Yes, IF:

1) the payment can be done over an encrypted conection using credit/debit cards (more international)
2) the new software supports unicode (more international)
3) open source is used (better ROI)

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('zensui', 'Y')es, IF:

1) the payment can be done over an encrypted conection using credit/debit cards (more international)
2) the new software supports unicode (more international)
3) open source is used (better ROI)

From time to time PO.com has had a tip jar or donation link but niether one seems to work very well. I was thinking about it today and a large number of web sites have two sides, a free side for everyone in the general public and a subscriber side for people who want to be seriously involved in the website. Specifically I am thinking of personallity sites like Glennbeck.com where you can get a ton of free stuff as a member of the general public but where a few nominal extra's are availible if you subscribe to the web site as a paying member.

So how about if you want to visit the subscriber side it costs you a dollar a month, something cheap for the ole timers but still a money raiser for the website. You could make it different levels based on years of participation, the 04 crowd gets the most extra's and so on to encourage people to stay with an old handle instead of changing all the time.

Yes/No/Maybe/Crazy idea?

I have been thinking about something similar.
To be usefull a pay site has to offer something extra. It's no use thinking about this unless you have a good offer on the table to make people pay.
What triggered me was that the website was very slow from time to time. Perhaps it is possible to make the website a bit faster for paying members. It is working fine now, but it will be much slower again once the oil price goes back up. I am not an IT expert, so I'm not sure how easy something like this would be to implement.
Another thing that payment could do remove limits, such as larger Avatars, Signatures and the ability to incorporate larger pictures in posts (some peopel upload huge pictures etc in their posts, so perhaps free members should have some limits there). Using limitations for free members could decrease server load while triggering people to pay. Ofc. the limits should not stop people from posting: content is the biggest value of this website.

The terms and conditions prevent the site owner from saying this, but there is nothing to prevent *me* from saying it :

Click on the ads!

I voted no, not because I'm a grinch, just my finances are tight and I'm very wary of taking on any recurring subscriptions with anything.

Maybe a good solution would be to add features for the paid memberships without taking away what people get for free at present.

Some kind of premium membership with perks like an email address @peakoil.com, maybe some free ads for those who have business ventures that would interest the community, etc.

Good point!

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lowem', 'T')he terms and conditions prevent the site owner from saying this, but there is nothing to prevent *me* from saying it :

Click on the ads!

Nice idea but we don't have any behind-pay-wall content to offer, and none is planned (that I'm aware of, that is).

yeah, if everyone clicked one or two ads every day.... But would that make a difference? or how much of one?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('uNkNowN ElEmEnt', 'y')eah, if everyone clicked one or two ads every day.... But would that make a difference? or how much of one?

Why doesn't PeakOil.com have an annual donation drive lasting for a month? A lot of other sites do this and take in enough to keep running.

We are a volunteer community - but:

IMHO, we don't need a server fund, it seems the server works fine and is being paid.

What we need a stipend for someone like Shanny or MD or twilliam to take care of what seems the inevitable software trials of any site of our standing.

These three are here whenever they can, to do whatever they can, on a volunteer basis, perhaps they need some recompense for those efforts.

So?

I could try to set up a server here/

An easy way to accomplish this would be a "donate here" PayPal button. My guess is that the membership would be most comfortable with that kind of arrangement. Nobody would feel pressured to commit to monthly contributions, and those who can afford it could donate whenever they choose to.

There are some little tricks you can do that actually help with donations. Ron Paul's site did very well in part, I suspect, because they had a flashy little doodad that listed the most recent contributors and how much they gave. Believe it or not, people like to see their name on the screen.

You could also have some kind of status tag for donors, like "community supporter" or some such.