What Changes Changes Be

Some of you may have noticed the change in the tiny bar of text on the banner at the top there (if you're not still looking at a cached version, or if you're not reading this far enough in the future that this has all ceased to be relevant); for those of you that haven't, it says "Major changes coming soon*, be forewarned". I figure some transparency in what goes on around here is a good idea, so here are some definitions for you:

changes (pl. n.) - the alteration or adjustment of one or more aspects of a thing (ex. the website's changes included fixing some skin issues and moving from GoDaddy to Gandi)

major (adj.) - significant enough that it might impact functionality for a period of time (ex. the website was down for a few hours because of some major changes)

soon* (adj.) - within a few days, give or take; potentially within the day (ex. the website will be down for a few hours soon*)

So there you have it; be forewarned!

Now, the reason we're doing this now is because things like hosting and the domain name are coming up for renewal in a month or so (and because GoDaddy's a philosophical butt with an awkward back end). It'll also make things a little cheaper on our end of things; it's still in the same ball park, but that ball park's a not-insignificant bit of change, which is why we're doing a second thing: providing you an option to help support costs (it sounds much nicer than "trawling for cash" this way).

Basically, the existence of Eagle Time for the next twelve months is going to run around $75 in total - I'll have exact numbers for anyone who wants them after the change to Gandi has been made. For the last year (our first year of existence), it was around $90, and both of those are basically just coming out of my and Schazer's pockets. If you're at all inclined to help out with that, I'll be temporarily slapping a Donate button on the site, and you should be able to use a credit card to shoot five bucks or something along if you're so inclined. 'Twould be much appreciated if you could chip a few bucks in to help out!

Now, I've got some things to start preparing. With any luck, I should have time to get us moved this very afternoon; there may be a few hours of downtime, but I'll do my best to keep things minimal and keep people updated. If you've got any questions, feel free to drop them in this thread or #eagletime over on EsperNet and I'll do my best to get them answered!

As an added bonus the first person* to donate $15 (after I post this - sorry pre-emptive givers) will get a shiny new $10 walmart gift card sent to them, from myself, once Pinary confirms everything.



*Admins excluded of course. Though I guess that doesn't exclude me but I won't be able to give anything until Thursday soooooooo

(and because GoDaddy's a philosophical butt with an awkward back end)

If my back end started spouting witticisms from Aristotle or Nietzsche without warning, that would be pretty awkward.

Well at least it's also quite awkward, it'll be too shy to speak up around anyone you're not already comfortable with and they'll hopefully learn to overlook your talking pants

Hey guys, we have plenty of cool artists here, we should draw things in exchange for donations! You know, as an incentive or a way to say thanks for donating.

Pick an artsy person from the board to draw something for you if donate more than $5? Or something? of course we would need to like, ask artsy people if they want to draw things for people! Like, have them sign up for it or something?

Maybe we can have a teeny tiny eagle-time kick starter (run here, in this thread).

Also maybe we could get enough to have TWO Eagle-Times.

The ten thousand dollar reward is a free trip to EagleCon, a two day meetup of all of the available members. Or at least as many members as you can fly to one location with ten thousand dollars

I would certainly be up for doing some draws as an incentive, since I'm too poor to actually donate much myself. (sorry)

The ten thousand dollar reward is a free trip to EagleCon, a two day meetup of all of the available members. Or at least as many members as you can fly to one location with ten thousand dollars

Your options would be

a) 1x huge bunch of North Americans
b) 1x me (Optional: 1x additional Plaid and Phish if they can hide in my luggage)

Jokes aside, I like Ed's idea and will definitely be making my own contribution to the "thanks Eaglebailers!" gratitude pool.

There we have it; welcome to Eagle Time, as hosted by Gandi.net, proud advocates of No Bullshit™! I'll be rolling out a few more changes as I get time to make them (just some minor formatting things, some skin fixes, etc), but that shouldn't mean any more downtime for a while.

More relevantly, though, thanks to everyone who donated- you basically covered the entire cost of the next year's hosting over the course of a day and a half! You can expect some more proper thanks shortly, there's just a bit of logistics to work out with that, but for now: Thank you! Eagle Time's here because we think it's a worthwhile place to have, and it's great to see that others think the same way.

Now, I've got some tables to fix...

Wow! That was a really effective fund-raiser. Way to go guys!

(i'm a little dissapointed i wasn't really able to contribute much)

I wonder if we could use this model to fund other things we care about?

Like, say an eagle-timer is struck with a disease or we want to help impoverished places or we all suddenly care extensively about brown pelicans. Once a cause is agreed on, Pinary could toss that little donate button up there again and all our funds would be collected into one lump eagle-time pelican-time donation. Artsy people could still do draw-you-a-things as well as other encouraging measures.

I think someone really in need and willing to accept donations (not as likely as it might seem) would probably ask for themselves
While I am perfectly willing to donate to help with the continuing provision of a service that I wouldn't mind actually having to pay for anyway, people will usually fund things that they care about without being given encouraging pokes about it by their friends

Most people don't really appreciate even people they like pointing them towards where they should be throwing their money, good cause or no

Guys I'm dying of

uh

poortopian flu nomoneyitus

Can we donate to me

Most people don't really appreciate even people they like pointing them towards where they should be throwing their money, good cause or no.

This is an excellent reason why I think this could be a good idea. We wouldn't be some neighbor hood kid selling sweets door-to-door, or some guy who knocks on your car window, handing you a flyer. We'd be a group of friends who decide that they have a mutual desire to support a particular cause. There would be no need to point or advertise other than within the normal discussion of what we'd like to support.

And the more I think about it, the more I realize that there are LOTS of areas an eclectic group like ours would be interested in.

We spend so much time writing and drawing together, why not support a group that helps diminish illiteracy or one that gives kids supplies to draw with or helps introduce them to classic music?

Of course, if thinking about this fills you with dread, then it's probably not for you. I find the potential exciting, but that may just be me and there are plenty of preexisiting avenues for me to explore on my own. It's just that the thought of building this community into something that supports more than just itself seems like a great prospect personally!

Announcement time!

Thanks to seven generous folks, Eagle Time's hosting for the coming year is almost completely covered! g0m, Jacquerel, btp, Phish, Whoosh!, Mehgamehn, and a mysterious Mr. Moon collectively donated just over 70 bucks, and have Pines' and my thanks (along with everyone else's on the forum, who signed away their thanking rights to the Administration when they registered. Suckers).

The destruction of civil liberties aside, I'd like to give my personal thanks to the especially big contributors - if you chipped in more than ten bucks and are cool with me finding out your address, then I'll send a little cross-stitch sampler of a pokemon overworld sprite or status menu icon of your choice. (Embroidered cloth fits nicely in an envelope, so sending off as many as I will be won't be too brutal on the old student loan).

Seeing as they're just palette swaps, shinies are a-ok as well. If you don't share my obsession with the pogeymans or just had another sprite on a smiliar scale you'd like more in textilestyles, get in touch! I'm flexible and eager to please*.

I'm not sure whether contributors want to remain anonymous or not, so just get in touch with me however you like.

*Void where legally grey. The Literal Threads branch of the Eagle Time Forums Administration solemnly swears to complete all requests, but may face some delays if school or a particularly good vidjagame distracts her.

Thanks again!

Thanks all those people!

My shiny gift card offer still stands so if one of you guys compensated for my total lack of significant giving let me know if you want to /spend it up/.

If not, I do have [ominous]other plans[/ominous] for those extra non-server funds I've so greedily hoarded.