[squevil]

As the title says. Why not add this and depending on the donation you will get different icons on your avatar. You can then build up enough credit to get more features like the domain or advertising.
You will get donations for sure. Also as me and Thork suggested ages ago you can use a t-shirt company online to sell shirts from. All you need to do is register and upload the designs and the company will do the rest while you get royalties. I use zazzle, they print on anything from shirts to butt plugs.

[xasop]

I will not monetise this website. T-shirts and the like, perhaps if we are successful here. But I won't make money out of people who simply want to post, through donations, advertising or any other means.

[Thork]

Donate I don't like. But a banner that maybe brings in $400 a year might pay for some really nice forum software like vbulletin and cover any hosting costs etc.

Its not a crime to make money to invest back to the society. Lets face it, we all have ad-blockers anyway. it'd only be for general traffic. Let the noobs pay for the site. Its not like we don't entertain them

[xasop]

some really nice forum software like vbulletin

You must be joking, right?

and cover any hosting costs etc.

This forum is hosted on my personal VPS. It costs me nothing other than time to maintain, since the VPS would exist either way.

Its not a crime to make money to invest back to the society.

If the society ever needs a monetary investment, I'll keep that in mind.

[Thork]

I'm sure there is something better than SMF out there. You're the expert. I'm sure you know what's the best.

[Rushy]

I should add a donation address in my signature. All donations go to me, of course.

[squevil]

I presumed you were paying for the space.

[xasop]

I presumed you were paying for the space.

If it ever becomes necessary to source funding from the users of FES, it will be through strictly voluntary donations, and perhaps merchandise. No special forum status will be granted to those who donate; I'm not interested in creating a divide between the rich and the poor. And there will never be any advertising on this website.

[Pete Svarrior]

I honestly doubt we'll ever need income to run this site at all. Heck, I'm paying for a server identical to the one this forum is running on and I pretty much just use it to greet people. These things are pretty cheap, and there is free (gratis, lol) software out there that does pretty much everything we could possibly want to do better than paid-for stuff.

[spoon]

I like a donate button, but only if that's all it is. No rewards, no recognition, not a big in your face button. Just a sticky thread in the lounge with info on how to donate. If there is something that needs done or something people want, then users will help out.

[xasop]

I honestly doubt we'll ever need income to run this site at all. Heck, I'm paying for a server identical to the one this forum is running on and I pretty much just use it to greet people. These things are pretty cheap, and there is free (gratis, lol) software out there that does pretty much everything we could possibly want to do better than paid-for stuff.

Agreed. I was simply addressing squevil's suggestion in a hypothetical situation where that becomes the case.