Not me. I haven't donated recently.

MadMarx, I think one thing can imply or suggest another thing, but not actually be that thing.

However, I also don't think Donate implies charity. People often donate to political causes. And they donate to the university they graduated from. And while the dictionary's example was a charitable donation, that doesn't mean that all donations are charitable donations.

I also can't believe I finally got sucked into this. Well, how about we all just consider this a *bump*.

I'm just amazed at how the internet never fails to make mature adults act like squabbling children over something as stupid as this.

Donate dammit! Charity or not, for services or not. Donate, and be a better person in the eyes of what ever god or gods you believe in.
*bump*

Or don't donate since the whole point is that this site is free, if everyone HAD to donate it would not be free anymore.

yeah, Alderian, that's it.
Saying the 'donate' implies and has strong connotations with charity, does not mean it donating is always charitable. That's why the connection is implicit, not explicit. Maybe a better word than 'imply' would be 'suggest' though?
Maybe an example is how going to church implies/suggests one is a christian, but it is not always so.

@jwd001 true, I never said you "had" to donate, but just that if you do, the gods will smile upon you.

Why? For spending money on a computer game? I don't think so. Basically your saying if you donate to this site you're a good person and if you don't you are not. But that's bollocks. This site is free, if you want to donate then do so. But there is absolutely no obligation, neither from the site's host, or from some non-existent supernatural.

Here we go again. Why are trolls so adamant on arguing semantics and put words in other peoples mouths. The good person bad person duality is something that you just cooked up dude.

Don't donate then. Be that way.

Not donating is fine, but being a loud mouth wet blanket who is trying to actively prevent others from donating because it doesn't suit your beliefs is crossing the line. Recognize that even if you don't donate, others will, and it is the donations from these other people that you are enjoying for free ride now. ( and from which you are deriving some twisted sense of entitlement because the site has so far been free).

So donate, or not, but if you choose not to, have the common courtesy to thank those who do, or at the very least, keep your trap shut. They are paying for YOUR enjoyment of this site.

Simply having another opinion is not trolling. My opinion is that this site is free. Therefore I won't pay to use it. If there comes a time when I do have to pay in order to use the site then I simply will not it. Simples. The fact that people choose to donate is their choice. But I won't get bullied into it just because someone has set up a thread telling people its the right thing to do or that the "gods" will be happy with you if you do so.

I'm not discouraging donations btw but equally I think it is wrong to encourage them (which this thread is effectively doing). Want people do with their money is up to them. Some people have donated, great,big up to them, but making a big song and dance about it is a little uncool. Again, this is my opinion, which is of little consequence to anything or anyone. But I just hate advertising. I'm perfectly happy to give up some of my bandwidth to "Plura processing" while I use this site and as far as I'm concerned that's my bit done.

Flip, typos: (i) will not use it (ii) Want people --> What people

@jwd - Nobody is bulling you. Do what you want. But this thread is going to stay near the top because some of us believe Kestas' time and energy is worth money and Plura just barely covers the hosting costs. His love of Diplomacy is what keeps him and the other developers coding as well as keeping the mods moderating. So those that can, help and those that can't contribute if they feel like it. The rest are free to enjoy the efforts of the few without guilt. But don't tell me that we can't encourage people to donate.

Oh, and it is *not* wrong to encourage donations. I suppose you find the Labor Day MDA Telethon to be wrong too.

.

Question: some people believe "you'll value something more if you pay for it". I say that (as a current donor) to ask this question: suppose the site charged $5 per year to be a participant (perhaps with a one month free trial period). Do you think that would reduce the CD rate?

Maybe. But would we lose the student factor as a result? I'd pay $5 a month, but some people are so used to the free paradigm that they can't see paying for anything on the web, not even their music and movies.

I find it unlikely that Kestas has asked or actually wants you to encourage donations in this way. I mean if he did he'd have a big fuck off donate button with big arrows pointing to it that no one could miss. The reason why I used the term bullying is because I was getting accused of taking advantage of the "free ride" based on other users who have chosen to donate. But that's the whole point of this site. I never watch pirate movies or download pirate software but where something is intentionally free I will enjoy it for that very reason and infact myself contribute open source content all the time. So I haven't got anything against people donating but I can't see why there has to be a song and dance about it and a mentality (which I was originally responding to) that those who contribute are "a better person" or more entitled to use the site than those who do not.

i.e. I was responding to this comment "Donate, and be a better person in the eyes of what ever god or gods you believe in." Which is utter bullshit

I didn't even realize we could donate to this site until about a year after I joined, so part of the reason for this thread, and bumping this thread, is merely to spread the word that you are able to donate.

I admit the squabbling is a bit annoying, but it bumps the thread and there actually is an interesting point being discussed (even if not in an interesting way). mapleleaf, to me, can come off quite arrogant and as an overbearing ass at times. My arguments have been technical in nature, in an attempt to prove mapleleaf wrong. I agree that in a general, uneducated, connotation sort of sense that donation is highly correlated to charity. BUT, technically speaking, for a word to imply another word, that word must mean the other word, and based on the facts, donate does not mean charity, period, end of argument. Charity implies a donation, technically, but donation does not imply charity, as I've argued.

Regardless, the horse is pretty dead and I'll agree to disagree with mapleleaf from here on out. The point, for me, is to bump this thread and encourage everyone to give a few bucks if they can afford it and are so inclined. Better yet, give quite a few bucks! To each his/her own, but this site kicks butt and I'm confident any sort of acknowledgement would be appreciated by Kestas and the mods.

lmao what the FUCK is this thread supposed to be about

Thucydides - the voice of reason in a troubled world.

@Draugnar; $5 per YEAR. Agreed, $5/month would be a discouragement. $5/year would require people to make a small mental commitment to the "community" - i wonder if that would reduce CD's?

p.s. in my part of the world, "donation" implies "choice", not "charity". I donate my time to my school, my church, etc - because it is my choice. I encourage donations to this site - but as a choice, it is indeed optional.


I am curious

yellow

@indy - it would probably be enough to stop people like me returning.
@Draug - Some people never change, you nearly missed an argument :)
@jwd - Come on dude, chill! Clearly this thread was created to let people know that it was possible to donate, and yes to give them a nudge in the right direction. However, its nothing more than that. No-ones kicking up a full, MM is merely trying to support Kestas' running of the site: very admirable.

Welcome back FigLeSquidge!

"Donate, and be a better person in the eyes of what ever god or gods you believe in."

I believe in Kestas...

(and if it's bullshit, i find it to be hillarious bullshit... but maybe i'm a little sleep deprived right now.)

I agree with $5/year, I think everyone should choose to donate that amount.

I also didn't realise there was a donation button for many days.

I don't think the 'free ride' arguement holds much weight, for me at least, but my arguement is - I have gained much enjoyment from this site, it is worth an hour or my time to support - the hour i worked will pay me enough to contribute that $5.

If you don't agree with this logic, if you don't get enjoyment from this site, if you don't feel like paying for your entertainment, sure don't donate. I can't see myself understanding your postion, but hey you're not here to be scrutible, you're here to play diplomacy - go do that instead of whinging that the bad people on the forum are bullying you, and it is not the will of kestas (as can bee seen in the decorative lack of a donate button on the front page - you can tell a lot about the god or gods by interpreting their works...)

and P'ah to you figles, your reasonablness makes me look sound much drunker than i actually am...