Oct 2015. Fundraising time. Please contribute now.

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Steve E.
Site Admin
Posts: 1914
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 3:24 pm
Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA
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Oct 2015. Fundraising time. Please contribute now.

Post: # 38036Unread post Steve E.
Fri Oct 23, 2015 7:30 pm

Dear Friends and Members of the Secret Society of Lathe Trolls,

If you use, enjoy and rely on this site --and I'm pretty sure you do-- I am asking you to help keep it running with a financial contribution, today. Right now. Using the golden "Contribute" button up top, which connects your gift to the paypal account at lathetrolls@gmail.com. Please send an amount you can currently afford, or less. You can always send more later if you want, of course.

These needed funds are for the imminent annual renewal of the domains and hosting (which, from now on, will come due at this time every year); and, crucially as well, to support the time, energy and care it takes for me to maintain the site.

You may notice a brand new menu button at the top of the site. It says "Our Sponsors," and clicking on it will bring you to a page that lists them. In a very real way, this site is here now because these 70 or so people and (generally small) businesses contributed financially, sometimes repeatedly, in the past 2.5 years, towards the site's upkeep, survival, and improvement. Apollo Masters contributed those great auctions. Some of the other individual contributions were a few hundred dollars. Some were roughly the typical price of a 45 rpm single. And everything in-between. All were needed, all were appreciated, and everything added up. All monies supported very real labor and time here.

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(Here, I removed an entire extra page of "annual report," describing what I do here, and where I'd like the site to grow. I'll PM if you need to know. Crucially: membership grew by 33% this year, to 1800 official members.)

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I keep membership free out of a sense that it is right for the site, and that it keeps the energy and goodwill flowing. But if the site is valuable to you, please don't take it for granted. You and I know that if it vanishes, there will be a gaping hole in your life, your sense of community, your knowledge and, in some cases, your incomes. This site has inadvertently evolved into the primary meeting place for a growing world community of serious engineers, sonic hepcats, and other obsessives, all involved in making miraculous, sound-producing spinning things. It has also inadvertently evolved into a primary promotional tool for auctions and services related to same: for free. As well, it is a huge online repository of data, manuals, wisdom, knowledge. I am proud of all of us for co-creating it. I am nonetheless doing my best to hold it together...on no salary for these efforts.

3.8% of the site's participants have contributed, throughout these drives, to funding the site. This year, so far, it was ~1/8th of that. That's really low. Please, let's get that number higher.

So think for a minute or two, and send something fair, or even unfair, and either way, affordable. Some people have done repeat installments. That's cool, too. Remember, as well, that banner advertising is available, and may be useful to you. There's a button for that, up top, or we can chat by PM about it.

When you contribute, tell me how you'd like your name to appear on the Sponsor page. Username, business name, Real Name, or anonymous. Any options are fine.

Thank you so very much.

Yours,

Steve Espinola
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Founder and Admin
Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

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