Printable Version of Topic
Click here to view this topic in its original format
Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Forum News _ Fall 2012 UMSF Fund Drive
Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 24 2012, 09:43 PM
Hi folks, it's been about two years since we last passed the hat to raise the money it takes to keep unmannedspaceflight.com going. We need to raise $5000 this time around. http://planetary.org/support-umsf. For U.S. taxpayers, the entire amount of your donation is tax-deductible.
Our hosting costs about $1000 per six months. This fundraiser will cover 1.5 years of hosting that the Society has already paid for, plus our December bill, plus about $1000 worth of administration costs accumulated over those last two years. If we can manage to raise $6000 then we'll be able to go for a whole year before we run another fundraiser 
But we're setting the goal of $5000 because that's all we need for now.
Thanks in advance for your support. To monitor how the fundraiser is going, there is a little thermometer gizmo on the http://planetary.org/support-umsf.
Let's see if we can raise the money within a week!
Posted by: nprev Sep 24 2012, 10:55 PM
I'll be contributing this Friday. It's hard for a dishonest robot to pull a good heist on a Monday... 
Posted by: angel1801 Sep 25 2012, 01:56 AM
Despite being a lurker and reader of other people's comments much more than actually posting anything, I did give $50 USD for this site to continue.
Posted by: lyford Sep 25 2012, 02:33 AM
Ka-ching!
Posted by: MahFL Sep 25 2012, 10:22 AM
When I look at thos pages with Firefox all I see is a background grid.
Posted by: abalone Sep 25 2012, 10:50 AM
Pleasure to give, donation made!
Posted by: pospa Sep 25 2012, 10:55 AM
Same for me using IE8.
Edit: I guess proxy here at work doesn't like secured https page. Will try from home.
Posted by: vikingmars Sep 25 2012, 12:02 PM
Emily, as Charter TPS Member I will fulfill my duty (with pleasure) by making a donation... tonight from home, because on my office computer screen the TPS donation page is just gray with no more on it... I'm not sure I have the latest IE version in my office. Cheers !
Posted by: climber Sep 25 2012, 01:22 PM
Try Debayer!
Seriously, Is TPS down because of This: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/20120924-leaky-pipe.html
Posted by: brianc Sep 25 2012, 02:29 PM
Another lurker you do a fantastic job it's been my daily read since the Spirit landing
$50 contributed via Paypal
Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 25 2012, 04:04 PM
Thanks everyone for your generous contributions so far! We're already above $2000 after less than 24 hours!
Regarding the IE8 from work problems: I'm letting the people who do forms know about this -- we'll see if we can figure out a solution.
Climber -- fortunately, our website is not hosted from our office, so it (and my ability to work) are entirely unaffected by the leaky pipe. It's just the people who actually need to use paper -- the membership department and finance officer and so on -- who can't do much this week.
Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 25 2012, 04:34 PM
We're wondering if the problem is related to the thermometer, which we haven't used on our forms before. For those of you having trouble accessing it from work, can you see our regular donation form https://secure3.convio.net/planet/site/Donation2?1380.donation=form1&df_id=1380?
Posted by: Holder of the Two Leashes Sep 25 2012, 05:37 PM
No, just a greenish grid.
Posted by: stevesliva Sep 25 2012, 06:41 PM
FF on XP works, IE doesn't for me. IE appears to think the page's HTML is seriously terrible, with nothing in the body. And looking at the HTML, there are several linebreaks in the <body> tag. I saved the HTML from FF, and it's the same there. FF is just tolerating it better. For what it's worth, it appears that FF is highlighting the <body> stuff in red, probably indicating it realizes it's mangled, but is proceeding rather than abending.
Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 25 2012, 06:43 PM
We're looking at it and our IT guy says there's a jquery error that's breaking it on IE8. He's trying to fix it.
Posted by: brellis Sep 25 2012, 10:24 PM
I made the generous donation of the equivalent of a large pizza at Mama's Brick Oven. That's tangible sacrifice!
Posted by: Gsnorgathon Sep 26 2012, 04:50 AM
Should I have gotten an email confirmation? The thermometer went up by the right amount, but I haven't seen a confirming email yet.
Update: got it! It was from Bill Nye himself, so no wonder it was delayed. He's gotta be awfully busy.
Posted by: jamescanvin Sep 26 2012, 07:25 AM
50% Great work guys!
Posted by: Harder Sep 26 2012, 08:42 AM
Again I donated with pleasure for this truly worthwhile forum activity. After splurging mega-bucks for a 15" MacBook w Retina screen as pre-investment for all the Gale Goodies yet to come a donation of 100$ seemed a good investment anyway
Posted by: vikingmars Sep 26 2012, 09:52 PM
USD 100_ donated from home tonight.
Unfortunately the TPS "Donation" webpage shown on my computer at my office shows just a grey page with a fine blue grid... and nowhere to click on...
(please, see : http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=7479&view=findpost&p=192078)
Thanks Emily for your involvement in the UMSForum
Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 26 2012, 10:11 PM
That problem should now be resolved. Can anybody who was formerly having trouble confirm? It should've been confined to IE8. You may need to refresh a few times or shift-F5 to get rid of cached assets.
Posted by: Astro0 Sep 26 2012, 10:41 PM
The secure page now appears on my screen!!
Thanks Emily.
Let's the donations roll in 
Posted by: nprev Sep 27 2012, 01:21 AM
Hey, I made an early score! <ka-ching!!!>
Posted by: vikingmars Sep 27 2012, 05:53 AM
Thanks Emily. Now it works from my office as well !
==> By the way, could you, please, be so kind to have the TPS logo at the bottom of the UMSForum webpages be "clickable".
This would (i) be of a good marketing for visitors and (ii) save time when going to the TPS website...
Thanks a lot in advance and congratulations for your work both at the UMSF and at TPS
Posted by: pospa Sep 27 2012, 08:05 AM
Thank you Emily & IT guys, donation page works fine also in IE8 now even with all restriction at my work.
50$ added into purse for this beloved portal - happy to support it.
Thanks to UMSF admins and all contributors for this wonderful place to be still so good and worth of visiting every day!
Posted by: MahFL Sep 27 2012, 10:58 AM
I tried to make a donation but the page said my address was not a correct billing address, which is kind of odd. 
Posted by: centsworth_II Sep 27 2012, 01:39 PM
Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 27 2012, 04:20 PM
Olivier: done.
MahFL and centsworth: Glad we have you guys to debug our forms! I've sent your comments onward.
We're at 65%! Thanks everyone!
Posted by: Bjorn Jonsson Sep 28 2012, 12:46 AM
Donated using IE8 without problems.
Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 28 2012, 12:57 AM
And we've passed the 2/3 mark! Hooray!
Posted by: vikingmars Sep 28 2012, 05:26 AM
Thanks a lot Emily !
Posted by: gpurcell Sep 28 2012, 07:28 PM
Done. Best money I've spent in awhile.
Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 29 2012, 06:30 PM
Okay folks, just under $1000 to go. Let's get this done by the end of the weekend! Thanks to all who have donated already.
Posted by: Gsnorgathon Sep 29 2012, 06:49 PM
And just to make it easy, http://planetary.org/support-umsf.
Posted by: nprev Sep 30 2012, 04:43 PM
And here's a bump: We're at 85%, people, not too far to go. Let's get it done!
Put it to you this way: If we can top the goal by midnight GMT, I'll kick in another $50 just to seal the deal. (If you all knew how cheap I am in real life, you would be truly flabbergasted by this challenge!!! )
Heck, I'll go one better: If we can reach $6000 by 0001 GMT 2 Oct I'll change my icon to a ballerina in a tutu for a full week!
So, if you can, please donate, if for no other reason than to make a heartless robot cry. I'll both love and hate you for it...
Posted by: MizarKey Sep 30 2012, 04:58 PM
I get calls all the time from Firemen, Policemen, Children's hospitals...all good charities and I've had to turn them all down. The last 3-4 years have been very tough on me, government job with no raise in pay but everything else going up up up. Still, I love this forum, so I have added my meager contribution. Long live UMSF!
Posted by: nprev Sep 30 2012, 05:45 PM
Thanks very much, Mizar. I'm not a rich guy either, by any means...but UMSF is so worth it, in so many ways.
Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 30 2012, 07:03 PM
"Meager" or "large" is only meaningful in proportion to one's means -- even a dollar or two gets us closer to the goal, but more importantly it helps to show how many people think UMSF is a valuable resource. I don't mind seeing 10, 5, even 1-dollar donations come in -- quite the reverse.
Ordinarily I don't approve of animated gif avatars, but nprev's challenge proved irresistible. If we make the $6000 goal by 0001 GMT on October 2, nprev's avatar will have to be this for the week:
(Pretty proud of my handiwork there...)
Posted by: Eyesonmars Sep 30 2012, 08:09 PM
Emily
The two youngsters in your avatar. Are they yours? If so, when was it taken?
Posted by: elakdawalla Sep 30 2012, 08:31 PM
See http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/07101200-review-aeromax-flight-suit.html
Posted by: nprev Sep 30 2012, 08:59 PM
....curse you. Emily!!!
Posted by: Ant103 Oct 1 2012, 02:05 AM
I would really love to donate, but I'm traversing hard times (I'm hosting and feeding by a friend and always looking for a job).
Posted by: elakdawalla Oct 1 2012, 02:08 AM
Ant103, you contribute to this forum in the form of your panorama production! Most of the rest of us are here to support people like *you*.
Posted by: nprev Oct 1 2012, 02:25 AM
Ant103, what Emily said & more: It's gonna get better; I been there too.
Emily, well done indeed! Open question is if you guys are gonna make me put that thing on my profile??? That might take me down a peg, perhaps even two!!!
Posted by: elakdawalla Oct 1 2012, 02:52 AM
Woo! We made the $5000! Thanks everyone! Any extra at this point will go to pay our June bill (another $1000) and support there not being an annoying fundraising drive until a year from now. And if we raise that in 24 hours, bring on the dancing robot.
Posted by: nprev Oct 1 2012, 03:04 AM
First off, VERY well done, you guys!!! And even though it's currently almost 0300 GMT 1 Oct, fair is fair; I'm kicking in another $50.
(Sigh)...Joined the Air Force. Went to college. And here I am praying that my avatar on the most respected space exploration forum on the entire Internet will be a dancing robot in a tutu...okay, so yeah, that was TOTALLY the objective all along!!!
Let's just do it.
Posted by: Eyesonmars Oct 1 2012, 03:36 AM
And a pink one at that
Way to go npev
Posted by: djellison Oct 1 2012, 04:14 AM
Count me down for some pink Tutu action
Posted by: nprev Oct 1 2012, 04:40 AM
<fake Italian accent al a Alan Harper from Two And A Half Men>...I'm a-so screwed! </end>
Posted by: nprev Oct 1 2012, 07:19 AM
...and, as promised, I kicked in an extra $50 which is now (as an ancillary consequence) gonna put me into pink tutu starting 2 Oct.
Damn...the things I do for UMSF...are never nearly enough.
Please donate if you can.
Posted by: galileo Oct 1 2012, 07:43 PM
Whats the address in case someone wants to send a check, I'm ready to donate
Posted by: elakdawalla Oct 1 2012, 08:33 PM
The Planetary Society
85 S Grand Ave
Pasadena, CA 91105
Write something like "donation to UMSF" in the memo field.
Thanks!
Posted by: brellis Oct 1 2012, 09:40 PM
Emily, you are my favorite creature in this planetary field! Go team!
Posted by: elakdawalla Oct 2 2012, 04:13 AM
It looks like we're safe from the pink dancing robot -- we're at $5225 now. I'm actually kinda relieved
Thanks again to everyone who contributed. We met our goal, and with that extra $225 and whatever straggles in over the next few months, the Society will be able to cover most of the June hosting bill; so we won't be hassling you for money again for a year.
Posted by: nprev Oct 2 2012, 11:55 AM
Oh, YOU'RE relieved???...
Well, I'll man up if it does come to pass. But, yes, thanks to you all for supporting UMSF!
Posted by: brellis Oct 2 2012, 08:54 PM
Sweet! UMSF's meter goes to 11
Posted by: Eyesonmars Oct 2 2012, 10:32 PM
UMSF used to have a site where we could buy mugs, tshirts, etc.
Does anyone ( Nprev, Emily, Doug) know if it is still around ?
Posted by: djellison Oct 2 2012, 11:40 PM
I used to maintain one at CafePress - but the quality of the products wasn't something I was especially happy with so I culled it. The effort in setting it up really didn't justify the tiny tiny revenue it generated.
Posted by: elakdawalla Oct 3 2012, 12:04 AM
I have just opened a new http://www.redbubble.com/people/plansoc/ and got my first shipment today. Quality is great, though prices are high. They only do apparel, stickers, and posters. I'd be happy to throw some UMSF related stuff up there. I'll slowly be moving other content from our Cafepress store to the Redbubble store, and I have a few new designs to add.
Nearly all our T-shirts are designed by Astro0 anyway
If anybody knows of a good alternative to Cafepress for tchotchkes (mugs, hats, keychains, what have you), I'd love to hear recommendations. Cafepress quality has gone down the toilet, and the sales interface is absolutely awful; I'm done with using them.
Posted by: pospa Oct 5 2012, 10:06 AM
Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)