The Patternform.co.uk domain name was first registered in 2002 and I've published this site for free ever since. I'm a one man band and administration of this site, getting results, generating the various Patternform cards, user admin, site development etc is now taking a significant amount of time and the most obvious way forward would be to turn some of the site into a subscription service. Before I do that though I've decided to try the donation model to see if that can work. | |
The Christmas appeal for a backup laptop attracted donations from 15% of the user who logged in. If I can increase that percentage to 45%-50% of users overall then with a £10 donation four times a year I should be able to raise enough. This would work out at under a £1 a week. | |
If I move to a subscription service model then I would expect to lose much of my user base and I would probably set the subscription level at £10 a month to compensate. | |
If I move to a subscription model then any donations in the preceding 3 months would be automatically transferred to membership fees. So if someone had donated £30 in the previous 3 months, they would have the next three month membership paid already. | |
Well that's the plan and I've opened up a thread on the forum to discuss it. Just click on this text | |
If you want to donate £10 (or more you want) to contribute to the site's upkeep, please send your USERNAME (very important), and the amount you want to donate to webmaster@patternform.co.uk with the "subject" - Donation - and I'll generate a paypal payment request using the email address used, which you can pay via paypal or using a debit card.Please select "Sending to a friend or to family" and NOT "Paying for an item or service", since I am not offering any item or service for this donation. When "Paying for an item or service", Paypal will deduct a charge. If you don't put an amount to donate I'll assume it's for £10. DO NOT USE A CREDIT CARD - I don't want people borrowing to donate. THOSE WHO DONATED OVER CHRISTMAS SHOULD NOT DONATE AGAIN. |