> Would you contribute to support GRcade?

Yeah I don't think the link will let you use "friends and family / personal payment" but if you put ben@grcade.co.uk into your "Send money" bit on PayPal website or app the option is there. Don't worry if it doesn't show up, I think PayPal is doing what it can to hide it these days so they make more money.

(Yeah I'm not a huge fan because banks charge nothing at all to do this but PayPal is super convenient. I just wish their fees were more reasonable.)

I might be able to sort it through a donations portal by automatically coding the transaction as non-commercial but I'm going to have to have another bash at that in a few days; unfortunately I hit some walls and may need to start again with the code I had as it's so old now (like 4 years).

Green Gecko wrote:Yeah I don't think the link will let you use "friends and family / personal payment" but if you put ben@grcade.co.uk into your "Send money" bit on PayPal website or app the option is there. Don't worry if it doesn't show up, I think PayPal is doing what it can to hide it these days so they make more money.

(Yeah I'm not a huge fan because banks charge nothing at all to do this but PayPal is super convenient. I just wish their fees were more reasonable.)

I might be able to sort it through a donations portal by automatically coding the transaction as non-commercial but I'm going to have to have another bash at that in a few days; unfortunately I hit some walls and may need to start again with the code I had as it's so old now (like 4 years).

I followed the link (paypal.me?) and when it come to the section to enter the amount the option was there to switch to family/friend (done it using my IPad if that makes a difference?)

Ah good good. I'm not sure because I can't see the options, it says "You can't send money to yourself :simper:

". That's good to know because it would be annoying to lose the option for stuff like this. The reason I'm using that account is it's already in good standing you see, verified etc. Steve set up a PayPal before in GRcade's name and PayPal shut it down insisting he send them an ID etc. Well, GRcade doesn't have an ID... It's a website. Or for some reason he didn't want to do that, which is fair enough (Steve's always been fairly careful about his personal details getting out which is fair enough if you're running a website for lots of strangers!).

Green Gecko wrote:(paging Gecko)

It's great to see that the funding is coming along so well :-)

.

Just checking, Gecko -

Running Total: £250 out of £250 (past) / £154 toward £250 (future)

Total donations: £55

I may be thinking something daft, but... how come the Total Donations amount is only showing as £55? I'd have expected it to be £404 (i.e. £250 + £154).

Cheers, dude!

Ah, I forgot to update that line. Thanks for pointing that out!

The problem with server config has been fixed so I will be developing the donations page again in due course, I just have to deal with all personal/work matters that have accrued. I will go to the "office" in Brighton again next week to sort out the donations page/system. I am sorry there was that stumbling block, but really I should have anticipated it wouldn't be super straightforward to resurrect some old software that's been sort of stewing around unused for a few years!

Green Gecko wrote:Ah, I forgot to update that line. Thanks for pointing that out!...

Ta, GG, I wasn't looking to catch anyone out - just wanted to make sure that the positivity and success is clear! <3 .

Yeah, I actually wasn't sure if the 'total' included future pledges for monthly payments, as well as actual money paid, (i.e. the 'donations') and thought that might be the difference between the two figures.

So, I'm glad you asked :slol:

as I can now put my fears of an Enron style accounting black hole that would destroy the Western economy behind me. For now.

One person with a standing order did get in touch to suggest that, so I've retroactively summed in standing orders for the next 6 months to the "future" target. I just added another £12 that I forgot as it was the first person to set up a new standing order, before I had realised that logic!

I will confirm the total early next week around the same time I sort out the new donations page. It's a funny thing because of course there isn't any "final" amount, it would be silly to cap contributions, I just expect people to say "ah that's sorted out then" and not donate unless they feel they want to anyway. What I want to do is have a page stating what the income and outgoings are, and possibly even run some maths automatically that says what the current funding status is, but obviously that's more programming work and it's very difficult to have that data all in one place from multiple sources. I'll figure out a happy middle which might just mean updating a page at the end of each month, it's easy to overcomplicate something like this.

Oh and that donations bar graph.. I probably should have just built that yesterday rather than trying to resurrect zombie code. :dread:

Oh no! I didn't mean to complicate things It's great that you take this so seriously, but it will become a financial nightmare trying to keep that up!

Try to keep it simple in terms of what you've actually got in and what the most immediate target is, is my advice. Future pledges are great for feeling secure, but you never know when people's circumstances change etc. And they'll make bar charts a footnote nightmare!

Don't worry! Haha, yeah I don't feel 100% comfortable accounting for "future spend" on behalf of others, because that places a burden of responsibility on them. But it's certainly worth bearing in mind, it's much better than having no indication at all the costs are going to be covered and just.. hoping for the best.

I'm just warbling out thought processes, honestly I'm just relieved to have had such a great response because, well, when I updated that spreadsheet I felt a little dumb for letting things fall into that state. Even if I was the one literally paying for it! Things get on top of you sometimes.

So I pulled my socks up and I'm very grateful people have leant their support.

It's easy to let that happen, sir and nothing to feel dumb about. Always feels better to get things out in the open rather than chewing on them as well, I reckon. But that's easy to say.

Numbers wise, if you want to present things, maybe have pledges for the next month plus donations vs costs for the same period.

And possibly establish and keep a reserve; an amount for maybe 2/3 months in the future (whatever makes sense based on the timing of the bills) to cover future costs, with the plan being not to touch this except in emergencies and have it roll forward indefinitely as a guarantee, raising an alarm when that's breached.

And possibly tell people like me to stop sticking their nose in! Good luck to ya

That's what I had done but part of how the deficit crept up on me. We had enough to go on for almost a year and then the deficit starting coming in at a few pounds, then quarter the amount, half the amount, all of the amount etc. Some people suggest Christmas a good time of year to ask for financial support because of the giving mood, but on the other hand it's when people are typically the most strapped for cash, so I suppose I past up on that opportunity.

But zoom past that and it tends to happen in January/February and I missed that quite considerably. I believe our last donations drive was in Feb of 2017 (!) and were propped up by a couple of ads payouts, but that seems to have slowed down as well. We can certainly do better than a manic fundraising period for one week every two years :slol:

Anyway we all know the best way forward is little and often, and I will sort that out. Should make significant progress with a solid day set aside to work on it now the server is cool with our SSL set up on other parts of the site besides the main folder (it's going in /shop/).

I sent £12 managed to find the friends and family thing. Bug me again in a year.

> Would you contribute to support GRcade?

Would you contribute to support GRcade?

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