Donations to IceInSpace

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi all.

IceInSpace is a completely private venture, having been developed from where there was nothing, to what it is today 18 months later, using my own blood, sweat and tears. Of course there's been invaluable assistance from friends like mojo (Terry) and dsturnbull (David) - however the costs have been incurred by me alone and I've never made any money from IceInSpace.

Some generous forum members have donated to IceInSpace over the past year which has helped offset the costs of running this high-bandwidth, high-usage site. Their contributions have been greatly appreciated and it's helped enourmously.

However, as this site continues to grow (which is great), it also places more demands on the hosting server in terms of disk space and bandwidth. For this reason we've had to move to a new bigger server, and with that increased capacity and expansion for the future of IceInSpace, comes increased costs.

This is not something I feel very comfortable writing, but unfortunately it's come time where I feel it's necessary to ask for more contributions to help offset those costs, as it's getting to the point where I can't afford to keep funding it from my pockets, as the demands of a family with a wife, 3 young kids and a mortgage (on 1 income) continue to stretch the budget.

To date, I've never actually asked for donations - the facility was put in place because members asked how they could contribute. But unfortunately now I have to ask, for the first time, to help offset these costs in the short term.

If you feel you've gained something from IceInSpace, and you have the means and will to contribute, then please follow the instructions on the Donate page. You have the option to be listed as a contributor, or to remain anonymous. It's completely up to you.

Of course, all donations are very much appreciated - it's something i'm very much grateful for, not expecting of. You can donate as little or as much as you like - everyone's circumstances are different.

I've thought of other ways to fund the site, but it's always been, and remains my intention for the site to be free to use, free to join and have no restrictions on content based on "subscription costs", "premium membership" or other schemes. IceInSpace is for the amateur astronomy community - and everyone in it.

In the longer term, it's likely i'll start searching for vendors or other entities who may wish to advertise on IceInSpace, which will pay for the hosting costs so I'm not reliant on member donations.

Thanks, and if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to PM me.

[h0ughy (David)]

I will just say that this site is fantastic and I am proud to have supported it during my time as a member. As a result of Mike's article above i have contributed a little bit towards the upkeep of the site. I would hate to loose this asset of astronomy through being complacent. Lets face it, without this site we would all still be oblivious of all the great stuff happening in our Australian and NZ astronomical community. It has brought a lot of people together, that you can't deny and had some great viewing camps and sessions throughout the country.

I urge all those souls out there who feel the same about the site to do the same as me and donate to a worthy cause, the upkeep of a habit (not that i am addicted, oh I am a little bit over a 1000 posts!)

[RB (Andrew)]

Yeah you beat me to it Dave, come on guys, lets get behind Mike and support him and help keep IIS growing. We've all benefited from the forum and web site. It's great to get together and share in this way.
I know personally that there's a lot of time spent, effort and resources that are going on behind the scenes to keep this site going.

Cheers and thanks everyone for being part of this fabulous community.

[acropolite (Phil)]

One way to easily contribute is an IIS sale where you sell an unwanted item to two (or even give away) and the buyer sends the purchase and or postage cost to IIS.

[Striker (Tony)]

Thats worked for me Phil.

I was happy to donate the sale of the astronomy book I sold for $80 on IIS

Even though I dont think Mike expects anyone to pay that much I didn't mind and was happy to.

I consider the money I have donated to Mike for this forum doesn't even come close to what I have learnt and thats not adding the friends I have made....priceless.

[fringe_dweller]

I have kept meaning to donate - I would be loathe to see advertising on this fine forum, that would mean censorship would get even stricter? conflicts of interest?
Could we come up with a meat raffle or something perhaps? like everybody else does
anyway checks in mail! well soon

[Striker (Tony)]

Mike..set up an auction page.....I'm sure I have more stuff sitting around here I can auction off for you.

[davidpretorius]

i am thinking of setting up a $5 transfer from my bank account each month.

instead of an extra stubbie, IIS can have it

20-30 members or so doing this and the web hosting side of things would be very close to being covered.

[matt]

That auction page idea is a cracka Striker

A funding source for IIS and a bit of fun for members.

Good one

[Robby]

How upto to date is your "full credit" list Mike

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

More than happy to chip in Mike
The Aust online Astronomy Community was a very quite place before IIS
Keep up the good work, I have been meaning to donate for ages !

[EzyStyles (Eric)]

hey ive donated how come my name's not on the list of donators?

[iceman (Mike)]

Just want to take the time to say THANKS to those who have donated so far. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

I also appreciate the kind words above, it means a lot.

Originally Posted by Kearn

I would be loathe to see advertising on this fine forum, that would mean censorship would get even stricter? conflicts of interest?

If I ever decide to go down the advertising route, one of my requirements to advertisers will be that they do not try to encourage/enforce extra moderation regarding equipment or vendor discussions. The Terms of Service already have guidelines in place for discussing vendors, and they would remain the same whether we have advertising or not.

Not sure what you mean by conflicts of interest - if you're talking about reviews or the like, then as long as there is full disclosure, and people understand that a review is a personal subjective opinion, then there can be no conflict of interest.

Thanks for your concern.

Originally Posted by Robby

How upto to date is your "full credit" list Mike

The "full credit" list was updated this morning, for those that did not wish to remain anonymous.

Originally Posted by EzyStyles

hey ive donated how come my name's not on the list of donators?

It was Steve who donated, you got a telescope out of the deal

Thanks again all.

[h0ughy (David)]

Mike I am mentioned twice, unless you want to timeline it?

[asimov (John)]

I'll contribute by donating 10% of the sale(s) of my refractor OTA & my Parks optics. That's $150 on the optics & $60 on the refractor.

[sheeny (Al)]

Mike,

What about merchandising?

Not suggesting it as the only way of funding IIS, but I think I assumed that part of what we paid for the tee-shirts and red-light pens might go towards the cost of running the forum.

I don't mind spending an extra few bucks for something if I know the extra money is to support a worthy cause.

Al.

[fringe_dweller]

Originally Posted by iceman

Just want to take the time to say THANKS
If I ever decide to go down the advertising route, one of my requirements to advertisers will be that they do not try to encourage/enforce extra moderation regarding equipment or vendor discussions. The Terms of Service already have guidelines in place for discussing vendors, and they would remain the same whether we have advertising or not.

Not sure what you mean by conflicts of interest - if you're talking about reviews or the like, then as long as there is full disclosure, and people understand that a review is a personal subjective opinion, then there can be no conflict of interest.

Thanks for your concern.

Thanks for reply Mike, thats what one of the things i like most about this site, no aloof arrogant el supremo, but a quick down to earth response to simple questions for a humble member thanks!
glad to know we wont be called 'meadeinspace' or something like that - i thought i saw what looked like an ad for meade on spaceweather recently, shocked me! i though they were sponsored by nasa?
anyway how much did coca cola pay for that product placement in AS&T? only joking mebbe should try pepsi next year? yuck!

[iceman (Mike)]

Originally Posted by sheeny

What about merchandising?

There's a plan to do some more, but it's just finding the right product, at the right price, that people are likely to buy.

The problem with any sort of merchandising, is having left over stock sitting around. The Astronomy 2006 books, the Red Light Pens, and the T-Shirts, all sold well in the beginning, but in each case there has been leftovers and I had to discount the price to move the rest. I haven't done so with the shirts yet but I've still got about 12 sitting at home.

I know it comes with the territory, but it's just one of the risks of doing a merchandising run. You plan it to make a small profit, but that's assuming you sell all of the stock.

I'm planning to do an IceInSpace mouse-mat in the near future, if I can come up with the right design and find the right supplier.

Originally Posted by kearn

Thanks for reply Mike, thats what one of the things i like most about this site, no aloof arrogant el supremo, but a quick down to earth response to simple questions for a humble member thanks!

Cheers Kearn, thanks!

[casstony]

I'd like to see advertising to support the site, or make a profit for iceinspace. Adverts in the sidebar would not be too intrusive - I can ignore ads if they are not mixed in with site content. Ad space where shops could promote current specials would be positive for the site, whereas general propaganda (ie. company X has the best alignment system) would be neutral/less desirable. All IMHO.

-Tony