abn Report post Posted August 27, 2010 Hi, everyone: The site's recent downtime demonstrates some of the challenges inherent in keeping a forum of this size and activity up and running 24-7. Johanna, Kate, and the other admins have done a wonderful job over the years offering us a place in cyberspace where we can ask questions, show off our recent work, and get to know other leatherworkers around the world. Leatherworker.net has always been a free Internet resource, and I hope it always will be. But there are costs associated with hosting a large forum on a dedicated server, and donations are appreciated and encouraged. If you're interested, there's a "Donate Now" button about half-way down the forum's main page on the right-hand side. Any amount is acceptable. At the end of the day, your most important contribution to this forum is your continued interest and participation. But if you're able to make a donation and haven't yet done so this year, I encourage you to help out. Donations help improve the site's technologies and architecture, and ensure that Leatherworker.net will be around for a long time to come. Many thanks, -Alex Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CitizenKate Report post Posted August 27, 2010 Thanks for the post, Alex. Of course, all donations are gratefully accepted, but I have possibly even a better suggestion. Help us and help yourself at the same time by getting a Premium Directory listing. Site visitors are shopping the Directory every day, looking for handcrafted leatherwork, and a Premium listing will help you get seen first. If you want to know more about this, or need help getting it set up, just PM Johanna or me. In any case, thank you all for all the contributions you have made over the years - whether you have generously shared your knowledge, inspired us, or yes, even sent us a buck or two to help with the expenses. All of these things are what help us become better and bring you new ways to learn about leatherwork. Kate Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Admin Report post Posted August 27, 2010 All content on this site is free to anyone interested in it, and always will be as long as I have anything to say about it. Contributing Members are the Blue folks that have donated money to the board. You can purchase a package by clicking the subscriptions link on the top toolbar if you are so inclined. or donate any amount by using PayPal on the sidebar. Blue people get bigger inboxes and more site permissions, for example, they can upload bigger files, use html in their signatures, and have full video privileges. If you're blue, the rules aren't very strict. Mainly, we use blue folks as guinea pigs when we are testing a new feature. They put up with us and give honest feedback. Donations are not tax deductible, but you do get that warm fuzzy feeling from helping. If you are buying something from one of our sponsors, please tell them that you saw their ad here. If you want to run an ad and reach 1000s of leatherworkers, we can help you on any budget. Kate, the Directory Admin, has staff from her business to make you custom banners and eye catching branding, and she can get you the best placement for your specialty so customers can find you. If you want standard forum banner ads, let me know and I'll work with you. I would be lying if I didn't mention the new server costs 5 times what we used to pay and I am nervous about paying the bills. I tell myself, if the people like what we are doing, they will support us,and we'll be okay. If they don't choose to advertise here, or donate, LW will go away, because we can't afford it. We have a lot of options for advertising, and your ads will be seen by thousands of potential customers, many of whom have asked me how to disable their ad blocking software so that they DO see the ads here. Google is catching on to the directory, and thousands are shopping in there for finished goods and leather and supplies. Our basic listings for producers of leatherwork are free, but the enhanced advertising allows more pics and keywords and priorities in the searches. If you just want to bring your site more attention, oh my, we can help with that! Google loves us. What? You said your site looks terrible and hasn't been updated since your brother-in-law's ex-girlfriend's sister moved away? We have a cure for that, too- www.studio2dawgs.com But the most important thing is that you visit the site, share your experiences and pictures, and participate in the conversations. Yes, if you can help financially,. great, but leatherworker.net isn't going to ever cost you a penny if you don't want it to. It was meant to be a free resource to all leatherworkers, and it always will be. If you want to advertise here, let us know, and we'll help you get a campaign organized that's just right for your target customers and your business. We'll share what we've learned about what works and what doesn't. Thank you all for caring enough to keep the board alive. We couldn't do it without you. Johanna Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
King's X Report post Posted August 27, 2010 All leather worker administrators, ambassadors, moderators and contributors have been awesome! I appreciate all of the hard work that you all have sacrificed to keep this craft's knowledge base alive! I have been thinking how I can help even though I do this as a hobby, and do not directly make money. I do appreciate the time I spend on here. So my idea is to have a garage sale where all of the proceeds minus shipping and handling will benefit LW as my donation. I am getting ready to put all of my beginner books, doodle pages, LCSJ magazines, craftaids and some tools that started me off up for sale. I have noticed a lot of new threads where toolers and leather crafters that have asked for and looked for beginning stuff. Well, here will be your chance to purchase these items at a reduced cost and support LW. Please look for my upcoming list of items for sale. I am rearranging my workspace ( usually when the spouse says that the masterbedroom does not look like a room anymore. In that, I am pulling my beginning stuff and start listing it here. Again, the purchase price will be donated to LW and the rest of the cost will be to get it to the new owner. I hope this works out well for all (including making my wife happy). It will be my way of paying back for all of the knowledge that I have received from this site alone! Thank you, thank you and best of luck to LW and its administrators! SAM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LNLeather Report post Posted September 1, 2010 (edited) Hi, everyone: The site's recent downtime demonstrates some of the challenges inherent in keeping a forum of this size and activity up and running 24-7. Johanna, Kate, and the other admins have done a wonderful job over the years offering us a place in cyberspace where we can ask questions, show off our recent work, and get to know other leatherworkers around the world. Leatherworker.net has always been a free Internet resource, and I hope it always will be. But there are costs associated with hosting a large forum on a dedicated server, and donations are appreciated and encouraged. If you're interested, there's a "Donate Now" button about half-way down the forum's main page on the right-hand side. Any amount is acceptable. At the end of the day, your most important contribution to this forum is your continued interest and participation. But if you're able to make a donation and haven't yet done so this year, I encourage you to help out. Donations help improve the site's technologies and architecture, and ensure that Leatherworker.net will be around for a long time to come. Many thanks, -Alex I started thinking about how Donating might be a good thing to do when the site went down and I am Soooo glad I found this post... & What Good Timing to explain different ways to join and get involved... Soooo.... I just became a Contributing Member. Everything I have learned in just the short time I have been here is sooo well worth it! So ----> for Everything you All Did and Do to keep this Leatherworker.net up and running! . . I was also looking at the total number of members 572 and was thinking if every one gave just one or two.... . . . Edited September 1, 2010 by LNLeather Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
