London Fixed-gear and Single-speed

[updated 2012-09-14]

The server upon which this site is hosted costs money.

That's OK because we generally have money in the bank from things like T-shirts, whip-rounds, donations and affiliate adverts.

Our physical server costs alone exceed £450 per month (9 servers!). Then there are domains, SSL certificates, software licensing, cloud services for email, a part-time and cheap sysadmin (me), accountancy, the list goes on and gets duller in the process.

If we raise more than we need then the money simply sits in the bank account and we stop asking for money for a while (like we have done in the past).

You're NOT obliged to donate.

In fact I am very much of the opinion that you shouldn't donate if you can't afford to, even if you use the site heavily.

I don't really want anyone donating large amounts either. Even if you're loaded and you're addicted to the site.

The best way for costs to be met is for many people to give a little.

The way I view this is this:
When you can, and when you feel you want to, buy the server a beer.

Which means I'd rather have 5% of people donate £3.50 per month on average, than have 5 people give £100 each.

Why? Because it's fairer for starters. You also won't feel the price of a pint. And if we were to rely on larger donations from fewer people then we'd be exposed to the risk that if those people stopped donating we'd be screwed. So by spreading the load of what the server needs to raise, we reduce the risk to our cash flow and we keep it as cheap as chips for everyone.

Finally. There are no perks or status to be gained from donating. You get a little gold star next to your username in recognition that you are a patron of the site and a warm fuzzy feeling. It's not a popularity contest or something to beat up those who are too broke to help. It's just a "If you like this place enough, and can afford to and want to, consider buying it a beer.". That's all.

To donate please use this page: http://www.lfgss.com/payments.php

If that's too hard, tell me and I'll add a donate button somewhere.

"And finally. There are no perks or status to be gained from donating."

Well, in that case, hmmpf! :P

EDIT: There ya go.. postwhore contribution #1

Heh.

Well, isn't the forum's existence a perk?

OK, if you insist I'll get wayne_f14 to recount his tale of cycling in nothing but his mask. If that isn't worth the money then nothing is.

Satan worshipper.

GIVE A POUND OR I'LL START POSTING THE PICTURES

that should increase the revenue stream a tad

hehe wha? huh? there's nothing significan't about that number.. just random digits man..

And in the case of untexas, give £2 to see the pictures.

just donated. does the server drink ale or lager?

It's the lfgss server.. it drinks whatever it can get it's hands on! :)

Malort and Absinthe are the preferred tipples.

Seems only fair to donate - I've been on here so much in the past few weeks! reading old threads etc to make the days pass and numb the pain of work.

I'm bikeless and in Norwich at the moment - sucks. My frame was delivered to London yesterday and I'm gonna build it up tonight - YAY!

Server = my friend. Only drinks Red Stripe.

You've not ordered another Bob Jackson have you David?

Of course not. Mine's perfect (well, a little big but I don't say that around her).

pint just bought for the sever. a pint of skol

Skol?
get prepared to re-boot the server! :-P

I think you said that just as I restarted the web server.

I'm almost done playing around, honest.

fair dos, david. i've stuck a couple of quid in.

David it seems fare but at the moment i'm moving house so you can imagine how dry my pockets are but once i'll get back on my feet i'll chip in

There's NO obligation at all. Nada, zero, zip.

In fact, I really don't want anyone to donate if they don't want to, can't afford to, or if they're saving up for a new saddle or something.

As no announcements are being made as to who has or hasn't donated, you shouldn't feel any guilt to donate if you can't or just don't want to.

That's the way I like things... non-elitist, inclusive... and letting those that can and want to donate do so, and let everyone regardless of their means or attachment to the place enjoy it.

The only log of who has donated is on http://www.bowlie.com/accounts/ and even then the user info is anonymous.

And if you're out at the Snow this evening Stef, I'll get you a pint (own money, the server money is for it's slush fund and not mine).

In the great words of Tony Hancock "Wot, don't I even get a badge?!"

You can have a spoke card if you'd like. Speak to Hovis Brown.

can i donate with out a creditcard or bank account?

Not really. It doesn't help you see.

If you gave me money I'd spend it on beer, and the server would go without.
And frankly I personally don't need money, the server does (though not urgently, just in general).

And then there's the complications. We host in Texas as it's the most cost-effective place to host. We bank in NYC as we could and keeping everything in one currency works and as our bills are in USD we bank in USD. We use a British bank account and PayPal to handle shifting money from donors to the US bank account as it's easy. On Bowlie we accept donations in USD, CAD, EUR, GBP, YEN, AUD, so our entire system is set-up to handle multi-currency donations.

In other words, it's complex and everything is kept online and it's best that we never actually see the money because it might then be tempting to dip in.

Oh, and there's two of us who run things, and we are overseen by a third person. I run the tech, Carl runs the finances, Aruni makes sure neither Carl or I do anything we shouldn't.

The result of all of this, is that donations are best made electronically via PayPal or bank transfer (we can and do receive monthly standing orders from lots of Bowlie users who donate £1 or £2 per month directly to our UK bank account).

Which means... nope, without a debit/credit card or bank account it's pretty hard to take a donation.

Don't worry about it though.

For some reason I felt compelled to buy the server a beer this morning (I guess I'm now doing anything humanely possible to do work today). Its being doing good work for a while. Chapeau to it I say.

velocity boy: thats quite a complicated set-up you've got going there. I'd hate to be the accountant :)

I'd hate to be the coder behind it... oh.

It works alright really. Very little effort to keep it all up in the air :) I think the server says thanks btw.

Early Christmas drink for the forum. Well it's the afternoon now, it can start drinking.

After todays forum antics and as a result of reading these two threads;

5,000 members... sponsored by Specialized

Subtle changes, bugs and feedback

I think it may be time to compile a list of those willing to donate a sum (is £3 reasonable, it is the cost of a pint FFS) to keep this up and running without bowing down to the overloads of sponsorship.

If enough people are willing and it gets the OK from VB then let's make this happen.

1. el squire

1. el squire
2. hillbilly

we don't need a list.
just donate to paypal@buro9.com

VB's post

There's no time like the present, especially whilst that banner is still there reminding us.

Thread = Awareness

Especially if it gets made into a sticky.

Cheers VB for moving it. I must spread rep before giving it.

1. el squire
2. hillbilly
3. Dov (when I get a new bank card and my monies back)

Fair point mr squirrel..
I am donating Jimbilly's birthday cider fund to the forum.. long may it last!

Updated the first post to make it accurate. It was only about 14 months out of date and referred to the much larger and more costly server that we used to be on.

1. el squire PAID
2. hillbilly
3. Dov (when I get a new bank card and my monies back)

1. el squire PAID
2. hillbilly
3. Dov (when I get a new bank card and my monies back)
4. FazeRed PAID

Whats the yearly suggested donation? I can't remember monthly thingies.

All in one go for me, if thats allowed.

1. el squire PAID
2. hillbilly
3. Dov (when I get a new bank card and my monies back)
4. FazeRed PAID
5. Donut! PAID

Excellent work soon VB's front room will look like this.


;)

look, just fucking donate, we don't need the list!

Easy tiger. Keep your panties on.

What happened to the wool winter jersey's idea? wouldnt that bring in some more revenue?
Also I need a new jersey and I was looking forward to it...

Speak to Benanza . . he was doing it. Not sure how far it go tho.

I am ashamed I have spent this long (almost a year) without buying the forum a pint, poor thing must be thirsty.
Cheers!

whats the best nation in the world?

do-nation.

whats the best city in the world?

generos-city.

courtesy of a panhandler in beavis and butthead..

racist

I am sure I am being internetly useless but I want to donate and don't know how to use paypal. I have been onto paypal.com and clicked onto send money to a friend. It then seems that I need to set-up an account to send someone money. Can I not just give someone money using my card details? Do I need to set-up and account just to give someone money, I can't see myself ever wanting to receive money.

Have you never used eBay? Just set up an account and buy the forum a beer!