Here's a donation strategy to consider. Figure out what section of myArmoury you have found most useful. Then give a token gift per item in that section. Some examples:

Many people enjoy myArmoury's Reviews and have used them to guide their own purchases and grow their personal knowledgebase. Consider giving 10 cents ($.10 USD) as thanks for each review that's been published. At 231 reviews, that's $23.10.

Or maybe you find myArmoury's Feature articles have been of benefit to you. We have 149 of those. A gift of $15 works out to about 10 cents per article.

Maybe our Collection Galleries hold value for you as mini-reviews, sources of statistics, examples of collection philosophies, etc. We have 255 collection gallery pages. $25.50 (10 cents per page) shows your appreciation for those.

Or consider the Photo Albums. They contain over 12,000 pictures of historical pieces, modern replicas, etc. .2 cents ($.002 USD) per picture is $24.

Maybe the Bookstore has been of benefit to you. There are over 1,000 book reviews. 2 cents per review is $20.

Maybe you're a forum person. The forum has been up for 2598 days. A penny a day is $25.98. There are over 18,000 topics. An $18 gift can show your appreciation for those.

Etc., etc.

These small amounts per item are far less than what it actually costs to produce and maintain these items in terms of time and other costs, of course. But these token amounts multiplied by the number of items show you appreciate the time and effort that went into them as well as know how much they've benefitted you personally.

Food for thought. :)

Chad a very interesting post and one way for people to reflect on why or what they get from the site and consider if they should give a little back if they are in a financial position to do so.

Sort of scaled back on Bumping the Topic in the last few days since it can get boring and people sort of stop looking what is new on the Topic since it's mostly just repeating themes form previous posts: I do appreciate Chad's effort at coming out with a creative new way to try to encourage donations.

We are very close to the objective but not quite there yet at $2425 and there are only a few days left to donate: it would be nice to reach the objective. ;)

Remember that any amount left un-donated below the objective is money coming out of Nathan's pocket and already spent to keep the site operational.

The money raised so far is not too badly below the objective but it is still short of the objective which is equal to the yearly hosting costs for the site: Like I said I am repeating information all of you who have read the entire Topic thread from the beginning already know, but just in case for people who are just reading the last few posts and haven't read the first posts I am repeating this information.

Here's why targets matter ... I've just been away for a few weeks, and missed out on all this fun. I just went to make a basic donation of $10, and at the last moment saw that the donations were at $2620 out of $2640, so changed my mind and upgraded my membership instead, to take us over the line ... not stopping to think that of course, memberships would not be counted in the donations tally ... so quick! Someone else donate $20 and bask in all the warm glow that's still available! :D

But, to answer Jean's question: after 13 years in the Eastern arts, I got interested in the WMA a couple of years back. myArmoury has not only taught me a lot, but introduced me to some great folks - and saved me from making some tragic purchases to boot (as I'm sure it has many others here).

It's also been a great place for picking up some truly amazing pieces of arms and armour secondhand. A while back, one member here had a custom helm up for sale by a top maker for a very reasonable price. Now, having hung around MyA for long enough, I knew that helms really need to made to size, and are not one-size-fits all affairs ... however, I emailed the seller with fingers crossed, and it turned out that on each of the highly-specific head measurements he sent this maker, we were the same size! So, I was able to purchase a wonderful custom helm at a fraction of the price of having it made for me directly - even though it fits as if it were. It's not a particularly profound story, perhaps, but is a great example of how MyA brings people together from around the world: the seller was on one continent, ordered the helm from a maker in another continent, and it now resides in yet another continent. There's no way this little international 'coincidence' could have happened without MyA.

One other quick story: some folks here have mentioned links to family history. Someone initially suggested I explore the historical German martial arts as that is my family's heritage. This led me to look more into my family's background, and what do you know? The first known ancestor is listed on a family tree as being a mercenary soldier. Nice to have such direct links to history ...

Last day and probably the last " BUMP ". ;) :lol:

We made the objective and a bit more, so thanks everyone. :) :cool: