Site Donations Open: Announcing our Patreon Page

[Arynis]

Hi everyone!

Previously, we have posted announcements regarding the forum's upkeep, situation and donations. But at the least we have finally sorted out everything in the background, we'll also get you guys up to date what is the current and actual situation.

To summarize what happened in the past few months, in terms of our hosting. We have changed hosts in order to reduce the site costs (and to have less site crashes/lag), to a nice and cozy $5 per month. From the looks of it, our current host keeps us up pretty well, barring the occasional MySQL errors often on Sundays when too many people rush for the newest Arc V episodes. Thankfully Shadowfang fixes these errors fairly quickly. Granted, we also had to lock down the forum to members only since guest access still proved to be heavy for the server to take, but all things considered, keeping the forum members only is more beneficial in the long run - primarily to keep the forum space safe for everyone.

However, Shadowfang had been keeping up the forum for us out of his pocket for the past 4 years, which had been incredibly generous of him, especially back when we were in need of a SysAdmin/host and he volunteered to help us all. The idea is to slowly trickle back the money to him in terms of donations over time, as well keep the site running since he would prefer things to be publicly funded from now on, so we don't depend on him financially. (Don't fear though, he will still help maintain the site and fix errors, at least until I'm taught the necessary skills as well.)

The staff has discussed if we should do plain donate buttons or Patreon, we felt Patreon might be a nicer option and might be a better incentive to get people to donate.

You can find our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/neoarkcradle

Now, the site goals are fairly straightforward. $5 is our minimum site cost per month to keep our site running, but $10 should net us a better hosting that should result in less MySQL errors on Sundays or whenever else people have to rush to our forum for information/discussion. There are more pricier hosting options, but we left those out as Shadowfang clarified we don't really need those specs. As such, $11 is just our way of marking income beyond the $10 milestone, which will be used to pay back Shadowfang for keeping NAC alive for the past 4 years. Of course, once the debt is possibly paid off, we could implement further milestones/donation incentives, such as a seed box for torrents, or ensuring Mako can grab us a copy of Monthly Bushiroad every month.

Now, for the tiers. We decided to give people the option to donate to us either $1, $2 or $5 per month. We didn't feel anything higher than that is necessary, at least for the time being. The other reason we don't have more options is because we are at odds with what to give out as donation incentives. We have a special usergroup for Patrons set up, which any of you can receive if you donate $1, $2 or $5 of your choice, and will give you a spiffy orange, bolded username. It's the same for every tier, it's more the matter of how much you'd like to donate to the site. However, there will be a thread in the Suggestion Forum to post in if there's anything you guys would specifically like for your pay.

Also, we'll admit we're fairly new at Patreon, so please forgive us for being pretty bare bones and possibly being noobs. We want to make sure this place stays alive but also offers something back for you guys to make it a nice and fun experience for everyone involved.

If you guys have any questions, concerns or comments, please post in this thread. Let's make this project a success! ^^

[LaCRossE]

Yeah, I have a question. Does this Patreon thing works with Paypal? And is it like a subscription, so when you sign up as a Patron, it will take your money away monthly automatically or do we have to pay manually every single month? Tbh, I would prefer the first option, because I have a really... interestingly functioning memory, so I wouldn't depend on it every month.

Alas, I think I would gladly donate $1 per month because even in Eastern Europe, it's a ridicolously low sum and it's worth it, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks the same.

[NeoArkadia]

We plan this to be a "Monthly automatic withdraw" subscription yes.

And it works with Paypal.

[Arynis]

To answer a few things for starters:

Suggestion Thread is open: http://neoarkcradle.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=5280

The old smileys will be coming back, fear not. Unfortunately Shadowfang is pretty busy with a lively daughter, so getting a hold of him is quite a challenge. (At least until I get trained fully one day.)

If you are a banned member, donating will not get your account back.

If you are not a NAC member but would still like to donate regardless, you're most welcome to, but we can't grant you the usergroup upgrade, or any other future reward, depending on what it is.

Yeah, I have a question. Does this Patreon thing works with Paypal? And is it like a subscription, so when you sign up as a Patron, it will take your money away monthly automatically or do we have to pay manually every single month? Tbh, I would prefer the first option, because I have a really... interestingly functioning memory, so I wouldn't depend on it every month. 

Looking at the FAQ:

"Once you find a creator that you want to support all you have to do is click the "Become a patron" button on their page! 

From there you can decide any dollar amount you'd like to support your favorite creator. If you haven't already provided payment information you can choose to pledge via PayPal or credit card during the checkout process."

"You won't be charged until the 1st of every month, and it usually takes a full 72 hours for all pledges to process! You’ll receive an email that will indicate whether your pledge was successfully processed or declined."

You can find the rest of the FAQ here: https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/cat...25-Patrons

Since our server cost has to be paid monthly, we should be charging our Patrons every month or so as well.

[LaCRossE]

Well, easiest decision made then. And I think it was successful.

My only question now is: when will my member group status change?

edit: oh, it's automatic. Nevermind.

[Arynis]

That makes Genma and you our first Patrons. Thank you very much! <3

Actually, the usergroup change is manual. I am just fast like that.

[LaCRossE]

Am I color blind or is it pinkish rather than orangey?

[Arynis]

I initially entered the color as just "orange", which I thought was a bit too bright, so I tried copying off the orange color from Patreon's site. You're right, it does look... not what I hoped for, but it could be just my Flux overlay making it look off. Regardless, changed back to "orange".

[LaCRossE]

I don't think there is any problem with the current orange colour, I don't find it bright.

Also, thanks to this topic, I finally changed my username to mirror any other site I'm actively posting.

[玄魔の王]

Yami no Yami-Joou is officially our Overlord, she's currently the big fish patron.

[MystikX]

I've also taken the liberty of sharing the Patreon page on my local's FB group, so we may get a few new members in the process too!

[Arynis]

I was wondering who the newest Patron was until I checked here. XD; DERP. Thanks Mystik <3

Also, that is awesome. The more peeps, the better! Momentum for the Momentum God! Wait...

[MystikX]

Yeah, forgot my Patreon account uses my real name.

[玄魔の王]

I've also taken the liberty of sharing the Patreon page on my local's FB group, so we may get a few new members in the process too!

I've now done the same, no guarantees on a bite though as most of my locals aren't into the anime and such.

[Arynis]

Patrons now have access to a special private subforum just for them! Forum rules do still apply, however.

[Gabranth]

I'll give some money to help keep this site running. After all, it has been a nice home for me and I have found some awesome people here as well.

[unsnaggedtea76]

Since I get paid soon, I will hopefully be able to donate since I've done some "dumb" stuff on this site and I'd like to pay the site back for it.

[Arynis]

I'll give some money to help keep this site running. After all, it has been a nice home for me and I have found some awesome people here as well.

Thanks Gabranth! I've added you to the usergroup now, since the process isn't automatic sadly. If the other admins don't add someone to the Patron usergroup after anyone pledged, do not fear, I'll get to it when I have forum access. But it's done now~

Since I get paid soon, I will hopefully be able to donate since I've done some "dumb" stuff on this site and I'd like to pay the site back for it.

I don't know what you mean by dumb stuff, but the support is appreciated regardless. ^^

[Arynis]

Hi everyone!

The good news is, we hit the $10 milestone! Now we should be able to afford a better hosting option to provide you guys a better experience.

The issue is that no downgrade is possible though, meaning as soon as we make the $10 hosting our option, our minimum per month will rise to $10, otherwise we go down.

The question is, would you guys like the $10 hosting, or would you prefer we stay on the $5 hosting and keep the excess for paying back to Shadowfang/having reserve money?

[~Mana~]

It's probably better to wait and see if the monthly rises to a more comfortable amount to avoid running the risk of falling under because someone can't pay. I'd elect to gradually pay Shadowfang back until the donation stream is larger and feels more comfortable to be considering an upgrade.

[GoldenUmi]

I think I'd agree with the above viewpoint. The risk of patreon is people backing out at the last second so we should wait and make sure everyone is comfortable with the monthly withdrawal and ensure things go smoothly.

[MorningMoon]

Im ultra paranoid of using my card after the 24th so imma wait till the 6th to chip in, that said i will probably only pitch in for a year.

[Arynis]

Alrighty, so waiting it is. Even though at the moment it's on the $10 goal, we'll stick to the $5 server cost for the time being and use the excess to pay back Shadowfang or reserve for next month. Fair points on the donation stream. Thanks for the feedback.

And Moon, any support is appreciated, even if it's for a year. ^^

[MystikX]

Yeah, last thing we want is it to go under $10, thus we miss the amount needed for the month's costs, and we go under.....

[Arynis]

Indeed.

Besides, the worst that happens with the current hosting is the MySQL crashing and it needing to be restarted. i.e., we don't suffer downtime for hours. At least Shadowfang gets to those crashes fairly quickly.

[Belmot]

I have no expierence with Patreon, but from what I'm reading, it is possible to donate wth a normal back bank account, isn't it? (Even if it is European?)

[Arynis]

What do you mean with normal back account? Bank account?

https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/art...e-a-pledge-

You can use a credit card to make a pledge, if that's what you mean.

Also, being European is fine.

[Belmot]

Me and my typos.  

I asked, because I neither have a Paypal account nor a credit card. Debit isn't possible?

[LaCRossE]

So are you asking if money transfer is possible? Cuz' I'm not sure it is...

edit: BUT! If you create a PayPal account, it's possible to transfer money to it from a bank account if you have no card.

[MystikX]

Me and my typos.  

I asked, because I neither have a Paypal account nor a credit card. Debit isn't possible?

All debit cards can double as credit.

[Belmot]

Ok, I will look into it at the end of the week. Thanks for all the answers.

[Belmot]

http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/1/943180...eon-hacked
Crowdfunding site Patreon has been hacked: Personal information was leaked during a security breach

Just to inform you to change your passwords.

[Arynis]

Yeah, I've gotten an email about that matter and have changed the password. Thanks for the heads up, Belmot.

[LaCRossE]

Yeah, thanks.

That's a nice day by the way, my twitter, facebook, gmail account has been compromised too. Someone's trying to hack me, it seems but the random generated passwords are hard to find out.

edit: by the way, when the 1 dollar will be charged? I haven't got a notification from my bank that it has been charged, and I always do. And you said (and Patreon says) it's on the first day of every month. Which passed.

[~Mana~]

It gets billed three days after, so don't panic too much

On that note, I've added a $10 pledge. Perhaps it's time for that server upgrade now

[Arynis]

Wow, $10! That is so generous! Thank you very much, Mana. ^^

Thank you for TwixWarrior as well! I've added you both to the Patron usergroup, sorry for the delay.

We should get $23 starting next month. Should we do the server upgrade then? Keep in mind fees and stuff are a thing, but $23 should be sufficient enough after fees to pay a $10 hosting per month. If everyone's on board with that, of course.

LaCRossE: Damn, I'm so sorry. That's messed up. As for you being charged, Patreon tells me you've been declined and that the processor rejected your payment info.

[Gato]

I was a bit worried if everything went well with my first payment, but I got a notification from the bank today, so luckily there were no problems.

[Arynis]

Everyone's payments except LaCRossE's have been processed it seems. That leaves us with roughly $8 for September, meaning we can pay the $5 server cost after Paypal fees for that month. ^^

I might wait one more month to see how pledges change before we switch the forum to the $10 hosting for good.

On the flip side, I should be able to restart MySQL now, in the event the site goes out like this morning. \o/

[MorningMoon]

Payments only happen in the first of the month? ahh that's annoying, I rather it be somewhere after the fourth, but it's just a tiny annoyance I can deal with. So I think my payments start on November, then. I'm Eduardo, btw o3o

[Arynis]

Yeah, Patreon charges people on the 1st, but it takes a few days to process.

Thank you very much, MorningMoon! ^^