Monthly Site Expenses (Updated January 2022)

[Petra Jane]

Having taken on the site, forums, and all of the bills, from Dev (May 2020) and because I also want to be fully transparent about the cost of running the site, I feel it's time to update this information. 

 

If you'd like to donate, please do so viaq the green bar at the top of the forum pages.  The months of July through October are pretty heavy with annual and semi-annual expenses and every little bit helps.

 

Here's the breakdown as it stands now:

 

Chat is now free. (Stu now runs the Chat)

 

Forums:  $70.00 every six months (February and August, effectively billed in January and July). (Was $45 until 2022, support ticket system depreciated!)

Resource Locator:  $50.00 yearly, payable in September.

Email Delivery:  $5.00 monthly.

Server Rental:  $30.00 monthly.

Security Software:  Now included in the package we have.

Domain Renewals: Annual charges for Transgenderpulse.com, Lauras-playground.com and the server domain.

 

Total Monthly Breakdown: $58.00 per month.  (Annual bills = $690) Updated 28 January 2022

 

Now then.  I'm on a fixed income, which means I know what it's like not having a penny to spare.  If you're not in a position to donate, please don't feel guilty; I didn't take over here to turn a profit.  The lights will stay on.  Donations are very much appreciated, but they are not a requirement of membership.

 

An update to clarify a couple of points: Because you have to use your legal name with PayPal, emails confirming your donation from PayPal will be from a name with the initials "DS", not Petra Jane and the email used is tgp (at) uk-web***

 

Unfortunately, we can only accept payment through PayPal, and please ensure that you have permission to make any donation through a PayPal account, we have recently been stung by someone alledgedly using a PayPal account without the owner's permission and incurred an additional $20 chargeback to refund the donation!

 

We have recently seen a number of these of late so I am asking that genuine donators please add your forum username in the comment box so that I, and I alone, will know who has sent the donation and that it is genuine. Thank you.

 

Let me reassure you:

Donations help towards ongoing costs related to keeping the site running, including hosting, bandwidth, etc. It also encourages us to commit regular updates, add features, and improve the service.

Our promise to you is that this site and its use will always remain free of charge.

 

 

Petra Jane

[Carolyn Marie]

This is good info to have, PJ.  Thanks for laying it out for everyone.

 

Carolyn Marie

[VickySGV]

Thank you for the information. I have wondered what the financial picture for this really is. 

[MaryEllen]

$69.20  per month amounts to $830.40  per year. Relatively inexpensive considering what we're getting. Hopefully, enough people will step up so we can meet that goal. We realize that many just cannot afford to donate but that's ok.  Everyone is welcome whether they donate or not. All monies collected goes to the site operation. None of it goes to the staff. We're all volunteers. FYI

 

MaryEllen

[Petra Jane]

44 minutes ago, MaryEllen said:

None of it goes to the staff. We're all volunteers. FYI

 

Yep, 'fraid so. Nothing changed from Dev running things to my taking things over, and money donated will be used towards the site expenses and nothing else.

And a big thank you to those people who have already  made a donation, or have promised to do so when they can.

As has been said, it's NOT a condition of membership, but as Tesco (a supermarket here in the UK) says, "Every little helps".

 

So, to those can, a massive thank you, and to those who can't, thank you anyway for being here and making this place as special as it is.

[Patti Anne]

On 5/28/2020 at 12:45 PM, Suzanne1 said:

the only way I can do so is by an anonymous cash donation.

 

Hi. This site has literally changed my life. It provides a valuable service to the TG community and I want to make a donation. Due to scrutiny of my finances by a an ex wife who wants to make sure and get every last penny, I have to do it anonymously with cash, MO or cashiers check. Whats the procedure for that?

 

Thx,

 

PA

[Patti Anne]

32 minutes ago, Patti Anne said:

Hi. This site has literally changed my life. It provides a valuable service to the TG community and I want to make a donation. Due to scrutiny of my finances by a an ex wife who wants to make sure and get every last penny, I have to do it anonymously with cash, MO or cashiers check. Whats the procedure for that?

 

I thought I was posting privately in a subsection designated for financial issues!! There should be some sort of notification that this appears on the general forum!

[Mmindy]

@Patti Anne, don't feel uneasy about this being public or how your current situation is. Once I'm out to my Suzie, I'll be helping with the cost of this sight. Like you I have to justify the expenditure on the family budget. I've only been here a few weeks and have benefited immensely.

 

Love you all,

 

Mindy???

[Carolyn Marie]

3 hours ago, Patti Anne said:

 

Hi. This site has literally changed my life. It provides a valuable service to the TG community and I want to make a donation. Due to scrutiny of my finances by a an ex wife who wants to make sure and get every last penny, I have to do it anonymously with cash, MO or cashiers check. Whats the procedure for that?

 

Thx,

 

PA

 

Right now we have no mechanism to accept cash or checks.  We might be able to do so in the future.  Sorry.

 

Carolyn Marie

[Carolyn Marie]

3 hours ago, Patti Anne said:

 

I thought I was posting privately in a subsection designated for financial issues!! There should be some sort of notification that this appears on the general forum!

 

All of the forums and sub-forums are in public view.  The only places where the public cannot go are the individual Profile pages and galleries.  All members need to realize that, and is why we do not allow the posting of personal identifying information, and discourage the use of real names as screen names.

 

Carolyn Marie

[MaryEllen]

Who makes donations  and the amounts are not visible to anyone but Petra Jane and Dev. Even the admins and mods do not see it. If no mention of it is made in the forums, no one will know.

[Petra Jane]

On 6/2/2020 at 4:45 PM, MaryEllen said:

Who makes donations  and the amounts are not visible to anyone but Petra Jane and Dev. Even the admins and mods do not see it. If no mention of it is made in the forums, no one will know.

 

And now, even Dev no longer sees this info, only I do, and often I still do not know who has made a donation as the details provided by PayPal do not include an forum username or other details because you are not asked to provide this, nor would I ask anyone to do so.

 

I would never make a public post about anyone making a donation. In fact all I would ever do is post a general, and massive, thank you here to those who have been able to make a donation to support the costs of running a forum like this.

 

So, a Massive Thank You to everyone who has been able to make a donation since the 26th May, I'll really appreciate your support in this matter. I'm delighted to say that so far, we have received almost 50% of this year's expenses, THANK YOU!

[MaryEllen]

Quote

I thought I was posting privately in a subsection designated for financial issues!! There should be some sort of notification that this appears on the general forum!

 

If you want to say something about the finances, you could do so by PM to Petra Jane. Nothing would show up in any forum if you could do that.

[Abi]

Has anyone tried a pre paid debit or credit card? These can be purchased anonymously as well as carry no personal information either. Just an idea for anyone to try.

[Carrie]

Hi

Is it possible to do something like direct debit from my bank account?

I don't mind making a few small payments throughout the year.

It is more profitable to me to have a site like this running sharing in the costs to keep it running seems like a good thing.

Thank your the service that you provide!!!

Carrie

[Carolyn Marie]

2 hours ago, Carrie said:

Hi

Is it possible to do something like direct debit from my bank account?

 

 

Monthly donations can only be made through Pay Pal, Carrie.  We're not set up to do direct payments from bank accounts.  Sorry.

 

Carolyn Marie

[ValerieRun]

@Carrie I looked up if Paypal works connecting to the bank account in Australia, and it is, but there will be an additional fee attached to the transaction. Here are the details:

https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/paypal-fees

[Carrie]

`Thanks!

[Petra Jane]

Unfortunately, we can only accept payment through PayPal, and please ensure that you have permission to make any donation through a PayPal account, we have recently been stung by someone using a PayPal account without the owner's permission and incurred an additional $20 chargeback to refund the donation!

 

[Petra Jane]

Just to keep things open and above board, I'm about to create a new account to take over the actual licence for the Invision board and to my horror, the cost is not $45 (renewal) but $350 to create a fresh account/licence.

 

I may be unavailable for a day or three whilst I get to grips with this massive price hike!

 

 

[VickySGV]

Yipes!!

[Bobbie Scott]

Hi Petra, I tried to make a donation,  but pay pal said I already have a email  associated  with that account. I tried my Google and MSN account.  I'm pretty bad on computers.  If anyone  can tell me how I will gladly donate. Thank you for doing this for everyone. 

[Petra Jane]

46 minutes ago, Bobbie Scott said:

Hi Petra, I tried to make a donation,  but pay pal said I already have a email  associated  with that account. I tried my Google and MSN account.  I'm pretty bad on computers.  If anyone  can tell me how I will gladly donate. Thank you for doing this for everyone. 

Thanks Bobbie,

I don't know which account you have with PayPal, you'd need to log in to your paypal account and see which email you are using to do that. Then you should be able to use that login to make a donation, probably, if you are logged in to your PayPal account, clicking on the donate button, you should find you are logged straight in, I think.

[Ivy]

I'm a bit confused.  How can I set up a monthly donation?

[Petra Jane]

On 9/12/2020 at 9:46 PM, Jandi said:

I'm a bit confused.  How can I set up a monthly donation?

 

Hi @Jandi thank you for your offer.

 

To make a donation, click on the green bar at the top of the forum pages (only shows when you are logged in),  then click the "Make A Donation" link that shows on the popup window. This takes you to a PayPal page and you should see a box like this. To make it a monthly subscription, tick the box alongside "Make this a monthly donation" and enter your amount where the image shows 0.00 and click Next.