Discuss the budget & funding announcement

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This is the thread to discuss the budget/funding announcement. Found here if you missed it. (http://www.net-benefits.net/announcement.php?s=&forumid=26)

J

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And your donations have hit the $70 mark - making me feel much better about all of this ;). Thank you!

J

PS: Those of you who have donated, pm me (http://www.net-benefits.net/private.php?s=&action=newmessage&userid=82) as to whether or not you want to remain anonymous. My plan is to offer you all public thanks (while keeping the amount you donated private) - if you would prefer to remain anonymous, let me know!

[dseltzer]

Jake, you are a serious hero.

On the sidebar/advertising issue, I asked on some earlier thread if there was a chance that IDEA would like to rent a piece of it for a permanent link to all of their resources - do you know anything about that possibility? (Or are they so annoyed that we didn't want them that they no longer want to associate with us :) )

Another random thought - given the known demographic of this crowd, I would say computer gaming-related businesses could get a lot of traction out of advertising here.

And last, with the new software you're looking at, is there a way to both ensure that anonymous accounts are possible (so that people can ask awkward questions) but also that anonymous posts can be pre-moderated (to prevent the kinds of abuse that have disrupted things this spring, not to mention porn bots)?

[skibum]

On the sidebar/advertising issue, I asked on some earlier thread if there was a chance that IDEA would like to rent a piece of it for a permanent link to all of their resources - do you know anything about that possibility? (Or are they so annoyed that we didn't want them that they no longer want to associate with us :) )
I am planning on communicating with Dr. Trapp during this transition to determine if this is indeed a possibility - I'll keep everyone posted.

Another random thought - given the known demographic of this crowd, I would say computer gaming-related businesses could get a lot of traction out of advertising here.
That's a thought I hadn't approached before, it will certainly be mentioned to any new ad supplier.

And last, with the new software you're looking at, is there a way to both ensure that anonymous accounts are possible (so that people can ask awkward questions) but also that anonymous posts can be pre-moderated (to prevent the kinds of abuse that have disrupted things this spring, not to mention porn bots)? [/B]
Short answer: yes. Both of the leading options at this point offer the ability to 1. turn on captchas (prevent the porn bots) and 2. place user groups (instead of forums) into moderated status - which would allow the return of corax & tisias, as well as putting newly created anonymous accounts into a "first 20 posts are moderated" type of group as well.

J

[SoCalian]

regarding ads, here's somebody you could look into.

http://www.projectwonderful.com/

[skibum]

Ya'lls generosity overwhelms sometimes. We've already hit $112 in donations, and this during the "low traffic" time of year for the website. I'd like to hit $250 before I start spending more money on the site; I think we can definitely get there by July 1 (i.e. in time to do a summer transition).

Thanks again to everyone who has donated, it's all appreciated!

J

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A quick update: we're at $167 in donations!

J