Donate button or not?

[Pinky]

I have recently added a paypal button to my website but not really sure what effect that may have on potential 'new' members from signing up.

Do you use a donate button or use the softwares intergrated subscriptions instead or both? Do you think that if you saw a donate button on a website, would it put you off joining?

 

[Fragma]

I have a link in my navigation to a donation page.

If you're worried it will turn away possible members, then why not just have it so only registered members can view the button?

 

[Pinky]

Well it's not group orientated and shown in my footer and header so can't hide it....but will think about setting up the subscription service pehaps instead. Will be nice to see what others think about this too though. 🙂

 

[froggyboy604]

I think as long as your forum offers good posts, have a nice community, and members know where the donation money is going then a donate button won't make people put off.

I have a donation link on the front page of my website as well.

 

[Zawazuki]

I think having a donation link makes the site owner looks rather selfish. A forum doesn't need a whole lot of money to make and handle. So the majority of the money obviously goes towards self funds.

 

[Moustafa]

Yes, i agree that there is no need for a donate button.
we try to pay members to be active not to make them active and also ask them for money!

 

[David]

I think having a donation link makes the site owner looks rather selfish. A forum doesn't need a whole lot of money to make and handle. So the majority of the money obviously goes towards self funds.

Decent hosting would be about $40 to $80 a year and a domain is about $10; custom design, mods and scripts may cost up to $100; software could be up to $150; $100 in quality advertising. It's not much in hindsight (if you have a career etc.) but racking up a potential $400 in short term and gaining that back isn't something I would call "doesn't need a whole lot of money".

Sure you can opt into a cheap option and hope, but will you succeed in the long run is dependent on many factors, one being how deep your pockets are. If you want to make a good, quality forum and you want to be noticed fast, then it won't be cheap.

A donation button isn't selfish or aimed at self funding. If people want to advance on what they have then spending a bit of raised money will definitely be the way to go.

 

[Zawazuki]

Unless the user gets some sort of special benefit, I'm still viewing it as selfish. If you use others money, you can't even say you completely made the forum yourself because you're not using your own hard earned money. I don't know, it depends how you view it. I don't own a forum so this is a solid viewpoint coming from a long time member of forums.

On the other hand, if you need help racking up extra money, there's always advertisements. You could accumulate enough money to pay some of the fees. If you were investing $400.00 on a forum, it obviously has great potential and a strong member-base as it is. So getting some cash via advertisements sounds reasonable.

 

[David]

Unless the user gets some sort of special benefit, I'm still viewing it as selfish. If you use others money, you can't even say you completely made the forum yourself because you're not using your own hard earned money. I don't know, it depends how you view it. I don't own a forum so this is a solid viewpoint coming from a long time member of forums.

On the other hand, if you need help racking up extra money, there's always advertisements. You could accumulate enough money to pay some of the fees.

Just consistently running the forum without downtime, without closure etc., is benefiting the community and users. Even if you didn't use all money of your own, it doesn't infer that someone else has spent time making your forum; you still have spent the long hours making sure your forum is fit for a community of users.

With your advertisements idea, you may make $5 or $10, but who would advertise on a newly created forum, or a forum that won't give them a return? It's circular logic. You need to advertise (I mean quality, not just using free methods) to get members, but you need the members in order to get people advertising. It doesn't work, and people who are prepared to pay big won't see this as worthwhile.

 

[Pinky]

Interesting to hear your opinions on this. 🙂

The money is never for self benefit and that is outlayed in the donation topic. It is for going towards skins/modifications and to advertise on other forums.

A member who decides to pay a donation goes into a supporter group but they do not receive any special perks at all, only that they are in the supporter group which will show up under their avatar.

I have a special group for our top posters, when they reach a certain amount of posts they gain special perks. All free.

 

[GamerPerfection]

Well it's not group orientated and shown in my footer and header so can't hide it....but will think about setting up the subscription service pehaps instead. Will be nice to see what others think about this too though. 🙂

You can actually hide it no matter where it is located. All that would be required is an IF statement. It could be written so that IF the visitor is not logged in then the Donate button would not appear. If they are logged in it would appear.

 

[Pinky]

I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. 🙂

 

[Rich Edmonds]

In agreement with David.

If you spend money investing in your forum (or websites for that matter) you will certainly need to cover the costs one way or another - especially if you're not currently in a stable, well paying career. Donations or subscriptions are a perfect way for desecrate revenue generation. Adverts are more likely to be clicked and CPM levels reached if good activity is reached, but require work and good levels of pageviews per day.

For subscriptions, you will need to make sure you have features on offer to members who are willing to part with their money. Think to yourself "what would I like to receive as a member for small amounts of my money a month/year?"

 

[Pinky]

Going to have to have more of a think about this then as I only have free perks for members who make it to a certain amount of posts, didn't really want to offer the same service to a paid group so looks like I am stuffed.... 😕

 

[freebird]

That sort of thing doesn't put me off from joining. I don't expect forum owners to be rich and as it is it takes a lot of time. Personally I don't mind a donation button but it is a lot better when the site has something more to offer that can't be found for free somewhere else. What does put me off more is seeing ads in a relatively inactive forum. Save members from ads if they are unnecessary.

 

[froggyboy604]

Wikipedia is a good example of an ad-free forum which is mostly funded by donations. It raised millions of dollars in donations in 2010.

I think as long as you have something great to offer, members and visitors won't mind a donate button.

 

[naughtymonkey]

I think a donation method is good, its a way for the users to "Give Back" to the community and feel like there more involved with the forums and the feeling to say "I helped out this great community" Of course as long as the money actually goes to the forum or website and not into the admins pocket.

 

[dan213]

I think having a donation link makes the site owner looks rather selfish. A forum doesn't need a whole lot of money to make and handle. So the majority of the money obviously goes towards self funds.

Decent hosting would be about $40 to $80 a year and a domain is about $10; custom design, mods and scripts may cost up to $100; software could be up to $150; $100 in quality advertising. It's not much in hindsight (if you have a career etc.) but racking up a potential $400 in short term and gaining that back isn't something I would call "doesn't need a whole lot of money".

Sure you can opt into a cheap option and hope, but will you succeed in the long run is dependent on many factors, one being how deep your pockets are. If you want to make a good, quality forum and you want to be noticed fast, then it won't be cheap.

A donation button isn't selfish or aimed at self funding. If people want to advance on what they have then spending a bit of raised money will definitely be the way to go.

Couldn't of said it better myself.

I personally reinvest a large sum of my earnings whether it be in advertising or some other method to better my site. I seldom pocket more than a few dollars a month and that is mostly to cover hosting or something else that came out of personal funds rather than a business account.

I personally feel that a donation button would be an "ok" route to go. I don't see it as being selfish but it may become selfish if the money is spent on something foolish or impractical. I am also looking to place a donate button because of the type of site I run. When I offer people free forum themes, it would be nice to receive something in return for the work put into the creation of the themes being distributed.

 

[naughtymonkey]

I put up a donation button and made more money then I expected. Still getting donations too.

 

[Mik.]

Not a lot of people like to donate unless you offer something free and they love. For example people would donate to a site that provides free movies online.