Donation Membership(Superfans Status) - DaBearz

Ski-Whiz · #1 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 02:25 PM

I know what you're thinking, and no, it doesn't mean you have to pay to post here. These options are for members who wish to contribute to the forums and aren't necessarily sure how much to donate, and/or for the folks who want some extra benefits to posting here.

We have come to a fork in the road with hosting costs, and to reward those who want to donate to keep this site up and running, we are going to offer some special features.

Those who donate will be upgraded to the SuperFans membership. That membership privledge upgrades your membership with the following:

The Right banner along the forum will be removed, allowing you to view the forums full width
50% Discount on the uShop items (This Store
200 PM inbox (regular users have 50)
Bigger Avatars (150x150 200k vice 80x80 40k)
Unrestricted Access in the Arcade (no posting requiement)
Pager option-A really cool option just like instant messaging
Unlimited Uploads in Member's Photo Album

Icon will be displayed on every one of your posts
$2 per month or $24 per year, select which length you wish to use(that's only $2 per month, people lose more than this in their couch)

This subscription is available for purchase in the UserCP. (or you can click here ). To reiterate, this does not mean users will have to pay to post here. This is merely for additional features/benefits or for those who wish to contribute. We may offer other levels of donations, but currently we are offering this one. We also are going with the yearly price, as a monthly re-occuring paypal bill is more of a pain for the majority of people. I hope you understand.

Currently the out of pocket expenses for myself have grown costly, and I ask everyone to please try and help out if you can.

We have a great site here, and we want to continue to offer features, but without help, we cannot grow.

What does this help cover?

With the donations, along with our advertising, we are able to have our own server, and also have enough to give back.

Not to make this a long read but for those who wonder what we give back, here's the winners list from our giveaway. All members had to do was buy a lottery ticket using the virtual Bearz Buckz that you earn on the site
http://www.dabearz.com/forums/vbplaz...movewinnerid=7

Here are the gifts (Bearschick needs to finishing listing the winners):
To Kill Everyones Curiosity...Lottery Gifts

Also, we gave a fathead of choice to the winner of the office pool pick'em contest (free).

We also held a Superfan only CBS Sportsline FF league. We paid to hold it, which gave everyone the ability to get live scoring etc. The winner of the FF league won a replicate jersey.

So we gave a lot back this year. It's amazing how much it costs even to give away items that were $10-$30 (the give aways). Postage to our house, then the winners. We didn't mind, as I think we appreciate the fans, and are happy to offer such a great place.

Thanks guys for helping to build the #1 Chicago Bears Fan Site!

Aenir · #2 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 03:13 PM

We could pay...... or we could go find the guy (not you) who is increasing prices so we could lower them again

still got the

you borrowed from the Army?

Will be doing this as soon as i get the money

Ski-Whiz · #3 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 03:21 PM

It's just a little something that people can do to help out.

It's by no means preventing anyone from posting, however with the popularity of the site, we are getting a LOT of people hitting here.

We could easily close down the site, and lock everything, so you have to be a registered member, but then people wouldn't browse and enjoy just reading the news etc.

With the multimedia section being added, along with the downloads, that is where the strain is being felt. In order to attract people we need to have those sections.

This is something that isn't going to be mandatory, but will help out the site, and we are offering things in return.

We tried to hold off on this, and I foot more money to keep the site up (including a move to a new server), but I just can't hold this place online for much longer. We are growning a such a fast rate (maybe not poster wise, but traffic wise), we need to ask for help.

I just hope everyone understands. It's easy to say go with this cheaper host. With the amount of load this site puts on a server, we would be shut down in a heartbeat. So a cheap ($14.95) host is out of the question. We are eating up 2gigs of space, and using over 45gigs of bandwidth. We got hit up for 5 gigs of bandwidth yesterday alone. So we have jumped in GREAT amounts recently.

I hope everyone understands, and can help out if they can. Only question, is who is going to be the first person, and help break the ice.

We appreciate it a lot!

Sweets · #4 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 10:31 AM

I have just donated $60.00 to the site through PayPal, hopefully this gets the ball rolling for you Ski. The old saying "What goes around comes around" and I hope my site will have some generous members as well.

Ski-Whiz · #5 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 12:47 PM

Thanks guys and gals!

We are going to be able to grow!

When you get upgraded (if you make a verified payment), in order to get your email account setup, go to your USERCP, and on the left side, you will see a "get email"..

It's that easy. If ANYONE has any problems with getting their email setup, please let me know.

This process is 100% scripted, so it should all work and upgrade you automatically.

Thanks again for the support!!

**crazydave** · #6 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 01:37 PM

just paid mind Thur paypal

Ski-Whiz · #7 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 02:03 PM

Thanks Crazydave!

**crazydave** · #8 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ski-Whiz

Thanks Crazydave!

just helpen out

**sph34** · #9 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 03:01 PM

I don't know of any other way to help out on here except to help defray some of the cost. My payment is in.

Ski-Whiz · #10 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 03:07 PM

Thanks sph34!!

I see the transactions are going through. If you see the Superfan icon under your name, the transaction was recieved.

Just to remind everyone, if you wish to get/use your dabearz.com email account, go into your USERCP, and you will see a "get email" linkon the left side. It will walk you through setting up the email account.

On the homepage here, you will see the login window (on the left side), where you can log into the account and use the email side of DaBearz!

Thanks again! We are growing, and it may not be noticeable, but if you check Alexa.com traffic statistics, we are ranked at 78,000. The official site is ranked 22,000. So we are getting a load of traffic through here. I have upgraded the hosting plan a few times, and I can't afford to upgrade it myself anymore.

Any extra money collected, will be given away in merchandice, if that is the case.

**tomes5** · #11 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 04:12 PM

:wearedabe I love this site so I'll do anything to help keep it going.

P.S. packers suck

Ski-Whiz · #12 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomes5

:wearedabe I love this site so I'll do anything to help keep it going.

P.S. packers suck

Thanks! Trust me, I've tried to keep this place afloat myself. I can do this all myself, but I'd have to lock down everything. Doing that would not allow this site to be indexed by google, yahoo etc.. We want everyone to be able to find this place.

We appreciate the help!

flea · #13 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 06:11 PM

Ski empty your p.m box I can't send ya one.

Ski-Whiz · #14 (**permalink**) 12-29-2005, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flea

Ski empty your p.m box I can't send ya one.

Yeah sorry about that.

skiman · #15 (**permalink**) 12-30-2005, 07:24 PM

I'll try and do my part as well bro. Even though I'm not a fan of the Chicago Bears. its best to keep the best place going on the net for the Bears fans