I can has 2014 banner? (Click here or in the 'Donate' in the navbar to participate)
So here we are. I'd love to say that 2014 is off to a magnificent start, but we didn't wrap up well (literally and figuratively) in football, and the basketball season has been a mixed bag. That's probably even generous, despite the Pollyanna in all of us saying "but, 22 wins!" Here we are then, our teams have faced a little adversity; we've seen fan favorites go, new defensive faces come, the much anticipated arrival of The Chef, another NLOID pass, and the horrific realization that one of our minor NCAA infractions involved Tim Tebow. Yes, folks, it's the offseason!
BuckeyePlanet has similarly faced a tough start to 2014. Our traffic is down a bit, we're trying to catch up after a couple years of technological lull created by the vBulletin vacuum, and we're trying to find a new voice in an era more about instant gratification via social media. We're going to have more conversations about that over this offseason, and I want AS MANY of you as possible involved in that conversation, but I don't want to muddy the waters here, so let's shelf that for now.
Last year's drive was our smallest (in terms of the total draw) in years. Perhaps since we started with drives, I'd have to check -- but the point isn't that it was unsuccessful. Au contraire, mon freres (and sisters; my French too gone to carry that forward any further), I type this on cutting edge but stable software as the result of the last drive. What I type travels to Silicon Valley where our high end servers reside (the product of past drives) where we have a fabulously deep well of bandwidth and a rack we share with (and is managed by) engineering superstars for the likes of Facebook and Google. The state of OUR union is STRONG, and it's because of YOU, the people taking a moment to read this very thread and the threads like it that came before. So thank you. Seriously. A personal and heartfelt thank you. Because your participation also ensures my own ability to keep this place running, and all of the above mean a lot to me.
This year's drive is little different. Yes, it goes to keeping the lights on. Yes, it goes towards me bringing in expert help when something is over my head. This year it's also going to go toward getting our stand alone search engine (finally) running. After the person contracted to do it pulled out because of the degree of difficulty, I have a plan in place to have someone do the server work while I do the work to bridge that to the site itself. This year it's also going to go toward buying some security -- in the sense that we are going to pick up some back up hard drives and maybe even a stick or two of RAM so that we have materials on-site ready to switch out in case of a failure (inevitable in the case of the drives that are always on, always writing, always reading). This year we're going to introduce new features, acquire new licenses, and we're going to create new ways to interact with the site, create new content, and play with the on-site currency. This year we're also going to see about producing something you can wear. Something high quality, creative and fun, and I think we've found the right partner for that.
The point is, this year (like every year) the drive allows us to CREATE. I'm excited about that, and I'm really looking forward to drawing in ever closer to our *shared* vision of what this place can and should be.
I don't want to get much longer than this, because I don't want to dilute the purpose for this post. Which is to say here we are, it's 2014 Spring Drive time, and thank you so much to each of you who decide to participate in ANY way you choose. Paypal, snail mail, Amazon, Bitcoin, content, advice, prolific posting, tweets, FB links, other social promotions, moderation, administration, or just being your awesome self. It all helps. All of it. And we're ALL going to have to play a role in terms of finding the previously mentioned voice, and place in the new web.
A quick semantic detour...
We use the term "donation" for lack of a better word, but last year a seasoned vet said this isn't a charity (it's certainly not), it's a service. There's truth to that. BP has always relied on community participation, and it has always eschewed as much commercialism as humanly possible (ads were, sadly, inevitable). So these drives... It's about the service and value this site provides to you. You define what this place is worth to you, and you choose your own 'price'. If things are tight, then don't feel badly about not kicking in. If this place isn't as important as another site to you, then give something to them if you're not having to pay there either. There's no guilt or shame to that at all, on the contrary I applaud that you're encouraging another community based effort. This is all about your decisions, your freedom to contribute where you please, and the value YOU place on this service, not a value we place for you. Whether you see it as a donation, a gift, or payment for services rendered, YOU are helping us become stronger, faster, better, and are adding to the value you (hopefully) get out of our collective efforts here. No one should feel compelled, this is all strictly voluntary. We don't hold back features for those who donate, we just offer banners, and an enormous amount of appreciation for those who believe in this site enough to give in that way.
From the donation page:
BuckeyePlanet is a community driven website. Over the years it has grown substantially, and with that growth so did the costs associated with maintaining it. BP Drives have funded new servers not once, but twice. They made possible the complete rebuild of our site with all the new features (including responsive design for mobile devices) on our 10th anniversary. They allow us to hire help when we need it, and to pay our colocation fees so that we stay on an amazing connection with HE.net. A donation to BP makes BP better, and every cent is deeply appreciated. Our 2014 goal is what we raised in 2013, minus a dollar.
What are you donating towards this year? Well beyond the (rather boring, but utterly brilliant) colocation services and near-endless pool of bandwidth from our friends at HE.net and the renewal software licenses, this year we intend to fix the search engine, proactively buy backup drives in the event of failure, introduce new features to the site (including a new way to play with your site currency), have some custom coding done, and have a little left over for unforeseeable events.
IF YOU DONATE ANONYMOUSLY AND WISH TO RECEIVE YOUR SPORTSBOOK CASH, PLEASE SEND A PRIVATE CONVERSATION TO LONGWOODBUCK WITH YOUR DONATION AMOUNT AND TIME SO SHE MAY ADD THE GAME CURRENCY TO YOUR ACCOUNT!
Don't want to use PayPal? You can snail mail donations (payable to Joanna Bryant) to:
Joanna Bryant
669 Sumter Street
Galloway, Ohio 43119
Don't want to use PayPal or snail mail? We have an Amazon Payments account we're willing to use, but it seems to require that we send a request to you. Just PM Longwoodbuck and indicate this is the direction you'd like to go, your email address, and how much you intend to give. This is a new option for 2014, so bear with us as we sort it all out.
BITCOIN? It's been brought up before. We're also open to Bitcoin donations. If you're interested in pursuing this instead of any of the options above, please contact Longwoodbuck and we'll look into making it happen.
DOGECOIN? No, we have to draw the line somewhere -- even though much awesome, very doge, wow. Maybe next year.
Doesn't matter the method, all forms of donation will be treated equally in terms of banners, site currency exchange, and listing here on this page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Goodies!
vCash vCash vCash!
So here we are. I'd love to say that 2014 is off to a magnificent start, but we didn't wrap up well (literally and figuratively) in football, and the basketball season has been a mixed bag. That's probably even generous, despite the Pollyanna in all of us saying "but, 22 wins!" Here we are then, our teams have faced a little adversity; we've seen fan favorites go, new defensive faces come, the much anticipated arrival of The Chef, another NLOID pass, and the horrific realization that one of our minor NCAA infractions involved Tim Tebow. Yes, folks, it's the offseason!
BuckeyePlanet has similarly faced a tough start to 2014. Our traffic is down a bit, we're trying to catch up after a couple years of technological lull created by the vBulletin vacuum, and we're trying to find a new voice in an era more about instant gratification via social media. We're going to have more conversations about that over this offseason, and I want AS MANY of you as possible involved in that conversation, but I don't want to muddy the waters here, so let's shelf that for now.
Last year's drive was our smallest (in terms of the total draw) in years. Perhaps since we started with drives, I'd have to check -- but the point isn't that it was unsuccessful. Au contraire, mon freres (and sisters; my French too gone to carry that forward any further), I type this on cutting edge but stable software as the result of the last drive. What I type travels to Silicon Valley where our high end servers reside (the product of past drives) where we have a fabulously deep well of bandwidth and a rack we share with (and is managed by) engineering superstars for the likes of Facebook and Google. The state of OUR union is STRONG, and it's because of YOU, the people taking a moment to read this very thread and the threads like it that came before. So thank you. Seriously. A personal and heartfelt thank you. Because your participation also ensures my own ability to keep this place running, and all of the above mean a lot to me.
This year's drive is little different. Yes, it goes to keeping the lights on. Yes, it goes towards me bringing in expert help when something is over my head. This year it's also going to go toward getting our stand alone search engine (finally) running. After the person contracted to do it pulled out because of the degree of difficulty, I have a plan in place to have someone do the server work while I do the work to bridge that to the site itself. This year it's also going to go toward buying some security -- in the sense that we are going to pick up some back up hard drives and maybe even a stick or two of RAM so that we have materials on-site ready to switch out in case of a failure (inevitable in the case of the drives that are always on, always writing, always reading). This year we're going to introduce new features, acquire new licenses, and we're going to create new ways to interact with the site, create new content, and play with the on-site currency. This year we're also going to see about producing something you can wear. Something high quality, creative and fun, and I think we've found the right partner for that.
The point is, this year (like every year) the drive allows us to CREATE. I'm excited about that, and I'm really looking forward to drawing in ever closer to our *shared* vision of what this place can and should be.
I don't want to get much longer than this, because I don't want to dilute the purpose for this post. Which is to say here we are, it's 2014 Spring Drive time, and thank you so much to each of you who decide to participate in ANY way you choose. Paypal, snail mail, Amazon, Bitcoin, content, advice, prolific posting, tweets, FB links, other social promotions, moderation, administration, or just being your awesome self. It all helps. All of it. And we're ALL going to have to play a role in terms of finding the previously mentioned voice, and place in the new web.
A quick semantic detour...
We use the term "donation" for lack of a better word, but last year a seasoned vet said this isn't a charity (it's certainly not), it's a service. There's truth to that. BP has always relied on community participation, and it has always eschewed as much commercialism as humanly possible (ads were, sadly, inevitable). So these drives... It's about the service and value this site provides to you. You define what this place is worth to you, and you choose your own 'price'. If things are tight, then don't feel badly about not kicking in. If this place isn't as important as another site to you, then give something to them if you're not having to pay there either. There's no guilt or shame to that at all, on the contrary I applaud that you're encouraging another community based effort. This is all about your decisions, your freedom to contribute where you please, and the value YOU place on this service, not a value we place for you. Whether you see it as a donation, a gift, or payment for services rendered, YOU are helping us become stronger, faster, better, and are adding to the value you (hopefully) get out of our collective efforts here. No one should feel compelled, this is all strictly voluntary. We don't hold back features for those who donate, we just offer banners, and an enormous amount of appreciation for those who believe in this site enough to give in that way.
From the donation page:
BuckeyePlanet is a community driven website. Over the years it has grown substantially, and with that growth so did the costs associated with maintaining it. BP Drives have funded new servers not once, but twice. They made possible the complete rebuild of our site with all the new features (including responsive design for mobile devices) on our 10th anniversary. They allow us to hire help when we need it, and to pay our colocation fees so that we stay on an amazing connection with HE.net. A donation to BP makes BP better, and every cent is deeply appreciated. Our 2014 goal is what we raised in 2013, minus a dollar.
What are you donating towards this year? Well beyond the (rather boring, but utterly brilliant) colocation services and near-endless pool of bandwidth from our friends at HE.net and the renewal software licenses, this year we intend to fix the search engine, proactively buy backup drives in the event of failure, introduce new features to the site (including a new way to play with your site currency), have some custom coding done, and have a little left over for unforeseeable events.
IF YOU DONATE ANONYMOUSLY AND WISH TO RECEIVE YOUR SPORTSBOOK CASH, PLEASE SEND A PRIVATE CONVERSATION TO LONGWOODBUCK WITH YOUR DONATION AMOUNT AND TIME SO SHE MAY ADD THE GAME CURRENCY TO YOUR ACCOUNT!
Don't want to use PayPal? You can snail mail donations (payable to Joanna Bryant) to:
Joanna Bryant
669 Sumter Street
Galloway, Ohio 43119
Don't want to use PayPal or snail mail? We have an Amazon Payments account we're willing to use, but it seems to require that we send a request to you. Just PM Longwoodbuck and indicate this is the direction you'd like to go, your email address, and how much you intend to give. This is a new option for 2014, so bear with us as we sort it all out.
BITCOIN? It's been brought up before. We're also open to Bitcoin donations. If you're interested in pursuing this instead of any of the options above, please contact Longwoodbuck and we'll look into making it happen.
DOGECOIN? No, we have to draw the line somewhere -- even though much awesome, very doge, wow. Maybe next year.
Doesn't matter the method, all forms of donation will be treated equally in terms of banners, site currency exchange, and listing here on this page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Goodies!
vCash vCash vCash!
Join the High Rollers Club of Virtual Currency! For your vGambling pleasure, we will present all our generous donors with piles and piles of vDough at an exchange rate of 1:100!
For example:
$5 donation = ¤500
$10 donation = ¤1,000
$100 donation = ¤10,000
... and so forth, without limit. When Joanna (aka Longwoodbuck) receives notice of your donation, she will update your vcash amount.
Other Ways to Support BuckeyePlanet
For example:
$5 donation = ¤500
$10 donation = ¤1,000
$100 donation = ¤10,000
... and so forth, without limit. When Joanna (aka Longwoodbuck) receives notice of your donation, she will update your vcash amount.
Other Ways to Support BuckeyePlanet
Use the Amazon store! This supports BuckeyePlanet at no charge to you. Start your search in the Amazon module on BP's front page, click any of the left-side Amazon ads within threads, or click the BP Store link on the menu for our affiliate store. Even easier - simply bookmark this Amazon link. (This won't work by clicking and then bookmarking the result, because the referrer disappears. Make your bookmark; right-click the link and copy the link location; right-click your bookmark and choose Properties; paste the long link you copied over the old link.)
Thank You!
Thank You!
Last edited:
