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How about a Demand Draft ? drawn in favour of linuxquestions.org ? I am really not comfortable in using credit cards.
By the way - there should be two types of contribution fees - one the $35 /year for people of developed countries like USA etc and another - say $3 / year for people of developing world (like my country india for instance) this is because not many people could afford the $35/year fees because it is really big compared to the average salary drawn by people of the third world.
I think until there comes a time when people are moved to contribute financially, like pretty much anything, they will know. I believe it has been said in the past there is no onus on people to contribute as being a contributing member offers no *tangible* benefits. I simply did it because it was within my means and I felt it was the right and proper thing to do. People who cannot afford to contribute $35 can contribute in other ways and should not feel because they are not financial they are any less of a contribution.
- the wiki hasn't reached 3000 articles yet AFAIK
- answering threads with no replies
- reviewing distros, books and applications
- adding your hardware to the HCL
- writing tutorials - i notice you have some excellent ones on your blog ravee
and there is always the cafepress store where LQ gets a percentage of the purchase and there are items less than $35 there.
This is just my attitude to contributing overall. A good friend always used to say to me "Be a joyful giver". If you feel it will make things difficult or just that you cant then dont. LQ, Linux and Open Source as a whole will, I believe, find a way.
Cheers,
Chris
Originally posted by GT I.N.C i would really LOVE to contribute to LQ, but 1. yes im outside of the US (australia) and i'm 14 so i don't think i can donate any money through credit card and stuff, i got a key card with savings and stuff but will that work, but again i am outside of the U.S, but jeremy, when you have found a way for us out of the U.S and maybe even younger guys like me, i don't know if there is anyone else under 18 or so but if you do find a way i would love to contribute in any way shape or form...
So would I.
BUT I live in Paraguay (currently ranking second most corrupt country in the world, second to Cameroon, but thats only because they paid the Cameroonians to take first place ).
And if you think you think are the only one on LQ thats 14, So am I ( Let out my little dirty secret).
The Forum is really nice, better than a lot of other ones I'v been to. It's organized so you can find things easily and has a good director/creator, and moderators too of course .
Hope that everybody can be as satisfied with this site as I am.
Distribution: Debian, Red Hat, Slackware, Fedora, Ubuntu
Posts: 13,597
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For those currently unable to donate monetarily, I appreciate the patience. In the meantime, there are plenty of ways you can really help LQ. Answering 0 reply threads, adding content to the LQ Wiki, reporting posts - do not underestimate how much your time helps.
A few posts up somebody suggested ways for people in developing countries to be able to pay less than 35 US$ yet still be acknowledged as contributing members and I think this idea has merit, especially since Linux is growing fast in such countries.
35 US$ is not much in most of the western world but it is quite significant in places where the average salary is much less.
In Thailand I think the salary for a school-teacher on the government payroll is around 120-150 US$ per month, so 35$ is quite a chunk of that, yet teachers are exactly the kind of people Linux needs to attract in order to grow. Even MS are finally offering a cheaper (but stripped down) version of Windows over here to try and stop the flow of people switching to Linux, amongst other reasons.
I am in Thailand and I am fortunate that I can afford the 35$ a year, but I am pretty sure that there may be other LQ'ers here who can't afford that much but would like to contribute something and maybe get a little recognition for doing so in addition to the "feel good" factor.
Perhaps a solution would be to offer different options for different contribution levels, yet still give all contributors the "Contributing member" tag under their info. More members with that tag might also be good encouragement to get more donations/contributions.
Of course many people contribute *far* more value to LQ than my paltry 35$ with their helpful posts, knowledge and patience with us newbies - that is what makes this site so great - but everybody knows that money is always going to help keep any free site up and running so I am guessing that any idea/suggestion that might help revenue is at least worth considering.
Hmpf. I can't subscribe (because I have no credit card and paypal doesn't support payments by direct debit for subscriptions, even from verified users like me - stupid, don't ask me why.). I _could_ transfer the 35$ once via paypal for a donation though (I think - at least that worked the last time). Is there any possibility to handle it like this?
Hi Folks
Until someone comes up with a simple standardized
method of installing software packages in LINUX Bill Gates has nothing to worry about.
Regards Stuttie ***** exasperated
Originally posted by lingerinde Hi Folks
Until someone comes up with a simple standardized
method of installing software packages in LINUX Bill Gates has nothing to worry about.
Regards Stuttie ***** exasperated
And what does this have to do with becoming a Contributing Member to this site? Or are you a clueless troll spreading the word about another OS most don't care about here. Our members are here to help others with technical questions about Linux and Unix, if your here to preach, your on the wrong site buddy.. got questions, ask away. Here to preach and spread crud around our forums, you'll just lose all privileges rather quickly.
Originally posted by trickykid And what does this have to do with becoming a Contributing Member to this site? Or are you a clueless troll spreading the word about another OS most don't care about here. Our members are here to help others with technical questions about Linux and Unix, if your here to preach, your on the wrong site buddy.. got questions, ask away. Here to preach and spread crud around our forums, you'll just lose all privileges rather quickly.
Trickykid, Thanks a dozen for that! I wanted to respond to that idiotic message, but decided against it as I didn't feel it warranted one...
But it's nice to see that a staff member has some strong words to people who don't know netiquette and decency... Good show!
In any case, it's nice to see so many members contributing towards LQ so we can just ignore these losers.
Originally posted by Harishankar Trickykid, Thanks a dozen for that! I wanted to respond to that idiotic message, but decided against it as I didn't feel it warranted one...
But it's nice to see that a staff member has some strong words to people who don't know netiquette and decency... Good show!
In any case, it's nice to see so many members contributing towards LQ so we can just ignore these losers.
Yeah, first post with anti-Linux crud in the most irrelevant thread possible, my senses tell me their not very bright with really bad posting habits..
I haven't read all of this thread, I noticed it started in 2002. Anyway this is an incredibly useful website. I know websites need contributions from time to time to upgrade equipment etc, but to be honest I would be unwilling to make a regular contribution. I have a number of payments coming out of my bank every month and if you have too many they can really add up. What I would be willing to do is make a one off payment if LQ.ORG needed it. I'm sure you would get a very good response.
Recently MPlayer put out a request for funds and I think they were inundated. People obviously appreciate things they have a use for.
I suppose at the end of the day people like Linux because it's cost effective amongst other things. I personally get slightly annoyed when software prompts me to donate, such as Azureus. I'm happy to contribute but there's a limit to what you can give to, and you certainly shouldn't feel that you need to be paying for services provided to the Linux community. I mean the point is it's supposed to be free, generally speaking. If someone wants to run a service, that's up to them. If they need donations sometimes, fine.
Using Linux shouldn't be putting people out of pocket so I hope nobody feels they MUST be donating to things.
Distribution: Debian, Red Hat, Slackware, Fedora, Ubuntu
Posts: 13,597
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..and you certainly shouldn't feel that you need to donate. 99% of the functionality at LQ is (and will always be) free. The extra stuff you get for contributing would have never been enabled for all members in the first place anyway. The bottom line is - if you want to donate once, great... we appreciate it. If you want to become a contributing member, great....we appreciate it. If you just want to enjoy and contribute to the LQ community by visiting and helping out and being a member, we sincerely appreciate that too!
Hi, I'am a new member, joined about an hour ago. Was thinking of points being awarded to the person/s who give the best solutions to the Q's... Would make it fun & competitive yA!
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