Announcement - Oct 2

I think I can't pay.... 15 $ is pretty much, but... I'll ask my parents. We have little money problems right now so -

No problem here Dave. I don't know how you could afford to keep this open as long as you did on your own. Now it's time for us all to pitch in and help to make this an even better site although I already thought it was the best one on the internet. ;)

Bye-bye, everyone! I haven't been here that long, so I won't miss it that much. I understand Dave's decision, though, and wish him much success. I hope that DG will continue for those whose needs are different than mine.

I'm in as well, no question of that! But...can we use our check debit Visa cards?
Sorry...already answered! On my way to sign up!

This message was edited Tuesday, Oct 2nd 12:18 PM

You can, Floridian, as long as the Visa or Mastercard logo is present on the card. It acts exactly like a regular credit card.

Dave

Maybe the international guests could do something different? How about several packs of seeds for native species, or things they can easily find that the we in the U.S. cannot? Surely their is some French melon or Japanese cuke that is equivalent to the buck. :) Or a converted amount in their money, equivalent to the U.S. fifteen bucks? Just brainstorming here in between waterings. LOL I would hate to loose all those on other shores, as they add such flavor and color to both the photos and discussions! I for one, think diversity is a great thing!

I would hate to lose them too. I know that if there's any way Dave can work it out, he will.

$1.25 a month, heck I pay that for a cup of coffee. I think I can do without the 1 cup of coffee as long as it's not on a Monday. Count Gardenwife and me in. This is a great site and I only see it getting better.

how do those of us outside USA pay? and what does it cost us ? I think you,re doing the right thing but as I,ve been retired from my job on ill-health grounds I have to watch the pennies :-{ If I can afford it I.d love to stay as it,s provided me with a link to the outside world at a time that I have a job to venture far from my house, it has literally been a life saver to me, providing me with an interest that I.ve much needed.Could you show a conversion on the payment site? so we can see what we actually pay? or is that impossible?Wether I can stay or not I wish you well with it, it,s been the friendliest and best site I,ve been on,'rock on tommy ! '
Sue

Just noticed one other thing and wanted to comment. I saw somewhere, another day, that it costs Dave nearly $300 a month to keep this site up. That is roughly $3,600 a year. Dave has said he is planning to update, improve, buy new hardware and software and faster connections. That is all for us and so we can have a faster, more user friendly site. We surely cannot expect him to be out of pocket for that, can we? The site started as a 'little personal thing' for him. He expanded to include others. As with other good things, the word got out. This site has grown at a miraculous pace. I know because I checked it out when it was very new. This sure isn't the same site it was when I checked it out last year. I know a lot of people that blow 15 bucks on a book or a plant, or dinner and not think twice. DG is sort of like that one plant you just had to have. Sure, it was fifteen dollars and you really didn't want to spend it, but over a couple of years, it grew into the biggest, most stunning, longest blooming plant you have. Each day you run out to check it's growth, and see if it has seeds or extra branches you can snip off to share with your friends. :) DG IS that awesome plant!

I understand dave, I have rpoblems with my homepages, I don't have enough webspace.. I had to register for few free homepage servers, and I tried to upload my photos to them, but I can't see the photos now... it's a hard thing to explain. Urgh. Maybe I should buy some more webspace from Kolumbus? http://www.kolumbus.fi/evert.nylund

For me ...quitting Dave's Garden would be harder than quitting cigarettes...which I did 4 years ago

Well, living in europe without a credit card...yeah, I'm out. It costs way too much to get a check in US dollars. While I agree that $15 is not a lot of money, it becomes a lot of money when you have to add bank costs for creating a check in foreign currency. I can understand the need for the fee here at Dave's and have no problems with that. What I think is unfortunate is that many non-US residents might have to leave, which is really too bad. The international quality of Dave's Garden makes it more special.

Dave, remember when you were considering a "For Sale" forum? Why can't we offer the International Members an Auction forum where they, or we can offer something to auction to raise their fees. It wouldn't necessarily have to be an ongoing thing....say bi-annually and everyone would win BIG!

"eyes"

Hang in there, deblynn. We're working to find a solution to this problem. DG has always had a strong international membership, and we want that to continue. You have a 2 week subscription already, so don't go away just yet. We will solve this problem.

Michele, you're right - and that's just the monthly fee to host the site. It doesn't include Dave's expenses for hardware or his time spent maintaining and supporting this site.

If 4,000 members subscribe, I'll be extremely glad for Dave and Trish - in context, that's still a lot less than what we paid webmasters where I used to work, and they were guaranteed a paycheck as long as they did their job AND they didn't have to buy their own equipment or lease server space out of their own pockets.

I could never begrudge Dave and Trish the profits from DG when I consider the risk and effort they have poured into this site.

Hey, the one, who gave me the one year gift subscription? I really want to thank you, I heard that you want to keep as anonymous... Thankyouthankyou... Kiitos, Tack, Danke, Thanks, Aittäh, :)

^See above

?

Since the damage is already done, I thought I better post the original text of my message before there's anymore misunderstandings...

"I was wondering when someone would post a message like Angelsong's"

That's it. Nothing personal, nothing directed at anyone...just an acknowledgdment that I was expecting people to be upset with the decision to charge for access, and I was wondering when it would start. Sorry to make this thread more negative than it would have been otherwise.


This message was edited Tuesday, Oct 2nd 3:24 PM

If everyone is doing their math correctly, you will find that the amount, as it now stands is around $63,000......this will not make Dave a rich man by any means. The equipment he will have to buy will put a very significant dent in that figure, and he does have his own natural family to support. This will be his full time job, and the compensation for giving us all what we desire. The seed is separated from the chaff.

"eyes"

WEll! I got out of Jury Duty and rushed home to find out what was going on! If Horseshoe thought he was going to be able to pick on yas all without me he best think again! Zany is subscribed!

Dave, does this mean I have now paid the price for my insanity? LOL

Actually, I would rather subscribe here than have a magazine anyday! :}

fuss and yell at me all you want.

I don't make $63,000 a year. Not even close.

I'm going to have to give this a lot of serious thought, Dave.
I'm a student. Although I now receive a bursary, it's modest. Last year I was self-funded. I do have to watch my finances.
And like Baa I'm not sure about international financial transactions.
I've also been having access problems. I can access the site at uni generally but not very well on my homecomputer. I'm assuming that the subscriptions will allow you to make real improvements.
So, I'm going to have to think about this for a day or two.
You have a good site here and I have no complaints. I have friends whom I'll miss. I'm grateful for the 2-week notification and hope you'll allow people to return within that period to say goodbye and check email addresses.

I'm studying information technology, as some of you may know. Next year I'll be learning about constructing websites myself. I hope I can construct a website as well as Dave. Hopefully I'll see a number of you again. It does look to me that subscriptions may well be the route that a number of sites will need to survive.

Sadly, I'm going to have to think about this.

Diane

I don't make that kind of money either but what little entertainment money I do have is well spent and my investment here seems a real bargin to me!

Dave? Did you read my post above about the auction idea?

"eyes"

You'd be surprized at the cost of maintaining an internet connection, software, hardware, virus hassles, etc...not to mention food, housing, diapers (for any young Dave's running around)...the list goes on. Just the cost of the site and everything associated with it will cost a pretty penny.

Geez...I didn't think I'd draw that kind of response. I only meant that I knew there would be some people upset with the decision to charge a fee...that's all.

This message was edited Tuesday, Oct 2nd 2:20 PM

Dave,
went immediately to the sign up. Got through it ok until confirmation page and then it told me that page was not accessable. Can you check and see if you got my creditcard info and all that and that I am now a memeber?
Ozarksue

Ozark: I'll E-mail you.

Eyes,

Thanks for your idea. It's an excellent one, in fact. I'm working in E-mail with a few other people (both domestic and internationals) and we're going to quickly come to a good solution.

Dave

Diane, this is what Dave is trying to do here, to speed up the site, so that everyone can access it, and faster.

"eyes"

Dave,

Would you consider taking away the 'edit' feature? This should make people think a bit before posting know that once it get posted they can't edit it. Just a thought.

I'm in, and I was going to set up a scholarship for Evert, but I see someone else beat me to it. But I would still like to contribute to the scholarship fund.

thanks Dave for all your hard work.

:) Hey who was the person.. ? :]

I missed the badmouthing but I do think most people do understand the cost of maintaining an internet connection. I also know how much diapers, food and housing cost. Life is expensive and for those of us who choose not to pay, it's ok. I choose not to pay because I can find seeds elsewhere and actually, if the US enforces their seed import laws come January 2002, I won't be trading with Americans any more anyway. I had forgotten about that when I first posted. I think for the most part this is a great community and I hope for Dave and Trish it remains successful. Maybe someone in Europe could host a mirror site?

Too much is said in haste, if you take that away, I think more harm than good would occur. Best to leave the edit.

"eyes"

I'll be in as soon as I get home and get out the ole credit card. Love the idea about sponsoring our friends in other countries, if we lose them, we lose a lot of comraderie and information, DINU what do you think?
For those of you skeptical or wavering, this is not a get rich scheme on Dave's part it's not like he is charging anymore than is appropriate for all that we partake on this site! Dave, please help those from around the world so they may stay!
MAY I ALSO SAY DAVE - I cannot compare this site to a magazine as I don't subscibe to magazines, from what I see they are mostly advertisements and a few stories of which I am only interested in a few - there is much more interest to me here at DG!!!!!!!!

This message was edited Tuesday, Oct 2nd 3:24 PM

See my first post in this thread above, Deblynn...I removed it at the request of another member, but put it back since people will think I said something really bad.

No one should be pressured into joining or making another person feeling guilty about not wanting to join. That is their own decision. $15.00 sounds like alot of money to some people so probably feel a bit intimidated about not joining. We still care about you and glad that you have joined up with DG. I was thinking about this.
Can a person go out to eat for $15.00 for a whole year?
Can you go to the movies for a year on $15.00?
Can you go to a ball game for $15.00 a year?
I figured that we are getting alot here at Dave's Garden for only $15.00 a year. Where can you buy a book with all the information that we have right here at our finger tips and where can a person find sooooo many great friends all at one place, not too mention all the wonderful recipes that are submitted. Can't buy a cookbook for $15.00 hardly, especially from people that you associate with almost every day. My feelings on this: We are getting alot here folks. A tank of gas would cost you more than this.
This was my feelings about all this.
I just want everyone to know that, you will not be put down just because you are unable to at this time. I still consider one and all as friends of mine here at Dave's. Whatever your decision may be, I am still here for any of you who need to talk or whatever. My box is always open for any of you.
My Best To You All
CoCo

Please keep the edit Dave,sometimes forget and go back and add more info' Sis'

This message was edited Tuesday, Oct 2nd 2:45 PM