David Andrews Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 (edited) I don't understand the services and pricing issues, so the answer to my question is probably No. But if all other Education Forum sections - many unused since 2019 or earlier - were jettisoned, and the forum run as the JFKA section plus a few other "conspiracy" sections, would costs go down? Edited January 6, 2022 by David Andrews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 38 minutes ago, David Andrews said: I don't understand the services and pricing issues, so the answer to my question is probably No. But if all other Education Forum sections - many unused since 2019 or earlier - were jettisoned, and the forum run as the JFKA section plus a few other "conspiracy" sections, would costs go down? David, I'm no expert on this. But I think the JFK Assassination Debate was some years back, while still associated with/part of the Education Forum was in part disassociated from it. Thankfully the founder, Mr. Simkin still contributes here occasioanlly. Maybe he can give us all guidance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Ness Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 I'd prefer keeping everything as it is and letting the spirit of the thing continue. In the future the other boards may spring back to life and I think this is a good playground for all. I can throw some money in too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James R Gordon Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 1 A History Lesson. The present Education Forum was the creation of John Simpkin - his vision was far wider than just the JFK forum. In the spring of 2014 John announced he was leaving the forum and asked for soneone(ones) to take over- which also meant taking over the Invision payment. A group of us - under the lead of Barb Junkkarinen - discussed how to take over the forum but the discussion ended up focused on the detail of the rules - while John Simpkin’s mandate was running out and was just days from being lost. Therefore Kathy Becket, Mark Knight, David Butler and I broke away from this main group and took over John’s mandate. Once we took over we were committed to the Invision payment mandate. It is required when taking over the mandate that there is a named person who is liable to Invision for ensuring payment is made. I became that person. 2. The Scope of John Simkin’s dream. The extent of the present site has always been an issue, but the present admin team have always felt that we should not break up the site. As Bob Ness pointed out in time these other boards might come back to life. Indeed I believe there is still traffic on some of the other boards. 3 The “Nitty Gritty” When John decided to leave the site he gave a three month period of grace - hence why I have also done the same. There is an old cliche that a puppy is not for Christmas. That is the problem here. Until I close the account with Invision, each and every month they take their payment. I note that some kind members have suggested they will donate. Not to belittle these members kindness, there needs to be a means to guarantee sufficient funds for payment each and every month - let alone years - and we are nowhere near there. I applaud the spirit to see whether there is a means to fund the forum. The present admin team succeeded because I became the named individual. A perpetual fund raising method is much more difficult. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 OK, I suggest an annual fundraising drive. The target this year is $700. I will kick in 10%. By Paypal to wherever indicated. A side feature of this is maybe members will actually be polite to each other as they know a contributor may disagree with them on some issues, but is a contributor. And we need contributors! Yes, we will have to repeat this process in a year, but that is not so bad, if it encourages positive community feelings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James R Gordon Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 O.k Benjamin in theory this might work and in I would be happy to remain as the one to be debited monthly by Invision. Goal 1 can the forum raise $600 to continue payments from April 2022 to April 2023? If that is possible then we may have a goer. We will leave April 2023 - 2024 till later. Can we get through to April 2023 that is the question??? We already have a donation system which appears to still be up and running. You will find it in the pinned section. I cannot test it since I hold the PayPal account. Can you test it with a $5 donation and get back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrej Stancak Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 I am sure we can keep the Forum alive with our donations without the funding of the website being a recurrent issue for James. If James would be so kind to keep the standing order linked with his account, we would just need to know early January of every new year what is the target amount allowing us to run the website comfortably for the next 15 months. If James could then let us know by January 31 (or when the target amount has been accumulated if it would be before January 31) whether the target has been reached, we would be able to put this issue to rest until next January. We should be able to start this system this year once the Paypal route to James's account has been established because the target amount is already known ($600). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James R Gordon Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 Andrej, I agree to maintain the banking link with Invision. What about the end of March being the Education Forum end of year. So for a 15 month year - if that is what you want - the new year would begin in April 2022 and would end in June 2023 If you are looking at a 15 month period then the sum is £810: 15 times £54. Invision charge me in $ and it is $70 per month which equals $1050. $1050 is the same as £ 810. I agree to let the forum know when the target sum has been reached and - if helpful - I can give you a monthly state of the account. As regards the PayPal account I believe it still works. If someone donate $1 I can check whether still reaches the account and report back. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ty Carpenter Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 (edited) 18 minutes ago, James R Gordon said: Andrej, I agree to maintain the banking link with Invision. What about the end of March being the Education Forum end of year. So for a 15 month year - if that is what you want - the new year would begin in April 2022 and would end in June 2023 If you are looking at a 15 month period then the sum is £810: 15 times £54. Invision charge me in $ and it is $70 per month which equals $1050. $1050 is the same as £ 810. I agree to let the forum know when the target sum has been reached and - if helpful - I can give you a monthly state of the account. As regards the PayPal account I believe it still works. If someone donate $1 I can check whether still reaches the account and report back. James James, I just sent in a $5 test donation. Please confirm with a reply to this message that you have received it. Edit: I have received a verification email from the Ed Forum that my payment has been received. Please confirm things are working on your end as well. Edited January 6, 2022 by Ty Carpenter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James R Gordon Posted January 6, 2022 Author Share Posted January 6, 2022 Ty, It has been received. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ty Carpenter Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 Awesome. More headed your way now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrej Stancak Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 James: I thought of extending the available amount of money beyond a 12-month period to reduce any worries if donations would be picking up slow in the next years - there would be a three month cushion allowing for more time to take actions. If we decide for a bit higher threshold than $600, we would need to assemble more money than $600 only this year, thereafter only $600 because anything beyond $600 would not be spent. It is only a suggestion, the primary target should be $600 anyway. My donation to the Forum has just failed, however, this was more due to a failed two-stage verification process by PayPal - they seem to have a wrong phone number. I will sort it out next week after returning to the UK. Thanks for your continuing care allowing this outstanding Forum to exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Gallaway Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 James, please tell me if you've received my payment. As I recall , before we took care of this rather handily with a donation drive. Right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Butler Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 40 minutes ago, Ty Carpenter said: James, I just sent in a $5 test donation. Please confirm with a reply to this message that you have received it. Edit: I have received a verification email from the Ed Forum that my payment has been received. Please confirm things are working on your end as well. I must be missing something. I don't have a clue how to donate. I have before with no problems. When I check on the link I end up in James photos. Help, if you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Thorne Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 Someone please post a direct PayPal link or address that we can send money to. It will make it easier to keep it topped up through the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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