Shaking the Tree, HARD. Avalon needs money, right now.

[Dennis Leahy]

Please, make a donation to project Avalon right now. Hit the "How to Donate" orange button on the top right of your screen, and follow one of those pathways. If you run into trouble, ask for help here.


Members AND visitors: Project Avalon needs money to get the vBulletin software updated, the data migrated, and then patching the updated version to try to include some or all of the features that were hand-coded into the old software.

I know you cannot afford it, neither can I. For anyone, member or visitor, that cannot afford to make a donation that goes THUNK into the collection basket, then may I propose that you cough-up $5 or $10. There could be a very small percentage of members (hey, membership is free here, remember) or visitors that would have a hardship coming up with $5, but that percentage should be very small.

Hey, you NSA and CIA and other alphabet agency operatives who glean information here, your minimum should be $100. Save your receipt and turn it in to your bosses for full reimbursement. Google/YouTube should donate at least $1000, as we direct a lot of traffic to and through YouTube.

Project Avalon is the last place, the only place, that I know of, where the content we discuss is still permitted. It's way way past 1984 out there in cyberspace.

Please dig deep and make a donation right now before you talk yourself out of it. I used to be a programmer, and I know that the task at hand for Tommy (the technical Admin) is non-trivial. No software update goes smoothly - it just doesn't happen, plus we have guaranteed that there will be quirks to work out because some of the code we are running on was "hand coded" and is guaranteed not to transfer or not to work after the update. We've got to pay Tommy (and I know he puts in a lot of free hours) and we've got to buy the updated version of vBulletin. Tommy may also have to pay someone at vBulletin for support if he hits a wall on anything.

Please, make a donation to project Avalon right now. Hit the "How to Donate" orange button on the top right of your screen, and follow one of those pathways. If you run into trouble, ask for help here.

[mountain_jim]

Thanks Dennis - done now and checked and found your reminder was timely - we try and donate every 6 months and it had been 7 months since last donation.

[grapevine]

Donation sent with love and hugs and appreciation x

[Ewan]

I'll donate as soon as I know a method that DOES NOT involve Paypal.

[pyrangello]

I donated a month ago and signed up for the monthly donation of $20.00 a month. For those of us that can afford to donate , please do, and for those that cannot, we all understand when things are tight. Especially now.

[Ernie Nemeth]

Done.
Thanks Dennis.

[Bill Ryan]

Wow, and my very warmest thanks to everyone. :heart: (And Dennis, that was rather mischievous of you. @everyone, I had no idea this was coming. :P)

The costs for a comprehensive, lasting software fix are unknown right now (and the timescale is another unknown, as it all depends on Tommy's schedule), but it might not cost a fortune. :fingers crossed: The main challenges are likely to be Tommy's professional time, combined with any equally unknown technical difficulties that the whole project might encounter.

As I posted here (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?24002-Record-of-Server-Outages&p=1582544&viewfull=1#post1582544) on the Record of Server Outages (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?24002-Record-of-Server-Outages&) thread, a copy of my email sent out to all members a few days ago, whatever the issues that are tackled behind the scenes, the forum would only ever be offline for a short while (maybe a small number of times at the most) while any migration (copying/cloning) is done.

What I do want to say is that I'm fully aware that many people are stretched financially at the moment. So please don't donate more than you can afford — and if you can afford nothing with everything that's happening around us all right now, that's all 100% perfectly fine and is always understood. :flower:

:heart::grouphug::heart:

[The Moss Trooper]

I've just donated........ Can't believe how painless it was!

Yes, not many places like this left out there, we've ALL gotta do whatever is within our means to keep the lights on.

[Le Chat]

I've donated what I can afford, and yes, it was painless!

[Heart to heart]

Donated with love

[Arcturian108]

I donate a small amount monthly, but just made a special donation because of the need for a worthy cause.

[pyrangello]

Thanks to everyone throwing in the jar, I've been around since avalons birth , was hanging around project Camelot for years before Avalon was created, I'm sure there are others here as well with the same longevity. Just a heads up to all , its pretty rare any money is ever suggested or asked for here on this site, this has been ran without fees or dues since its inception 10 plus years?. It wasn't created to make money , it was created for all of us who in my case half my friends either laugh at me or make fun of some of the things I present to them . Being here in the Avalon family everything is on the table and nobody is here to make fun of anyone. Because we all know there is much more to this life than what we were taught, and much more to who we are than most know. Pretty special place, unfortunately even this special place is in the matrix of needing funds to operate as well. I had to laugh at Dennis's comment about special ops like CIA or NSA, surely they could write a requisition to the higher ups for funding, were never paying that debt back anyways so come on guys a few thousand here or there. Any help here is always appreciated. Thank You in advance

[Bluegreen]

$100 - Donated

:Avalon:

[Bahri]

I can make minor donations right now my income is $14 per calendar day so $5 is affordable.

[Harmony]

Just a reminder of what Bill posted above, and everyone's generosity is so appreciated :heart:



What I do want to say is that I'm fully aware that many people are stretched financially at the moment. So please don't donate more than you can afford — and if you can afford nothing with everything that's happening around us all right now, that's all 100% perfectly fine and is always understood. :flower:

[Gerard]

Done, and worth every penny

[Isserley]

I've just donated small amount.. :bearhug:

[AlaBil]

Dennis... thanks for the reminder of the needs here. Donation made.

[Bruce G Charlton]

I just tried to make a donation for England (via the link to PayPal) and I can only get:

"This organization's page is broken."

[Carlitos]

you know Paypal takes about 10% of all transactions (not to mention our data!)... slags
is there a bitcoin wallet set up for Avalon - what's the address????

[Bill Ryan]

Dear All, It's hard to find the words to offer any kind of appropriate thanks. I've just taken a look at Avalon's PayPal a/c, and the response has been quite overwhelming. Several extraordinarily kind members, who I assume I shouldn't really mention here for privacy reasons, have been most astonishingly generous, more so than I could ever have imagined possible. And the list of donors numbers many dozens, now well over 50.

There's no question at all that with this kind of abundant resource we can create whatever platform we need and want. It's merely a matter of the technical challenges, but we can now afford to solve those problems whatever it may take.

Please excuse my lack of ability (only with one cup of :coffee: so far :P:)) to adequately convey my deepest appreciation. The response has been hard to believe. No matter what you were able to offer*, I'm most, most grateful for your thoughtfulness.

* A small anecdote which I'd like to share. Back in early Project Camelot days, as with Project Avalon now, nothing was ever monetized — a practice which confess I abhor. But the donations we received made it possible for us to accomplish everything.

One I remember to this day was from a teenager in Poland who sent in $1.31, accompanied by a beautiful little message saying it was all he could possibly afford as he had no money at all. That moved me greatly, and I sent him a long personal reply.

It truly is the thought that counts — as an entirely separate gift from the larger (and sometimes very large) donations that also matter enormously and which make all the difference to things happening practically. Generosity indeed takes many, many forms.

:heart:

I'll do my best to respond individually, but because of the sheer volume it may take some time. :) This morning I'll tell Tommy that we now have the means to go ahead with whatever it takes to secure Avalon as a strong, stable, user-friendly platform for the foreseeable future.

:stars: :grouphug: :stars:

[grapevine]

No need for a personal response to me Bill. Bless you and PA for providing this great community. X

[Ernie Nemeth]

I second Miller, for the good that it'll do. I know you will make the effort and ensure all are responded to personally.

Still, it is not necessary for me. This is money well spent. Worth every penny.

It is not my monthly payment, it is a stipend earmarked for whatever you want to do with it.

[Yoda]

Dear All, It's hard to find the words to offer any kind of appropriate thanks. I've just taken a look at Avalon's PayPal a/c, and the response has been quite overwhelming. Several extraordinarily kind members, who I assume I shouldn't really mention here for privacy reasons, have been most astonishingly generous, more so than I could ever have imagined possible. And the list of donors numbers many dozens, now well over 50.

There's no question at all that with this kind of abundant resource we can create whatever platform we need and want. It's merely a matter of the technical challenges, but we can now afford to solve those problems whatever it may take.

Please excuse my lack of ability (only with one cup of :coffee: so far :P:)) to adequately convey my deepest appreciation. The response has been hard to believe. No matter what you were able to offer*, I'm most, most grateful for your thoughtfulness.

* A small anecdote which I'd like to share. Back in early Project Camelot days, as with Project Avalon now, nothing was ever monetized — a practice which confess I abhor. But the donations we received made it possible for us to accomplish everything.

One I remember to this day was from a teenager in Poland who sent in $1.31, accompanied by a beautiful little message saying it was all he could possibly afford as he had no money at all. That moved me greatly, and I sent him a long personal reply.

It truly is the thought that counts — as an entirely separate gift from the larger (and sometimes very large) donations that also matter enormously and which make all the difference to things happening practically. Generosity indeed takes many, many forms.

:heart:

I'll do my best to respond individually, but because of the sheer volume it may take some time. :) This morning I'll tell Tommy that we now have the means to go ahead with whatever it takes to secure Avalon as a strong, stable, user-friendly platform for the foreseeable future.

:stars: :grouphug: :stars:



AlleluiaAlleluia

[skogvokter]

I'll donate as soon as I know a method that DOES NOT involve Paypal.
,,
What Ewan said. Can you make a donation with not using paypal?
,,
,,

[Parsi-X]

Yes please.. I would love to donate.. but Paypal is a pain down under.




I'll donate as soon as I know a method that DOES NOT involve Paypal.
,,
What Ewan said. Can you make a donation with not using paypal?
,,
,,

[Bill Ryan]

Yes please.. I would love to donate.. but Paypal is a pain down under.



I'll donate as soon as I know a method that DOES NOT involve Paypal.

What Ewan said. Can you make a donation with not using paypal?

Dear All, my warmest thanks once again, and iit'll take a while (still!) before I'm able to thank everyone personally for all their astonishing and most wonderful generosity. :heart:

Re PayPal, there's an easy way to make a donation (via PayPal) but without having to have a personal PayPal account. Many may know this already, but here's how:

1) Click the orange HOW TO DONATE link at the top right of any Avalon forum page:

https://projectavalon.net/FAQ_images/How_to_Donate_sm.gif

2) That orange button leads you to a page with a PayPal button like this:

https://projectavalon.net/FAQ_images/Support_Project_Avalon_Donate_button.gif

3) And then, clicking that leads to this:

https://projectavalon.net/FAQ_images/Donate_with_a_credit_card.jpg

(None of these images in this post are live links!)

4) Then, click on the lower of those buttons — "Donate with a Debit or Credit Card", and that should enable you to make a contribution that way if you want to!

~~~

The only other way to get $$$ to me (which would all 100% go to Avalon expenses) is via Western Union, which is impressively quick, user-friendly and simple.

You'd just specify my full legal name ("William James Vincent Ryan") — because I have to show my formal ID — and then you'd be given a one-off numerical passcode which you'd let me know by PM or email. Then I simply show that at the Western Union office here in Ecuador, and it all takes about 30 seconds flat.

~~~

My most sincere thanks to everyone once again. I've already written to Tommy that we now have all the funds we need to go ahead to create whatever platform we want to use here for the foreseeable future. :muscle:

:heart::grouphug::heart:

[arwen]

Not able to manage much, but sent what we can. This forum has given us all SO much. Wish we could do more. Eternal gratitude.

[Mari]

Haha, absolutely (almost) painless - took a while for PPal to send a confirmation code through, but it's Friday and I'm patient ;)

[selinam]

Good reminder - donated today. Money well spent!!

[Bill Ryan]

:bump:

Dear Friends, we need to shake the tree just a tiny bit more, if this might be possible.

The donations we've received have all gone to excellent use, and everyone reading this will be aware that there have been no further forum technical issues. But a couple of weeks ago, this happened:


The Avalon Library is down (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?122811-The-Avalon-Library-is-down)

... and while it was only a temporary outage, we discovered to our collective horror that it was NOT being backed up by the host company as we'd all assumed. (This was entirely my bad for having missed that long ago, OMG. :facepalm:)

So Paul (ThePythonicCow (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/member.php?u=2030)) swing into action, and we now have a full daily library backup running. That incurred a bunch more costs, including some purchased hardware.

To complement that, Paul has also rejuvenated and upgraded the even more important forum backup, so in the cases of both the forum and the library we're now 100% insulated from losing any data at all caused possible sudden governmental censorship actions or mandated takedowns of 'difficult' alternative sites.

Moreover, he's also in the process of upgrading and moving our entire email system, which Google has been charging us over $100/month for. (OMG again.)

What this all means, to cut the long story short, is that we've been investing successfully in upgrading and reinforcing everything we can access. In the long term, we'll save costs, but that's incurred costs of its own — as investment always does.

So the reason for this post is that — if it's at all possible — we need something like another $600 in the next 10 days or so to make ends meet.

We're NOT asking anyone to donate anything they can't afford, or to add to their own existing generosity (which in some cases has been most extraordinary, and you know who you are :heart2:). But if anyone reading this may be able to help just a little, we'd VERY VERY much appreciate it.

:heart: :grouphug: :heart:

[Anthony Hale]

Thank you Bill for all you and the team do ! :heart:
There really is no place like this forum , where we can share our thoughts and experiences freely in a kind and loving environment .

[Fellow Aspirant]

you know Paypal takes about 10% of all transactions (not to mention our data!)... slags
is there a bitcoin wallet set up for Avalon - what's the address????

If you use PayPal to donate in U.S. dollars, there is no fee. Bill gets every penny you send.

[pounamuknight]

This forum has been important in evolving my understanding of the world. Thanks, Team Avalon :muscle:

I'll chip in on payday this thursday :thumbsup:

[Brigantia]

I've made a note in my diary to chip in when I'm paid next month; just had all the big annual car bills and needed two new tyres. They've gone up from £55 each about a year ago to £89!!

[pyrangello]

I set up my donation to chip in monthly , set aside one of your coffees a month for 5.00 and chip in here, everyone here appreciates it very much. I set up mine for a couple coffees a month .

[Harmony]

you know Paypal takes about 10% of all transactions (not to mention our data!)... slags
is there a bitcoin wallet set up for Avalon - what's the address????

If you use PayPal to donate in U.S. dollars, there is no fee. Bill gets every penny you send.

Thank you, that's really an important point, and good to know :stars:

[mountain_jim]

bump for any who missed this (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?122117-Shaking-the-Tree-HARD.-Avalon-needs-money-right-now.&p=1605849&viewfull=1#post1605849)

:bump:

[thepainterdoug]

Bill and Avalonians. on it. pd

[avid]

Just sent a wee donation 😻

[grapevine]

Are you still short Bill, or have you raised enough to cover costs. . .? :heart:

[Bill Ryan]

Are you still short Bill, or have you raised enough to cover costs. . .? :heart:Thank you so much for the question! :heart: For a whole bunch of reasons both technical and personal, I confess I'm really not on top of the situation at all — and have yet to be able to look in any detail at the very kind donations we're aware we've definitely received. But yes, I do understand we've reached the $600 we really did quite urgently need.

Further to my update a few days ago (see my post here (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?122117-Shaking-the-Tree-HARD.-Avalon-needs-money-right-now.&p=1605849&viewfull=1#post1605849)), as best I know Paul/ ThePythonicCow (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/member.php?2030-ThePythonicCow) is now very close to being able to move our entire email system to a far cheaper host: no simple task, it seems, and this is what's occupying his priority time and attention right now. And as I reported earlier, we definitely have a far more sturdy and reliable backup system firmly in place for both the forum and the library, which itself incurred over $1000 of one-off expense.

Paul, who is now an Avalon admin again (and a moderator by default, though he's not actually involved in any of the daily routine housekeeping) also has quite a long To Do list of optimizing various technical forum irritants.

There are issues still with the contact form, the registration system for new members, and so on, and he's very much holding the fort for Tommy (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/member.php?440-Tommy) who, worryingly, we've been totally unable to contact for quite a while now and last logged into the forum in November. We earnestly hope he's okay, but have just no way of knowing. That's been a concern for quite a long time now and is one reason why some of the ongoing issues haven't yet been addressed. :flower:

We'll be able to post further updates soon, and I'm fully aware that I need to look with all the necessary care and detail at (and reply personally to) all the most generous and thoughtful donations that we're received since we bumped this thread.

:heart: :grouphug: :heart:

[wondering]

Sending most positive energy and intent to Tommy for whatever his needs may be.

[thepainterdoug]

Bill keep us all posted and dont feel you cannot shake the tree more often. Avalon is worth keeping!!!

pd

[Dennis Leahy]

Well, it looks like the new hardware/software plus the addition of a programmer's programmer (Paul) back to the main tech admin position has solved the crisis and provided us all a stable platform.



Yay members! (and a few non-members that also donated) Way to step up!


With a lot less urgency than at the beginning of this thread, Avalon still has monthly operating expenses. Every month. Like, a couple of weeks ago. cha-ching! In less than 2 weeks, the next chunk is due, again.


So, this reminder is to everyone not just to donate a little to keep Avalon going, but to remember Avalon when you're paying your monthly bills - a good reminder to donate incrementally along the way.

[Dennis Leahy]

I just had a problem trying to donate...


53951


So, I went directly into my Paypal account and tried to send a donation to Bill/Avalon using bill@projectavalon.net as the recipient. That didn't work either. "Sorry, this recipient can't accept payments right now."


[Bill, please check this out.]

[RunningDeer]

I just had a problem trying to donate...
[Bill, please check this out.]

https://projectavalon.net/forum4/images/smilies/bump.gif Just a reminder if anyone can help with donations, no matter how small, it is very much appreciated to help with the costs involved with maintaining our wonderful forum.

Thanks in advance, Dennis. https://i.imgur.com/1zXOufk.gif
It worked on September 27th.

And thank you, Harmony for the reminder (https://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?15584-A-reminder-please-don-t-forget-to-donate-to-the-Forum&p=1635630&viewfull=1#post1635630). https://i.imgur.com/4WWe5ym.gif

https://i.imgur.com/N8UTsue.png

:heart:

[thepainterdoug]

will send

painter d

[mountain_jim]

sent successfully via credit card - thanks for the reminder thread bump, Dennis! :thumbsup:

[Dennis Leahy]

Sorry for the cross-posting, but the other thread is in Members Only and I'd like visitors to see this too.


The problem I encountered was with my bank. Even though my previous donations to Avalon have gone through, my bank flagged my attempted donation as a foreign transaction, because Avalon's Paypal account is listed as in Canada.



The solution for me was to talk to my bank and pre-authorize transactions in Canada for a period of time (1 day) as if I was traveling to Canada. Then my donation went through just fine.