[Jean Thibodeau]

There are many " selfish reasons " as well as generous reasons to support the site.

A) You often visit the site for information and entertainment.

B) You ask questions about something you don't know and get useful replies from knowledgeable people.

C) You want to sell one piece of your collection and you have here a market of likely interested potential buyers, that might be a lot harder to find on random sites or buy/sell platforms.

D) You are looking for a second hand piece at a lower price than a new piece, or something unique or not longer in production that a collector here might be willing to sell.

E) You are an " INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL " who can show their products here, get valuable feedback, promote your site for free, and often have gotten business because you became known here ......

Yes " INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL " should be supporting the continued existence of this site as it's basically free marketing for them with a captive audience of the most likely people to become a buyer sooner or later !

So the Donation Goal is really the minimum amount needed to keep it going this year, but it should be exceeded to keep it going for the long term, and if Nathan can find a way to monetize the site, or it even becomes regular income he would have the means to modernize the site and add features and content.

F) " myArmoury " is a valuable archive of great knowledge and a friendly Troll-Free place where many of us have made friends and learned a great deal over many years, and for new members/readers a place where many of their questions have already been answered that can be found using the search function as well as asking their own questions.

G) Probably other reasons to make a donation that I haven't thought of !

Oh, and this year is " CRITICAL " because it's not just making a donation to support the site, and not have Nathan again pay for the minimal operational out of " HIS POCKET " costs. This is a prevent the site from " Vanishing " and no longer be there for you if you get anything out of it !

[Daniel Parry]

Pretty much perfect analysis, Jean.

Its a resource we use/enjoy. Makers actually economically benefit from it. We are not donating, which suggests a sense of bounty or charity economically, we are paying for what we use, and actually not even doing that but simply reimbursing Nathan for his costs but not his time.

Lets all reflect on the value we receive and give something. $10 dollars a year from those with less ? $100 a year from those with more ? This is not the best site in my opinion, its the only site worth visiting in my view. If it goes away, that's a massive blow to our mutual interest.

It's less than an everyday cost you might not think about. It's a couple of beers, a pack of smokes, a couple of packs of something else for the younger and more lustful members of the community. For those more established, look around at what's on your walls, as I did, and think of the cost/value and how much less pleasure you would have from those items if you had not had the myArmoury community to discuss it with.

Simple answer I think.

Daniel

[Jonathan Blair]

I check this site nearly every day. Always something worth reading and sometimes I add my two cents to the discussion. But since two cents is just not enough in this case, I added a bit more.

[Jean Thibodeau]

So I did a little math, so is " myArmoury " worth to you 5 1/2 cents a day ?

Rounded out 5 1/2 cents X by 365 days in a year = a Donation of $20 a year ! So can you at least give $10 bucks to help keep this site alive and kicking ?

Now, if you are dead broke and struggling even $10 bucks might be too much, so no problem, but if you visit here often and want to contribute a little a Donation would be nice.

Oh, and Industry professional who may have this site as a resource and have over time made some money from sales due to their exposure here, might consider that a minimum Donation of $20 is a good investment for the future, and a good way to show appreciation for the existence of this site and past revenue ? .

[Roger Hooper]

Donations are now at $2,435.00. The target goal has been reached, but more will surely be useful.

[Nathan Robinson]

[Leo Todeschini]

HI Nathan,

I am thrilled that this has been reached and everything is good for now, but there are few things that are clear to me.

Yes the world has moved on and there are so many ways to post stuff up that MA is just one of many ways and so my go to display site of 2010 is not the same as 2020. Personally I think this is a shame, because I have learnt a staggering amount solely because of my interactions with MA, its threads and its members and actually because I am coming here less than I did my rate of learning has gone down. However as with most good intentions, I am aware of this and yet still I don't visit and post as much as I did, which is of course exactly what creates that vital life blood of a site like this.

However amongst all the noise the of the modern world, just as Craig said at the start, this is my absolute first point of reference. When I want to find something out, nothing, NOTHING, comes close to the body of reference, empirical knowledge and intelligent conjecture this site has to offer. Because of that I would be horrified to think this site could be lost. From an altruistic point of view, to the rest of the world and from a selfish point of view, to me. For this reason Nathan, if it gets to a point where MA needs more support, just ask us as I am sure I am not alone in these thoughts.

All the best and thank you for creating and nurturing this extraordinary place.

Tod

[Mark Millman]

Folks,

Yes, you can and should donate. Thanks to everybody who has donated, and I hope that more people--who may not have visited recently and don't know about the drive--will do so.

Do you know what else you can do? Subscribe to a membership plan. They go for a small annual fee (US$25 or US$45) which is automatically billed.

Just think: If enough of us do this, Nathan's costs will be covered every year without his having to worry about it at all. Doesn't that seem wholly worthwhile?

Thank you, Nathan, for building and maintaining myArmoury.

Best,

Mark Millman

[Stephen Curtin]

I upgraded my membership. Sorry I didn't do it years ago.

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Michael Beeching]

My initial reaction would be that you should create a raffle in addition to a donation drive. Your raffle tickets would be a set price per ticket, etc. And of course, you would have a prize for the raffle.

You have had contests on the site before - I'm not sure that they were as straight-forward as the raffle suggested here. Regardless, it might be counter-productive for the site administration to procure a prize item out-of-pocket. Instead, that item needs to be (a.) a donation and (b.) of sufficient value to generate interest in the raffle. In all cases, you are asking people to give.

...I actually have a suggestion for the prize item: make it a community project. For instance, who can provide either a ready-made blade (such as a Hanwei), or who can produce one from raw materials? If the latter case, who can do the heat-treat? Who can produce the hilt parts? Who can do leatherwork? Who can do metal finishing, etc? For those not able to give what might be needed financially, they could potentially offer up some of their handiwork instead. It would be an interesting experiment at the very least, and the participants might just learn something and engage in something they otherwise wouldn't.

*****

Jean, you may not like my position on this, but I feel I need to say this: Artisans certainly benefit from this site being here, but unfortunately I do not think today's Western culture has treated them all that well. Spending over a thousand dollars for a sword may be imposing for the average consumer, but a lot of work and care goes into making one, and often that work is severely undervalued. Please allow me to ask this question: are you willing to go out and buy a quality weapon at this present time?

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Jean Thibodeau]

Giving the Donation Drive another push forward, the amount raised has reached and slightly exceeded the goal for 2020, but it's no reason to stop giving Nathan and for the longterm health of the site some more funds to keep it viable.

Now, this should also be a Donation Drive for the 2019 year that didn't have a Donation drive and that Nathan paid the full freight for 2019 completely out of pocket while at the same time not having the best financial situation.


So how about compensating a bit for the neglected 2019 inexistent financial help that year, well except for maybe a few people who may have given small amounts in 2019 without being asked plus the few people who have enhanced memberships who pay a regular amount to support the site ..... There are a few of these people, but not so many as to give a reliable and predictable money stream each year.

Note Nathan is having to update donors and donation totals manually, so maybe a bit more cash has been raised, but I haven't seen the numbers change in a few days .... So maybe Nathan's access to the Internet may be less than optimum during the Covid-19 crisis ?

As mentioned before many times by me or others, Nathan has put in what must be multiple thousands of hours of work creating and keeping this site running on fumes as far as money coming in is concerned, so any money raised is not only to keep this site alive, but should also be in gratitude for all of his " UNPAID " work ! This is why I keep pushing raising more funds than the minimal needed to keep it in existence !

[Craig Johnson]

HI Everyone,

I wanted to add my deep thanks to all that have supported myArmoury and Nathan so far, it truly makes me feel good about the community I have chosen to spend much of my life involved with and working alongside. I had hoped to be more participatory in the earlier portion of this fund raising effort but who knew having folks stay home would increase my need to do list. All of us work towards being healthier and safer by staying home, it has however increased customer communication by quite a bit and social media interaction (oh yea ) :-) We are very grateful for those that have ordered from makers to support them and it has been amazing how many have stepped forward. I know all makers thank you deeply for your support. As per Michael's question to Jean below...

[Jean Thibodeau]

Well, glad to see that the Donation Goal was reached relatively quickly, the last Donation Drive in 2018 was slower to get to the donation objective.

I also see that some donations are still coming in and I see no reason to stop growing the amount.

Also, with the current pandemic crisis it's encouraging that people still care enough to keep this site going.

We are not far from the $3000 mark and at $4,200( +) it would also cover most the 2019 Hosting Costs that where completely paid out of Nathan's pocket since there wasn't a Donation Drive that year, as mentioned previously.

[Nathan Robinson]

I've increased the goal to $3600 US in an attempt to get a head start on the payment due in November. As mentioned before, I paid November 2019 out of pocket and much of the expense for 2018 as well because of the timing of things.

I'm not going to be able to do that again in the future so it's probably best to inch towards these donation drives rather than try to cram it in last minute.

I've had zero income for quite some time now and with the world's recent events as they are, I'm not sure when this will change. Most of my time is spent looking but things are tough out there right now.

Without member support, this site won't exist. I'm thankful to all you contributors.

EDIT: it's been suggested that instead of moving the donation goal to cover the upcoming cost due in November, that I start a new donation drive goal for the full amount of that November payment. I think this is a good idea. Thank you for reimbursing me the cost paid last year. This was incredibly helpful!! We have a full five months to raise about $2400. That should ease up things make this seem not as much of an emergency situation.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Here is a nice surprise and a SHOUTOUT by Skallagrim on his Youtube Channel site about the current Donation Drive and he has nice things to say about the value of this site that should get more support.

I thought that you all should know about it, and it would help if other Youtuber who know this site and have appreciated it for years as a valuable resource might also give " myArmoury " and the Donation Drive a shoutout on their Youtube channels, if they wish to do so. ( No pressure, just a suggestion. )

Link to the Skallagrim Youtube video and the shoutout:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu6z7vy8uMc

Big thanks to Skallagrim for doing this.

[Jean Henri Chandler]

This is an invaluable resource and a nexus of a variety of communities from HEMA / WMA practitioners, historical researchers, writers, re-enactors, collectors, artisans and so on. It is one of the best run forums of this type online and it would be a crime if it was lost. I am embarrassed that I can only contribute a small amount right now but as soon as I'm in a better position to do so I will throw a few more into the bucket. Thank you for all the hard work (and I know it is) just keeping this place civil and so useful for so long.

Jean Henri

[Jean Thibodeau]

Short note on a " Glitch " about the Donation goal amount and the donated up to this time amount seems to have reverted to earlier numbers, Nathan is doing the updates manually because of technical issues, and it seems to be giving the wrong numbers.

Nathan's access to the Internet is less than optimum at the moment so it may take a bit of time for him to see the error in numbers and fix them. ( Note I sent him a PM about it a few minutes ago. )

EDITED: My apologies for misinterpreting/misreading the change in goal.

[Nathan Robinson]

There's no glitch, Jean. The first goal, to pay for the 2019 hosting, has been reached. Thanks to everyone who made that happen!

If you read the text for our donation drive it says: