolaysen]

Thanks Jean for the reminder.

Thanks Nathan for the site. I've learned an incredible amount and enjoy this site pretty much daily. My contribution is just a small bit of repayment for what I've gotten.

Thanks myArmoury community for being a stellar mix of great craftsmen and artists and smiths whose work always amazes me; a great amount of aficionados whose knowledge is greater than so many people yet always willing to share it in goodwill; and fellow collectors whose support of the makers always inspires me.

[Scott Hrouda]

Nathan, thank you so much for your hard work and perseverance with this "labor of love".

Jean, thank you as always for your well timed reminders.

Donation is on the way.

[Aaron Hoard]

Very thankful for this community - have learned a lot, met some great people, and been enabled into a number of purchases!

Good reminder about supporting the site. I think I'm on "auto-pay", but I could chip in a bit more for a worthy cause.

[Jean Le-Palud]

Thank you Jean for the reminder !
And thank you Nathan for the GREAT site !
Donation on the way...

[Victor R.]

I haven't participated in the fund drive the past two years due to unemployment. Not fully employed, yet, but have been working some contract gigs, keeping the mortgage paid and Daisy in kibble (my pitbrador). This site has been one of the places where I can go to enjoy this hobby/addiction without throwing down a big wad of cash on a new blade or bludgeon of some medieval description and, admittedly, drool over the acquisitions of others and add to the ever-growing list of "someday" projects. Now that I'm able to rebuild a bit of the bank account, I think I can also do a little something to say "thanks" for having this outlet here.

This is a place of entertainment, education and inspiration. I'm glad to have found it so many years ago, and hope it stays around for many years to come!

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Craig Peters]

At this current moment, I do not have a lot of extra cash. I owe money, and have carefully been paying it back, without making purchases on swords, books, medieval coins, and the other things I like to buy. Suffice to say, I don't have discretionary spending money, and I need to be very careful with what I do spend.

Despite this, I've made a donation to myArmoury. I've learned an astonishing amount about historic arms and armour from reading different threads here, so much so that I have a better understanding of medieval arms than almost any other aspect of medieval history. Even now I find new information that challenges my assumptions or deepens and enriches my understanding of the subject. That the discussions here are generally civil and respectful, even to new members of the board, is a testament to the members of the board and the moderators here.

We take it for granted that myArmoury.com is here, year after year, allowing us to ask questions, contribute in discussions, trade or sell our historic arms, and develop relationships with manufacturers whom we otherwise may not have met. But the reality is that this site only continues running because of Nathan's ongoing investment in time, and in money, to make sure it's still around. The least we can do is give a little back to support him.

If you've got ten dollars to donate, give ten dollars. If you've got fifty you can give, then give that. If you've got more, so much the better. Yet everyone here can make a contribution, even if the best you can give right now is a token gesture of appreciation. Believe me, every little bit counts.

[Neil Melville]

Just put in my bit. Many thanks to Nathan for founding and running myArmoury. I get an enormous amount of interest and information out of it and, I hope, contribute a wee bit now and again.
Neil

[Jean Thibodeau]

Well, we seem to have had a good start, currently at $1525, but the donation drive needs the occasional bump to keep it on the opening page of the site, so here is a little " BUMP ".

If I remember correctly we usually get between 75 to 100 people making a contribution each year on average, and as I've mentioned every year having more people giving even a small contribution spreads the task of paying for the hosting costs more widely, and also it is nice to see more people taking the time and money to contribute.

I do appreciate a lot people who are giving some money even when their financial situation is a little shaky ( Thanks Craig ).

Anyway, I am pleased that people have been also adding their own stories about why they get something valuable to them from this site, and even those who are not financially comfortable with giving some cash are very welcome to post their reasons why they like the site, as this is also a way to show your appreciation to Nathan and Chad who spend a lot of time and resources keeping this place going and civil. ( I'm not sure if there are other moderators currently, but I do know that Chad is loyally at his post one could say ..... )

Anyway, enough of my rambling on and on here, but I hate to just " BUMP " up the Topic without at least trying to add some content. ( Or chew some peoples ears off ..... in the nicest way possible .... Joking, if it isn't obvious .... )

[Jean Thibodeau]

Well, the donation objective has been reached, and surpassed it a bit !

By the way it looks like we should give some extra thanks to anonymous who I suspect donated $1000 ...... WOW: A surprise, but a pleasant one. ( I don't have access to any official numbers or private access to the donation numbers of people, but I can sort of guess at amounts when one person donates after I have noted the previous total in donations .... so thus is how I base my guess about the amount of the big donation. I do respect the fact that the person decided to make the donation anonymously, so I wouldn't even try to guess who it could be even if I had a method of finding out .... which I don't have by the way ).

I would still encourage people to make small donations just to add to the numbers of people contributing this year, I'm sure that Nathan can find a use for any extra cash to apply to the site, and at the very least gives some breathing room in case of unexpected expenses.

I just admit that I like seeing as many people as possible making a donation each year.

I still would like people letting us know why they value this site and post comments.

Assuming that I'm correct about the large donation, again a big thanks to " ANONYMOUS "

[Jean Thibodeau]

Just a " BUMP " to the Topic.

After the Donation Goal has been reached the urgency to at least cover the hosting costs is sort of past, but I'm sure that added funds are still useful.

I do feel less " comfortable " pushing for more donations, but at the same time I do want to see more people wanting to contribute to keeping the site running and to show their appreciation in a concrete way.

Until Nathan decides to close the donation drive I'll continue " BUMPING " the Topic every few days, unless other people have contributed posts doing it for me.

At this point we have had 30 people making a contribution, with a few people donating something in the 3 figures and at least one person donating in the 4 figures.

Previous years the number of people donating has been between 75 to 100 people and I would like to see our reaching 100 donors. ( I don't know what is the minimum amount practical to send with Paypal but $10 or even $5 would be nice to just improve the statistics ).

Again just posting your appreciation of the site would be appreciated if money is tight, the last thing I want to do is guilt people into making a donation.

Oh, one can also contribute over the year by upgrading one's membership from a free membership to a paying membership and this is good because it means a regular inflow of cash during the year.

( NOTE: I'm cursed with sort of remembering all the posts I've made over a few years with these fund drives, and it become really hard to not repeat myself and to write something original ..... ).

[Mikko Kuusirati]

Coming a bit late for the drive, I'll compensate with a very early Thanksgiving.

Thanks to Nathan for running this wonderful site.

Thanks to Jean for reminding me.

Thanks to my latest employer for supplying me with money to give! (Eventually. After much nagging. Only a month late. Ah well, I suppose things are tight all around...)

And thanks to everybody here for the invaluable discussion! You make this one of the most informative sites I know of, in any field. I can't tell how much help I've had from you all over the years. I try to contribute when I can, the more so the more I learn, but I'm afraid I'm pretty darn deep in the receiving end of the pool still.