Come on guys - we can do better than this!!!!

I went to the pub tonight to watch England win their soccer match against Columbia (just) and spent $50 or there abouts - lets just divert a bit of this random spending from a barman that I don't like much, in a crappy venue (though the clientele is great) to a cause that really matters.

To be honest the chance of England winning the World Cup is slim, the chance of me wanting to check something out on myArmoury next week or next year is a little over 100%

Think bigger, think longer term, support this place in whatever way you can

Tod

Well, I don't have a lot of money, but I put my money where my mouth is. I had given Nathan a little early donation for his birthday and just gave another donation a few moments ago, as promised. Now, not to be that guy, but I'm going to be that guy, because it's actually a bit disappointing that the donation total has stalled the way it has when last year it was quite the stellar success (thanks mostly to one incredible donor that I don't know who it was). There shouldn't be so few people following through on actually supporting this site after getting so much use out of it. If this -almost literally poor- guy living on fixed income can give a donation to the site then all the people dabbling regularly in 1/2k-5k arms and armor can certainly afford to give $20 to the website for a yearly donation drive . . . and lets face it, there are a LOT of 1/2k-5k arms and armor regularly appearing and changing hands through the marketplace, let alone what people buy straight from the makers and review/discuss on these very forums.

There are so many good reasons to donate to the website, so much so that there's no real reason not to if you're using the website in any amount of regularity.

For all of the people selling arms and armor . . . if you were selling them on eBay or some other auction site they'd be taking in the realm of 10% of your sale value from you, in fees. That's $100 on a $1k sword . . . wouldn't it be kind to "pay it forward" to Nathan for giving you a respectable and reasonably secure venue to sell your items without taking 10% for the convenience? I'd say a 1% donation to a website you like, that caters in the exact market you're looking for, and still has reviews on buyers and sellers, is a lot better than giving 10% in fees to a website you'd otherwise just be stuck using.

For all of the industry professionals that advertise or show off their works . . . you're regularly praised and hailed for putting forth such beautiful arms, armor, etc.; and many -if they weren't commissions in the first place- seem to be sold in fairly short order. Not only is it free advertising, but it's basically access to a free marketplace of buyers. Of course, it's also not just any old flea-market where people wander around and you hope someone finally comes along who's interested . . . it's a market chocked full of people who are exclusively interested in what you're making and selling.

For everyone who likes the visual references flooding the informational threads . . . Nathan went out of his way to put together a means of archiving, storing, and keeping available thousands and thousands of images after a certain photo storing website closed its doors to free third party hosting. Y'all think that was cheap, easy, or convenient for Nathan to do? There are entire threads on this website that are only still viable for viewing, as important repositories of valuable information, because of what Nathan did. Shouldn't that be rewarded in some way?

For everyone who's ever posted . . . the previous point, of course, isn't even getting into the fact that without this website it'd be insanely difficult to actively share all of the research, knowledge, and discoveries that circulate around here. Let alone the fact that they're all in one place . . . the amount of information that this website acts as a hub for is mind boggling. Those moments of learning or sharing knowledge just wouldn't happen if we didn't have these forums. There just isn't another venue like this in existence.

I could go on, but I think that covers the big ones. For all the people who actively use this website, plan on buying anything within the next year, have bought or sold something on this website, or are an industry professional using this site as a hub . . . and you haven't donated . . . why not? Why aren't you donating even a modest amount to the website for everything it provides? If I can scrape together a few dollars to give to the website, then so can you.

This is one of the last arms forums that I still frequent, and the only one I check nearly daily. Although I don't have as much to give this year, I can spare a few dollars to keep it going.

If you use this site, enjoy spending time browsing on it, and learn from it:
1. You should help pay for the upkeep out of gratitude.
2. You should help pay for the upkeep out of self-interest.

I concur. Money is tight this year as well as last, but I still donated. I check in daily, and I rely on this forum as a research tool. This is money well spent.

Speaking just as a longtime reader (and not in any official capacity), I love this place, the discussions it has, and what it represents in our community. I supported it with a donation and encourage others to do so as well. This site has been Nathan's labor of love for nearly 15 years. Remember, "labor of love" usually means "thing that sucks up lots of time and money."

In late August, we'll hit the 15 year mark. That's worth a donation, right? On the internet, sites like this come and go. 15 years on, we're still here. Help us stick around. :)

Well, time to be " annoying again ": Donation had been trickling in at a rate of 1 or two a day for a few days but have stalled again. :(

Now, I'm reasonably sure that the last person donating at the time I write this, or at least one of the more recent donors actually gave $50 ...... and thanks. :cool:

I say I think because I don't see any amounts attached to names as I don't have any administrative access to the donation statistics but by taking note of the amount given on a daily basis I can notice a sudden jump of $50 or so ..... easier if I wasn't basing this on memory and I had written down the previous day's number, seeing only one person donating the next day, and then arriving at the logical conclusion that the last person donating in the list of donors is highly likely to have been the one giving $50.

Now, $50 is a very generous donation, but even $5 is appreciated: It's not all about the money, it's also about participation by as many " myArmoury " members as possible that helps keep Nathan feel that the site he created is being appreciated.

Not everybody needs to donate money because many people frequent many many web sites or youtube channels and they would go broke if they sent $5 to each and every site they regularly frequent ..... this is understandable, I only donate money here and at a couple of other sites ( youtube channels ) because I prioritize those few sites that mean the most to me, and I also can't donate to every site. ;)

So the point is not to make people " NOT DONATING " feel guilty or feel "nagged", my point is to get to the donation goal as a minimum, but also to get more people to show their appreciation of this site if it's the site they chose to be the one they are willing to support even if with only $5 or $10 to ensure the longterm existence of this site as a place to find information, ask questions, get answers and discuss historical weapons ..... also keep the site active as an archive of valuable information.

Note, many " GOOGLE ' searches about historical firearms have " myArmoury " in the first top 10 search results when the search was about what is often discussed here.

Anyway, I again encourage people who donate to write a post(s) about why they value this site and why they decided to make a donation: It's much more interesting than having numerous consecutive posts by me ..... :lol:

Well we are fairly close to the donation drive objective, we have about 50 people who have made a donation so far, the average has been closer to 75 to 100 in previous years.

Again, Industry Professionals who get a benefit from having a targeted audience here should consider making a donation in their own interest, if not for any other reasons.

People using the Market Place Forum to buy, sell or just to see what is currently available also have an interest in keeping this site in good health and available and still up and running for hopefully many years to come ..... ;)

And everybody else who enjoys the site, visits often to just read or to post comments or questions.

All of this should be very obvious as I and others have repeated the same over many previous years of donation campaigns and even repeated these things on this year's campaign.

Repeating seems to be essential to keep donations rolling in at one or two a day, followed by a few days of " CRICKETS ", lack of activity.

Anyway, thanks to all those who have donated already. :cool:

Well we are getting close to meeting the donation objective, which I prefer to call " The Minimal Amount " needed so that Nathan isn't out of pocket for the yearly hosting costs.

I did see a bit of an increase in the number of people donating in the last couple of days and thanks again to all those who have already donated, but also an " extra thanks " to the half dozen or so of the most recent people making a donation no matter how small or how big .... all is appreciated.

Extra money past the minimal donation goal just gives Nathan some " Wiggle Room " in case of unexpected expenses and he deserves a lot more than we as the beneficiaries of his having created the site and keeping it going " Without Pay ", making the site freely accessible to all persons just wishing to view a great deal of the content, and all accessible for free to anyone registering as a member.

One can also enhance one's membership by becoming a donating/benefactor member with an automatic periodic payment to the site ...... so there are a few different ways to support the site with a one time donation or with a regular periodic payment.

Anyway anyone needing to know reasons why they might wish to support the site there are many posts above from me and others telling why, and why they personally want to help fund the site. :D

It took us longer than ever, but we made the goal! I want to thank everyone who donated. It was really needed this year above all others. I appreciate you all so much.

I’m sure that everyone else who donated was glad to help, but I also want to thank you Nathan for maintaining a free to access, open and available wellspring of knowledge that this site has been for countless people. Not charging dues or access fees for articles and such makes the information far more accessible to most people, and that’s a wonderful thing. Giving back in some way is the least we can do to try to match that effort.

Thank you.