[Jean Thibodeau]

Well, I glad that Nathan didn't wait until Monday as the wait was killing me.

Thanks to everyone who has donated so far and considering that this was started only a few days ago, and that there was no prize involved ( known ) the first few days, it is very impressive that we are closing in onto being half way there !

Remember that the Donation objective only covers the hosting costs for one year on the server and that there are other costs that Nathan covers out of his own pocket. Any extra moneys will help cover those extra costs and as usual Nathan wants to give some back with other contests and prizes during the year.

Considering how bad the economy is doing or how slow the recovery seems to be, it makes peoples" generosity even more appreciated and awesome.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Just a little " Bump ".

At $1186 as I type this with 28 donors at an average donation of $42.351129 each ( Rounded out to $ 42.35 for those who looked too fast and thought it was 42 million 351 thousand, 1 hundred and 29 dollars and did a double take ..... whaaaaaaaaaattttt. ).

[Craig Shackleton]

After years of mooching information and such of this site I finally kicked in for the "upgraded membership." Jean, thanks for the push (friendly nudge) and for donating those great prizes. It would be nice to win, but let's face it, I'm happy just to support the site. I wish I could do more, maybe next year I'll come up with a prize to add to the mix as well.

Nathan, thanks for all you do to provide this great resource.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Closing in on half way to the Donation goal.

[Jean Thibodeau]

We are past the half way point at $1456 and 997 views of the Topic of which maybe 50 views are just me checking on it many many times a day.

Thanks to all those who donated so far.

Again, any " How I discovered myArmoury or what I like or get from the site stories " would be appreciate as they would make this Topic much more fun than my just " bumping " it up at least once a day.

Before I joined I thought I knew a great deal about history and the history of weapons, and in all " immodesty " I was fairly well read but since I joined I think the knowledge gaps I didn't even know I had have been filled to a greater degree by all the feature articles, reviews and the knowledge an opinions of the many knowledgeable people who participate in these forums.

The whole point of the fund drive is to keep this site functioning and to not depend or let Nathan do all the heavy lifting and have to use his own money to support the site.

$2640 is not small change if it has to be taken out of one person's income " YEARLY ", but is quite manageable spread over the incomes of 50 to a couple of hundred people.

Those whose day to day living expenses are a challenge due to under or no employment can't afford to spend any money on non essentials but those without any serious money problems can afford a small donation if they think the site provides them with something valuable they would seriously miss if it went down some day. ( no immediate danger of this I believe ).

( EDITED a couple of hours later: Just hit the 1000 views mark. ).

[Scott Hrouda]

[Jean Thibodeau]

Thanks Scott, exactly the kind of back story I was looking for.


We have all met or communicated or made friends with people we would never have met if not for " myArmoury ".

[Nathan Robinson]

I love hearing those stories, too.

[Nathan Robinson]

Don't forget to enter our most recent contest.

If you don't enter, you can't win.

It's available to all current members of the Benefactors, Upgraded Members, or Premier Members usergroups as well as those who have donated $10 US or more since Jun 13, 2010.

[Jean Thibodeau]

" BUMP ".

And what Nathan said don't forget to click the button to officially enter the contest.

Well, we are at $1612 at the time of writing this.

And keep stories coming even if you can't donate at the moment for any reason ( no money or job or just surviving with no margin left over past basic survival ) : It's interesting to get a story from people donating but contributing an interesting story is also a good way to contribute as it helps give the reasons why this site is valued by people and keeps the Topic bumped and does make Nathan " Happy " to know that all his work is giving something worthwhile to people.

The financial contributions keep the site running, the stories keep Nathan motivated and good for morale when he puts in tons of unpaid work keeping the site well administered and moderated, and are nice things for him to hear i.e. good feedback that he doing something good for people.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Well 46 donors so far and we are over the mid point of reaching the objective at $1662.

I think that's pretty good and in line with previous years fun drive, and actually things where moving faster than usual in the first few days but seem a little stalled today. On average I think I see something between 1 to 3 or 4 donors per day with average donations being around $36 ..... but the average is higher because there where a few larger donations over $50.

Some of the donations have been around $10 - $20 and this is fine but I think more participation at the $10 level would be nice as I said I do hope for more people giving small donations rather than expecting a few generous people to give 5X to 10X these smaller amounts.

It does seem that " Bumping " up the Topic at least once a day is necessary to keep donations rolling in: I just wish I had more original things to say. So I do have to repeat myself a great deal and repeat things I remember writing in previous donation drives mostly because a good argument then is still a good argument now.

So to repeat: Nathan shouldn't have to sell parts of his collection or photographic equipment, as he has done in previous years, to personally pay for the hosting of the site: By the way Nathan has already fronted the amount this year as we started the fund drive later than in previous years. ( Sorry a little " guilting " here. ).

The prizes, I know, are not the main motivation for most to give a donation but they do help making this more fun and it's nice to know that a couple of people will win something.

If this place is something you get a great deal from and would miss if it wasn't here, you should if you can afford it give that minimal $10 donation to help the site. ( You could give just $5 but in that case you wouldn't be eligible for the prizes but the money would still be appreciated if it's all you can comfortably afford ).

And thanks again to the handful of people who gave more than $50.

[Sean Flynt]

Thanks to this site...well, everything I do in this field is thanks to this site. But, continuing the family connection theme, following a link posted here I discovered a cache of Flynt ancestors who were archers in the 100 Years War, including one who was probably at Agincourt. The information here also led me to realize that another ancestor who was known to have died March 29, 1461, was among the slaughtered Lancastrians at Towton. And, of course, the research and writing I did for my Virigina Muster article taught me an enormous amount about the first of my name to arrive in this country. This site gives me insight in the lives (and deaths) of those men. All as a result of Nathan's dedication to this work!

[Neil Gagel]

This site is definitely worth the donations necessary to keep it afloat.

[Jean Thibodeau]

$1732 as I write: So we are closing in on $2000

[Jean Thibodeau]

Overdue for a " BUMP ": If you find yourself reading something on this site almost daily or post replies to topics you found interesting enough to want to participate in you probably get a lot out of the site, so maybe giving a little back is in your interest, not to mention being a nice thing to do and helping not only this site for itself but because this site is like the town square of our small community of collectors, historians and Industry makers and it's continued existence is a good thing for all of us.

[Jean Thibodeau]

As I mentioned in one of my early posts I think that some of the makers and vendors who get a lot of useful buzz from satisfied customers here on this site and who also have a Forum here to publicize their work, at no cost, that is useful to promote new products and also to get useful feedback from customers and a marketplace to sell some of their pieces, should consider it in their interest to give the site a little financial support.

It need not be a huge amount, even a small donation will be appreciated and very very cost effective compared to the costs of paying for almost any kind of publicity,. Even compared to their own site management costs if they have a web site and hosting costs themselves.

So the makers should at least consider what the loss of this site would mean to them as I can tell you that many many of them I would never have found or decided to buy from them without the positive feedback I have received from satisfied customers who have posted their reviews of product and the official Reviews on this site that give objective and reliable information about the reviewed item, not to mention the great photography of the makers' product that often aided me to decide to buy when the pics on the makers site hadn't motivated me to buy !

Oh, all these advantages also apply to the general membership i.e. the customers who also get exposed to detailed information about their favourite sword or piece of armour etc ... and can make intelligent decisions about what to buy !

Now, this is just the commercial or collectors aspects of this site I'm emphasizing in this specific posts 1 There are also all the other educational and entertainment and community aspects of this site that deserve support if you are in a position to give $10 or more to support something that you get a lot out of. ( I assume that anyone who comes here often is getting something they value out of this site ! I'm sure we also get one time visitors who just needed an answer to a historical arms question or a resource that could point them to where they could find the answers to their question(s).

[Jean Thibodeau]

Up to $1752 at the time of writing this, lets try to get it to $2000 before the end of the weekend.

After this it would be almost downhill from there to the $2640 objective. We would still like to go over the objective as this creates an emergency reserve and usually Nathan uses any surplus to enhance the site or for special " surprises ".

Although, people should understand that Nathan has spent way much more money and work time than he has ever received in donations and support: It is something he wants to do and it's not a business or a job but at least we should help him with the hosting costs which represent only a part of what he spends each year keeping this place functioning.

Well, it's 6:00 A.M. my time as I write this and I need to go to bed before I soon fall down, so maybe my motivational efforts are sort of also " tired " and I've run out of ideas for now.

Just donate what you can afford, thanks.

[Jean Thibodeau]

$190 to get to $2000 can we get there before Monday and then try to slide down to the $2640 objective.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Well, donations sort of stalled again ? Well I guess it means I have to keep bumping up the Topic to keep things moving.

Maybe next time I'm go into creative writing mode and think of something motivational, clever or hopefully funny to make these " BUMPS " at least interesting to read.

Right now I got nothing.

Well, re-read all the previous posts on this Topic and the other Donations drive Topic if you need reasons to donate.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Oh, just noticed a pattern here: 1 " BUMP " 1 donation. ( Thanks by the way ).

So does this mean one donation each time I " BUMP " the Topic or a donation each time I write " BUMP ".

( NOTE: keep scrolling down there is more after the " You know what's ", i.e. a punch line to the joke that those who don't scroll down won't read ).


As a test here goes: BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP .

So that would be 325 " you know whats " on this post at $10 each that would mean another $3250 ........
or just the usual $10 or $20 each " BUMP " OOOOOPS now 326 BUMPs on this post ...... OOOOOPS 327 as long as I don't write **** again.