Why don't more WB members support WB with a donation?

[illabelle]

...A lot of good people have come through the doors of Whiteblaze and have contributed a lot of information.

No kidding! I am frequently amazed by the quality of information on WB. It would be interesting to compile a database of WB users' areas of expertise. In our online community we have physicians, geologists, gear-makers, FKT record-holders, attorneys, historians, philosophers, hostel owners, botanists, trail builders and maintainers, and a host of ordinary people who are knowledgeable about their locale. I'm confident there are also herpetologists, ornithologists, surgeons, computer geeks, politicians, municipal planners, addiction recovery specialists, pilots, electrical engineers, etc etc. No matter the topic, somebody on WB is able to speak from deep experience, with the quiet voice of true authority. You can't help but respect their views. Of course you have to sift through plenty of nonsense, banter, stupid arguments, and misinformation - but the good stuff is there too.

[Maineiac64]

I will bet a big reason a lot of people don’t donate is that a physical check is required. Hardly use those anymore, much less through the mail.

WB takes paypal now, very easy.

[JC13]

Donating member's usernames show up in green regardless of having the "Donating Member" tag or not. Easy way to tell.

[Rain Man]

I donate because WB is the BEST AT site on the entire WWW. Not only has it been a fantastic source of valuable information for 14 years for me, in addition and even better the WB/AT community has been wonderful and almost beyond believeable in real-live face-to-face help up and down the trail for years and years.

There have been up-and-down cycles over the years, but the adiministrators and moderators have always brought things back to a well-balanced center.

Also, I don't like thinking of myself as a free-loader or of life as a one-way street, in my direction. I am able to donate, so I do. Honestly, WB has saved me far more money over the years than I have ever donated to it.

[Bronk]

People can say what they want, but the reality is it costs very little money to keep a website like this operating if you shop around and you know what you are doing. I used to operate a similar website at a cost of less than $20 per year. Yes, $20 per year, all in. Domain registration and hosting included. You can spend more than that if you want to. Prices may have gone up a little in the last 10 years but not by much. Someone who has a server in their home or office and does their own hosting and web design work will probably argue that it costs a lot more because they don't have the economy of scale that large web hosting services take advantage of, but that only proves the point that it really isn't costing them anything because they have that server for their business and the space and bandwidth this forum takes up is very minimal.

I've noticed over the last couple years that a lot of the traffic that used to be on this forum has shifted to facebook groups. Used to be when you clicked on "Today's Posts" you'd have 4 pages of threads. Lately its been only two pages. The days of forums like this are probably numbered, though I think they do still have some distinct advantages over social media groups, which are not easily searchable and there is no archive of data.

[Offshore]

I donated the first year or two but stopped for a couple of reasons. First, most of the moderators aren't even donating members and from the looks of the site don't spend all that much time moderating. When moderators step in, its usually due to some perceived violation of terms of use (often using questionable interpretation), but more likely a post not in line with their own personal world view or opinion. Second, the site really isn't all that useful. I poke around every couple of days, but after a couple of months on the site, it's apparent that it's really just the same old things. Basic questions being answered again and again and long threads of pontification by the same small group of regulars who seem to spend more time being outraged than hiking or backpacking. (Think of the crazy uncle at Thanksgiving...) Granted, it's easy to get caught up participating in those threads (I used to), but for anyone looking for a even a tidbit of useful information, WB is of little value. One has to dig through mountains of general BS, pontification, and snark. There are just better sites out there for information - even Reddit. Where WB seems to excel is for entertainment - sort of like reading the comments section of the local news site.

[rocketsocks]

Do you know someone who is donating that doesn't have the donating designation?

Yes....but I see now the names of those who are current are green, may bad.

[rocketsocks]

Donating member's usernames show up in green regardless of having the "Donating Member" tag or not. Easy way to tell.

Got cha..........

[rocketsocks]

There are probably a lot of us.

In my case I elected to create a “Custom User Title” under my name to share a bit more about myself, rather than keep the Donating Member designation.

If someone is using a custom avatar, that confirms they donated at some point — I think. Of course donating members — like yourself — can use a stock avatar.

That said, while WB will send out reminders to donate and renew your ability to edit posts, I think the custom Avitar is for life.


I will bet a big reason a lot of people don’t donate is that a physical check is required. Hardly use those anymore, much less through the mail.

i sent a money order and cash before.

[Ethesis]

Donating member's usernames show up in green regardless of having the "Donating Member" tag or not. Easy way to tell.

Who knew.

I have a seperate account to see advertising.

[Puddlefish]

I donate because I use uBlock origin, that cancels out any advertising revenue the site might earn from me. I like to reward the websites that I go to every day and learn things from. It takes time out of one's life to run a quality website, even if you can manage to convince volunteers to monitor the threads.

I pretty much learned from scratch how to distance hike, camp and resupply from the many bright and sharing members of this site prior to my 2016 hike. The two donations I've made to this site were a tiny price to pay considering how well my hike went.

Oh, the editing is a bonus, because I suck at proofreading my own typing.

[Another Kevin]

Do you know someone who is donating that doesn't have the donating designation?

I have the green screen name (who knew? Surely not color-blind Kevin!) but I prefer my 'Clueless Weekender' to a generic 'Donating Member' badge.

[KCNC]

I refuse to answer on the grinds I may ruminate myself.

That's it, we're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington.

[George]

hikers are cheapskates

[OCDave]

I find this forum invaluable for learning about gear, trails, techniques, etc...

Are those who contribute this invaluable information compensated for that contribution? Should those who consume more but contribute less be charged a higher dollar amount?

Perhaps you could paypal directly those individuals who post particularly useful tidbits about gear, trails, techniques ect.

[Maineiac64]

Are those who contribute this invaluable information compensated for that contribution? Should those who consume more but contribute less be charged a higher dollar amount?

Perhaps you could paypal directly those individuals who post particularly useful tidbits about gear, trails, techniques ect.

Dave, don’t be a dork. If we were using that model you would owe money to us all for that comment. The contributions we’re talking about go towards the site hosting and maintenance costs. Curious about the lack of motivation to help the cause is why I asked the question. I am glad to see that many do indeed contribute with both their wisdom and money. Some contribute neither.

[rocketsocks]

That's it, we're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington.

they already got em.

[El JP]

Once i straighten out a few things i fully plan to donate. The info here is pure gold.

[TexasBob]

....I am able to donate, so I do. Honestly, WB has saved me far more money over the years than I have ever donated to it.

This sums up why I donate better than I could have said it myself. Thanks.

[Sailing_Faith]

I donate out of gratitude to all those who helped me return to my passion, and to have the space to deal with the PMs that come in for my sticker requests...

By the way, I still have stickers if anyone wants them.