Quoting: Liam DaweIt may turn out not to be worth it, and if so, I will simply remove it and seek other funding somehow (suggestions always welcome).

Speedo carwash fundraiser by you and your homies. Like The Full Monty, but not. :P

Quoting: Linux_RocksSpeedo carwash fundraiser by you and your homies. Like The Full Monty, but not. :P

No one wants to see me like that, trust me lol

Hi,

I'd like to donate and not see the ads but I don't want to use patreon. Can you do something like what phoronix does and have yearly/life one-time paypal purchases? I'm not sure how much money they bring in, but I got the lifetime membership with them, so they got my money that way :)

Love your site, thank you!

Quoting: scratchiHi,

I'd like to donate and not see the ads but I don't want to use patreon. Can you do something like what phoronix does and have yearly/life one-time paypal purchases? I'm not sure how much money they bring in, but I got the lifetime membership with them, so they got my money that way :)

Love your site, thank you!

Hi, afraid not, Patreon is the only option for that. Otherwise I have to deal with VAT and collect and store more personal info from people - it’s just a big headache and Patreon does it all for me 👍

Opened a patreon account just for you :)

Quoting: Liam DaweThanks but no thanks. I don't plan to pay-wall anything as that's one thing I've always said I truly disliked.

I understand your position here on this, but a paywall may not be such a bad idea if implemented fairly. A good example is to look at LWN, a couple of years ago they also ran into a situation where it was "get more money or shut down" due to finances. And like yourself, they focus on Linux related news.

They decided to make temporary paywalls, and it works for them. The basic principle is: The majority of articles are payment-free, with no charges. But some more extensive/detailed articles temporarily sit behind a paywall for one week. After the week has passed, anyone - subscriber or not - is free to access it. In addition, paying subscribers have the option to create a payment-free link for their friends (e.g, The subscriber can make a link, which allows access to the article without payment).

Many of their readers (myself included) decided to subscribe to help them. If you provide quality content and do it fairly, people will pay. Particularly in the FOSS community where most of them outright despise data collecting ads and/or block them entirely by default, which in turn would mean lost revenue for yourself from those users.

You can see more on how they do it here:
https://lwn.net/op/FAQ.lwn#subs

It may feel "bad" to charge for content but, ultimately you have to remember you have your own expenses and you are providing a service to others, as such it is not unreasonable to ask for payment for your services.

Another thing I might add: Cost cutting, do you really need a single server that costs £500/mo? That's a lot! I bet you can find an equivalent server to what you're running for less per month.

Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: Linux_RocksSpeedo carwash fundraiser by you and your homies. Like The Full Monty, but not. :P

No one wants to see me like that, trust me lol

Agreed.

Last edited by BlackBloodRum on 9 January 2024 at 9:51 am UTC

Quoting: BlackBloodRumAnother thing I might add: Cost cutting, do you really need a single server that costs £500/mo? That's a lot! I bet you can find an equivalent server to what you're running for less per month.

The cost is not server related directly. That was just a general life figure of where I want to get to. All funding remember is for me directly for both work and life - this is my job.

And again, no plans for paywalls. Just not happening.

Last edited by Liam Dawe on 9 January 2024 at 11:17 am UTC

What about those of us that are patreon supporters but do not reach the tier amount per month?

Quoting: Arcadius-8606What about those of us that are patreon supporters but do not reach the tier amount per month?

Same as anyone else: you will see adverts. The tiers are there for a reason and that's always been the case since day 1 of the Patreon. Otherwise, everyone could switch to say $1 and then frankly I would have to find work elsewhere. Just basic money matters.

I don't mean literally everyone though, plenty of people are generous <3 (I'm sure most of you get my point)

Last edited by Liam Dawe on 9 January 2024 at 1:36 pm UTC