UPSB v3
General Discussion / UPSB Fundraiser Project
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Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 01:23:16
UPSB Fundraiser Project
*this is just an outline of how it could work*
So I've been thinking about how to raise money for UPSB since it need funds to run the board
and the best thing I came up with other than donating (which you guys should do more often)
is donating a percentage of the money you make from selling pens.
I am not sure how it could work when trading pens but that's besides the point.
If you're auctioning or selling pens, a percentage of the proceedings go to UPSB as donations.
Now... you might be wondering "Why in the world would we do that?"
There needs to be some kind of an incentive. A good one to motivate spinners to donate.
I cannot think of one as of now and that's the reason I'm discussing this with you.
We need an UPSB exclusive incentive to let our fellow spinners donate a part of their earnings.
Just FYI, it will be totally optional whether you want to donate part of the money you make. It will not be mandatory.
So my question is... what kind of an incentive would work best?
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I actually just thought of one right now, but I am not sure if it will be effective.
. . .
Basically, there will be a list of UPSB Exclusive items the spinners can choose from using the points
they earned from donating. ex) pens, pencils, hats, clothes, pins, cups, shirts (clothes cups etc might be expensive but just naming a few)
The number of points given will be based on the amount of money donated. -
Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 01:42:09
Interesting
But wouldn't the incentives cost more than the percentage taken?
Unless the incentives be donated as well?
We could just make this optional as we are using the board and should contribute to it.
If I ever sold stuff I wouldn't mind donating portion.
Edit: Ah saw the points part.
Sort of a reward system.
That's actually kind of cool
Kind of like dum dum wrapper thing xD
I like the idea, I mean its optional and everything so
Who's going to organize it though?
Oh and how much does this board need and how much are we usually short by?
If this is available to the public -
Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 01:46:44QUOTE (JSH @ Apr 21 2009, 06:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Interesting
But wouldn't the incentives cost more than the percentage taken?
Unless the incentives be donated as well?
We could just make this optional as we are using the board and should contribute to it.
If I ever sold stuff I wouldn't mind donating portion.
Edit: Ah saw the points part.
Sort of a reward system.
That's actually kind of cool
Kind of like dum dum wrapper thing xD
well the problem is that if we do something like the reward system like i proposed,
itll also cost money...so it defeats the purpose unless the donations noticeably outweigh the rewards
we need...something that won't cost a lot of money
better yet, something that costs nothing.
something along the lines of online reward
but i have no clue what that can be
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check http://www.upsb.info/forum/index.php?act=a...mp;f=2&id=6 for donation goals/status
and not enough donate anyway even if they make money from selling/auctioning stuff (myself included)
sometimes we cover the server costs but a lot of the times we dont. -
Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 02:09:30
How about rewards such as a colored name in the shoutbox, larger signatures, larger inboxes, decreasing the time you have to wait for posting/shoutboxing, etc.
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Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 02:11:37
Hmm, yeah the income generated from this would probably not be very much and looking at the monthly costs and stuff
I don't think it will be that much beneficial to be helpful.
I think we should have something like the UPSB RSVP
that seemed to have generated quite a bit of money
Of course we can't do it too often or it will lose its novelty. -
Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 02:45:43QUOTE (Charlie @ Apr 21 2009, 06:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>How about rewards such as a colored name in the shoutbox, larger signatures, larger inboxes, decreasing the time you have to wait for posting/shoutboxing, etc.
see, that's what I'm talking about. That kind of stuff. although I'm not sure if Kam would allow thatQUOTE (JSH @ Apr 21 2009, 06:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hmm, yeah the income generated from this would probably not be very much and looking at the monthly costs and stuff
I don't think it will be that much beneficial to be helpful.
I think we should have something like the UPSB RSVP
that seemed to have generated quite a bit of money
Of course we can't do it too often or it will lose its novelty.
well, that's a good suggestion but selling UPSB stuff needs people. Last time, TEK & TEQ collaborated
to generate a profit but it takes A LOT of work. getting the rsvps, getting info from buyers, packaging them, sending them, etc
and UPSB RSVP's are supposed to be somewhat rare... imo
maybe like upsb pins or pencils...
but i like charlie's suggestions alot
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just a quick rant
>> UPSB has given us an opportunity to communicate with those who have the same interests
and we should be infinitely grateful for it.
and in return, other than contributing to the board (which is great), we could at least donate a couple bucks.
Even if people donate a dollar each, it'd still be around $1000.
considering the fact that about 5000 members are inactive...
and if those 1000 people donate 5 dollars each, itll be $5000. which will last... a LONG time.
/end rant -
Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 03:31:39
I wholly agree. I think colored names etc would be a good incentive. I would love to help donate to UPSB.
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Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 03:45:13
we got some stuff planned it will take a few more months to be ready,
also don't forget we're gonna sell UPSB merhcandise on Penwish, we hope we can get enough back for monthly fees.
right now the UPSB presale covered us until the end ofn ext month, so we gotta get something up to pay june and then on. -
Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 03:49:30QUOTE (Zombo @ Apr 21 2009, 08:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>we got some stuff planned it will take a few more months to be ready,
also don't forget we're gonna sell UPSB merhcandise on Penwish, we hope we can get enough back for monthly fees.
right now the UPSB presale covered us until the end ofn ext month, so we gotta get something up to pay june and then on.
...and we're discussing the idea
not just for the cost to pay for the server cost for 2 months
like... a perpetual cycle (hopefully)
i mean upsb merchandise is nice and it will benefit us for sure
but we're talking about upsb spinners who might be willing to donate if we come up with something effective and motivational
no offense but it seems like you're denying this idea for some strange reason -
Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 16:39:59
not denying anything
you can consider buying upsb merchandise as making a donation where the incentive is the merchandise -> this gonna be constant revenue, the goal is that we sell enough merchandise every month to pay the month.
and also you'll know more about the fundraiser event we're gonna be doing when it's ready
when I talked about the 2 months it meant that we've got 1 month left covered then we need to do something -
Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 17:38:53
Hmm... then it's like making all the traders pay for the use of the board.
I mean, it would be a great trade off and everything, but what about those who don't trade? Are they completely exempt? -
Date: Wed, Apr 22 2009 20:03:05QUOTE (SJ @ Apr 21 2009, 05:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Just FYI, it will be totally optional whether you want to donate part of the money you make. It will not be mandatory.QUOTE (hoiboy @ Apr 22 2009, 09:38 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hmm... then it's like making all the traders pay for the use of the board.
I mean, it would be a great trade off and everything, but what about those who don't trade? Are they completely exempt?
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Date: Wed, Dec 9 2009 15:34:35
How about some kind of level system.
20 dollars - Expanded inbox
40 dollars - Yellow name
60 - Bigger name
Something like that? -
Date: Wed, Dec 9 2009 16:49:30
omfg the % of sales is so smart i was going to do it on my trade thread lol w/o any insentive just cause of server dying T.T
but then i got killed by sum random noob who wouldnt buy saliors for 2.35 canadian when i get them for 2.24 at daiso
hes like o u prob bought them from pw and am trying to resell them to me =/ lol -
Date: Thu, Dec 10 2009 07:00:00
Along the lines of the point system. How about +1 on trade rep?
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Date: Thu, Dec 10 2009 07:21:27QUOTE (000zero0000 @ Dec 10 2009, 03:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Along the lines of the point system. How about +1 on trade rep?
as in +1 rep for every say, 10 dollars or something?
that is an easy system for potential scammers to exploit
pay $100 to get +10, "trade"/"sell" their "mods" to potential 20 people for 10 bucks a mod, they now have a 100 buck profit
plus, its only benefitial to someone who trades
non traders wont benifit from it, so they may not bother to donate -
Date: Fri, Dec 11 2009 19:17:34
The REP system actually isn't too bad.
One of the world's largest Street Fighter Forums does it pretty well: http://forums.shoryuken.com/payments.php
- Premium Themes
- Larger Inbox (even though are they are pretty substantial as is)
- Larger Banner
- Immediate Custom Title before (250) posts
- Possibly Premium inserts / wallpapers
- Make the normal UPSB ad-supported and make the Premium one with no ads
- Reputation system (allows for others to promote one another)
Those are just a few ideas. -
Date: Fri, Dec 11 2009 19:31:44QUOTE (iMatt @ Dec 11 2009, 11:17 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The REP system actually isn't too bad.
One of the world's largest Street Fighter Forums does it pretty well: http://forums.shoryuken.com/payments.php
- Make the normal UPSB ad-supported and make the Premium one with no ads
but the ads dont bother me at all... lol
- Reputation system (allows for others to promote one another)
good idea. slickdeals also does this
Those are just a few ideas.
i really want colored names or something if thats feasible... haha -
Date: Fri, Dec 11 2009 20:59:01QUOTE (SJ @ Dec 11 2009, 01:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>i really want colored names or something if thats feasible... haha
The colored names are cool but they really are only meant for moderators in the shoutbox. Simple as that. Once you get 10 people with colored names, a newcomer is going to have not a clue who is a moderator or not.
The only way this would work is if each premium member had the same colored name such as yellow -
Date: Fri, Dec 11 2009 21:02:27
when you say reputation system, you're actually talking about trade feedback?
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Date: Fri, Dec 11 2009 21:12:28
If theres advertising i hope there arent going to be like popups . . . daymm i hate those effin things
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Date: Fri, Dec 11 2009 21:15:33
we had ads before, but it didnt work, so no ads for now
also we would never take away features members alraedy have to make it premium, that's just not right. -
Date: Fri, Dec 11 2009 22:46:09
@Zombo
I think this is what they are talking about with reputation
they are discussing it, and you can see their reputation by their information
http://forums.tweakguides.com/showthread.php?t=717 -
Date: Fri, Dec 11 2009 22:49:31
ok thats a rep system for posting,
what does it have to do with fundraising -
Date: Fri, Dec 11 2009 23:56:08
Orange names for donators!!!
*fapfapfap* -
Date: Sat, Dec 12 2009 04:30:13QUOTE (Zombo @ Dec 11 2009, 03:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>when you say reputation system, you're actually talking about trade feedback?
No not trade feedback. Simply Ranking Among The board. Say somebody is very good at being helpful with something. Somebody can say, "Good Job you're a knowledgeable person." and then add a +1 of Forum Feedback.
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Date: Sat, Dec 12 2009 04:42:16
well i know something called reputation system but it works by post, cant add manually
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Date: Thu, Jan 7 2010 04:21:35
Hmm, after reading the current topic about the membership system I think there are some revisions that would make donating more attractive, raise more money, and what would personally make ME want to donate, along with many others (I believe)...
I think board incentives could and is a great idea, compared to other forums which may offer VIP, (hardly ever seen adding so many extra features, however)
However, I do think that there should be some more "permanent" acknowledgement as well for your donation, that would show your support for UPSB, even say, if you take a 6 month break from penspinning as MANY people do...
I understand the process of the current one, if they want these things they can pay again, and this will make / help UPSB keep up server costs even more.
I think a better way to organize this system could be by tiers and paying "plans".
Currently we have this. (I'll post little notes or insights I have about it) I know for various reasons these might not be possible but I think it would make it a better system all around.
- Colored name and group: ORANGE (visible in shoutbox, userlist, etc.)
1. Possibly different paying plans, lowest being 3 dollars a month all the way up to 15 dollars a month or higher along with a large 1 time lump sum payment which would give you a flat increased status of some sort for your life here at UPSB (150-250 dollars?)
Each level would have an initial price, and then a lower maintenance price Like maybe 3 dollars is the entrance price and the maintenance if you want to keep your color for more than a month is 2 dollars every month thereafter, at 5 dollars maybe it would be 3 dollars, and at 15 maybe it would be 7 or ten dollars a month. The highest tier, would be something that would not have monthly payments.
If you couldn't pay the amount for the month you could just pay a different, any LOWER monthly amount from your payment plan and just be knocked down to those benefits until you could donate the next month.
Each level would have it's on specific group/name color. The lowest standing out the least, aka maybe a gray, or a brown, and more vibrant colors as you increase payments, then the largest being a color of your choice, disregarding of course other administrative figure colors...
Higher tiers should still be able to pick if they would rather like a color of a lower tier...
- Group icon: (This image will appear under your avatar when posting)
2. Again with different plans each one would have a different "VIP" or donator status. I think this could be maybe mad into a permanent edition for just donating at any level.
- Private forum: The Vault. We are bringing back UPSBv2's secret forum to UPSB for premium members. It will serve the same purpose as before: content will be posted early there prior to public release. Premium members can also use the space to share bonus content.
3. Maybe at a higher payment plan there would be a category which let's each donator create there on "forum" of there choice, (hidden inside the category?) In which they could choose to discuss, and moderate ( to an extent) much like the team system. Except viewable and usable by all other upsb members. I think this would be great at a third level at maybe 7 dollars initial and 5 dollars a month, and every level above that. a :vip: donator would have a permanent category of there choice (appropriate and still moderated of course). If the Matenence isn't payed at a lower tier then the category gets hidden or deleted. If payed at a lower level which does not support the benefit, you lose it.
However the vault access, I believe should be available as a permanent option even after you stop paying monthly fees.
- Unlimited PMs
4. This would be great with a teir like program, the highest would be unlimited, and increasing pm limit as donation increases.
This may also create an issue however after you stop donating, as you inbox could be wayyyy over flowed and you'd have to delete lot's of important pms in order to ever receive pms again...
- 5 seconds search flood control*: Reduce waiting time between searches to 5 seconds.
5. Again, reduced determined by donation status and level.
- Bypass shoutbox flood control*: No waiting time between shouts.
6. Same
- Bypass posting flood control*: No waiting time between posts.
7. Same, but maybe starting at the second level.
- Larger personal picture: 200x200, 100kb instead of 150x150, 50kb.
8. Sure
- Mass PM limit from 5 to 10: Can CC PMs to more people.
9. Could be tiered, but I think this would be a nice feature for the first payment option as well.
- All the features of a PS-addict user (500+ posts): Including voting, wiki editing, team creation, custom rank.
10. This should be standard for all.
- Arcade tournaments: Can create arcade tournaments.
11. Standard
- Future features: We will add new features as we find them or get requests for.
All together I really do not like this system. In my opinion things like this should be granted upon a default and doesn't really seem to work in my head for extended periods of time to raise enough money...
with about 450 active users a day, yeah still cover server costs but I see this as maybe a :Vip: for UPSB, not a membership or fundraising scheme...
A great fundraising scheme, perhaps would be to offer limited edition, or just various pens for a donation as a sort of "gift" for loving UPSB, changing on a monthly or bimonthly bases...
It could be one of zombos socks and again, teirs of donation levels so that when you reach a large sum of perhaps, 200 dollars, maybe you would receive a DVD of all the major pen spinning collabs along with the other tiers of prizes.
Again I can see how this system would be more complicated and also throw people off but I think some of these ideas could improve this system a bit.
so summarizing, permanent things would be the little thing banner that says you're a dona tor, and access to the vault...
Edit: after reading some comments on the other thread, heres some responses...
Some quick math, UPSB has about 450 active users a day, out of these I think there are about 15-30 members who would be willing/able to donate at the lowest tier, and cmon 2 dollars a month is nothing. Imatt posted that the monthly costs of maintenance is about 50+ dollars if you just have 30 members donating 2 a month you've got that... again... this would be the lowest but seeing as there are higher incentives for just a few more dollars maybe lets say 5 of them want to donate at a higher tier, then you can make up for some people not paying every month and not as many people donating... I think this "one time fee" plus some every month is a bit better.... a lower starting tier, and lets say I want to go up a level because I enjoy these benefits but want more, the next month around I would just donate the price of a higher tier and then have that standard...
I also disagree with this being confusing to new members, however I agree if everything I stated was implemented it'dbe pretty chaotic...
Edit 2: again after seeing the new username banners, these could just be the same color as the users donation status (name color) and if they stop donating they still have it just non of the other features, and after reading about the vault spam maybe you can still read the vault but you lose vault posting privileges after you stop donating monthly. -
Date: Thu, Jan 7 2010 04:48:43
Ok well basically you're saying:
- There should be a permanent option: that's fine we can always add that later and retrogradely apply it to current subscriptions.
- More customization in the features: Sure, but I think that at the scale we're working in, at the features we're giving, at the price we're asking, it's just not worth making super customizable options. One example you talk about is making private subforum inside the Vault. Just how many ppl are going to be able to read those subforums? 5? 10? It really doesn't seem worth it to do something like this. Furthermore, the forum software doesn't allow huge flexibility in customization. Even providing different colored names is going to be troublesome.
"In my opinion things like this should be granted upon a default and doesn't really seem to work in my head for extended periods of time to raise enough money...
with about 450 active users a day, yeah still cover server costs but I see this as maybe a :Vip: for UPSB, not a membership or fundraising scheme..."
I really didn't understand these two sentences, rephrase.
"A great fundraising scheme, perhaps would be to offer limited edition, or just various pens for a donation as a sort of "gift" for loving UPSB, changing on a monthly or bimonthly bases..."
Obviously if the plan is success, we can afford to use some of the money to organize events like you're describing. But we need to raise enough money before we can give away money. -
Date: Thu, Jan 7 2010 04:58:38
Rephrasing 1. Srry wrote these without rereading.
A standard monthly plan could be created, but along with this other things like fundraisers could help raise even more money. Similar to public whatnots which require user donation with small "gifts" maybe 2 times a year a summer and winter thing in witch UPSB can raise enough money to make it through the 6 months...
2.
If you've ever seen public based radio or TV, (not sure if you have) but here we have PBS and NPR, where maybe twice a year seasonally they go into full fundraising throttle, people donate and get small "gifts" for there donation. when UPSB reaches our goal (300 dollars or so) we come out of donation mode and let's say, instead of a popup every 5 refreshes there is no more donate this amount and receive a pack of RSVP's.
But yah, as you said you need money first, understand that ;].
And I think another important aspect of my post was the fact for different payment plans, a cheaper one with less benefits for some who do not need so much but still want some of it, maybe like a pick 3 thing
where you get to tick off how many of these you want, and full package comes with a discount but you get everything.
I also think something permanent, like the member category changed to donator would be nice to more publicly announce you were a supporter of UPSB even if you haven't donated in a while. Again, with the differen't payment levels or something to differentiate a high donator and someone who just let's say donated once 3 dollars.
Oh and about the forums, I just meant like a separate category for caled idk donators at a relativly higerh level and with a higher monthly payment, where people could make there own sub forum viewable and written in by anybody about whatever they chose to and have some limited power over (obv to avoid a complete spam/dump so some subjects are not allowed)
Some sort of 1 payment VIP would be very very very nice as well... again I understand that many people do not stay very long and so you have the monthly thing, but I've been an active user for 3 years and that probably would've cost me about just as much money that I have "made" in that time as well... =\ So something for just donating once would be very nice ;]. Even if it's like 99+ dollars. -
Date: Thu, Jan 7 2010 05:05:36QUOTE (EssenceOfLife @ Jan 6 2010, 08:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Oh and about the forums, I just meant like a separate category for caled idk donators at a relativly higerh level and with a higher monthly payment, where people could make there own sub forum viewable and written in by anybody about whatever they chose to and have some limited power over (obv to avoid a complete spam/dump so some subjects are not allowed)
what you said= serious discussion -
Date: Thu, Jan 7 2010 05:29:54QUOTE (EssenceOfLife @ Jan 6 2010, 11:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>A standard monthly plan could be created, but along with this other things like fundraisers could help raise even more money. Similar to public whatnots which require user donation with small "gifts" maybe 2 times a year a summer and winter thing in witch UPSB can raise enough money to make it through the 6 months...
we do have fundraisers... we had an auction for UPSB RSVPs and we also have UPSB merchandise...QUOTEAnd I think another important aspect of my post was the fact for different payment plans, a cheaper one with less benefits for some who do not need so much but still want some of it, maybe like a pick 3 thing where you get to tick off how many of these you want, and full package comes with a discount but you get everything.
forum software is not flexible enough to allow this kind of in-depth customization sorry... and the features are not that many that it would warrant this kind of customization... we're not a business offering a professional service... we're just offering incentive for people to donate.QUOTEI also think something permanent, like the member category changed to donator would be nice to more publicly announce you were a supporter of UPSB even if you haven't donated in a while. Again, with the differen't payment levels or something to differentiate a high donator and someone who just let's say donated once 3 dollars.
friends of upsb already displays who donated how much, if its managable we can do same kind of list for premiumQUOTEOh and about the forums, I just meant like a separate category for caled idk donators at a relativly higerh level and with a higher monthly payment, where people could make there own sub forum viewable and written in by anybody about whatever they chose to and have some limited power over (obv to avoid a complete spam/dump so some subjects are not allowed)
I really dont see whats the point... you make a forum with 5 ppl in it... why not just make your own team or talk on MSN...
basically theres quite a few ppl that say they're going to donate but never actually do it, this is just an incentive to put them over the fence and do the extra step. we're not really thinking about this as a business or paid service... you make a donation and we thank you with a reward, that's all there is to it