Aside from haunting the forum/s daily, I make good use of PMs (which is on "the other guy's" server, that he pays for).

To be fair about it, is buying something from their store, the best or easiest way to financially help out PW?

Pat / a budding, old(er), R&R keyboardist---

Back in the good old days there was a way to donate to PW, and if you wanted to you could display a bronze, silver, or gold bar beneath your username to show at what level you had paid. And I thought for awhile there was still a way to donate, but the bars aren't available any more. But now I can't find a way to donate.

So maybe buying something is the best way. Maybe someone else can find a donate button.

Cathy

Ah! I found it! In the upper left of the screen there's a Piano World Home link. On that page, in the center section, down towards the end, there's a bunch of little words that are links, and one of them is "donate". Frank has a Paypal account set up there.

But I don't know if there are medals any more.

Cathy

Cathy,

Not concerned in getting a "gold star" on my homework, to put on fridge at home, in this case. LOL!

But, have thought about this recently; if someone pays for our home here, the least we can do, is "show some love" for the guy running the ol' homestead.

We're here gabbing about piano, & not practicing; but it keeps us off the streets, and from becoming shady characters. You know how musicians are, if left with too much free time on their hands. We come here, to loiter. ;-)

Thanks,
--Pat

Yeah, this is an area where I think Frank has really hurt himself in the transition to the new software. Having the "badge" on the avatars (which was optional; people who donated could choose not to display the badge) served a useful psychological function of establishing donating as normative; the more people who donated, the more others were subtly reminded of the option of donating.

It also helped to remind the regular donors to keep donating. I like to donate every year, but without the badge (which let you see when you donated last by scrolling over it), I forget when the last time I donated was. hmmm... must go check.

Frank really ought to set up an automated system that sends out reminders to donors after a year has passed.

What a wonderfully refreshing attitude:
There's something here of value to me... it comes free... I should support it.

Three cheers, Pat.

In the upper left of the screen there's a Piano World Home link. On that page, in the center section, down towards the end, there's a bunch of little words that are links, and one of them is "donate". Frank has a Paypal account set up there.

Thanks Cathy I found it and made a donation.

I'm new to piano and have found lots of good information and also some new perspectives.

Lyn

The donation link was easy to find, and easy yo use. So I will continue with one time donations. I find useful info here almost every day, so it is nice to give something back. Thanks to PW I know everything I need to know about buying a piano, so my next donation will be when I get my next piano. Hopefully in a couple of months.

6070's:

What is PM. Another forum?

Neal

hmmm...my badge seems to have made the transition.

Thanks for the reminder... I need to check as well, I am sure it has been at least a year.

Thanks everyone, your support is genuinely appreciated.

The link to our Donate & Support Options is in the links at the bottom of every page of the forums (apparently where nobody looks :-)

It's been an off year for us so every little bit helps.

It may not look it with the ads on either side of the forums, but I can tell you if it weren't for them we might be out of business.
Our regular yearly classified ads are down, as are sales in our store.

I've considered putting out an appeal for donations, but it didn't seem like the right thing to do with all the more worthy causes out there looking for funds.

It used to be (years ago) that Piano World was just a hobby and I could underwrite it when necessary. Now that it's my full time job it's more of a challenge to attract enough business to keep everything going.

Monica K., I might be able to bring the badges back, even though it would be a manual process.

So if you want to help folks, please see our Support Page.

You can also help by suggesting to your local dealer, tuner, teacher, that they advertise in our classified ads sections.

Thanks again everyone.

I hope you all have a Happy - Healthy - Musical New Years!

Frank,
I am not sure why I still have my original badge, but another good feature of the badge- is when you click on it, it will take you right to the donate Subscribing Member page. Now, if we could just get one click shopping!

Also, I agree with Monica on the yearly reminders.

PS,
I just clicked the "Support" link, and see it is a much more streamlined process than the link connected to my badge.

Managing a website most be a bit like untangling fishing line!

Hi everyone. If it had not been for this thread, I would not been made aware of the donation needs of PW. Thanks for letting me know. BTW, making a donation online was pretty easy with this set up!

Thanks for your help everyone.

By the way, if you'd like one of the bronze, silver, or gold bars displayed under your name, you can either donate via our store, filling in all the details ...
http://www.pianosupplies.com/pianos/Forums_Subscriber.html

Or if you've already donated (or prefer to use the support page) , just let me know webmaster@pianoworld.com and I'll try to add the bar as soon as I can.

Thanks for the reminder, everyone! I'm glad to help out one of my favorite places to be.

Thanks, Frank. I renewed my donation through the subscriptions page; please add a badge when it's convenient for you.

Thanks Monica K.,
Badge added.

I'll try to get to the other kind folks who stepped up to help soon.

If you "subscribed" to the forums but didn't get your badge yet, please send me an email including your forums name, real name, and the email address you use to access the forums.

webmaster@pianoworld.com


Thanks Everyone.

Best,

Frank B.

This forum and membership levels could be really overhauled.

A super forum, great domain name.. but the overall experience and design could do with lots of work. Much more $$$ could be derived from the (in general) financially and intellectual superior members of this forum and subsections.

Anyone teaching or offering services like this, or spamming their "learn piano" services should be required to pay.

Perhaps I should turn the business brain off, and get back to the music.

but, to the guy who owns this domain.. you could be making bucketloads, but probably don't have the energy, time or coding skills to make this website a retirement nest egg

Look at the niche site (BASENOTES.NET) for an idea of how an overhaul can change the fortunes of the admin team.

My 2 euros ...

Hmm, I can't see a 'Forum Member Number' anywhere.... though the donations form says - several times - it's essential. Does anyone have info on this?

Click on "view profile", Eglantine, and it will be right there at the top of the page.

"PM"s are private messages, Nealsan. It's like a private email service inside PW. Some people don't allow them, but many do. It's a way of chatting with another PW member about things you don't think the others would be interested in. To send a PM, go to "My Stuff" and then click on "Messages."

Thanks for your input starbug.

Unlike some of my competitors who's only interest is in how much money they can make, I'd actually be content with making a decent living.

My primary objective with Piano World is and always was to connect with people who enjoy the piano, and bring new people into the fold.

As for changing the forums, the software driving the forums is licensed and is the culmination of many years of work by a number of people.

It could no doubt use improvement, but I'm not going under the hood.

Piano World overall could use certainly use an upgrade, I built all 1000+ pages myself, mostly in HTML and php. I would definitely have done it differently had I known then what I know now.

And you are correct, it would be above my coding skills. However if I had the funds I could assuredly manage the project as I spent years managing web development projects that ran from hundreds of dollars to millions of dollars.

And energy? I'm often accused of being hyper, with a bit of attention deficit disorder thrown in.

So yes, I do agree it would be nice to spruce the place up, add some features, and make it more manageable. And yes I'd like to see it generate more revenue, but not at the expense of bringing the joy of piano to as many people as possible.

Best,
Frank B.
Founder & Host
Piano World

Ah, thanks Monica. I was looking at Edit Profile and it doesn't seem to be there at all. And I've only just found View Profile.

Thanks for the "badge", Frank!

I think an even bigger thanks is due 6070sMusic for reminding us all that even though the forum is free for all of us to use, it does not run on goodwill alone. (And, I think it's great the way it is).

Frank, Thanks for your efforts, you've done well!!

I'm glad this post appeared. Otherwise I wouldn't have seen the need to donate. This sight is a tremendously valuable place to learn. I have no problem making a donation of support.

Thanks for the donation link; I'm glad I can do a little bit to help out. Also, the advertisement link for Sweetwater showed me a price for the FP-7F that was less than all the nearby stores, so that was very helpful too. (please dont tell my teacher that I'm looking at a digital!)

PW needs to make their "donate" link a little bit bigger. Had I not read this thread, I would have never known donations are needed.

I just completed my order as well. I don't know how the medal will show up. I am looking forward to it:) Thanks for the thread. Otherwise I had no idea how to donate.

I don't know if you all realize. The more times you click on this site. The more he can charge for advertising. Buying from advertising on this site is (most likely) tracked also. So he can make more from advertising.
Donations are good too. Wish Piano World the best. I have lotsa fun here.

Well, I click on the site quite a bit lol.... but I've also made a contribution. Looking forward to seeing my badge show up.

Frank I can understand your reluctance to ask for money when there are a lot of worthies seeking funds - however in these stressful times, having a refuge from what raises the blood pressure is also appreciated.

The idea of small subscriptions is super - as is the incremental bronze, silver, gold, platinum option.

Another idea, which is great fun and not a lot out of pocket is to have mini-fundraisers at special times of the year - with a theme. There can also be images you buy for other people - one site I belonged to had "you're an angel" emblems you could buy for someone who had been especially kind and helpful. None of these were expensive and people liked to collect them. It all adds up.