What's special about being a PC supporter ?

[Renpuu]

These are just very general questions from someone who enjoys being on Pokecommunity but is not classed as a "Supporter".
I don't know much about being a Pokecommunity supporter, but those who are a supporter or not, I'd like the following questions to be answered.

Official questions:
If you have not donated, why not ?
If you have donated, why did you do so ?
Where do you feel your money goes ?
Why is there a tier system ?

I'll kick this topic off by asking my own questions.

Now I'm not trying to be-little Pokecommunity supporters, in the end it was your decision to donate any sum of money to the Pokecommunity forum, just as the same as it is another forum member's choice to not donate any money to the forum.
If I donated money to the forum..how would the forum benefit ?
I don't see any signs saying "Pokecommunity is going bankrupt, we need financial support for servers to be hosted" or "Pokecommunity is raising money for 'this charity' any donations are grateful etc."
I've chosen to not donate any money, because I don't feel that the forum NEEDs my money.

IF I did donate money to the forum, I would like it go towards the general maintenance of the forum and ensure that the server is up at all times.

What I don't understand however is why there is a tier system in the supporters. I mean surely if I gave £100 of my hard money through a donation, that would make me a better supporter than someone who has continually supported the growth and development of the forum itself with smaller donations ?
In that example, £100 may be nothing to me and I could be a very wealthy person, but the person who has worked really hard doing scripting,admin/mod work and been consistent with putting high quality work/effort to the forum should not be given equal recognition ?

Personally I don't feel there SHOULD be a tier system with supporters. Everyone puts in their 2 cents, works hard and makes the forum a happy and welcoming place to be.
Why should we belittle donations that are small when somebody worked hard to give the forum that money ?

 

[machomuu]

I'm considering donating 25 bucks. Would a US only gift card (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) work for donation?

 

[Hikamaru]

I didn't donate cos my mother is strict and won't let me do those sorts of things.

I got my Supporter title as a gift for my birthday when Toujours won it as a competition prize during PCX and after she found out my birthday was after the event finished she gave her Supporter prize to me. I ended up being a Tier 4 for 3 weeks and then a gift donation from PEDRO12 took me to Tier 5.

For where the donations go I think it's to help maintain the site, deal with vBulletin license costs, upgrades and more.

The tier system is probably to give better rewards to those who donate more.

 

[Honest]

I donated 10 bucks via snail mail. Got my blue username in about three days. As for why I did it, I guess it's cause I felt like it's the least I could do to repay the site. Back when I joined, this site really meant a lot to me, and still does. I guess it got me to realize myself as a person. Also, I had 10 bucks to spare, so yeah.

And the money goes to maintaining the forum, specifically server stuff (I hope). Doubt Rukario uses the money to go get so liquor =P

As for the tier system, I think that's a fun add on, while at the same time it categorizes people who've donated how much. Donating 100 bucks is different from donating 5 bucks, and the tier system is a nice way to sort that out.

 

[droomph]

$2 a month, baby. I have the income and spending ability of a poor person on meth so I can't really "donate" $100 at a time. But I'll drag it out the long way and that way Steve can buy his crack hits once a year. /sarcasm

I dunno if my donation helps (If you only have $2 it's pretty much useless for anything) but I just like to fantasize at night that the server is flawless because he needed two more dollars that month to pay the tax on the electricity and the rent or something.

Oh also, like yeah who wouldn't want the benefits. It's just like donating to KQED. Lovely, you got yourself some radio programs, but YOU ALSO WANT THAT PHOTO-ZINE WHATEVER IT IS

 

[Livewire]

Putting this here because it's about questions about a specific feature of PC, namely being a supporter. Wider audience for the questions as well. :)

 

[Spherical Ice]

I definitely donated because I wanted the perks. But I do spend most my time here, so it's a win-win really.

(im ashamed at you guys' dishonesty. you donated for the perks)

 

[Meganium]

At first, when I was a new member here, I donated to the site because at most I wanted the perks. I kinda, sorta aimed for the blog and nothing else. Second time I donated on this account, I mainly wanted to support it...didn't care for the perks.

Why did I donate? Because I love PC. I am attached to it. So, I feel it definitely deserves donations, because it's pretty much the best site to go to. I've pretty much put forth about $50 towards PC, combining both my old account and this account. And to be honest, I'm quite proud. I'm pretty sure everyone who has donated here felt proud of themselves for donating to PC, right?

It's not an obligation, but many of us do it because we care about PC.

@macho - If it's a prepaid debit card, Paypal *should* accept it.

 

[Hikamaru]

At first, when I was a new member here, I donated to the site because at most I wanted the perks. I kinda, sorta aimed for the blog and nothing else.

This was me when I first joined, I wanted supportership so I could have the blog and the fancy profile.

And look where I am now haha! Supporter changed me a lot and made me care more about PC.

 

[Renpuu]

So what is exactly the difference between tier 1-6 in terms of features ?
Wouldn't it be more fair if you just donated a set amount, that you gained access to ALL the features and abolished this "tier system" ?

 

[halcyonic]

tbh, i donated for the tier 5 perk which sounds awesome right?

imo, if u set a fixed amount, it would be boring and people would be like......
duhh i just donate and boom all sorts of features yippee

tiers make it more interesting

 

[Hikamaru]

So what is exactly the difference between tier 1-6 in terms of features ?
Wouldn't it be more fair if you just donated a set amount, that you gained access to ALL the features and abolished this "tier system" ?

Tier 1 - Access to Styles Testing
Tier 2 - Access to blogs
Tier 3 - Access to VIP Forum, 150 x 150 avatars
Tier 4 - Extra PM space, up to 1,000
Tier 5 - PokeCommunity email, can be made by PMing Rukario

Not sure about the Tier 6 perks though. Profile pic size also increases with higher tiers.

 

[Kura]

I see the different tiers as little incentives to persuade people to donate more :3 They are like little treats for saying thanks.

 

[Nick]

I donated because I wanted my name to stand out and I wanted a PC email address. Supporting PC wasn't on my mind. I donated for the perks. I used that as an excuse to donate, though. I told my grandfather the site was closing and needed money to continue to function and that I wanted to help. Since I guess he figured I spent a lot of time here, he did it for me. I think I was only here for about four months before I donated. Then I got promoted to moderator. Had I known that I would have gotten promoted and have gotten those perks anyway, I wouldn't have donated. I also donated on behalf of BeachBoy, Forever, and Toshiro.

 

[Firox]

I donated since I love this community and would love to see for a long time. I haven't donated for a while. Medication and doctor visits prevent me from donating often (run out of funds too quickly) I may donate again in March or April

 

[Lunar Crescent]

I'd donate if i can, since Paypal isn't accepted for Macedonia i guess i will wait till i can donate via Mobile, if that happens!
I think people donate to benefit the site, and make the site stay alive even though im sure it will stay alive!

 

[mikey]

I donated a long time ago, in like 2009 when I first joined, because I wanted an italic blue name haha. But, I didn't have the ability donate a lot, I was tier 1 which was like only $5. And I did that by actually sending $5 to Rukario is the mail, not online haha. So actually donating to help the community wasn't really on my mind since it was such a small amount.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Well I donated just because I had a little extra cash and figured, "Why not?". Heh. I do sometimes use the blog though.

The nice thing is that it never expires. You don't need to subscribe to keep the perks, so that's cool. I might donate again sometime soon.

 

[Renpuu]

Cirno just quoted me in order to be a tier 6 supporter you need to donate over 100 US dollars ? is this true ?

I mean why can't you just make a set price of like 10-20 USD and allow people to benefit from all these features or a monthly 1-3 USD subscription ?
I mean for the benefits of being a tier 2 supporter, you can just make a free blogs website and just link people to it O_o ?
Bigger avatars and access for being a tier 3 supporter ? What topics are even in a V.I.P section O_O ?

PM space and emails ? Big whoop ? I can't see how that can warrant more moneys when you can create a free email address straight away from google,yahoo,msn etc. ?

Abolishing tiers will stop this stupid "dick measuring" of who can give the most money,have the highest tier name and allow people of all budgets to afford and appreciate the features which come to being a PC supporter.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Well a lot of people just donate because they like the site. I mean that's the reason I did. I wouldn't personally spend 100$ on it but I still don't mind pitching in. It isn't just about the perks...

I prefer not having a subscription because then I don't have to deal with all that crap with handling the subscription; plus I don't come here enough to really warrant a subscription (but I did donate because I like the site). I mean, I personally really appreciate the way it is and really am glad it ISN'T a subscription, since that'd be so much easier on Rukario's part.