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It's really easy to edit long posts. All you have to do is click the [] button, that takes you into vBulletin-style format. Then delete all the in-between stuff, and click back out to a more word-processor-style mode. Easy peasy.

But a whole lot of the members are just plain lazy. That's really all there is to it.

If you just highlight the text you want to address, it automatically pops up with either quote the text or reply to it. Very simple really.

When members realized they could do that it reduced the multiquote problem significantly.
 
I'm glad to see so many willing contributors. Might I ask for a reckoning now?

Raised - Spent & Balance shouldn't be difficult.
 
I'm glad to see so many willing contributors. Might I ask for a reckoning now?

Raised - Spent & Balance shouldn't be difficult.

Well, it's about 7% of the active membership at present, so not that many, (though obviously thank you to each and every one of them)

Working out how much I've spent over the past X years to do your "reckoning" will take quite a while.:cool: So short answer, no.

Either I come through and deliver something worthwhile for now and the future, or I don't. Your mileage may vary.
 
Well, it's about 7% of the active membership at present, so not that many, (though obviously thank you to each and every one of them)

Working out how much I've spent over the past X years to do your "reckoning" will take quite a while.:cool: So short answer, no.

Either I come through and deliver something worthwhile for now and the future, or I don't. Your mileage may vary.

I think it would be a good idea to say what your expected expenses will be in the next year or so (think budget). Like the cost of the upgrade, maintenance, cost of attracting new members.

7% of active members is a good number.
 
Interesting move of the goalposts.

Your OP said:

International Skeptics is alive and kicking, and plans for growth are afoot! We are now launching fund-raising to further develop the platform.

Yet now...

Working out how much I've spent over the past X years to do your "reckoning" will take quite a while.:cool: So short answer, no.

That looks very much like you want payback for the time you've owned the forum before you start looking at spending money on the growth.
 
Interesting move of the goalposts.

Your OP said:



Yet now...



That looks very much like you want payback for the time you've owned the forum before you start looking at spending money on the growth.

Where do you get that from? He's been paying out for the forum for many years, why anyone thinks he should give us figures for that is beyond me.

Perhaps there is some miscommunication, I think Bluesjnr was meaning to account from when this fundraiser started?

I would caution icerat not to get into specific costs or how much he earns from the forum. People should either contribute based on whether they want to support the forum or not. Consider it like YouTube channels that have patreon members as well as casual members. I can't think of a single one that gives out the figures of how much they raise and what their costs are. They will often have fundraising activities with things like "If I can get another 50 patreons I can move to weekly videos". People should decide to contribute to the forum based on its value to them or how they perceive its overall value. If you don't "trust" the owner to spend your contribution as they see fit, don't contribute.
 
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Where do you get that from? He's been paying out for the forum for many years, why anyone thinks he should give us figures for that is beyond me.
Perhaps there is some miscommunication, I think Bluesjnr was meaning to account from when this fundraiser started? I would caution icerat not to get into specific costs or how much he earns from the forum. People should either contribute based on whether they want to support the forum or not. Consider it like YouTube channels that have patreon members as well as casual members. I can't think of a single one that gives out the figures of how much they raise and what their costs are. They will often have fundraising activities with things like "If I can get another 50 patreons I can move to weekly videos". People should decide to contribute to the forum based on its value to them or how they perceive its overall value. If you don't "trust" the owner to spend your contribution as they see fit, don't contribute.


You are entirely correct, I wanted nothing more than how much we'd raised from the fundraiser and what the projected costs would be for known future upgrades.
 
Agreeing with Darat and bluesjnr. It's not our business to know how much icerat nets or not, but it would seem nice to have some ideas of what funds are being targeted as being needed, and how much will be needed to maintain. That's a factor in how much members might be willing to chip in.

So far, it seems to be a call-out for cash. Ok, cash is needed to do stuff. My concern is far more exactly what will be done that will build the forum, and whether it will be cost effective to maintain and attract new and vibrant members.

The Xeno thingy is Greek to me. It sounds expensive, is all I've gathered. The other stuff proposed ranges from vague to counterproductive. Advertising and meetups, for instance, cost money but will not change what visitors find here. We are still skipping over that critical product R&D step. There's talk about Army of Truth and all, but it seems like that should be up and running in at least a preliminary beta form before bothering with advertising.
 
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Where do you get that from? He's been paying out for the forum for many years, why anyone thinks he should give us figures for that is beyond me.

Perhaps there is some miscommunication, I think Bluesjnr was meaning to account from when this fundraiser started?

I'm certain that's what he meant, which is why it was quite surprising to see Icerat start talking about costs to date as part of the "reckoning", which to me says he's looking to claw some of it back.

Anyway, maybe he could answer the question rather than have others speculate on his behalf?
 
Agreeing with Darat and bluesjnr. It's not our business to know how much icerat nets or not, but it would seem nice to have some ideas of what funds are being targeted as being needed, and how much will be needed to maintain. That's a factor in how much members might be willing to chip in.

Trust me that I don't personally give a rat's arse - none of it's my money. If people were giving me money, I'd want to very carefully specify what it was being used for to ensure nobody thought I was taking the piss.

I found the juxtaposition of points made by Icerat somewhat interesting, and thought I'd comment on it. He might even answer.
 
Still find myself wondering how much we raised and how it compared to what's needed?

Only now do I find myself wondering why a perfectly reasonable request like mine has been ignored despite being clarified?
 
Still find myself wondering how much we raised and how it compared to what's needed?

Only now do I find myself wondering why a perfectly reasonable request like mine has been ignored despite being clarified?

As I noted, enough has been raised to proceed with the upgrade, but not yet enough to cover monthly running costs - though exactly how much that is going to be is not going to be clear until it's fully operational and the hardware demands become apparent. The core software and media management extension has been purchased and testing is in process. I aim to have a sandbox platform available for users within the next 1-2 weeks (Delayed thanks to a flooded kitchen and a car crash. Yay.). I'll be opening it to moderators first.
 
Donated - amount was in euros (?).

Yeah, I originally set it up in USD, but I discovered that Stripe in their wisdom treats a USD transfer to a USD bank account with a US bank as a foreign transaction because the Stripe account holder is not in the US. So they charge more, transfer less often, and have a much higher minimum payout.

Do we get JREF mugs now? ;)

No, but I'm considering IS ones!:thumbsup:

As an aside, AI is really bad at generating Newton's Cradle images.
 
As I noted, enough has been raised to proceed with the upgrade, but not yet enough to cover monthly running costs - though exactly how much that is going to be is not going to be clear until it's fully operational and the hardware demands become apparent. The core software and media management extension has been purchased and testing is in process. I aim to have a sandbox platform available for users within the next 1-2 weeks (Delayed thanks to a flooded kitchen and a car crash. Yay.). I'll be opening it to moderators first.

Please keep us posted. Like
- what is your timetable
- how much has been raised
- how much things cost
- what you plan to do and when

Remember the more information you give out like the above, the more money you will raise.
 
As I noted, enough has been raised to proceed with the upgrade, but not yet enough to cover monthly running costs - though exactly how much that is going to be is not going to be clear until it's fully operational and the hardware demands become apparent. The core software and media management extension has been purchased and testing is in process. I aim to have a sandbox platform available for users within the next 1-2 weeks (Delayed thanks to a flooded kitchen and a car crash. Yay.). I'll be opening it to moderators first.

Thanks for the update.
 

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