I want my money back, PC...

[Her]

You know, those people with the sexy blue usernames?
Well, to be honest; I don't find them very appealing. I'd much rather have gotten the pink usernames, but I guess some guys are just too scared to be anything slightly feminine???

Well, I'm sure that a few of you gave your money for the perks of being blue and awesome, such as blogs, or a bigger avatar or larger PM storage.

I never actually donated for myself, lol. I got donated to Tier 3 by Charliezard in May (I think?) last year and I can't for the life of me remember who bumped me up to Tier 4. I guess I could say I'm a GOLDIGGER. But before I did get donated for, I was trying to do so anyway, though I remember clearly it was only for the perks. I think that still stays true today, I'd really only donate for the perks than for the good of the community. I'm selfish, judge me.

I want to ask this question to you guys, have you ever felt that you found the spending of that money a waste of time?

I'm sure that the people who donated for me wouldn't hesitate to take back their donations, for they'd probably say I was an embarrassment (lol). I can't say it was a waste of time, as I got everything for free. ^.^

Would you want you money back, and go back to being regular member?

I'd stay as a supporter, as I enjoy the perks (except the VIP Forum aka The Wastelands) that come with it. There's no point for me to step down as a supporter, as it would just be money gone to waste.

Discuss!
discussed

 

[Wings Don't Cry]

I only donated because I had some money one my pre-paid Visa, but it wasn't enough to actually buy anything on the internet so I just gave it to PC before it expired. I'll admit that having a blue name is pretty awesome but I like the purple that Rukario has more.

 

[Signomi]

Recently I discovered that I donated a total of $164 to PC, of course the currency I'm most accustomed with being the sterling, I'm sure you can reduce the numeric value considerably. Do I regret donating this amount? No, I absolutely do not, and I will very well tell you why.

It is because PC has made a great impact on me as a person and I wouldn't mind giving back to the community that has helped me shape who I am. I'll also admit, I am a sucker for perks, but at the same time I do this with the thought that I'm paying back the debt that I feel I owe to this community. That is my biggest reason for donating at all to the forum.

Another reason being that Steve struggles enough to try and keep PC afoot, what with the server experiencing its occasional hiccups and how much of a struggle it is to maintain it, not just that, the cost of hosting the server every month for the site is...quite much, it helps that people are donating more nowadays than in the past where there were only so few italicised names, because at that point I do get the feeling he struggled more with costs than he did now, so kudos to anybody who has at one point donated and in turn helped him out.

Recently I donated for another member, while she may not be named (and some of you already know who she is anyway) ...the reason I did do this for her was so she could be happy, she's a very close friend of mine and I know being able to bump her up the supporter tier ranks would enable her to make use of something she's been wanting to for the longest time. No, I don't regret doing this for another person, and no, I wasn't actually going to tell her that I donated for her, because it really isn't about the person who donated for them, it's what that person can do with their new found perks that really matters.

So all in all, I regret nothing. PC has been such a big influence to my life in general and I feel as though I've done enough to really support the community and its host, knowing I did something to help keep the place up and running does make me feel warm inside.

 

[Cherrim]

Well, I totally regret some of my last donation where a few admins pooled together a bit of money to go toward the license for vB4 and then we decided it was fugly and didn't want to switch to it. So that kind of went toward nothing . :P But overall, nah, I don't regret it. I've been here forever and I don't mind helping the place that's been an internet "home" for me stay afloat and all that.

I ADDED UP ALL THE AMOUNTS.

It's freaking ridiculous.. and PC still gets DB errors?

YOU WOULD'VE THOUGHT THAT $6628.80 WOULD'VE DONE AT LEAST -SOMETHING- WITH THE DB

>___> That's a LOT of money.. Like.. an insane amount.. and it's not even to a good cause.

I would never be a "supporter" and I would rather give my money to people who I know actually need it to live.
My grandmother had a stroke a while ago.. and it costs her $2200 roughly a year just for DIAPERS for my grandmother. But what are we going to do? Let her sit in her own excrement? I'm not saying give the money here or anything.. but there are people out there who find a lot more MEANING to all that money.

>_> It's ridiculous.

Let's bump that up to $7k. Divide that by 12 to find the amount per year and you get about $583. Divide that again by the number of years PC has accepted donations (I'm using 4 but I think we've accepted longer than that) and you get under $150 a month. Consider that the cheapest dedicated servers are at least $150 (the "low-end" ones) and the supporter income is not a ridiculous amount. It's under the mark. Last I knew, the server PC is on costs just under $400/month (plus any overage) for bandwidth. :/ Ads and income from all the sites on the server (I think Steve hosts a few of his things here too) barely cover the rest of the cost. For some reason people seem to think that if we ever upgrade our server it's a one-time cost so a shitload of donations in one month would have us set until the next time we need to upgrade but it's not--if we upgrade, we'd have to keep paying the higher monthly price and the extra $100 that we definitely don't have every month now would have to be paid out of Steve (or other admins') own pockets.

I'm not saying donating to PC is the ~absolute best way ever~ to spend money, and yes there are definitely morally better causes to donate or pool money toward. I'm not gonna argue that, but I am arguing how you imply we should have upgraded to a way better server by now. :( It's not just feasible and tbh, the one we're on now has worked fairly well for us over the last year, give or take a few days of ridiculously high traffic. (Well, that and the name change thing. D:)

 

[Spinor]

But... the advertisements. ;____;

That says it all for me, honestly. So if I donate to PC, I help it out, get perks... NO TOP ADVERTISEMENTS?! HECK YEAH SEAKING!

It's really not a waste of my money. In fact, I have to donate again, my money's piling up with nothing for me to spend it on at the moment >__> The problem is convincing my parents. It's always been that. "That money could go to the children in Africa!" Well, $20 is not going to buy a crumb of anything to the all children of Africa. It's my damn money and I'll spend it how I want.

 

[Blaque]

Before anyone questions why I can answer these question, let's just say this isn't my main account with the supporter status.

You know, those people with the sexy blue usernames? Do you mean the ones with the sexy, blue, italic usernames? I've seen them around. I actually like the blue color. While I sometimes see it too similar to the mod color, I think green would be the next best thing.
Well, I'm sure that a few of you gave your money for the perks of being blue and awesome, such as blogs, or a bigger avatar or larger PM storage. I'm not really sure why I donated, to be honest. I wouldn't doubt it had something to do with the perks and helping out the forums, but at the time it just seemed like a good idea.
Have you ever felt that you found the spending of that money a waste of time? Can't say I have really.
Would you want you money back, and go back to being regular member? Thinking about it, yeah I probably would. The badge and italic name is great, but there's not much difference between a supporter and a regular member after awhile, other than the perks. Plus, if you're into making profile designs with a variety of colors, then sometimes the blue name can clash with it (although, you can asked for it removed). XD;

 

[Mr. X]

YOU WOULD'VE THOUGHT THAT $6628.80 WOULD'VE DONE AT LEAST -SOMETHING- WITH THE DB

qft. Seems like the money is going somewere, just not the site.

Ever remember the Zango pokemon rpg thing that pc sponsored? Even when we informed the owners of pc that it was nothing more then spyware they refused to remove it citing monetary issues.

Seems like it more about the money then the members.

Truthfully the only real change i've noticed is the exorbant amounts of skins we have. 73 skins in total. You know what they say about a pile of crap? Yah, put nice clothes on it and it looks good. Thats pretty much why we have all those skins.

 

[Kura]

Well, I totally regret some of my last donation where a few admins pooled together a bit of money to go toward the license for vB4 and then we decided it was fugly and didn't want to switch to it. So that kind of went toward nothing . :P But overall, nah, I don't regret it. I've been here forever and I don't mind helping the place that's been an internet "home" for me stay afloat and all that.

Let's bump that up to $7k. Divide that by 12 to find the amount per year and you get about $583. Divide that again by the number of years PC has accepted donations (I'm using 4 but I think we've accepted longer than that) and you get under $150 a month. Consider that the cheapest dedicated servers are at least $150 (the "low-end" ones) and the supporter income is not a ridiculous amount. It's under the mark. Last I knew, the server PC is on costs just under $400/month (plus any overage) for bandwidth. :/ Ads and income from all the sites on the server (I think Steve hosts a few of his things here too) barely cover the rest of the cost. For some reason people seem to think that if we ever upgrade our server it's a one-time cost so a shitload of donations in one month would have us set until the next time we need to upgrade but it's not--if we upgrade, we'd have to keep paying the higher monthly price and the extra $100 that we definitely don't have every month now would have to be paid out of Steve (or other admins') own pockets.

I'm not saying donating to PC is the ~absolute best way ever~ to spend money, and yes there are definitely morally better causes to donate or pool money toward. I'm not gonna argue that, but I am arguing how you imply we should have upgraded to a way better server by now. :( It's not just feasible and tbh, the one we're on now has worked fairly well for us over the last year, give or take a few days of ridiculously high traffic. (Well, that and the name change thing. D:)

Fair enough.. but that's still a freaking ton of money. I guess I'm just extremely surprised.. Plus lot of people don't do it to "Help Steve out" but rather.. to get perks.. which really isn't donating IMO.. but actually.. "buying" status..

 

[Cherrim]

Fair enough.. but that's still a freaking ton of money. I guess I'm just extremely surprised.. Plus lot of people don't do it to "Help Steve out" but rather.. to get perks.. which really isn't donating IMO.. but actually.. "buying" status..

Well that's why there are perks at all, since we know most people have better things to spend their money on so we offer an incentive so that we can keep PC running. :/

 

[Skip Class]

I have a lot of spare money from my Job though my parents wont let me have a Paypal account. If I did though I would've have donated a bit to every forums I go to - And I go to A LOT of forums XD

 

[Charizard★]

I wouldn't really mind going back, I've been thinking of asking to change my italicized name back into the normal version :O

 

[Mattysaurus]

I just kinda did it because I hate a few extra dollars laying around. So, yeahh.

I'm not all that awesome. :]

 

[Aquacorde]

I donated because I had $10 and thought it would be better spent to help PC than spent on coffee/food/luxuries. I would rather my username be italicized green, but blue is okay too. And I'm liking the blog that came along with my colors~

I'm intending to donate more as soon as I get a job/obtain more money.

 

[gregory_turner420]

i donated to help out the community i spend atleast 4 hours a day involved in to help those that have made it such a great place continue to make it amazing.

i dont want a refund, and if i had more money, i'd spend it in a heartbeat. its a good investment to keep the community

 

[SinisterEternity]

I donated because I wanted to help PC >_o
About that 6628.28 $ thing...We can't really do much about greater matters, I mean, saving people from Africa...I wouldn't mind, but then again, how would you be sure the money you spent will be used to that aim ?
Our world is full of liars, unfortunately -not saying everyone is-.

Also :

It's my damn money and I'll spend it how I want.

^ got a point.

 

[mikey]

I donated because I felt like it, PC is a great place. And the italic blue user name was just a plus.

 

[Lucy Lu]

I donated because I wanted to help out a bit. Well I wanted to donate a long time ago way before they added the perks. I wanted to have the green italic username, not going to lie. But I was thinking that it will help out the forum. And since then I want to donate more, which I did. Except someone donated for me (a extra $5), which I am grateful for. ^^ I still am not done. I want to donate one more time. It will come.

I don't want to get a refund. I love this forum and I want it to strive for future members to come. :3

 

[Belinda]

I've never wanted a refund back then I may have donated for just a few perks that sparked interest but I do know now that I actually helped out a great forum keep alive, afterall PokéCommunity is far by the best forum I've come across in my lifetime. After my birthday I plan to donate $5-10 dollars more just to help out, every little bit helps. ;D