When logging into the main site you can see Fabrice is holding a "End of the Year 2015 Donation Run", but as far as I can see I haven't found any reference to it in the forums, so I'll copy the message from Fabrice here, so that everyone can see it.

Some people just use the forum and not the main site, or when logging into the main site just jump to their reviews and don't check the blog. I hope it's not a problem pasting the message here.

Quote:Has this website been valuable to you? Please consider supporting my work with a donation. It would be fantastic if we can reach ~ 600 € (EUR). I would love to upgrade my 3rd Gen iPad, which is getting kinda slow and clunky, but is still one of my favorite gadgets

In previous years there have been spontaneous donation runs started by members on our forum. I'm very grateful for that. This year I decided to be a little bolder, because I need your support. I've lost two advertisers recently, and for whatever reason the website has seen a noticeable drop in traffic in the month of November.

To be honest, my motivation is taking a blow lately. I've worked two months on upgrading the forum. I designed and implemented a completely new theme for MyBB, spent hours figuring out how to upgrade from PunBB as their script didn't work out of the box, finally made the forum mobile friendly & responsive. And the net result? It's doing OK, but I have yet to see any substantial positive change. Maybe I just need to be really patient as Google is still reporting 2000+ pages with "mobility" issues... On the up side, the daily registrations on the forum has increased so it's a good sign.

People, this site has helped thousands of people through almost a decade already, and in my opinion it's the most resourceful place I've ever seen in regards to Japanese learning. Let's give back some love this Christmas by sending a donation to the man that created this community.

Who will put the first donation under Fabrice's Christmas tree?

Too busy buying Christmas presents?

Set aside a couple coins and donate them.

(2015-12-20, 9:24 pm)Sebastian Wrote: Some people just use the forum and not the main site, or when logging into the main site just jump to their reviews and don't check the blog. I hope it's not a problem pasting the message here.

I "finished" RTK quite a while ago, so I hardly ever go to the main site so would never have seen this if you hadn't linked it here.

I might not use the main site a great deal, but I do look at the forum almost every day, and the content and support offered by Fabrice and the community can't be overstated, so I've chipped in.

[fuaburisu]

As I wrote today on Kanji Koohii, the donation run is currently at 547 € (EUR).

Thank you guys! =)

What do the donations go towards? The Support page says "your donations are very important to keep the website going" which I assume means server costs and other costs associated with keeping the site online. The quote in the OP seems to suggest they would go towards a new ipad though? Not sure if I'm reading that right :/

[ファブリス]

It goes towards keeping me motivated to keep the site going...

I'm a bit surprised by your question to be honest. Maybe it comes out of all the Patreon / Kickstarter and other popular crowdfunding platforms. The donation run is not funding, it's to support the person behind a website whatever it is they may want to use the money for.

I put the Ipad idea there just to have some kind of goal (I'm not 100% sure I want to upgrade mine yet as it runs decently for my typical use, I'm tempted to wait out for a newer model too).

The costs for shared hosting and yearly domain name renewal are fairly low, less than 20 € monthly. That's obviously not the only "cost" for running the Kanji Koohii website and forum.

Awesome, thanks for answering. Yeah, you're right. Most of the donation stuff I see lately (Patreon/Kickstarter kinda stuff) has been asking for funding to offset specific costs or to support the content itself, so that was where I was coming from. Nothing wrong with the way it's done here though ^^.

[fuaburisu]

I've been thinking of Patreon lately. I'd need to earn at least 4 times as much to just survive off the site(s), plus pay higher taxes.

Unfortunately it's not an option anymore because I'm getting pretty isolated in this small town I live now, and although the rent is cheap, I need to move back to Brussels or some other big city where I was much better off all things considered.

Donation sent.

Merry christmas, Fabrice!

And of course thanks again for creating and maintaining this site, that helps so many people around the world.

How's it going?

[fuaburisu]

Thank you for the support Sebastian !

I'm doing good. Had a massage today, can't complain =)

(2015-12-26, 10:06 am)fuaburisu Wrote: Had a massage today, can't complain =)

So that's what the donation funds are being spent on. 

[fuaburisu]

Hehe. I've never had a massage before It's for general well being but I'm hoping it will help with my posture as well. Although I'm doing exercises like the "wall angel" and I bought a foam roller etc. but it may help relieve chronic tension in the back.