***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

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Steve E.
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***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

Post: # 38374Unread post Steve E.
Thu Nov 05, 2015 6:47 pm

Dear Member of The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls,

It is fundraising time, and the site needs your help, now.

The domain and hosting of the Secret Society of Lathe Trolls chat forum site are up for renewal.

You are using the site, or you have enjoyed it in the past 10 years, as a rabid post-er or lurker or somewhere in-between; as a giver or consumer of knowledge and equipment.

I, Steve E., administrator, am running this magic, one-of-a-kind place on a frayed piece of shoestring, which is being used to hold the door shut so the landlord can’t kick it in. We have no major grants. We have no corporate overlords. We don’t have fees for membership or even, as of now, for the "Classifieds & Tip-offs" section listings. All we have are your friends and you: quirky brilliant individuals; operators of niche businesses; researchers; and/or home tinkerers. You are the Lathe Trolls. You make the site worth visiting. I, with your help, and the generous volunteer efforts of our mods, keep it functioning.

Immediately, I must implement a bunch of updates to keep the site’s software working. A new crew of moderators must be put through boot camp. A blog/magazine is being reworked, to showcase the work and services of our members. There is also the daily maintenance of the now-whopping 1800+ users: Forgotten passwords, swarf fires, the works. This stuff is generally handled by this one guy writing you, who is a freelance musician and audio editor living in Brooklyn.

Good stuff you already know:
  • LatheTrolls.com enables the passing on of record-creating knowledge and experience that had been on the verge of being lost.
  • It encourages innovation, while aiding in the salvage and repair of irreplaceable older equipment.
  • It showcases vinyl art.
  • It singularly promotes businesses in this reviving industry, offers problem-solving data and schematics for everything from old home units to Neumann VMS-80s, and helps sellers and buyers of equipment find each other.
  • It is a unique, invaluable, deep, massive, sprawling database of the world's living knowledge of record-cutting and record-pressing.
  • Its users volunteer, daily, to solve the most maddening of technical problems.
  • It connects record-making professionals and hobbyists on every continent on the planet. And...
  • It's fun!
Only 1.2 % of our members have contributed thus far to this year’s fundraising. For the site to continue and thrive, we need to get this number far higher. Please do not hesitate. Your contribution, of any size, right now, will help keep this vital database of record-cutting knowledge alive. Click the golden Paypal "Contribute" button at top of any page of this site, or simply Paypal to lathetrolls@gmail.com. Afterwards, you can email that same address and report how you’d like your name or business to appear on the Sponsor page (check it out here). Your username or “Anonymous” are options, too.

And, if you have not logged on in a while….Please come visit and post again. We'd love to hear what you are up to.

Yours in grooviness,

Steve E.
Administrator
The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

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rsimms3
Posts: 427
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Re: ***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

Post: # 38376Unread post rsimms3
Thu Nov 05, 2015 10:18 pm

Done.

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ziya
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Re: ***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

Post: # 38417Unread post ziya
Sun Nov 08, 2015 7:13 pm

done too

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mischmerz
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Re: ***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

Post: # 38419Unread post mischmerz
Sun Nov 08, 2015 10:19 pm

Done Three :)

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jjgolden
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Re: ***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

Post: # 38440Unread post jjgolden
Tue Nov 10, 2015 3:37 pm

Done 5
Thanks Steve & Crew!

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Steve E.
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Re: ***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

Post: # 38441Unread post Steve E.
Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:56 pm

THANKS for the contributions thus far. You will be getting individual thank yous from me!!! lots of love.

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mossboss
Posts: 2050
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Location: Australia.

Re: ***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

Post: # 38446Unread post mossboss
Wed Nov 11, 2015 2:03 am

Where is done four?
Chris

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Steve E.
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Re: ***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

Post: # 38487Unread post Steve E.
Fri Nov 13, 2015 12:36 am

Since a few people have asked....no, it is not too late to contribute towards the drive.

I'm happy to say that this fundraiser is going pretty well. Roughly 70 of the site's members have contributed so far to this end-of-year campaign. Along with a few other contributions in the past 12 months, that means we've now had recent funding participation from 4% of the sites' total membership...and from close to 9% of those who have officially logged in over the past year. Of course, we'd love to see even more participation, but this is a tremendous improvement over the early returns. The hosting and domain expenses have been covered and paid for, for another year.

Still, it's not too late for you to take part. A contribution equivalent to just 10 dollars, USD, will get you thanked and listed on the "Our Sponsors" page. (In fact, even 5 dollars gets you listed there, but don't tell anyone). Simply clicking on the golden "Contribute" button at the top of any page of LatheTrolls.com will bring you to a PayPal page, where you can select the amount you wish to contribute. Or, click here to go to that PayPal page).

Here's everyone who has contributed in the past 3 years, as of mid-Thursday, November 13, 2015:
Our Sponsors

The remainder of the funds raised, as mentioned before, will go towards compensating me for the intensive time and effort it takes to maintain and to continue developing the site.

If this site enriches your life -- and I have a hunch it does-- please support the work that goes into keeping it running, by contributing to this fundraising drive.

If that is not possible, please encourage your friends to support the drive, by posting this link (it contains last week's letter, with an update at the bottom): http://www.lathetrolls.com/fundraiser

Yours,
Steve E.
Administrator
The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

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Steve E.
Site Admin
Posts: 1914
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Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA
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Re: ***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

Post: # 38570Unread post Steve E.
Wed Nov 18, 2015 6:33 pm

A quick followup to say Thank You to all of the additional people who have contributed since my last update. The total participation in this fundraising drive, given the number of people who have logged in over the past 12 months, is now hovering just below 15% of that population....up from the 9% I last reported.

Again, all who have contributed will be thanked both by email and on the Sponsor page, very shortly. I am feeling that little ache of having not caught up, so I just wanted to check in here and say MUCH APPRECIATED. I love you all.

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Steve E.
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Re: ***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

Post: # 39116Unread post Steve E.
Mon Dec 14, 2015 2:05 pm

Hopefully, by now, I have successfully thanks everyone who contributed to the fundraiser, and listed all contributors on the sponsor page. If human error led to your not being listed, let me know.

You should have also received a thank you email. In many cases, it would have arrived by way of Mailchimp. Check your email filters and spam if you did not receive it--gmail especially tends to confine mailchimp stuff to one of its categories. I noticed that several sponsors never opened the thank you email (according to mailchimp).

The site is continuing to accept contributions even now, of course. It's not too late. ;)

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recordboy
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Re: ***A Lathe Trolls Plea***

Post: # 39235Unread post recordboy
Mon Dec 21, 2015 11:10 pm

I shall b donating again indeed.
been on here very seldom the past two
years. yet i love this forum!!!
:)
Cheers,
recordboy

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