Charitable status

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Your right about alex starting a site i have done the same it has got big but one question doesnt the ads pay for the hosting the must bring in a revenue,

well im not an expert on ad revenue but i think i heard somewhere that its like 10 cents for every click or something, shurly nothing too substantial

Only when seeking donations.

Might get more than 10cents per click what if its clicked 50 times a day for example and you get payed monthly per add soon bring in an revenue,

Alex,

Pleased to see the donation ability. Also I do think what your thoughts are leaning to, as far as two servers, as the way to go. I have a feeling it just might address an earlier concern I had. Which was Haven converstaions and site downtime.

The legal status, I do wish I had the expertise to make flat out correct statements, I don't. But surely, with this number of people here, someone must have it, or know someone that really has the insights. I do think keeping it as simple as possible is the way to go, whatever that might be.

I think schools, some, sit on large hunks of donated moneys and pull interest off of it. With your current leanings as to the direction of WP, I would guess this wouldn't happen at first, but very well may later, as things get settled in. Large amounts? Kind of doubt it, but if lucky might get to the point where interest would keep it going without asking for more donations. At the very least defer some of the cost. Which as I said doesn't bother me to begin with, don't know why you didn't before. I would suggest after this first "pledge drive" it might be put in a less obvious place. We understand the intent as we have been here for a while, new folks yet to come might look at it a bit differently, maybe, I don't know for sure.

Non profit is a can of worms. First a State Corporation, then a filing with the IRS, and a check for $545. If accepted, you become an IRS Agent, part of the tax code, made to file reports till the end of time about just who gave you money, with some real personal details, like federal tax number, or social security, and real names that might be public record.

Your numbers had better be right, and you file on time every quarter, and sum it up yearly. It also becomes you job to keep up with changes in the tax code. $5000 a year would be cheap paperwork.

Non profit status limits your business options.

For about the same records and filing a company can be taken public. Again, records, filings, till the end of time, but the SEC makes the IRS look bad.

Ads can defray the cost, but it is not much.

The best option is freedom. private, the least paperwork, and giving WP room to grow.

The way to do that is user support, this is a life line, and I do not ask it such things are tax deductible.

WP changed my life, and that is worth a no questions donation.

Considering his track record, his ideas, Alex should have extra money and freedom.

it seems people have taken the suggestion I posted well as opposed to being against it

Just hope alex takes it the same way as everyone else as the last time he asked for money it was a scam which I personally helped expose

Actually, pikachu, as I remember it, it was another member who requested that the ability to make donations, and the request was granted. The only thing that you exposed to the other members was the fact that you are a conspiracy theorist.

That's what an accountant told me when I asked about it.

I see no reason to make WP donations tax deductible... The benefit to people who donate would be negligible, on the order of a few dollars for the average donor, and the paperwork and accounting cost would be enormous, not to mention the hurdles and red tape Alex would have to overcome... it just isn't worth it

I am not a conspiracy theorist actually

I also do not recall you being a member at the time

as soon as the thread appeared back then I knew something was up

Actually, I do not think WP should be taken public or as a non-profit. However, I think the WP can be built into a viable business (if a 17 year old girl can make a business out of offering MySpace Templates making $70,000/mo, I am sure that WP can be a viable business too). The issue is that I do not think Alex spends enough time with WP and there is no direction. WP could become a one stop resource for those on the spectrum or those dealing with people on the spectrum. Here are some ideas that I have:

1) Talk to Google about why ad revenue is not working for this site. Even if only about 70% of the registered users are active on the site, that leaves 9000+ active users not to count the visitors. I rarely see less than 300 people on WP at any one time. Google Ad revenue can be a good resource if the ads are targeted to the audience and from what I have seen, some of the ads actually turn people off rather than turn people on. Google ads is a vendor of yours and you have the right to find out why the vendor is not delivering as promised.

2) Offer added content to those who can pay a set fee (such as $50 - $100 USD/Year). I am not sure what could be pay for content. One deal could be to go a-la Slashdot and offer ad free viewing in return for a subscription. Another is to maybe offer an employment service or even a dating service for those who subscribe. I am sure there are other things that you can offer. You are correct in wanting to keep WP free but that does not mean that you cannot offer additional content to those who are willing to pay for it. Just make sure not to force people to pay for something that does not add value. Web forums are a dime a dozen now. People will not pay for them if they can use another one that is free.

3) Do you have a deal with Amazon to get a certain % of any book sales that are done from this site? Do the members know about it. If Amazon will not deal, see if Jessica Kingsley will offer you a deal. It would be a great deal for them. 9000+ people who deal with ASDs can purchase books directly from the site they visit most. Make sure that the members know about it however.

4) As an extent to the above, become a one stop resource for all things ASDs. Link to the articles at GRASP, ASPEN, and OASIS. Have a page with links to various sites that deal with ASDs, including competing forums and sites with differing views such as Intensity^2 or AFF. Offer a way for people to find support groups, doctor, etc. All you really need is a disclaimer that those sites do not represent the views of WP. That would certain drive the ad revenue, especially if you can get it set up to where WP comes up on the first page in Google.

5) Be more aggressive about the WP product store. Again, it is mostly hidden.

6) Finally, treat WP as a business. That means giving WP the attention it deserves, sometimes dealing with people that are not wronging you are not sure about, and being consistent. This also means that you must be willing to off-load some of the tasks to others, maybe as employees (maybe WP can even help the dismal employment rate for aspies).

The ball is in your court now Alex. I may be willing to discuss this with you further (I am sure you have figured out who I am by now) but you must be willing to take on the work required to make WP a viable business. It will be hard, and it will not be cheap, but it may be worth it.

Thank You

demeus
The word zoo comes to mind.

If you don't see a direction here, you might be an aspie.

I do think Alex is interested in TV work. Do you not understand what it's like to rope an aspie into something other then what they like?

I thought inventors words to be very on target.

Pikachu
I would suggest you not contribut and don't worry about where my money goes.

I assumed that it was. I'm rather shocked,
if this is NOT the case.


Are you out of your mind? 30% is far more likely.

How about smaller donation options?

I think that given that $280 is a pretty
small goal, many more could contribute
a couple of bucks, rather than the current
$15 min.

Yes, that's a great idea. Sites like gigposters.com offer to premium members more options, maybe that could be the way to go. Bigger inbox, arcade games.

* Have users be proud and show "premium member" along with their username.

* Leaner WP:

I've mentioned this in the past: have a text-only option to browse.
Even the mySQL error page loads a heavy image = more bandwidth.
Smaller usernames pics (as in gigposters.com).

* Remove features... Maybe it will hurt some people, but maybe you could save some bandwidth removing the blogs, and offering them only to premium members.
Also the articles, not the new ones, only previous ones.

* Maybe move some content to a cheaper service like Amazon S3?

* Also, make the premium membership last a year.


EDIT: Alex, why don't you try this for a test:
Change the current home page to a simple lean one, and see the bandwith savings for a week.