Please Support Car-Seat.Org: Advertising, Sponsorships and Subscriptions

**SafeDad** · 07-20-2007, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by chloespurple

The only question I have (and I assume the answer is yes

)is ...... will new and visiting people still be able to post and view questions in the Safety Topics Forums, without making donations? Since that is the whole reason for everyone being here.

There will be no changes at all for current members or visitors. Donations are completely optional.

**Car-Seat.Org** · 07-20-2007 08:45 AM

**chloespurple** · 07-20-2007, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by CPSDarren

There will be no changes at all for current members or visitors. Donations are completely optional.

Yes I understand that

My question is regarding Non-Registered users (visitors-needing help with choosing or installing a seat)being able to still access the Safety Topics without donating. I just want to make sure that, that is going to always be accessable to anyone, since it is such a valuable source of knowledge. Does that make sense

?

**SafeDad** · 07-20-2007, 09:18 AM

No changes for visitors or members, registered or unregistered.

**wondering1** · 07-20-2007, 10:35 AM

Is this set up as a non-profit for tax purposes? If not, that would be important. Start the paperwork now, it'll take time to go through the process but I believe it is effective retroactively as soon as you get approval. You can set up a PayPal account as a non-profit as well after you get the status.

I like the donation schedule.

**Admin** · 07-20-2007, 11:12 AM

An update was made to the text in various places. Mainly, I have decided not to accept subscriptions for 1 year terms initially. The terms and cost of the Benefactor subscription levels were cut in half. Subscriptions for 1 year or recurring payments may be accepted in the future once the system is established for a few months.

A third tier was also added. This will accompany a change in guidelines for forum advertising. Advertising for personal businesses, corporations or other for-profit entities will no longer be permitted in signatures, posts or profiles. The exception will be for those who subscribe at the sponsor level and they will have limited advertising permissions in their signatures, profiles and in a new sponsor forum. This change should make the policy on advertising much clearer and fairer for all members and will keep the products announcements and services in one forum that visitors may elect to read or not.

Specifically, Sponsors will be allowed to include a simple text link to their child safety or children's product related business in their signature. They may also include a link and logo in their profile. In addition, a new subforum for Sponsors will be created in the Strollers, Travel Systems and Gear section. Sponsors may post information about their products or businesses related to kids' gear or services. This might include soliciting orders, announcements of new products and other commercial information. Repeated spam and products outside the scope of these forums will not be allowed and all advertising will be reviewed by the Admins and Moderators. Since advertising will not be allowed in the other forums, in signature images or avatar images, this should not have an impact on users and members who are not interested in this information.

**AdventureMom** · 07-20-2007, 11:47 AM

Awesome. This is a great resource...! I'll be happy to help support it.

**wondering1** · 07-20-2007, 12:17 PM

I'm not concerned for my own purposes but for yours. I've seen the IRS take out ventures like this, years after they began, because of it being considered income for the owners.

**SafeDad** · 07-20-2007, 12:57 PM

My understanding is that gifts are generally not considered income if goods or services are not provided in return, particularly if they are under the $10,000 gift tax allowance. In addition, as the donations are coming to me and not a business, they would be included on personal income tax if necessary. Any resident CPAs or tax attorneys?

**southpawboston** · 07-20-2007, 01:54 PM

darren, it appears you have fallen victim to the server time-outs as well (double post).

i think your subscription schedule sounds *very* reasonable. it cost much more than that to maintain "senior" member status at the forum i used to moderate, and at the time it had a smaller user base.

**SafeDad** · 07-20-2007, 02:00 PM

Yeah despite all the changes, tweaks and upgrades, I've only noticed a minor improvement. I rarely get SQL generated error messages since the changes and net time that slowdowns occur may be less, but overall it doesn't seem much better. Once the system has been online for a while I'll be contacting the provider to see what they can do and am already looking into other options if they can't do anything.

**Admin** · 07-20-2007, 03:09 PM

An update was made to the text in various places. Mainly, I have decided not to accept subscriptions for 1 year terms initially. The terms and cost of the Benefactor subscription levels were cut in half. Supscriptions for 1 year or recurring payments may be accepted in the future once the system is established for a few months.

A third tier was also added. This will accompany a change in guidelines for forum advertising. Advertising for personal businesses, corporations or other for-profit entities will no longer be permitted in signatures, posts or profiles. The exception will be for those who subscribe at the sponsor level and they will have limited advertising permissions in their signatures, profiles and in a new sponsor forum. This change should make the policy on advertising much clearer and fairer for all members and will keep the products announcements and services in one forum that visitors may elect to read or not.

Specifically, Sponsors will be allowed to include a simple text link to their child safety or children's product related business in their signature. They may also include a link and logo in their profile. In addition, a new subforum for Sponsors will be created in the Strollers, Travel Systems and Gear section. Sponsors may post information about their products or businesses related to kids' gear or services. This might include soliciting orders, announcements of new products and other commercial information. Repeated spam and products outside the scope of these forums will not be allowed and all advertising will be reviewed by the Admins and Moderators. Posts in this new forum may be removed at our discretion if a Sponsor does not renew their subscription. Since advertising will not be allowed in the other forums, in signature images or avatar images, this should not have an impact on users and members who are not interested in this information.

**Simplysomething** · 07-20-2007, 05:25 PM

The only comment I have is...I can't wait 'till everything is figured out, because this is one forum I WANT to support.

**SafeDad** · 07-23-2007, 12:11 AM

The donation system is now online. Please bear with us if there are any technical glitches with the payment system. If you have any problems, please send a PM to Admin as soon as possible.

The new advertsing guidelines are also in effect. If you currently have links or other commercial content in your signatures, profiles, posts or elsewhere, please remove them or donate at the sponsor level.

Thank you for your support!

**Starlight** · 07-23-2007, 10:30 AM

Okay, I've supported (benefacted?) car-seat.org. Now, where's my blinkie. Somebody has to make blinkies. I don't know how.

**SafeDad** · 07-23-2007, 10:35 AM

Michelle (shellebelle) made mine when I hired her to make the website logos.

**Simplysomething** · 07-23-2007, 02:46 PM

OK, I have been linked to the place to donate!
But I'm going to have to wait until next week. GRRR!

**SafeDad** · 07-23-2007, 03:00 PM

For those who don't want to wade through all the details of the first post, you can use this Link to Paid Subscriptions to go directly to the donations area of your User CP.

**azgirl71** · 07-24-2007, 02:29 PM

I am happy to help. I can only do benefactor at this time, but will updrade to sponsor when I have the fund to do so.

Thanks for having this site

**SafeDad** · 07-24-2007, 02:39 PM

Sponsor is primarily for those with child related personal or corporate businesses. Other than allowing limited advertising as described in the main post, there's no other benefit for those donating at that level aside from the "Sponsor" title and a listing in the "Forum Leaders" page. That said, anyone may donate at that level if they choose to do so;-)

Thank you for your donation and to everyone who has donated so far! The quotes I am getting for quality webhosting are quite expensive so these donations will be a huge help!

**Starlight** · 07-24-2007, 02:44 PM

I had meant to ask... you had said that it was looking like 1k more for next year. At the benefactor level, you just need 27 of us - not too many - to meet that. I'm not certain what your original costs were, to make up your total, but on the off chance that there is a surplus of donations, what will happen with the excess?