Today's update has been a long time coming.
You can now donate to Hubski. You'll find the link in the bottom right.
We are using Stripe as our payment provider. Your credit card information does not touch our servers, so you needn't worry about us handling it securely.
You can see the total amount of your donations in the stats section of your profile. Only you can see this information.
We will be updating the look of the donations shortly. Thanks to rob05c to getting us over this finish line.
As always, feedback cash money is much appreciated.
Thanks so much. I've been begging for this for a long time. It feels very good to be able to give back. Thanks for floating us for so long mk with your cash and all of you others with your dev time and energy. Really - thanks so much. Now - everybody get out your cards and drop a buck on this.
Finally. I still do want to know what the cumulative server costs have been since the beginning, and how close as a community we might come to them. I know you don't want it to turn into a numbers game, a competition, a "need" or anything, but I'm very curious.
My personal opinion? I'd keep all of that info under your hat. How much you pull in, server costs, all of it. There is always a noticeable change in the atmosphere when the specter of money is present. It's absolutely amazing that a ton of users want to help out, carry their own weight and then some financially. If you make numbers public, then an act of community and altruism suddenly starts to feel like a burden. In all honesty, the more that I think about it, the more I think the donation link should be at the bottom of the page, among the tutorial, tmi, and other links. It's less prominent, less conspicuous, and a whole lot more humble. I'm sure others will disagree with me, but those are just my thoughts on the matter.
I felt the same way about the link placement, and did just that. We may make how much we get in donations public, however, by year and by month in aggregate. You'll have to go to the donate page to see it though. I doubt we will post our costs, but I think there is something healthy about being honest about what we are getting. If you are considering donating, it might be worth knowing.
If you are considering donating, it might be worth knowing. Very fair points and a good balance between being open and honest while at the same time being discreet.We may make how much we get in donations public, however, by year and by month in aggregate. You'll have to go to the donate page to see it though. I doubt we will post our costs, but I think there is something healthy about being honest about what we are getting.
EDIT: I'm done for the day. Perhaps more hubski radio another day... In honor of this - and in the spirit of the NPR pledge drive currently happening in my home town - I will be broadcasting LIVE audio for the next 45 minutes or so. Come in, enjoy some tunes and be inspired to throw some coin at the donation page. This is like NPR - but instead - you can message me with requests and I won't actually talk unless I get feeling squirrelly.
Nice Obla di, indeed! Edit: I now see you're just playing the White album -very cool. It was one of Theo rat CDs I owned. Used to play it all the friggin time. Some gems in there. Have to sign off. Making dinner.
I noticed that Stripe is Hubski's payment provider. Do you think people would be more willing to use the payment form if it used Stripe's embedded checkout form, rather than it's current custom form? It's primarily a phycological affair but when I look at the current barebones payment form it definitely evokes a slightly awkward feeling that might put some people off.
Yeah, we might change it to that. I didn't go with it, as per my comment below, because it doesn't support an 'amount.' But I'd already wondered about that, before you said anything. Technically, it's all on your web browser, and your computer. Any programmer can look at the source and see it's never sent to our servers. But I think most people think of websites as not being on their computer, so yeah, I can see it making non-technical people more comfortable.
That's a good point. There were some limitations in their embedded form that made it necessary to use our own. I believe it had to do with automatically linking the donation to a user account (so you can see what you have donated). But there may have been others. rob05c Perhaps we can put 'powered by Stripe' or something under it.
UPDATE I've moved the donation link to the bottom of the page. It is possible that it will mean less money for Hubski overall, but upon reflection, seeing it up top is confusing. Donations are not going to make Hubski a sustainable business. Your ability to donate doesn't map to your ability to contribute to what we do here. If you donate, we appreciate it. If you can donate a significant amount, we do really appreciate that. But if you can donate only very little, or cannot donate at all, it doesn't result in any consideration on our part. After all, it is a donation.
Hey, nothing wrong with wearing a cardigan. They get my thumbs up