I went ahead and opened up donations.

I don't know how much we'll collect with the board down. But it looks like it's time to stop dicking around, you know?

Thanks, you guys. You rock.

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2002

Answers

Looking forward to the end result. A small price to pay for this community that helps me maintain my sanity.

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2002

I thought I'd mention here that (unless things are very different here compared to 3WA) Paypal only deducts a small fee, while Amazon takes a 15% commission from any money you send. So if you want more of your donation to end up in Beth's sticky little hands (all that ice cream and cookies everyone's been sending her), PayPal is preferable. Well, PayPal plus ice cream and cookies.

Also, I just now discovered they also work internationally. Once upon a time they didn't, so this was good news to me.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Good point, Plin, and I did mean to mention that.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I am currently in less-than-pants, and thus my wallet is alll the way across the room. However, later in the day I'll hop on the bandwagon. Thanks for setting things up!

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I intended to give this morning, but I am a dumbass and have forgotten my paypal password (and apparently the answers to my secrect questions as well) so I'll have to wait until this evening when I can get to my password hiding place. I agree, 'tis a small price to pay for such high quality entertainment, amusement, thought provoking banter, etc...

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Wow! $873.85 as of 7:30 this morning. This is actually going to happen, I think. Thank you so much, you guys.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Of course it's going to happen-- we'll keep sending you money until you yell at us to shut up.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Seriously. I'm all ready to pull out my wallet again when my next payday rolls around, if you don't have enough collected yet. Though if we keep going at this rate that seems unlikely. Anyway, just keep us updated.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I'm afraid I haven't donated yet. But tomorrow is payday, & I'll rectify the situation then.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Without trying to sound corny, we should be thanking you. You're under no obligation, no matter how you feel about it, to continue providing us with such an excellent source of entertainment, info, etc. and yet you do. That's the real thing to be thankful for.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

My payday is tomorrow, so I'll be donating then as well. No thanks are necessary, Beth. The entertainment I get from being a part of this community is worth every penny that I can give.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

That was so much fun! Y'all have got to try it!

Beth, don't be silly. I wish I had more to give.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Do you think this is the right time for me to mention that the thank you message on Amazon says that Stacey has something she'd like to show you, as a special thank you for your generosity?

Hee. Stacey, we really do appreciate that you and your tits are willing to give so much for your community.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Man. I'm never going to live this whole tit thing down, am I? Sigh.

Maybe I should put y'all in touch with The Electric Rodent. He may still be in possession of pictures of my tits. I did request that he delete the pictures, but somehow I wouldn't be surprised to hear that he hadn't.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Okay, now I feel dumb because I went to Amazon after getting all cranky at having to pay a member number fee at Paypal. I'm sorry that you aren't getting the entire amount I donated Beth. Arghargh.

Also, I must be in a work-induced haze, because I totally missed the thank you that mentioned Stacey's tits, which sucks.

Yay, though, for everyone pitching in.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Don't sweat it, Joy. They both take a fee. It's all appreciated.

But I had no idea Paypal was charging people to pay these days. I thought they took it all out on our end. That sucks.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Oh, and Stacey, I just googled your tits, and I didn't find anything by an Electric Rodent.

Googling "Stacey's tits" does reveal some pretty funny stuff, though. Like an adult text-based game where you try to screw Stacey the head sorority girl, or the review of a DVD that claims that Stacey's tits look like shit (I'm sure that was just jealousy), or the half-topless blonde Stacey who actually does look a little like our Stacey.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Hee! Well, I have had topless pictures taken and I have been a blonde, but never at the same time. So that's not me unless someone did some fancy photoshopping magic.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Wait, I didn't have to pay anything to pay! (what an odd sentence that is) At least, there was no mention of a charge. Could it be because it was my very first time? (Heh, I'm like a virgin.) It did tell me that I have to do some number request thingy if I want to use PayPal in the future, but this time they just asked me for all my private bits. Er, information.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

You should not be charged anything to sign up at PayPal, unless you mistakenly clicked on a link for a merchant account or something like that.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I don't think I clicked a merchant link, but I hadn't set up an account with them before and it didn't seem to give me a way to click to pay without paying the 1.95 in order to get a member number. Maybe there was a way around it that I didn't see.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I didn't have a PayPal account until this exercise, and in every way that I can see it, I didn't get charged anything to use PayPal. And it's a surprisingly verbose little rascal - I've had six or seven emails already, and I've gone out to the "check your account" whatsis and all sorts. I see only the donation I actually made to TUS - nothing else. So I'm not sure what is going on, but I don't think, from my (brief and limited) experience, that it's charging the person doing the donating under all circumstances.

Now if Viv would like to come here and explain to my husband why I've sent money to something he's sure is a figment of my imagination, that'd work. I think she offered to dream about him, as I recall ...

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

You know what? I might have paid twice. I think there was a signup thing after I clicked to get the payment to go through, and I promptly forgot that I'd clicked to pay already, and went off to Amazon. It makes sense that at that point they might ask if you wanted to pay a small fee to have a member number or something like that.

Uhhhh. Where is that dumb thing you do thread?

Beth, I don't suppose you could look to see if my name shows up through paypal, and then I could cancel the Amazon payment? If not, I'm not going to go broke, I'm just irritated with myself.

See what happens when I work really hard and stuff? No brain cells left for doing the simple things.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I got told there was $1.95 charge to use PayPal as well - and it was my first time using it.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Unless you have a secret PayPal identity, Joy, it looks like you're okay.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Cool, and yay, I am not insane or as much of an idiot as I feared.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

My first paypal experience. So exciting.

I gave all I could for now, as I am poor white trash for the rest of the month, so if you still need money on September 1 just let me know, and I will pony up.

Really, Beth, you rock the house. Thank you for everthing you do to keep me from being productive all day.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I just happened to have some money in my PayPal account (sold some of my crap on eBay). So it's been sent on its way to get us our very own Suspects server. Thanks, Beth, for getting this underway.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Is anyone else having trouble logging into PayPal? I can reach the homepage but that's all. I'll try again from home. I've got some money just burning a hole in my PayPal account.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I just got freaked out! I was looking at the donations info again and there in the middle of the page was an ad from Amazon that said, "hi cathy@myworkaddress - help us by a server". I couldn't figure out how you all knew my work address but then I read the Amazon info and it says it does that all itself from my info that they have - that the owner of the page never sees this ad. It was really weird.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I know I lurk mostly lately (nice english huh?) - but I want to pitch in. Im unfamiliar with PayPal and being the internet-payment-novice - could someone let me know, if it's as safe as Amazon? And either way - is PayPal/Amazon safe on a pc running all kinds of chat programs - or should I wait till I get to work tomorrow?

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I was going to write here and say that I didn't have to pay a fee to Paypal, but looking at my online banking statement, there's a $1 visa transaction to Paypal, in a line just below the actual donation transaction. I didn't see any notice of that in any of the screens I went through at Paypal. Very annoying.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Oh, That $1 transaction will probably not be taken out of my account. The bank told be that Paypal only did that transaction to test if the credit card # is real. So, no fee.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I'm dying. I can't wait to see how much you've gotten so far. I'm such a nosy cocksucker.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

The last time I added it up was earlier this afternoon, and it was $1,799.99. That doesn't count any money sent to Jeremy, but it also doesn't account for the fees PayPal will charge. We've gotten a couple hundred more since then, too, I think, although I haven't added it up.

It's more than I originally said we needed. We're kind of gunshy now, though, and Jeremy's server wishlist went up a bit, and so I'm going to leave donations open for at least the rest of the week. The more we have to spend, the better a server and maintenance plan we can get, and that's good for everyone. Basically, though, we've done it. You did it. We can afford a server.

We've found a couple of collocation places we like and can afford, but none in Sacramento, which was our first choice. No one here returns calls or e-mail, which is a bad sign. Right now our first choice is a place in L.A., but we'd prefer the Bay Area, so we're still finalizing that. Jeremy has a hierarchy of servers chosen depending on what we can afford.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Don't you dare close donations before I get a chance to contribute. I couldn't handle the guilt if I didn't donate something.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

By the way, I assume we can all agree that the new server should be named Belinda, yes?

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Only if Cocksucker isn't an option.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

This is indeed good news. I am surprised how much the board is helping me through this difficult time in my life. Just reading the threads is a comfort. Don't forget, after the server comes the steam train. I have already found 2 heavyweight cars ( Pullmans from the 20s and a caboose for sale,) so we can have a whole train for the commune.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Anyone who doesn't get a chance to donate before we buy the server can always go buy Jeremy a Sonic Youth CD or something from his wishlist. For the past for days he has not only stayed up late every night working on the forum, he has also had to deal with crying jags from me, a frustrating lack of response from collocation places, and the world's most irritating and unresponsive tech support dude. And he doesn't even use the board.

I owe him, like, a million blowjobs. And I'm guessing you guys don't want me to spend any of the donation money on hookers, huh?

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

So you'll show us his, but you won't show us yours? Hussy.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

(I mean your wishlist, of course!)

(Man, I miss being able to edit.)

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Heh. Normally I am perfectly happy to share my wishlist, but in this case I'm feeling all guilty because he's doing all the work. Plus, he would actually kill me if he thought I was encouraging anyone to buy him (much less me) CDs instead of ... um, server stuff. Something about "redundancy" and crap like that.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

What if we're not buying him CDs, but only sending him our own old Sonic Youth CDs that we never listen to anymore and have been thinking about getting rid of anyway? Seriously, I have like five I'm ready to bid farewell to. And it's not as though I could afford to donate the equivalent cost of those CDs anyway, so he wouldn't be losing out on any server stuff.

PM me if interested.

Doh!

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I can't imagine him being less than delighted with Sonic Youth CDs of any kind, Karen. And it was very selfless of me to say so, seeing as how SY makes my head hurt.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Heh. I have a lonely Sonic Youth CD sitting around the house myself, which would definitely make the Slapmister's head hurt if I ever played it. Jeremy would also be welcome to my LP set of Daydream Nation, provided they aren't warped by now.

p.s. - You rule, Beth, for working to bring up the TUS Board of Love again. Just so you don't forget.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Jeremy has the cutest wishlist ever.

Beth, we don't mind if you spend it on hookers. Or strippers, say. One for each of us?

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

I'm glad you still have the donations open. I was worried that it would close before I could do anything.

I agree with guppy. Hookers, strippers, whatever! Or ice cream. Really, whatever works for you.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

I just want to say that PayPal sucks. When I clicked on the donate button, it wouldn't let me log in. It wouldn't recognize my password, even though I know I had it correct. I know that because when I went to their front page, I was able to log in there no problem. Anyway, I've donated and feel much better now.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

They also haven't yet made the deposit in my checking account that will allow me to verify my account.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Beth, very soon they will deposit something like 37 cents and 24 cents into your account...it's annoying, but once it's done you should be all set.

Philip, I had a similar problem yesterday, I couldn't remember my password so I went to their website and tried to type in the answer to my secret question...and they kept saying it was wrong. I know the answer damn it....they're just screwy. Anyway, I looked up my password last night when I got home and donated. Now I feel better too.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Are we at the "no more money people!" part of the dream yet? I go away for a day, and whoosh, that total went up so quickly! Go team. Cool (or hot) server, here we come. Have we named her?

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Beth, my experience with the JournalCon account is that it takes exactly two days for PayPal transfers to go into your bank account, so hopefully, maybe today you can verify the account.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Cool. Thanks, you guys.

Lisa: not quite. We're at the point where we can buy a server. We are not at the point where we can buy the exact server Jeremy thinks is the best one for us, with a maintenance plan. We are pretty close to the point where we can do that and I'll just make up the difference.

Actually I think he's going to buy the server this weekend and put it on his credit card, and then I can give you guys the exact total and tell you how close we are.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Beth, before you go making up the difference, give us a chance to do it here, ok? What's the goal and where are we at? We haven't even started auctioning off pictures of tits or anything yet.

And pssst -- some of us might be able to pitch in and split the diffence with you or something.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Having very little cash, I'm not able to help out in the way I'd like. I can contribute pictures of tits for the auction, though. (forbidden smiley)

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Lisa, I'll let you guys know the exact amount this weekend. Jeremy has a call into someone at Dell and someone at Compaq, I think; he's choosing between two servers based on ... uh, a bunch of things I kind of zoned out on.

And frankly, I will accept donations until the server costs are all covered if you guys are willing to do that, because I've kind of closed my eyes and agreed to pay more in monthly costs than I'd originally envisioned. Know why? Because our current problems with West Host have a whole lot to do with their incompetent and unresponsive collocation service. I am really tired of dealing with flaky people and I'll pay more to avoid that.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

I, for one, would be willing to kick in something to cover part of the monthly costs, too. Maybe we could have an annual fundraiser. I get more entertainment and information from TUS than I do from public radio, and they ask me for money three or four times a year.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Keep the donations open at least until my August 31 paycheck arrives, Beth. I don't want to promise you a monthly donation because I'd hate to have to back out later if my budget gets even tighter, but I definitely want to do at least one more good one-time donation when I get paid again. This place is well worth it.

Well, not *this* place, with its lack of edit buttons. But "this place" in the grander sense. Or, you know, maybe I just don't want to lose my only medium for flirting with Philip. One or the other.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Not that I don't want the forum back myself, Stacey. But you'll notice that our e-mail addresses are right there, next to our names. We do have other options.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Well, yes, now I can get everyone's email addresses off Greenspun. But before Beth re-opened this forum I was terribly devastated at not knowing your email address.

Hm. If I were smart, I'd probably take a few minutes to go through this forum and copy down everyone's email addresses in case this ever happens again. But am I going to? No. I suck.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Fuck, Amazon takes 15%? I used Amazon because I don't have a PayPal account. Sorry, Beth.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Don't sweat it. I should put that on the donations page. I can't get to it right now, for some reason, but I'll change it when I get home.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

By the way, if anyone is irritated to learn how much Amazon takes out, you can actually rescind your Amazon payment without charge to either of us, and pay through PayPal instead. You don't have to, but if it annoys you, it's an option.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Yay, a Belinda! Whooohoo. I can't believe how fast that racked up. I noticed the last post here is the 16th and we were close... are we at "enough for all the stuff we need" yet? or just sort of close?

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2002

The last time I counted it up was this morning, and we had $2,550 or so. I've received two checks so far and I know there are some more in the mail, but I don't know how much. So we're pretty damn close. We may still have some other expenses -- random parts (I don't think so, but maybe), and shipping to wherever we collocate it -- so if you'd like to hang on and see if we need you, that's appreciated, too.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2002

I'm pretty impressed at how quickly it racked up, too, by the way. And although I actually made an attempt to NOT match donations to usernames, I was especially impressed by how many lurkers contributed. Does that mean they're paying the rest of us to entertain them? We'd better try to be extra witty from now on.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2002