Political Forum needs your help to continue.

Discussion in 'Announcements & Community Discussions' started by PoliticalForum, Dec 13, 2014.

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  1. PoliticalForum

    PoliticalForum Administrator Staff Member

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    For those of you who don't know, I'm the owner of the site. PF has many loyal members who also deserve recognition for making this community what it is. Whether you're new here or not, a regular or an occasional visitor, I'm glad you're a part of the PF community now. PF has always been a labor of love for me and all the hard-working volunteer Staff members. I started this forum not because I love politics, but simply because I felt a resource like this was needed on the internet. I started PF from scratch over a decade ago, and I still feel happy and satisfied to be able to provide a community like this one - where people from all over the world can come together to discuss politics, learn more about the world we all live in, and exchange ideas on how to make that world a better place for everyone.

    From the very beginning, our biggest challenge has been finding ways to pay for this website without impacting the functionality of the forum for the community members. There are few ways that a large message board can “break even” financially without sacrificing speed, performance, and aesthetics for the people using the forum - you, the members of the community. So much goes on behind-the-scenes of this forum, like any other site which involves huge amounts of data. At times, we’ve had some difficult decisions to make, and we’ve always tried to come down on the side of making it a pleasant and trouble-free site to use.

    The primary goal of Political Forum has always been to provide the cleanest, smoothest, most enjoyable experience for the users that we possibly can, and with that in mind, I have tried to keep advertising to a minimum. Over the last 11 years, the site has relied almost exclusively on user donations to operate the site, and while we remain very grateful to those who have helped out and continue to do so, it's never been enough to break even. I still pay out of pocket for hosting costs and other expenses nearly every month - some months more than others, but the site is in the red almost every single month. I have no intention of selling the site or doing anything drastic to raise more revenue, but Political Forum can't afford to keep losing this much money every year. We have to find some way to bring in more contributions.

    We've always been reluctant to push very hard for donations, because for many people, times are hard, and every time you turn around someone's asking for a donation. We want the site to be an enjoyable experience for every member, and don't want people to feel as though we're harassing them for money. But the other side of that coin is that because I lose so much money just keeping the site running, it sometimes makes it difficult to pay for software upgrades and other fixes - which doesn't do the members any favors, because that has a negative impact on the user experience. So, as you see, the balance is not always easy to find.

    At this point, we have to become more direct in asking people to help support the site. I can't afford to keep losing as much money as I have been. The site has never made a profit, and nobody expects it to. The few months that exceeded our donation goals just helped offset the other months where we fell short. But bills come due every month, and I can no longer afford to keep it running without more help.

    We're not asking for any specific amounts from anyone. Political Forum supporters understand that people have a lot of other demands on their resources. We just ask that people take some time to consider how much you think it's worth to keep a political message board of this size alive and well (and owned by a private citizen with no political affiliation or agenda, rather than a giant corporation or news organization) and chip in what you think is reasonable to help keep this resource available for everyone.

    PoliticalForum.com/donate
     
    Overitall likes this.
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