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FAQ Be a Donor!

Mikawa Ossan

いかんわ!
17 Sep 2005
5,283
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Donator Benefits
  • "donator" user rank
  • a bigger mail box (so far 500 PM's instead of 210)
  • able to use message tracking
  • bigger avatar and private picture size (120x120)
  • special permissions, such as seeing who left ratings, viewing who is online and who is in invisible mode, edit/delete events in the calendar (for upcoming JREF parties and meetings ) and maybe more in the future.

How Much Should I Donate?
Anything is welcome! 🙂:
However, paypal charges $5US for transferring into a non-US bank account (which is our case). Fortunately, we do not have to transfer each donation one by one...

What is Paypal?
PayPal is an Internet business which allows the transfer of money between email users and merchants, avoiding traditional paper methods such as checks/cheques and money orders. PayPal also performs payment processing for e-commerce vendors, auction sites, and other corporate users, for which they charge a fee. Corporate headquarters are in San Jose, California; it is now an eBay company.

Have a look at their link for more info: www.paypal.com

How Do I Donate?
Just click on the following link. From there, click the "Make a Donation" button. You will be automatically transferred to the Jref account at Paypal.
=> Donations

Most users might not be aware of the cost of maintaining a server and the various script licenses (forum, gallery, directory...), which Admin1 and Admin2 have to pay to assure the optimal quality of the website. Add to this the long hours of technical manipulations and thinking of how to constantly improve Japan Reference.:emoji_blush:

Show us your appreciation and support by becoming a financial contributor to the JREF cause.:emoji_thumbsup:

click here to see the original Donators' Benefits page
 
Thanks Uncle Frank.

I had already found this but I noticed it was quite old and also didn't answer the question about the Wa-pedia name on the PayPal site.

Also, if I may make a suggestion. If you are still accepting donations you might want to make it easier to find the "Donate" button. :p
 
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. The donation page is now up to date and will redirect to JREF's PayPal account.
 
More issues... :(

Thomas,

I'm still having issues. When I try to use the PayPal page that comes up I just keep getting an error about needing to enter an amount greater then zero, even though I am. Its strange. I can login to PayPal and send though but I guess I'm not sure what category to list the money as. Would Gift be appropriate? And sending to the japanreference_at_gmail_dot_com account?

Thanks,
 
No I didn't!!! I didn't even notice the button until you mentioned it.

Thanks Hezam! :D

I was able to donate this time! :)
 
is donation now restricted to people with Japanese Paypal accounts ? i got this message today :

Currently PayPal accounts in Japan are only able to send payments. This recipient is not eligible to receive funds.
 
Thanks Hezam, I appreciate your donation!

The issue might be related to the donation button we use. I frequently use my Paypal account to send and receive funds without problems. You can probably send funds through the Paypal site by using our Gmail address: japanreference at gmail dot com.

I will update the donation page. Thanks again.
 
We have updated our "contribution page" (now linked in the footer) and will soon post more details on the benefits of becoming a donor, I mean, a contributor.

Paypal Japan does no longer permit the utilization of their services to remit donations, so we will switch to some sort of annual premier membership for those kind enough to contribute towards our hosting and license fees. Watch this space for more info.
 
Hey Thomas,
Does this mean that one time contributions are no longer possible going forward? Will it only be subscription based? Also, doe the subscription automatically rebill or...?
Thanks!
 
What we are planning is an annual subscription for donors that comes as cheap as 500 JPY (or more), with a few perks such as no ad display, more attachments on threads and blogs, larger signatures, etc. As stated in my last post, I am still devising the details.

While JREF will remain a non-commercial site our annual server and license fees (and we only try to generate enough income to cover them) have become more of a burden for several reasons:

  1. Google Adsense revenue keeps plummeting, as an increasing number of members uses ad blockers (enabled by default in most modern browsers), without realising that even impressions, not just clicks, return ad income for webmasters. I have contemplated running an ad block detection script that would ask members politely to white-list JREF, but such a request will most likely trigger a mixed bag of reactions, not so much with existing members, but with guests that might potentially sign up (see below).
  2. Our formerly lucrative JREF Friends service, an affiliate programme, seems to have gone belly up with a significant amount of ad revenue accrued since 2014 left outstanding (I have removed their ads as I am not going to support these scam***s any longer).
  3. Registrations on online fora in general are dropping, in part thanks to social media and a completely different generation of internet users that has emerged in the last decade. No, I will not embark on the usual litany against that generation's feeling of entitlement and their insatiable need for instant gratification. :D
  4. Another reason for bulletin boards falling out of favour is that users of social media have never learned how to use fora. The concepts of categorisation, starting a thread in the right section, and content discovery are lost on them, not to mention the basics of netiquette; hence this.
I do hope that our members will understand that introducing an annual subscription (to obtain donor status) is not a step towards commercialisation, but a reaction to a changing environment. Members in good standing will still be able to fully use the Japan Forum and all related sections; we will continue to be appreciative of any form of support, be it pecuniary, be it by contributing content, discussions, or assistance to other members.

I am completely open to suggestions and look forward to your thoughts on the issue.

PS: Donations will be annual, but not recurring. I would like to leave the decision whether or not and how long to support the website up to our members.
 
Hi Thomas,

Thank you for the detailed response. I appreciate the time you took to provide me with the details.

Are you thinking of having the perks tied to certain levels/tiers of subscription?

You may also want to look at this, if you haven't already: Allowing acceptable ads in Adblock Plus

Thanks!
 
@Petaris, thank you for your great suggestions!

Yes, I have thought of implementing different tiers of subscription (along the lines of "bronze, silver, gold donors", perhaps "diamond" for those who'd like to splurge, or perhaps just "regular" and "premium" donors), but the perks we can give wouldn't be so different between the tiers.

Multiple donor groups would also require a set of new secondary user groups, each tied to a specific number of additional trophy points and status badges.

Thank you also for posting the AdBlock Plus link. While AdBlock takes a more flexible (and profit-oriented) stance, other popular add-ons (like uBlock) are not that obliging. I admit I'm using uBlock myself, but I also actively and regularly white-list third-party pages I want to support and even click their ads.

Thanks again, it's much appreciated!
 
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