What was the point in donating?

[AmmoJammo]

I made a donation 2 weeks ago, got (I assume) an automated private message:

Dear AmmoJammo,
       
        We have noticed that you haved used our PayPal Donation System on 06-21-12, 10:50.
        Your donation will be checked and you'll receive another PM if/when it's confirmed.
       
        Best Regards,
       
        The Forum Team

And then nothing? Never added to the monthly total, and it appears no one has donated since 2010 anyway... so what was the point?

[AmmoJammo]

And then?

[SysAdmin]

Donation reporting site broken, trying to fix.

[djos]

Donation reporting site broken, trying to fix.

So what goodies do we get for donating? are there levels?

[AmmoJammo]

Wouldn't bother donating again, thats for sure.

[mongo]

It's a donation. If you don't know what the point is then why did you do it?

[outlawal2]

Hmmm. the usual point of donating is to support the folks that make things happen...  Clearly you donate for some other reason altogether such as a pat on the head or some kind of recognition..   I recommend donating to support the folks that make things happen rather than the receipt of some kind of "gift"...

[SysAdmin]

Ammo please do me a favor. Don't donate then be an ahole about it afterwords. No one tied you to a chair, beat you and forced you to donate. Thanks for supporting the site, it is appreciated.

[AmmoJammo]

If you donate to something, a charity, forum, anything! you generally want to see your money has actually gone where you were expecting it to.

If you donated to a charity that provided school books to third world children, then heard nothing, of course you wouldn't be happy.

In this case, the only recognition that my donation has been received and put to use, is the "total" bar at the top of the forums, and yet, that hasn't changed? All I got was an automated PM, and then nothing for weeks, till I had to ask twice what was going on... even then, the word "sorry" would have gone a long way.

[CritAnime]

I really don't get the issue. You donated to the site. You obviously thought it was gonna go towards stuff like hosting and such. If you wanted something else then why not subscribe?

[mongo]

If you donate to something, a charity, forum, anything! you generally want to see your money has actually gone where you were expecting it to.

Where were you expecting it to go?

[djos]

If you donate to something, a charity, forum, anything! you generally want to see your money has actually gone where you were expecting it to.

If you donated to a charity that provided school books to third world children, then heard nothing, of course you wouldn't be happy.

In this case, the only recognition that my donation has been received and put to use, is the "total" bar at the top of the forums, and yet, that hasn't changed? All I got was an automated PM, and then nothing for weeks, till I had to ask twice what was going on... even then, the word "sorry" would have gone a long way.

It is hard living in a world of instant gratification especially when one is a Gen Y'er, right AJ?



PS, my wife is a Gen Y'er and I'm forever telling her to relax and not be so dammed impatient. (im a Gen X'er)

[motrucker]

If you donate to something, a charity, forum, anything! you generally want to see your money has actually gone where you were expecting it to.

If you donated to a charity that provided school books to third world children, then heard nothing, of course you wouldn't be happy.

In this case, the only recognition that my donation has been received and put to use, is the "total" bar at the top of the forums, and yet, that hasn't changed? All I got was an automated PM, and then nothing for weeks, till I had to ask twice what was going on... even then, the word "sorry" would have gone a long way.

Everyone now knows you donated something to the kitty. You can give it a rest....

[ptek]

Well, I removed my previous reply.

I think AJ concerns is about the transparency of the process.

If there is no visibility about the donations on public status, them people may start to wonder if it goes to the right place, even if there is absolutely nothing wrong.

[J-Golden]

 But you did get a message thanking you for the donation.  Sure the tracker is down, but that should have told you that it was received and by the right people.

FYI, The original owner of A.ORG, Wayne, was a web programming guru.  He put together all kinds of cool stuff for us that Pyro and others inherited.

The down side is that the new owners don't have the same intimate understanding of how A.ORG was assembled so when something breaks, it takes longer to find the issue and fix. It usually has a good amount of frustration thrown into the repair process as well...