Numiah2 Posted February 1, 2010 Report Share Posted February 1, 2010 Okay, On the 31th of January the counter was at $1000+ The goal was $750,- Good, we donated more than the goal was. But with the new month I noticed the donation counter back at $25,- and a new set goal of $750,- uhhmm... We still had approximately $300,- left last month. Where did that go ? The counter should be at 300+25=325 ? It's not that I am accusing someone for getting the money lost, that is not the intention of this post. But I really would like some more transparency on where and what our donated money is spent. Numiah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarSeekerVDS Posted February 1, 2010 Report Share Posted February 1, 2010 Interesting. Transparency as to where the money is going is one thing, but transparency about what users spent the most is a horrible idea and the reason I haven't yet donated anything. All that's good for is bragging rights and entitlement and I've no interest in either. I've already seen more than one instance when someone tried to use the fact they'd donated as a point in some forum debate. That feature should seriously be disabled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco[IS] Posted February 1, 2010 Report Share Posted February 1, 2010 Okay, On the 31th of January the counter was at $1000+ The goal was $750,- Good, we donated more than the goal was. But with the new month I noticed the donation counter back at $25,- and a new set goal of $750,- uhhmm... We still had approximately $300,- left last month. Where did that go ? The counter should be at 300+25=325 ? It's not that I am accusing someone for getting the money lost, that is not the intention of this post. But I really would like some more transparency on where and what our donated money is spent. Numiah. In my opinion, the donation tracker is either not setup to show money from the month prior, or just not coded to handle that function (does not understand how to carry over). I can assure you though, the money is there. No one pocketed it. - Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmir[IS] Posted February 1, 2010 Report Share Posted February 1, 2010 I can assure you the left over donations are not being misused. The forum app that allows the tracking of donations works as it does, a factor which we have no control over. At the end of the month, it resets to $0.00 and starts recording from there. Is it an accurate indication of how much is building up or available? No it isn't. The app also does not track what it was spent on. Is transparency and documentation of expenditures a concern for us? Of course it is and it is being addressed as we speak already. Exactly how I cannot address because I do not have that information. As in every business, profit or non-profit, there are fixed and unforeseen expenses. To my understanding, and if I am wrong you can be sure a more informed team member will likely correct me, the goal represents what we know our fixed expenses to be. The balance left over is used to fund the unforeseen expenses like software purchases and other tools required to develop the game. Beyond that, your donations are NOT distributed as compensation to anyone on the team or in any other manner that would be considered inappropriate to my knowledge. I realize you were not trying to say you believed that to be the case, I just like to make it clear to everyone. As for the list of donors and how much, I will look into seeing what can be done if anything. I can't make any promises as to what will or will not be done. Thanks for your patience and for continuing to play the Earth and Beyond Emulator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daywolf Posted February 1, 2010 Report Share Posted February 1, 2010 uhhmm... We still had approximately $300,- left last month. Where did that go ? Pie and ice cream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numiah2 Posted February 1, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2010 Pie and ice cream MMMM Pie ! Of course I know no one pocketed it, but you catch my drift. I was more like wondering how it worked. And frankly I can't really care to much where donations are going, because the devs are doing a tremendous job and got us all playing (read testing) again ! A job we never could afford if we would need to hire these devs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taallonn Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Pie and ice cream Pie is overrated, me wants cake too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irbis Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 i am more curious on what happend with MY donation =\ yesterday ive donated 25bucks and seen myself on "Donators" list which made me, i am not hiding it, quite proud and today i look at donation page and =puff= my name is gone. come on guys, i dont want any special treatment, bonuses or stuff. but seeing my name under Donators made me feel a bit better. to not be a freeloader but an active contributer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortabis Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Interesting. Transparency as to where the money is going is one thing, but transparency about what users spent the most is a horrible idea and the reason I haven't yet donated anything. All that's good for is bragging rights and entitlement and I've no interest in either. I've already seen more than one instance when someone tried to use the fact they'd donated as a point in some forum debate. That feature should seriously be disabled. I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daywolf Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Pie is overrated, me wants cake too! Reese's peanut butter cup ice cream over fresh apple pie Otherwise I'd agree in most cases about cake and ice-cream... or ice-cream cake. Maybe we'll all be invited to the next EnB-EMU ice-cream party Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taallonn Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Reese's peanut butter cup ice cream over fresh apple pie Otherwise I'd agree in most cases about cake and ice-cream... or ice-cream cake. Maybe we'll all be invited to the next EnB-EMU ice-cream party dude...you so suck! its almost 2 am and I have no ice cream, or cake, or peanut butter in the house...and now I wants some!!!!!! Argh!!! share next time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daywolf Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 dude...you so suck! its almost 2 am and I have no ice cream, or cake, or peanut butter in the house...and now I wants some!!!!!! Argh!!! share next time lol if I wasn't so stuffed with bake to rise pizza tonight, I'd be hurting too. Luckily I have time for a supermarket run in the morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taallonn Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 lol if I wasn't so stuffed with bake to rise pizza tonight, I'd be hurting too. Luckily I have time for a supermarket run in the morning ZOMG!!! ok...man...now I have to log....I can't take the awesome food comments!!!...now I need pizza....ugh... ***I am a slave to awesome food remarks and will remain one forever more*** Curse you Daywolf!! joking btw but pizza sounds really good, hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irbis Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 now thats a book example of derailing a folum thread lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daywolf Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 now thats a book example of derailing a folum thread lolI think the question is, what did they spend it on. You can't go wrong with ice cream!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slayerman Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Hmmmm.... It gets spent on beer and cookies when us devs have to answer the same question 50,000,000 times We gotta de-stress some how... LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irbis Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 and yet, my question is still left unanswared.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenu [CDEV] Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 if it makes you feel any better irbis, your group is listed as donator's because you donated. You can be proud of that at the end of every month, the donator's list refreshes which is probably why your username's not there now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna leave this thread before it makes me too hungry.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slayerman Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 I can assure you the left over donations are not being misused. The forum app that allows the tracking of donations works as it does, a factor which we have no control over. At the end of the month, it resets to $0.00 and starts recording from there. Is it an accurate indication of how much is building up or available? No it isn't. The app also does not track what it was spent on. Is transparency and documentation of expenditures a concern for us? Of course it is and it is being addressed as we speak already. Exactly how I cannot address because I do not have that information. As in every business, profit or non-profit, there are fixed and unforeseen expenses. To my understanding, and if I am wrong you can be sure a more informed team member will likely correct me, the goal represents what we know our fixed expenses to be. The balance left over is used to fund the unforeseen expenses like software purchases and other tools required to develop the game. Beyond that, your donations are NOT distributed as compensation to anyone on the team or in any other manner that would be considered inappropriate to my knowledge. I realize you were not trying to say you believed that to be the case, I just like to make it clear to everyone. As for the list of donors and how much, I will look into seeing what can be done if anything. I can't make any promises as to what will or will not be done. Thanks for your patience and for continuing to play the Earth and Beyond Emulator and yet, my question is still left unanswared.... See above... Do you ask for a breakdown of where you money goes when you donate to any other charity... I know i dont... Lets put it this way, I currently have a request in for an SSL certificate for teh net-7.org site, so we can use this on the entire domain, and want to use a reputable trusted signer this is going to cost around $1000 (Verisign or Thawte) This is something that is not included in the 'goal' but for security, i think is a neccessary purchase. Things always come up, its the way of the world Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irbis Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 i think you got me wrong guys... i havent asked for anything in exchange for the donation, i just ah nevermind. w/e Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warlord711 Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 Interesting. Transparency as to where the money is going is one thing, but transparency about what users spent the most is a horrible idea and the reason I haven't yet donated anything. All that's good for is bragging rights and entitlement and I've no interest in either. I've already seen more than one instance when someone tried to use the fact they'd donated as a point in some forum debate. That feature should seriously be disabled. /agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daywolf Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 I don’t know, but I don’t think $300 is all that much, I mean about all you can use it for is to buy a good size group some pie and ice cream. It’s not like they can go to a lot and drive off in a new Lamborghini. It’s so little that if it were spent on any personal things, the rest of the dev team would feel left out and there could be squabbling. I’m sure a good deal of it goes for server rental fees. Whatever is left from all the monthly fees is probably going to a savings for when they are ready to build or buy a server rather than rent one. Something like that is not cheep, I wouldn’t bid under $1k(US) for a wee minimal mmorpg server which would be actually about at cost (not that I’m bidding). Most likely, they will want at least a few k to start for a build, nothing fancy, multi unit, but still it’ll take some savings and $300 is hardly a dent in that. And it’s not like they haven’t been transparent in the past as they have mentioned what servers (the past one) they were renting etc.., but I mean what is the point of making an itemized report every month for ~$750 which yes is about minimum for operating costs at this point if I know what I’m talking about… and I do heh. If you don’t know what rentals cost, you should go browse around 1and1 dot com and look at moderate to upper-end dedicated servers. I’m mean not my choice, co-loc is better (and elsewhere), but you need the funds to buy your hardware first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taallonn Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 I don’t know, but I don’t think $300 is all that much, I mean about all you can use it for is to buy a good size group some pie and ice cream. It’s not like they can go to a lot and drive off in a new Lamborghini. It’s so little that if it were spent on any personal things, the rest of the dev team would feel left out and there could be squabbling. I’m sure a good deal of it goes for server rental fees. Whatever is left from all the monthly fees is probably going to a savings for when they are ready to build or buy a server rather than rent one. Something like that is not cheep, I wouldn’t bid under $1k(US) for a wee minimal mmorpg server which would be actually about at cost (not that I’m bidding). Most likely, they will want at least a few k to start for a build, nothing fancy, multi unit, but still it’ll take some savings and $300 is hardly a dent in that. And it’s not like they haven’t been transparent in the past as they have mentioned what servers (the past one) they were renting etc.., but I mean what is the point of making an itemized report every month for ~$750 which yes is about minimum for operating costs at this point if I know what I’m talking about… and I do heh. If you don’t know what rentals cost, you should go browse around 1and1 dot com and look at moderate to upper-end dedicated servers. I’m mean not my choice, co-loc is better (and elsewhere), but you need the funds to buy your hardware first. <---want's ice cream and pie edit: "Not directed to Daywolf" and on a side note....Enjoying the new server this stress is based on? It wasn't bought with somones personal funds you know....that "missing cash" is not missing , you see it everytime you've logged in during ST4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daywolf Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 I think they mentioned more memory on this one. It’s probably 16GB since they increased pop to 1000. RAM is pretty important for a smooth running game server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floss Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 A quarterly or semi-annual report should be sufficient for transparancy. Just a general breakdown, i.e. 50% hosting, 30% hardware, 20% security, etc. Having a relevant donation tracker would be nice so that people know if they need to keep donating, or if the project already has a cash surplus for now. I'm sure if an urgent need arose, it wouldn't take much time to bring in a few hundred or even thousand bucks based on donation trends over the last few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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