Poll - Supporting CD
 

I just went into the sponsor area of CD. I thought that I would check out the member supporters. I was surprised to see only 17 people that financially support CD (businesses not included).

I was wondering why, if CD is such a great tool, that more people do not help support it financially? I believe that it is only $5.00 every 6 months which seems to me to be very reasonable. Just looking for some insight into why.

For those who do not know who the sponsors are or would like to sponsor you just click on the PayPal button at the top center of the portal.

Re: Supporting CD
 

I've been meaning to renew my membership, but I'm a poor college kid.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

i wish i could send more at a time and not have to take the 47 seconds every 6 months to do it again. sheesh what a hassle

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

Best money I ever spent :)

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

Other- I have in the past but not recently due to me being in college and on a tight spending allowance as is.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

Thanks Steve for pointing this out, didn't see it before. put my 5$ in. Thanks again to everyone who runs this site it is an amazing resource that we all greatly appreciate.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

Do now, and will continue to do. Plus, it gets rid of those stupid ads (no offense)!

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

Ok, I'll hang my head in shame. :(

I never knew. How were we supposed to know? Is it somewhere other than the little "pay pal donate" at the top? I'm an anti- pay pal person, so it doesn't even get a second look. Is there somewhere else that talks about this?

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

It's possible that more people have given money, and didn't want their names put on the sponsor page.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

This is my third year browsing CD (though I didn't start using it alot until about a year and a half ago), and I'll be honest that I've never known about this or seen it mentioned.

That little PayPal button goes pretty unnoticed between 2 colorful banners at the top of the page, and I still wouldn't have noticed it if this thread wasn't made.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I'm cheap.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I dont currently support for a few reasons:
1- Didnt know about it(I ignore paypal pleas for money)
2- I dont use Paypal
3- I dont have money

Once i have some more reliable way of accumulating the dollars, i will chip in

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I did when it was first offered. When my six months was up I was in the 'very poor college student' role.
But, I just got some retroactive pay from work and you put out this friendly little reminder.
I'm on the list once again.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

If you want to donate, and don't want to use PayPal, send a private message to "Mike Martus" and he can arrange another form of payment. You will still be mentioned on the 'Supporting Members' page, and will have the advertisements removed (it just won't be instant ..)

Thank you to everybody who helps keep this site running with their generous donations.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

The ads are gone, hooray!

Thanks, Steve for reminding me of this worthy cause. (last time it came up I didn't have paypal, and since then I hadn't gotten around to it) :)

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I'll second that! :)

I've supported this site since they implemented the ability to support it and renewed it as soon as the six months were up and the ads came back, it's the least I could do for the amount of time I spend on here. The Paypal link made it even easier for me since I use my Paypal account frequently.

I'd rather give a little than not be able to get on here (especially at times during the 6 weeks) because of lack of bandwidth or the server could be upgraded. Maybe they can even afford a nice X-mas gift for CD-47 Bot this year. ;)

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

Unfortunatly as a high school student with no job I have no money to give. Maybe one day i will.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

You know, if folks that could committed to a $10.00 holiday gift for CD-47 Bot, I'd bet we'd see a pretty orange bow attached. Or maybe get an extra special 'hint'. w00h00.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I do... ever since Tytus donated for me because he was sick of seeing the banner ads when he was on my computer. :)

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I'll throw in another vote for "poor college student". =\

And right now, I'm supporting my FIRST team!

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I'm kinda fond of the banner ads, myself.

:)

(hmm... we should update ours)

Andy B.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

For anyone saying "I am a poor college student.."


Come on guys and gal, lets be serious here for a moment. Did you buy lunch today on campus? Did you go out last weekend for a good time?

It is only $5 I bet you have spent that a few times over today alone. So why not just give a little bit, think of it as your entertainment fee for the night.



my .02

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

For those of you who dont donate, do you really look at the ads? My bet is that you an ad remover. Atleast I know I do.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I can see where your coming from here, but I think it is a little presumptuous to assume they are throwin out a excuse just because they are cheap or they don't want to give.....I'd imagine if you are on this forum and are pretty involved already and would probably give if you had it.....i know i did when i had it, but for now im gonna worry about what to pawn next to make rent first.....

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I would like to ask for the options to keep the ads there even after donation is made. I am quite fond of some of those ads, and I am so used to them by now sometimes I look forward to which one I am going to see.

It was kind of a reason why I haven't donated again, I sort of want the ads there.

-Ken L

P.S. Let's get back to the spirit of having donations in the first place. Some people will be able to donate, other people won't. That's fine with me whether they can or not. Let's not pressure anyone to do so. Anyway, Brandon, let me keep the ads and I will donate the second time ;-).

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I feel like the ads are part of the forum interface. I've actually gone to other vB-based forums and couldn't figure out where so much of the page was missing.

Thanks for this thread also! It reminded me to donate to CD now that I recently registered a Paypal account (which is very simple as long as you have a US bank account.. I was able to hook it up to a savings account by just calling the bank and asking for the routing number).

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

As was stated earlier, this thread was not intended to force or embarrass people into donating. I was just wondering why there was so much of a drop off and if people remembered about it. I also wanted to see if there were those that did not know about the opportunity. There have been some good answers given so please continue to post but please, no attacking or shooting down of others.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

Yup, I am not worry about it. Everyone in fact have shown very good intention toward supporting Chief Delphi and this website.

Let's get the words out, and let's get those donations rolling in! Come on people, it's time to cut that bag of chips, that bar of Milkey Way, that extra hotdog, and if you don't eat any junk food and only salad and broccoli all day, that extra "eat healthy" magazine, and donate $5 toward one of the most important website in the FIRST community!

It's not much, and it could potentially change your life.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I think that my comments before might have been taken wrong (one of the downsides of nonverbal communication). The thing that I really was trying to say was if you don't want to contribute, or can't for real financial reasons thats fine. I was just pointing out that college these days is expensive, and that it really doesn't seem like a very good excuse.

I don't have problems with people not contributing, I have problems with people making up excuses which seem to have no legitimacy.


If i offended anyone I am sorry, I know I would be upset if these forums went away.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

i truely would but unfortunately I must pay for college, food, and etc. Someday perhaps in the distant future, after paying off student loans an such.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

Thank you for starting this thread. Quite simply I don't know why I never donated before. I remember when the donation option first became available and truly meant to donate but just never did. I guess I just got so used to the ads at the top that I never noticed the little PayPal box in the middle. Frankly, I have no excuse. I have now donated my $5 and feel I still owe much more than that for all of the knowledge I have received here. Again, thank you for starting this thread and bringing this issue back to my attention.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

This thread is making me pretty upset. The whole point of the donation is for someone to contribute if they feel the cause is worthy. If not, there's no obligation.

I donated the first day the option was available. I would have donated more had there been an easier way to. My 6 months ran out, but I wasn't on the site enough to justify donating again when nothing had even been mentioned about it in a while. I would save my donation until January when they needed it the most, as it might not get used to full potential in the fall. After reading this thread, I'm stuck between a rock a hard spot. If I had never donated and continued that pattern it would just show that I didn't think the cause was worth it. But now I feel like I'm being called out for not donating (having the "excuse" of being a college student - read: sarcasm - I fully plan to donate again come build season) when in actuality I have donated before.

For the record, I think it would be great if everyone donated. Who knows what cool new features we could have here. Yet, at the same time I believe that I should at least have someone ask me for a donation before I pull out my wallet. A stagnant donation button certainly isn't very convincing.

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

One of our annual fundraisers for the team is a donation letter written to family, friends and loved ones. We time it to go out right after Thanksgiving. In our past letters, we have asked that the donor consider helping the team in lieu of a gift for the team member that is requesting. (I think the team members have always received gifts but it is something we offer.)

Maybe CD could look at a simple and timely donation campaign done on an annual basis around this time of year, asking for the $5.00 donation from members of CD. Those who can, donate. Those who can not, wait until a time that they can.

If it were to become annual at the same time each year, it would set a pattern of reminding us to help support CD and providing us the opportunity to express our appreciation.

Just for fun, maybe we could have a theme title contest for the yearly donation campaign.
Just a thought.
Jane

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I think Tom makes a really good point. CD does WONDERFUL things for all of us, and I know if we all had the money, we would toss it towards supporting CD, but some of us are less fortunate than others. That and, I'm not so inclined to just donate of my own free will. Now, being pestered to give some money to something I support is different. My own team does that to me all the time, and I throw out cash to them all the time. Just a thought...

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

I'm not feeling any extra pressure to donate now that this thread is out there. But then again, I guess I focused more on Steve's initial post which just raised the curiosity question rather than the middle comments...

But some of the comments did remind me of our HS's PTA. Last year they converted from an independent organization to a PTA. A PTA requires you to be a member to have voting privileges and that membership costs money. There are 5 student reps who are elected or appointed based on their class policies. Because of their position they have to attend the PTA meetings to represent the students. But now they can't vote unless they pay money for a membership ($5/student). And when they were given the position, no one had told them they would have to pay for it. So we put forth a proposal that the student memberships would be paid out of the PTA budget. One of the most memorable comments in opposition to this request was "well the students go to Starbucks and spend that much for a cup of coffee, tell them to give up one cup and use that to pay their membership fee." And while that may seem logical, that statement was way too generalized and damaged the working relationship between the students and the adults.

Moral of the story...For some $5 is big and for some $5 is little. And either way, what each person does with it is their own choice. And it goes both ways, we shouldn't judge another's use of that money, and we shouldn't care what someone else thinks of how we are spending that money. Caveat: unless it is your kid, and you gave them the money for one purpose and they spend it on another. :D

Re: Poll - Supporting CD
 

If Chief Delphi do make this an annual event, more people will be aware of this, and it won't seems like people are being pressured to donate whenever this is brought up by a simple thread. I support this idea completely.

On a side note, this thread started out as a very simple idea of asking people their attitude toward donations. Let's not side track and make it something else ;-).

-Ken L