So you like Play By Web do you? You want to keep it running? Well, we would too, but we need your help.
Here are some numbers. The internet connection needed to keep the server running costs 90 bucks a month, every month. I haven't tried to figure out what it costs in power usage, that's probably insignificant, and I don't mind paying that myself. And there are hardware costs. The hardware we have now was donated by the Admiral, and and partly paid for by all of you when the server crashed Last time. But we have no emergency fund. If we were to have another hardware failure at this point we'd be down for a few weeks or whatever while we raised enough money to get it fixed.
Let's talk about what we can't do. We can't charge subscription fees. First of all, we don't want to. But even if we did want to it wouldn't work. A few of you would quite happily pay a monthly fee to play. But more of you could not, or would not. And that would greatly reduce the number of players avaialble for games. This would penalize those paying to play as much as those not paying and would kill PBW.
We can do ads. And we might in the near future. But the fact is the internet advertising market has all but dried up in the Last couple years. You might start seeing some banner ads, but you won't see popups, I can promise you that. And whatever we do, it won't pay all the bills of PBW.
We can add some "premium" features to PBW that will be on a pay for system. But we haven't quite figured out what those would be yet. If you have any ideas on extras you would pay for, we'd be happy to hear them.
For several months now we've given you the ability to donate to PBW Online via Paypal. A lot of people have done so very generously. Several people have donated more than once. Lot's of people have given 10 or 20 dollars or more. A couple people even donated 100 dollars! This is great, and a big help. But a few people making big donations isn't really fair, and it doesn't cover the expenses of a service like PBW.
Many of you have expressed concerns or an inability to use the Paypal system to donate, so we've decided to give you another way to help. We now have an address that you can use to send donations to by mail.
PBW
P.O. Box 31549
Dayton OH, 45437-1549
How much should you send? Any amount you want and think is fair for the use of the PBW service is allright with us. Currently we have about 300 people that log onto the server everyday, and about 500 that check it every week. Some of you aren't counted in that because you take advantage of the email features and only occasionally visit the site.
If 300 people would stick a quarter in an envelope and drop it in the mail every month it would almost completely cover the monthly cost of running the server. So for the cost of a quarter and a 37 cent stamp, 62 cents a month, you'd be doing your share to support PBW. That's less that Sally Struthers asks for.
If 300 people would send a dollar a month we could cover the costs of the server and we'd have big chunk leftover to do upgrades and repairs when needed.
If 300 people a month would send twenty dollars a month I could quit my job and take care of the PBW server full time.
Heh, but seriously. If you want to mail a donation larger than 5 dollars, I'd feel better about it if you sent a check or a money order. Large bills in the mail have a tendancy to disappear. No offense to any of you fine postal employees out there.
Also, if you want to make a donation via mail and have it qualify for the contest we are running right now, it has to be to me by the deadline at the end of the month And please put a note in there with the donation with your name and email address so I can contact you.
So there you have it. You no longer have any excuse not to do your part to help keep PBW running.
So, have you sent your quarter in yet?
PBW Admin Team
http://seiv.pbw.cc
PBW Needs you!
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