TTG Home » Robert Home » Paying for This Place
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Subscription Instructions Latest
Update: Friday, 31 January 2003 11:53 |
I decided to make my sites
subscription-based as of 1 March 2001. I run these sites on the public
radio/television model. That is, anyone can visit the sites, just as
anyone can listen to NPR or watch PBS. Just as NPR/PBS periodically has
pledge campaigns, I periodically post gentle reminders asking people to
support these sites. If you can afford to subscribe and are willing to
do so, fine. If not, I hope you'll continue to read these sites anyway.
I should mention that legally any money you send me is a donation, and I
promise absolutely nothing in return. Of course, I've been updating my
journal page more or less daily for close to five years, and that's not
likely to change. Here are the current subscriber benefits:
I've dithered about how much to charge and what I've decided on is US$24/year for a general membership. That amounts to about 6.5 cents a day, and if what I write is not worth 6.5 cents a day to you, why are you wasting your time reading this? Several people have suggested that I offer a second, higher level of subscription. That makes sense to me, so that's what I've done. Subscriber level is $24/year; Patron Subscriber level is $36/year. Frankly, I'm not sure what (if any) additional benefits I can provide to Patron Subscribers, other than listing them as such in their messageboard accounts. The Patron Subscriber level is there mainly for people who want to go above and beyond the call of duty. I did have several people offer to send me $100 and two offer $250, all of which I refused with my thanks. I'm not comfortable accepting amounts that high. If you want to support the sites, $24 or $36 is fine, and you have my appreciation for your support. Several people have asked what the breakdown is of Subscribers to Patron Subscribers. As it turns out, it's about 50/50. Many people have requested alternative payment mechanisms, so I've set up three ways to pay: Subscribing by Check or Money Order If you want to pay by check or money order, make your check or money order for $24.00 (Subscriber) or $36.00 (Patron Subscriber) drawn in US funds payable to Robert Bruce Thompson, and mail it to:
In the notes field on the check, please note the purpose of the check and the email address you want me to use. After you mail the check or money order, please send an email message to thompson@ttgnet.com with the appropriate subject line:
If you want the email address from which you send that message to be your address of record, you need do nothing further. If for some reason you want your address of record to be something other than the "From:" address of that message, please so indicate in the body of the message. Also, if you currently have an account on the TTG messageboard and/or the HardwareGuys.com messageboard, please include your account name(s) so that I can upgrade your membership status to "Subscriber" or "Patron Subscriber", as appropriate. If you don't currently have an account on one or the other (or both), please set one up if you wish and send email to the private subscriber-only address to let me know the particulars. Subscribing by PayPal If you want to pay by PayPal, transfer $24.00 (Subscriber) or $36.00 (Patron Subscriber) to my PayPal account:
After you make the PayPal transfer, please send an email message to thompson@ttgnet.com with the appropriate subject line:
If you want the email address from which you send that message to be your address of record, you need do nothing further. If for some reason you want your address of record to be something other than the "From:" address of that message, please so indicate in the body of the message. Also, if you currently have an account on the Daynotes Journal messageboard and/or the HardwareGuys.com messageboard, please include your account name(s) so that I can upgrade your membership status to "Subscriber" or "Patron Subscriber", as appropriate. If you don't currently have an account on one or the other (or both), please set one up if you wish and send email to the private subscriber-only address to let me know the particulars. Subscribing by Credit Card PayPal provides a mechanism called Web Accept that allows me to accept direct credit card payments (Visa or MasterCard) via the PayPal secure server. From reading the materials PayPal provides, it appears that you need to create a PayPal account before you can make payments by credit card, although once you've done that you can make direct credit card payments. I guess that makes sense, because otherwise I'd have no idea who the payment was coming from. Setting up a PayPal account is free, easy, and secure, and it is useful for a lot of other things as well. I was going to test it myself by subscribing to my own site, but that turns out to be a problem because PayPal already has all my info and won't let me set up a second account with the same name and account numbers. Once you've completed the PayPal process and sent your subscription, you'll be transferred to an acknowledgement page which provides further instructions for getting your account set up. If you want to pay by credit card, click on one of the following logos to send $24.00 (Subscriber) or $36.00 (Patron). Click the logo below to subscribe at the basic level ($24.00 per year). Click the logo below to subscribe at the patron level ($36.00 per
year). Disclaimer: All funds submitted are donations, become the property of Robert Bruce Thompson, and none will be returned. I promise nothing beyond the continuation of this web site with updates however often I do them, which heretofore has been at least weekly and nearly always daily.
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