"How soon we forget..." Wed Apr-30-03 07:58 AM by jasonlevine
Two weeks ago Jason posted an anchored thread announcing our Semi- Annual Fund Drive. To date I am ashamed to say we have had a total of 35 contributors, I was one of them so that leaves 34 of you that give a damn about this site!
Think back to September 2002. It was announced that the PC911 forum would be no more. Everyone was shocked and in despair that what we had built together, our community, would be lost. may of you scoured the internet seeking a new home.
Then I, and the other moderators, put together a plan for a new forum, PCQ&A. It went live on October 2, 2002. Read some of the reactions of our members at the time.
Those of you that were here then, you remember, don't you? Our newer members were not around then, so you especially should read the above thread. Go back in the archives, there were hundreds of other threads about this.
Together we saved this little corner of the internet, for ourselves and all those that came afterward.
Now barely six months later, only 34 of you care enough about PCQ&A to send a small donation. Only 34 out of a world wide membership of over 8000! I know a few of you are seeing hard times, may be unemployed, or be short of cash in this recession, but only 34 out of 8000?
Nothing of any value comes free. How much money have you saved every time someone helped you with a computer problem here? Where will you go for help and entertainment if this site were to vanish?
It costs about $4000.00 a year to pay our bills and keep the site going. We need to collect half of that now. Don't sit back and think that someone else is going to pick up the tab for you. It's that simple. I'm ashamed that I had to write this post.
You know, I don't know if you've ever before mentioned how much it costs to run the site. I was always curious, but didn't want to ask. More support is on the way.
Hi Beth, could you (or Jason) find out how much your bank would charge to convert an Australian Money Order to US Dollars? As I said in my reply to Jason's anchored thread the only way I could do it is by Money Order.
I don't have a credit card or cheque (check) account, heck, I wouldn't even have a bank account if I didn't need it for getting my pay but if your bank's conversion fee isn't that large then I could just add the amount to my donation. Thanks.
Hi, I haven't been to this site for a while, but every time I do I see interesting posts. I thought this one was going to be for the troops in Iraq, but I found out otherwise.
I'll be glad to send in a little donation to support this site. Every time I come here I get very useful information without asking questions. From what Shelly said if there are 8000 users here, if everyone sent in just one dollar then this place sould stay up and running forever. Of course we all know that it's not going to happen that way, so I'm more than happy to donate to keep a quality site like this up and running.
Thank you for keeping this site going. It's the most useful site I have found so far in my 4 years of surfing cyberland and playing with computers. Great work everyone
I will try to check at the bank tomorrow. We had to ask before for a Canadian money order, but I don't recall the exact conversion fee (I'm guessing it'll be different for other currencies). If the people that work their on the weekends don't know, I will try to get a firm answer on Monday.
I didn't want you to think that I had forgotten about you. Jason and I never made it to the bank before they closed on Saturday. I was planning on heading there today, but had to visit my doctor. Tomorrow I am planning on going there on my way to the P.O. Box. Hopefully there will be a person there that can give me a straight answer (the weekend people don't usually have a clue). As soon as I know I will get back to you. Thanks for your patience.
Jason and I went to the bank Wednesday afternoon. They told us that all international money orders have different fees associated with them. The guy knew that a Canadian money order would cost us $7.00 to begin with and then whatever the exchange rate is on the day the transaction goes through. He said he wasn't sure what the fee would be for an Australian money order. They did suggest that we go to another bank that is a national chain. He said that they are often better with handling foreign currencies. I'm going to contact my friend about this. Her father is a branch manager for one of those banks. Hopefully he may be able to provide me with better answers. Thanks for your patience while we try to track down a definite answer.
Thanks, Shelly, for the post. I am new here, and didn't realize there was a need for financial support here. I will be giving my support in the next day or so.
#9. "RE: How soon we forget..." In response to musicscore (Reply # 6) Sat Apr-12-03 07:28 AM
You're always right as usual,Shelly, I, admit on being a dink on this,but I just threw down my glasses in disgust at the "paypal" system which,I entered all the appropriate information,then it tells me that I already have a paypal account and then I try to sign in and the tell me that there's no record of my account so anyway,I, will actually fill out a check,right now,and mail it,tomorrow,(I'm filling it out now !)
What ?? Wait a minute,the check's in the mail.... (No,for REAL,this time !)
I have one question people, how can I be sure you received my money order. An email from Jason or lady would be welcome. Not thanks please,just an acknowledgement.......
Hi All - Oops......I must confess I tend to ignore stickies at the top! Anyway, to quote the old cliche - "It's in the mail" Sincerely, Richard. Website http://www.mvessexgirl.com Pentium 3 1.2GHz, 512 Mb Ram, 2x 30GB hdds, Jetway 694TAS motherboard with o/b sound, GeForce 4 Ti 4200 128Mb ram, Philips CDRW, Toshiba DVD, 450w PSU, OneTouch8600 scanner, Hauppauge Nexus-s Sat TV, Win XP Pro SP1. “It’s nice to be important, but it’s important to be nice”
Yes, I just got your money order at the P.O. Box the other day. We will try to let people know in the future when we receive money orders (since there is no other way for you to know that we got them). Please see the following for an explanation.
I have tried to pay using Paypal but every time I start entering details someone tries to hack into my computer, it shows up on my firewall, I don't like that, who is it and what do they want? When paying over the internet I have never had this before. John
That seems a bit strange. Perhaps you could post the logs or the IP's of the attack source.
There have been issues with fake Paypal sites in the past but I thought that had all been resolved. A search of the forum archives should turn up some info on that.
I used Paypal recently to send a donation and it got through without problems.
#18. "RE: How soon we forget..." In response to mcnallyjp (Reply # 17) Sat Apr-12-03 02:47 PM
Hello Jim, Still happening, just can't complete form with the interuptions. Here are the IP's: 128.9.0.109 202.12.27.78 162.134.76.102 One seems to be from: caida.org, another I tried to trace said unavailable. They have been coming up almost non stop. They go when I leave paypal site. They all want to send a packet to my machine, kernel driver. Will keep trying. John
I cant resolve the IPs either, but am inclined to think they are harmless especially as they are being blocked.
Are you using Zone Alarm with the "informational alert" notification turned on? If so you may wish to turn it off. ZA is doing it's job and blocking these packets. The pop up alerts are really just a nuisance. The program access request pop ups will still appear.
You can view the incoming alerts at leisure in you ZA logs. If you notice a particular pattern unconnected with anything you are actively doing it may be worth chasing up. Although past experience of doing this shows this is more of interest rather than productive. (Grogan has previously advised against pinging or probing any suspicious IPs. You don't know whose interest you might awaken!)
If you are worried about trojans etc. You could down load and run the 30 day trial of Trojan Hunter 3.5 . It is fully functional and if remember correctly doesn't keep bugging you to purchase.(It just stops working after 30 days, wont download any updates etc.)
OrgName: Information Sciences Institute OrgID: ISI-3 Address: 4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 1001 City: Marina del Rey StateProv: CA PostalCode: Country: US NetRange: 128.9.0.0 - 128.9.255.255
OrgName: Asia Pacific Network Information Centre OrgID: APNIC Address: PO Box 2131 City: Milton StateProv: QLD PostalCode: 4064 Country: AU NetRange: 202.0.0.0 - 203.255.255.255
Here's what I get, if it matters. I don't know why someone would have a firewall set to notify on this kind of thing, it would drive me nuts On the other hand, I don't like PayPal at all, but I can see how it would be useful for international use if a credit card wasn't in the, oh-oh, cards.
Sorry that you had to write in order to give us a nudge but sometimes people need that, including me. can you tell me which is the best way to get a donation to pc q&a? please include in your reply the address to which it can be sent:7
Hi Jim. Got through at last! after repeated attempts. The hackers were almost non stop, just couldn't understand it. I actually use Kerio firewall and BoClean. I did try Trojan Hunter and similar but got fed up with the false positives, you don't get them with BoClean. Thanks for your replies. John
PayPal tends to be quickest, however they do take out a small percentage per transaction. Checks/money orders take a little bit longer to receive, but we don't have anything taken out of the donation.
Thank you Shelly for the reminder. I am ashamed of myself that I let this sit on the back burner for so long. Count on my contribution within the next two weeks (payday). This site is often the highlight of my day; I would hate to lose it. Also thanks to Jason for having the fortitude and decency to keep it going!
Jason and Shelly, there has to be a better way to handle the financing of PCQ&A's operation. Each 'member's' contribution to keep the site afloat at the current membership level is a mere fifty cents every six months. One dollar per year. Yet, only a handful are stepping up to the plate. First time around, I sent in fifteen dollars. This time I'm sending five and subscribing to CPU Magazine and making a purchase at batteries.com. The purchases aside, my combined monetary contributions are paying my annual "fees" and those nineteen other members.
If any of you out there who are not contributing to PCQ&A (and even those who are) are looking for what you might consider a 'more worthy' cause, I would like to direct you to the plight of the wolf in the United States. The Bush administration wishes to remove the wolf from the endangered species classification and Defenders of Wildlife (and the wolves) could certainly use your help to prevent this from happening. The following link will take you there: https://www.virtualsprockets.com/Transactions/SecureTransaction.cfm?sts=1&cfid=3530489&cftoken=5293472
. Onward & Upward ! Sid
WINDOWS 10 ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB Intel i5 3750K CPU 8g Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM Corsair Neutron 250g SSD
#34. "RE: How soon we forget..." In response to Sid (Reply # 33) Sun Apr-13-03 07:10 AM
Sid we all know that most people are quite content to sit back and let somebody else pull their wagon, just ask your local public radio or TV station. Some can't afford to help, that's OK. Some just don't care. That leaves it up to the rest of us to get the job done.
#35. "RE: How soon we forget..." In response to Shelly (Reply # 0) Sun Apr-13-03 07:23 AM
For those in other country's that do not wish to use PayPal or a Credit card.
You can walk into any bank in the world (I'm not sure about Iraq and North Korea), and purchase a bank draft, for any amount, in US dollars, and mail it to us.
I do a lot of international business, and in many cases I require payment in advance of shipment in USD. Pursuing a delinquent account in another country can be a problem.
I'll be sending in a check this coming week. I have an idea though to increase & encourage more contributions - how about a page that lists all the contributors for the year or month? Maybe even include the size and/or frequency of their contribution? Or, maybe a better approach would be to have a tiny rotating banner in one corner that says something like "sponsored by..." with the name of one contributor. At some interval it could change & another contributor's name would appear, maybe with each page refresh. Anyway, just an idea.
Most users would probably not like to have the amount that they donated (or perhaps even that they did donate) plastered all over PCQandA. Besides, it would require my coming up with a system that would track which users have donated recently and it would require me to update it constantly.
Jason, the new "Commission Links" is a great idea. I just bought from Crucial, thinking it was helping the site, but I didn't realize that you had to go through here to get credit. (Don't worry, it was not a huge purchase)
I'm sure Shelly's post has rattled a lot of fruit from the tree. My thoughts, FWIW:
-Virtually everyone feels compelled to donate, but most of us need a boost sometimes.
-Knowing the financial status of the site, even in vague terms such as how much it costs to run it, is incentive in itself. I can not imagine a situation where if this site were in financial trouble it would not have enough support to rescue it.
-It seems that most people need a little more than a cancelled check or a credit card invoice to feel that their donation has helped, or maybe more importantly, that it wasn't lost in the shuffle somehow.
-I still think this site should be supported by people like me who contribute very little in advice but get a lot back in return. I know Shelly and Marti, and I'm sure others, disagree with that, but I'd rather "sponsor" them than see them contribute. Maybe you could have a "Sponsor a Moderator" option to contribute on behalf of someone who has been particularly helpful, sort of like those highway clean up "adopt a highway" signs .
It seems that most people need a little more than a cancelled check or a credit card invoice to feel that their donation has helped, or maybe more importantly, that it wasn't lost in the shuffle somehow.
Just an FYI to let you and all of the other members know that my new project is taking care of thank you notes for donations. Last night I got a little over 100 of them out, most of which were from the original fund raiser in September.
The important thing is for people to make sure we get an e-mail address or PCQandA user ID so we can contact you. My goal over the next few days is trying to contact people from the initial fund drive that did not include an e-mail address and/or user ID. PayPal donations automatically include an e-mail, so it's most important with donations mailed in.
Also know that as soon as we receive the checks/money orders that are in the mail you should receive some sort of note. Please be aware that due to Passover starting this week there may be a slight delay. Thanks to everyone for understanding and supporting PCQandA.
Hey Beth, speaking of cancelled checks I was just going through my checkbook and I notice that you haven't presented a check I wrote on February 26th (even before Shelly's scolding). It's the only check in my check book that is still outstanding right now.
Dave, I just checked our records. I have a feeling that your check may be floating out there somewhere in the postal service. It really should be here by now if you sent it Feb. 26th. When we get checks we try to deposit them within a few days so we don't mess up your records. Last night I actually finished sending out all of the old and new thank you notes that we have received at this point. (FYI - most are sent via e-mail and a few with private messages). If we had your donation by then you would have gotten something from me.
I'm planning on heading to the P.O. Box tomorrow. I couldn't get there today since I had to go to the doctor for an emergency visit (nothing serious - just a virus from the kids at school). If for some chance I find your check I will let you know ASAP.
Note to everyone else: There were two thank you notes from the original fund raiser that kept bouncing back to me and we couldn't track down a user ID. Please remember that it is extremely important to update your e-mail address when it changes for not only PCQandA, but PayPal as well. In addition to this, if you send in a money order or check please note your e-mail address and/or PCQandA user ID. This will help me out in sending you verification of your donation. Thanks in advance.
I'll just re write the check. Also, I owe an additional $10 (which I didn't send yet) for a post a while ago offering $1 for every typo anyone could find on my new web site. Jim (KJT) found ten of them, so you can put that donation in his column
#45. "RE: How soon we forget..." In response to Shelly (Reply # 0) Mon Apr-14-03 02:25 AM
Shelly Your suggestion of sending bank drafts is good but quite costly from some countries, as is 'Western Union'.
Is there a way of using a credit card direct to 'PC Q&A' other than by 'pay pal' and similar systems or are they absolutely necessary for such a transaction? Perhaps 'PC Q&A' could arrange with the bank to facilitate credit card transactions direct? No doubt there will be some cost involved, but this should be offset by the ease with which (especially non U.S) donations could be made.
I can easily send a cheque from New Zealand but you suggest that may not be the most appropriate method. and I guess you are thinking of 'personal' cheques which require rerouting back to their origin to clear funds.
I have just confirmed the difference between a 'bank cheque' and a 'bank draft' - they both are immediately cleared funds at the receiver end, but the b/cheque takes the period of normal mail in transit to deliver, and the b/draft takes only 1-2 days from anywhere, but at 3 times the cost!
A credit card transaction direct to 'PC Q&A', would still seem to be the best option if it could be arranged.
It is quite costly to set up credit card service with a bank, and the fees charged by the bank per transaction depend on the volume and the average size of the transaction. We would come up on the short end in both criteria. The cost of being able to accept credit cards for us probably would more than exceed the amount of money we would receive. That is the advantage of using services like PayPal.
Awright, already. I forgot. Just got my Paypal thingy saying that Jasonlevine@yahoo.com should have my donation. Sorry you had to post the second appeal, Shelly.
I'm an infrequent visitor to this BBS and didn't know about the fundraising drive until today (and already made by donation via PayPal).
I'm wondering if you considered sending out a mass email to all the members mentioning the fundraising drive? Or would that have been a problem and gotten you zapped for spamming for doing a mass mailing? I would think not because we are all members.
My point is, had I received an email informing me about the fundraising drive vs. having to come here and see it as a topic, I would have given money sooner to support this site. Although I'm by far from a regular, I am aware that I have typically gotten quick and accurate responses to almost every computer problem I have posted. And donating via Paypal, since I already had an account set up, could not have been easier. I used the embedded link in this thread and it took all of about 10 seconds.
ok being computer illeterate I really enjoy this site. So for the last few weeks been looking at crucial to get more memory and contribute. Finally found the right memory (I hope) and going to order next payday. My ? is does it show up as me being a contributor or is there something special I have to do when I go to order. Thanks
As long as you order it through the links on this site it should be credited to us. I don't think they provide us with information as to who purchased the memory, it's just all combined into one monthly commission amount. Jason or Beth will correct me if I'm wrong about that.
Well,I just got a very nice "Thank You" note for my donation from Beth. NO... ,Thank You,and all the people giving freely of their time and expertize,and making this the best computer forum on the net !! Keep up the great work !
As long as you order it through the links on this site it should be credited to us. I don't think they provide us with information as to who purchased the memory, it's just all combined into one monthly commission amount. Jason or Beth will correct me if I'm wrong about that.
We believe that Shelley is right about the monthly commission payment. Jason said that he's pretty sure that that's the way they do it. We will know more as soon as our first month passes and we get notification from them.
I haven't been to this forum lately to read what has been going on, but I sure as hell will donate. Everytime I come here I usually get help. Tell me where to send my donation and it will be there. Thanks for helping me numerous times . . . . .
Shelly: I missed the request for a donation and I am ashamed to say that I have not contributed until now. The thought of you guys not being around to help us novices really scared me into doing the right thing. I am a recently retired marine engineer (building aircraft carriers) living on a fixed income (comfortably)now and there's no excuse for not being willing to pay for a service that is so inexpensive relative to what we get out of it. You guys that run this site have my gratitude and please, please, in the future yell at us whenever we fail to support you. That is much better than the alternative, i.e., the closing of this site. Thanks for all you do.
I was away for a week. I was kind of disappointed to see the content of this thread. I'm a single disabled guy on a fixed income and I was one of the 34 people to send in a contribution. Might not have been the biggest contribution but I sent what I was able to. It is sad that only 34 out of 8000. If this site was to shutdown my interest in the internet would diminish to near nothing. I have learned so much from this site. The amount of knowledge I have learned from this site would easily measure up to at least a couple of PC courses. Now knowing the amount of money that it takes to run this site I will plan on making another contribution in the near future. Remember folks that when you give you get something in return. Call it "Karma", call it "You reap what you sow", call it "what goes around comes around" but life always seems to reward those who give to good causes. This site is a valuable asset to all of us. Not just for PC knowledge but also as a community of friendship. Its like an online family of people coming together with an interest in computers. I feel really blessed to have ever found this community early in 98 at pc911. I never go online with out checking in here. Ive built 3 PC systems from all I have learned here and have done many upgrades and repairs for family, friends myslef and others as well. If this site vanished I would miss it soo much.
For the benefit of anyone sending a contribution from the UK (and maybe other countries) I found it quite painless. I went to an American Express office, stated the amount that I wanted to send in US dollars and they added their fee. I paid for the US DOLLAR International Money Order by a cheque supported by a bank card (valid up to 50 pounds sterling). I could have paid by credit card which has to be supported by a passport or driver's licence. Beth has confirmed that they didn't have to pay any further fee their end.
Never been far from my mind, but recent financial strains have meant things had to be prioritised. Pleased to say though that a PayPal contribution will be on it's way shortly.
Sid
