Small Box - Montana Owners Club

JLBOZ60 · 03-04-2005, 11:44 AM

Anyone besides me see the new little box at top of page? It says "Help Support MOC Make a Donation" Click here.

BillyRay · 03-04-2005, 12:23 PM

I see it, but it wasn't there yesterday.

sreigle · 03-04-2005, 02:52 PM

I clicked it and made a donation. I assume it's to help support the cost of the forum. I was already a paypal member but it looks like PayPal will handle it even if you are not a member. Or maybe you become a temporary member. Not sure how that works but it was easy to do. Vicki and I feel this forum has been invaluable to us and if a small donation will help keep it going and take the burden off whomever is paying for this, then we're willing to do that. Hopefully there will be a post soon explaining all this.

harleyrider · 03-04-2005, 05:22 PM

What do you put in the box that says "payment for"??As Steve said a small donation would be no problem for me.This forum is worth it for sure.

jrgwdenner · 03-04-2005, 05:28 PM

Sure seems like there are some mystery people behind this forum. Things appear and disappear without explanation.

Karl · 03-04-2005, 06:29 PM

I agree that the forum is worthwhile, and well worth a donation. BUT, please...some administrator tell us about it BEFORE just putting the box up asking for money. I hate to be sceptical, but...well, that is the nature of our society. How do I know at this point that my donation is in fact going where it implies??

RVWheels · 03-04-2005, 09:10 PM

Dear MOC member,

Thank you all for your concern regarding the new "box" that is showing up on the Forum. It is, indeed, a way for members to make a donation to help pay for the running of this board.

In the beginning we were small and used the resources provided by ForumCo very little so the cost was very little. Since we've grown significantly over the years and since we have a very active group of folks the costs have finally gone up.

Any and all donations will go to the running of the MOC Forum. If there are monies left over after paying our FourmCo bill it will go toward other MOC activities.

This is a donation only. You are under no obligation to send any funds whatsoever!

As Administrators (we mystery people) we try to stay as much behind the scene as possible so as NOT to interfere with the running of the board. Since the cost of running the board has grown beyond our personal abilities to pay we are making it possible for MOC members to help pay for the running of the MOC Forum. If you can help fine! If you cannot that is fine too!

Other alternatives were discussed and discarded for the time being.

They were:
Make the MOC a DUES paying board. This will not happen if we get sufficient donations.

Make it so that MOC would accept paid advertisements. This will NOT happen except as a last resort and maybe not even then.

Ask Keystone to pay for the board costs. This will not happen because we felt it would be a conflict of interest. We much prefer to be a completely independent type forum and have no strings attached from the manufacturer.

MOC Administrators

NJ Hillbilly · 03-05-2005, 01:44 AM

A little notice would have been nice, especially since there was an incident a while back with the software change that put ads on the forum pages. I guess we were all concerned that the donation request was legit.

John

azstar · 03-05-2005, 03:12 AM

Thank-you, RVWheels,

cargary · 03-05-2005, 03:15 AM

To the administrators:
We agree with John, that this forum is invaluable to us as a resource tool to help share knowledge and if financial support is needed, be up front and direct and offer us an explanation - as you now have done. It would have been better (public relations wise) to do it prior to a donation box appearing.
We are all adults and understand how hard it is to ask for money, but have found through experience that it is best to be direct and up front in this endeavor. Prior to this, we had no idea how this websit was being financed and agree that if finaces are needed, its best to come from those that receive benefit from it. Sorry, don't mean to preach or offend. Thanks for explanation, as we now understand the need.
Gary & Carole

Karl · 03-05-2005, 05:24 AM

A hearty "SECOND" to all that was just said following the explanation! I will make a donation forthwith.

jrgwdenner · 03-05-2005, 05:40 AM

Thank you, mystery people, for the explanation. I think cargary expressed my feelings as well. J

Joyce H · 03-05-2005, 07:09 AM

It might be nice to post a snail mail address and how to make out checks. Then those who do not feel comfortable using their computer and/or credit card on the internet to donate, could make out a check and mail it regular mail.

sreigle · 03-05-2005, 08:51 AM

Harleyrider, I just put the word "donation" in the "payment for" box. I think it can contain whatever you want to put in there. I suspect it is there in case there are more than one thing the money could be for. Just a guess but makes sense to me.

As for the box before the explanation (cart and horse?) situation.... I suspect the button had to be put on the forum by forumco. That takes some time. If forumco put the button in place without coordinating with the MOC administrator as to when it would appear, then I could see how this situation could happen. I can't say this is what happened but from my career in IT, which started as a computer programmer many years ago, I can see how this could happen. As good as the Administrators have been on this forum I have a hard time believing it was intentional. Just an opinion.

Montana_2779 · 03-05-2005, 03:12 PM

Ditto on the snail mail. I'd love to assist with the costs of the site, but PayPal is on my %$&@ list in indelible ink. I'll be happy to mail funds.

Lady RV · 03-05-2005, 05:49 PM

I tried to post this much earlier today but lost my Internet connection because my cell phone's battery went dead.

I do apologize for the tardiness of this reply.

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by cargary

To the administrators:

We agree with John, that this forum is invaluable to us as a resource tool to help share knowledge...

Let's not forget FUN and the fact that MOC has the most fabulous & the nicest people on the web. It seems owning a Montana goes hand in hand with being wonderful people.

Quote:

quote:...and if financial support is needed, be up front and direct and offer us an explanation - as you now have done. It would have been better (public relations wise) to do it prior to a donation box appearing.

We are all adults and understand how hard it is to ask for money, but have found through experience that it is best to be direct and up front in this endeavor.

We too were taken by surprise. The Donation button appeared much sooner than expected thanks to ForumCo and its diligence, hard work and support. They were not sure how long it would take to incorporate it into the forum's pages? Therefore it appeared prior to any of us having knowledge that it was there.

I for instance am away on business and stuck in a teeny tiny motel room with no Internet available. I was finally able to get my cell phone to work as a modem late yesterday evening and logged in for the first time in days. It was then that I saw the button and the start of this thread.

No one was trying not to be upfront but simply didn't know the main Duck was in place.

NOTE: sreigle/Steve you were right on in your guess as to what happened.

Quote:

quote:Prior to this, we had no idea how this websit was being financed and agree that if finaces are needed, its best to come from those that receive benefit from it. Sorry, don't mean to preach or offend. Thanks for explanation, as we now understand the need.
Gary & Carole

Please see this thread from the Montana Administrator

There are currently 3777 views, which means many members were aware of how the forum was being run and that it is privately financed.

RVWheels explained it all very well and I will reinforce this is just a donation and certainly not mandatory!

We have many improvements and new features we would like to make available to the MOC with only time and money standing in our way. The donation button is simply a way to supplement the financial burden.

We are working very hard to continue to make this the best place to spend your time on the World Wide Web. We never to my knowledge have done anything to evoke members to be suspicious of our intent or actions. Please try and trust us. We have been in existence for nearly Two and a Half Years now, so I assume we have been doing something right? Again please trust us to continue to work hard for you and know that our motives are only good ones.

Lady RV

Parrothead · 03-07-2005, 07:09 PM

Thank you Lady RV and Steve I agree with you. This is a great forum and they are only asking for donations. I'd lots rather give some for all we get as well as the fun and meeting great people than to have ads. My donation is on its way.

cargary · 03-08-2005, 03:50 AM

Lady RV:
As we now understand the need to help in the financing of this Forum, some of us would gladly do so if we had the pertinent information of who and where to make a check out for. As others have indicated, we also don't like giving out our credit card numbers over the internet.
If you can provide this information for us, we'd be happy to contribute. Incidentally, I clicked on the website "the Montana Adminstrator" and a pop up said this page is no longer available.
Gary & Carole

Jeff Heiser · 03-08-2005, 05:29 AM

Hey here's a suggestion:
At the Reno rally ask for donations to run the board. I am sure those attending would gladly make a donation if possible. And, for all of us in our various regions when ever we hold a get together it would be a good thing to have a donation jar for the board and at the end of the weekend or get together the money collected is forwarded to help support MOC. You would be surprised at how fast donations would come in when the donations are made in person.

Personally, I think it would have been better if an email had been sent to all members stating donations are desired to keep the forum up and running in it's current state. It never hurts to ask for money, you would be surprised at the results. Having been involved in many not-for-profit organiztions which required large summs of money to run, I found that just by asking for money for your stated cause was more times than not enough reason for people to give. Placing a donation button on the top of the page without telling anyone what was intended and or why, can cause hard feelings.

If members knew what was needed (how much money is needed)to keep the board running, each of the various regional clubs could hold a get together (maybe a regional MOC gathering open to all), charge a small fee to attend with all fees collected going to help support the forum. There are a lot of ways to get the money needed, all you have to do is ask for what is needed.

Jeff Heiser
Merritt Island Florida

Wordsmith · 03-08-2005, 07:12 AM

This is already a wonderful sight just for the helpfulness and camaraderie, the latter of which simply cannot be discounted. MOC is large enough to have “experts” but small enough to have a sense of community, unlike other forums. If our donations can be used to make this sight even better, then that is the best of all worlds.

I do hope some way will be made for people who do not want to divulge information via the Internet. Ironically, I advise the school newspaper where I teach and my students are doing a feature topic on teens and the Internet, and one of the topics is about Internet spending. I have become somewhat comfortable of buying via the Internet and have experienced good luck with PayPal. What my students discovered during their interviews, however, is that there are still numerous parents and teens not willing to trust this form of commerce—for justifiable reasons. A more conventional approach to making donations can only help in your goals to make MOC better.

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