Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => General Discussion => Topic started by: Matthew on September 10, 2023, 09:22:25 AM
-
I've been trying to brainstorm alternate ways to fund CathInfo without having to resort to ǵооģⅼе ads.
Meanwhile, several members have made donations (of various sizes) over the months and years to help the cause.
As a token of my gratitude, CI members who have made any kind of gift or donation in the last 12 months will have ads turned off.
UPDATE 7/28/24: When I say "ads turned off", that also includes removing the pop-up messages that appear when ad blocking is detected on CathInfo.
Because Ads/No Ads is a setting on your actual CathInfo account, that means you can log in to your CathInfo account on any PC, tablet, or phone anywhere in the world and the ads won't appear. So there's that.
I'm not planning to nickle-and-dime members either. What I mean by that: A) I don't care how much the donation is. The gift/cash could be any amount and I'd be grateful. B) I'm not going to quickly re-enable ads on the 366th day after you donated, because "You haven't donated in a year". I'm not like that. I keep the big picture in mind always -- including what % of members have never donated a penny, despite heavy use and benefit from the forum. In other words, a man who donated $5 over 18 months ago would still be in the top 1/2 of 1% of members, as far as support goes!
ON THE OTHER HAND, I don't intend to spend actual money to run CathInfo. Donating dozens of hours a month of my time is enough, as I see it. So if advertising goes down to $10 a month, I'll have to send out a reminder or something. But suffice to say, I won't be singling anyone out.
I have already turned off ads for all donations received after August 2022 -- at least those I have CathInfo member names for. If I missed you, please let me know!
Likewise, if you bought an Amazon gift off my wishlist and sent it as "Anonymous" over the past year, please send me your information by PM so I can turn off your ads. Either send an e-mail to matthew at cathinfo dot com, with your username and what you sent me, or a PM with details on what you sent. I appreciate that some people want to be anonymous -- but unfortunately I can't give any concrete token of thanks (such as turning off ads) when I don't have your information.
WAYS TO DONATE:
1. Paypal. matthew@chantcd.com (note: you might want to send it "Friends and Family" to avoid the 2% fee.)
2. Snail mail. My mailing address is actually posted on my Amazon wishlist. You can easily grab it from there.
3. Venmo https://www.venmo.com/u/cathinfo Last 4 digits of phone: 7693
4. Zelle (contact me for the phone number/name to use)
5. My Amazon wishlist (for link, see bottom of post)
6. https://cash.app/$developermcd
I'm open to other means; just contact me (e-mail or PM) to make arrangements.
Thank you,
Matthew
P.S. I completely understand you wanting to get ads turned off ASAP. If it were me, I'd make some donation and immediately send a PM saying, "the check is in the mail", "your gift is en route" etc. so I could get my ads turned off a couple days sooner. So I won't hold it against anyone if they're like me in that regard. hahaha
-
So I programmed in the ability to turn off ads on a per-user basis.
Awesome idea. Nice work. That's typically how apps (mobile apps) work too, where there's a free version with ads, but then you pay to get rid of the ads.
-
Matthew, I just made an Amazon purchase for you off your wish list.
Did I violate Sabbath rest?
-
Matthew, I just made an Amazon purchase for you off your wish list.
Did I violate Sabbath rest?
Thank you!
To answer your question: "No, because computers neither have souls, nor do they need a Day of Rest to free themselves from work to devote themselves more fully to the worship of God and the nurturing of the spiritual life."
-
Thanks Matthew! Out of curiosity, is it normal to see an Amazon ad at the bottom of the screen? It’s not bothering me, but I wanted you to know just in case it wasn’t supposed to be there.
I modified the code to remove that ad as well, as appropriate. For one thing, Amazon said they're doing away with "banner ads" in a couple months anyhow. One must use only text links from now on for the Affiliate program.
-
I want to give this exclusive group of supporters a name, but it's way more difficult than I thought.
I don't want to evoke James Bond with "goldmember". Which is eminently stupid because everyone on every forum, as well as every member of every club (of any type) is already a "member". At least be made of gold, right? I wish I had a penny for every word or phrase that could be interpreted in a dirty way. I would literally be able to build a brand new 5,000 square foot house with cash, no exaggeration.
Gold Club, Supporter, CI Patron, Patron, Benefactor, something like that. Any suggestions?
-
Gold Club, Supporter, CI Patron, Patron, Benefactor, something like that. Any suggestions?
CathInfo Warrior!
😄
-
Matthew, I just made an Amazon purchase for you off your wish list.
Same here, enjoy Matthew!
-
How about Platinum member or Diamond member?
-
I want to give this exclusive group of supporters a name, but it's way more difficult than I thought.
I don't want to evoke James Bond with "goldmember". Which is eminently stupid because everyone on every forum, as well as every member of every club (of any type) is already a "member". At least be made of gold, right? I wish I had a penny for every word or phrase that could be interpreted in a dirty way. I would literally be able to build a brand new 5,000 square foot house with cash, no exaggeration.
Gold Club, Supporter, CI Patron, Patron, Benefactor, something like that. Any suggestions?
I for one would prefer to keep my donation amounts anonymous, as various individuals have claimed that the reason I haven't been banned is because of donations I've made, and I can similar allegations being hurled at others who contributed.
In any case, I really like the "Hero Member" thing, so I'd prefer to keep that too :laugh1:
-
I for one would prefer to keep my donation amounts anonymous, as various individuals have claimed that the reason I haven't been banned is because of donations I've made, and I can similar allegations being hurled at others who contributed.
In any case, I really like the "Hero Member" thing, so I'd prefer to keep that too :laugh1:
I thought of that -- but what is someone really going to say, in the heat of an argument?
"I disagree with you and on that account I think you should be banned. But I know why you're not banned -- because you have donated to CathInfo in the past, which I, for one, refuse to do for various reasons."
What a (fill in the blank)! Who would take such a one seriously?
But I'm not distinguishing how MUCH was donated -- and I'm hoping it will be a big enough group, that it won't be an issue. What I mean by that: if you start calling every Supporter a "sellout" or some such -- then you'll be calling an increasing % of CathInfo that name. "When everyone is racist, no one is racist" and all that.
-
I for one would prefer to keep my donation amounts anonymous, as various individuals have claimed that the reason I haven't been banned is because of donations I've made, and I can similar allegations being hurled at others who contributed.
"I disagree with you and on that account I think you should be banned. But I know why you're not banned -- because you have donated to CathInfo in the past, which I, for one, refuse to do for various reasons."
What a (fill in the blank)! Who would take such a one seriously?
I just want to point out that I have followed the site for years now, and I can't think of a single time someone hurled that accusation at Ladislaus in particular. While it is certainly possible and probable (given the site), Ladislaus has more to worry about with the content and style of his arguments than being accused of being a :::shock::: donator. Whether or not he's Matthew's buddy wouldn't be the same thing, either. I don't remember if I ever did it myself, but don't worry Lad --- the odds are so low that you should be able to safely climb down from your soap box.
-
I just want to point out that I have followed the site for years now, and I can't think of a single time someone hurled that accusation at Ladislaus in particular. While it is certainly possible and probable (given the site), Ladislaus has more to worry about with the content and style of his arguments than being accused of being a :::shock::: donator. Whether or not he's Matthew's buddy wouldn't be the same thing, either. I don't remember if I ever did it myself, but don't worry Lad --- the odds are so low that you should be able to safely climb down from your soap box.
I think it has happened on more than one occasion, just not by you.
What's funny is that sometimes you have "Sean Johnson" vs "Ladislaus" -- both of whom have donated in the past. So there's that...
I don't agree with Lad on absolutely everything, but on "most" things. He's a fellow ex-seminarian and a good source of knowledge/advice for Traditional Catholics. As such, he is an asset to the forum and I'd be a fool not to recognize that fact. I should point out: the same could be said about Sean Johnson. I would like to see the two get along.
-
I just sent a paypal donation. Thank you and your wife for letting God plan your family size.
-
Thank you to all who donated anything in the past, especially during the last year (2023).
i.e., all those marked "Supporter" under their username.
May God bless you in 2024 and beyond!
-
Thank you to all who donated anything in the past, especially during the last year (2023).
i.e., all those marked "Supporter" under their username.
May God bless you in 2024 and beyond!
Thank you for bumping this thread because I was unaware of this feature.
-
Thank you to all who donated anything in the past, especially during the last year (2023).
i.e., all those marked "Supporter" under their username.
May God bless you in 2024 and beyond!
I don't know, Matthew. I kindof like the old term "Hero Member" under my username. :laugh1: Perhaps I should request a refund so that I could be called a "Hero Member" again.
Obviously just kidding ...
-
I'm enjoying the forum so much better since I made the donation. It's easier to read on my phone as well.
-
Where is the PayPal link?
-
Paypal link is:
https://www.paypal.com/us/digital-wallet/send-receive-money/send-money
Send to: matthew@chantcd.com
-
I don't know what all is involved in setting it up, but many of the groups that I donate to have a paypal link that allows for an automatic recurring monthly donation. I like the automatic feature because it is easy to get busy with life and forget to sit down and make the donation every month.
I can't recall if you've said how much CI costs, Matthew, but if a number of members kicked in even 5 bucks a piece every month, that should make a dent.
-
I don't know what all is involved in setting it up, but many of the groups that I donate to have a paypal link that allows for an automatic recurring monthly donation. I like the automatic feature because it is easy to get busy with life and forget to sit down and make the donation every month.
I can't recall if you've said how much CI costs, Matthew, but if a number of members kicked in even 5 bucks a piece every month, that should make a dent.
Yes I agree that would be useful. Don't know how hard it is to set up though.
And you're right -- it's very easy to hit a modest goal when you have a decent level of "participation".
As for how much CathInfo costs, let's just say I'm running the site the most efficient way possible, which most people couldn't do. It's just the Internet and electricity costs. Without going into too much detail, let's just say that a forum with this traffic level would cost a lot MORE per month if I was just paying a monthly fee to host it. I'm saving a lot by hosting it myself.
But even if I paid the regular webhosting fee, I would actually be more vulnerable: any single enemy could file a complaint with that webhost, and Cathinfo would be shut down faster than you can say "Oy Vey -- shut it down!"
-
Thank you to all who sent a donation, by any of the various ways.
Some of you haven't provided me with your CathInfo username, neither with the gift, in the comments field of the donation, by separate CathInfo PM or e-mail, etc. So I won't be able to turn off ads for these individuals (including the nag screen, for those using ad blocker).
If you have made any kind of gift in the past (whether in the past 2 weeks or the past 2 years), please let me know who you are, so I can give you proper credit (by way of disabling ads on your account).
-
FYI --
If you are a "supporter" you almost certainly have ads turned off, which includes the "nag message" that appears when you use CathInfo with an ad blocker (enabled).
The first thing I do when I receive a donation or a gift (from an identified member!) is turn off their ads. I don't think I've been slow to do this once -- much less forgotten to do it.
HOWEVER the CathInfo site has no way to know that it's "you" unless you're logged in. I've had at least 2 Supporters say they're seeing ads and/or the nag messages. One of them confirmed "yes, I seldom log in".
I did careful testing when I set up all of the above -- according to my best information right now, the nag messages only appear when you are NOT marked as a Supporter AND you have an Ad Blocker turned on. And of course, the ads only appear for non-Supporters as well.
I'm perfectly willing to fix any problems -- but as far as I know, there are no problems. Everything is working as designed, in all my testing.
-
Thank you to anyone who has sent a gift (in any form) in 2024.
I really do appreciate them all!