My logic for avoiding 'amateur' status - no donations needed

Hey guys,

We talked during the team meeting briefly about whether or not the site should add a paypal 'donation' button to the site. I was opposed to the idea and we agreed we'd discuss this option further in the forums before making a decision.

I'm going to present my case here as to why I think we should avoid using the donation button except as a last resort if for some strange reason it is the only option left to us short of closing down the site.

First, it is a personal philosophy of mine that it is more honourable to stand on your own two feet than it is to beg for assistance that you should be able to provide for yourself. I know you may think that this is a far cry from begging and yes, I know I'm using that word to its extreme. But make no mistake, adding a donate button is indeed a mild form of begging.

Begging should be a last resort, one you turn to only when you have no other options left. We're not in that situation, not by a long stretch.

Let's always keep in mind that we're not here to turn a profit. If we somehow did turn a significant profit that'd be great but it'd be an unexpected consequence of running a professional fan site. To that end, any money that we seek to raise, especially by donation from site members should be for a specific reason. Either some expense that we're not able to take out of our own pockets, or for some growth initiative that needs funding.

And for either of these reasons I'd rather we turn to advertising dollars before we turn to fans for donations.

The key to making this decision is really deciding firstly whether we want to be a fan site like Purrsia / EOT or do we want to be a better version of he-man.org in the ThunderCats sphere.

He-man.org has become the solo motu fan site worthy of spending much time because they're the source of all the motu official news and they're partnered with everyone selling or promoting a motu product of any kind. That is what drives the community there IMO. Now I don't want to be like He-man.org, I don't like their 'pay for play' motto and the place feels kind of soulless to me. I don't like the result of the site relaunch and I find myself spending less and less time there.

But I do want one thing they have, and that is the exclusive access they have to the best and biggest news stories to do with the property. I think we're the obvious choice for Bandai, WB, Hard Hero, Pop Culture etc. to use as their platform to the fans. We've done everything right, starting by putting some of the best content together on the net and bringing a passion for our beloved T-Cats to everything we do here. That makes our fans enthusiastic about what we do, it is what has built our forum community.

We're now on the edge of the revival of the ThunderCats and we have to choose what role we play here. This is no longer the site that happily commemorates a long gone cartoon and toy line. This is a living and breathing property again and its about to explode out of the gates.

Purrsia and EOT will pick up the news stories and their small communities will chat about it back and forth, they'll ***** and complain about how the changes aren't true to the original and any new fans to the ThunderCats will quickly turn away from their sites because of the "old fan" mentality.

I'd like us to be the site that old and new fans come to, where we're constantly bringing the best news, exclusive content, interviews with creators of the new version of the ThunderCats and from time to time surfacing long forgotten content to do with the original series.

To be that site I think we need to project a professional approach, one that we already carry forward. But we need to be consistent, we need to show WB and the toy/statue companies that we're the real deal and that we can bring value to them because the fans come to our site. We can be the hub for all things ThunderCats, and in the process this site will grow to the next level and it'll be a fun and thrilling ride for us all.

Getting back to the question of donations... I think that this would send a bad message to both the professionals we'd hope to deal with and to the fans who would visit our site. For the professionals it will drive home to them the message that we're an amateur group who run a donation based site... and they'll fear that we may no longer be around if we don't get enough donations. They'll hesitate to commit time to us because we don't look permanent. However subtle this message may be, however carefully we may place or phrase the donation request, it will have a negative impact on how people perceive the site and us as managers of the site.

Same thing goes for fans, they will also perceive a certain amount of weakness in us. Not the right word that I'm looking for, but it will do. I'd prefer that visitors come away feeling like we're a well put together site with the best community, the best news and that we offer direct access to the pros working on the show and the merchandise.

Take note that Jerry from Pop Culture and Rob from Hard Hero are both members of the forums now and they're both interacting (a little) with fans. This is an exciting beginning. This will keep fans coming back to the forums, this is what I hope to see more of for the site.

To get WB on board as partners here will take time, and everything we do will count. I think a donation button is:

1) Unnecessary - there is no specific need
2) A poor message to folks like WB who will evaluate us consciously and sub-consciously to see if we're worth the time it takes to speak with us and treat us as a legit news outlet
3) A poorer option than getting advertising revenue from Hard Hero, BigBoxToyStore, Bandai etc. for banner space
4) A poorer option that selling free merchandise that we can get from the same companies, and converting into funds for the site
5) A poorer option that limited self funding (which is what we've been doing so far and which I'm still willing to help do)


This is an important issue to me, and I think it deserves some serious thought. I know some of you will feel I'm taking it too seriously but I believe it is a differentiator when it comes to what a site projects. It's a question of character for me too... I think we're better than the sites that use donation buttons or push their members for money. I don't think any amount of "how we position the button/request" will change the impression that is ultimately made.

I'm proposing that we keep the idea of member donations as a last resort, only for a specific and important purpose and only when all other options have been fully explored.

I'm also proposing that if the majority still disagrees with me, that I'll front any urgent site costs that come up, or I'll work on a solution to come up with that funding in some other way.

Chris here...

Just back from a rehearsal so some of this may be a bit "to-the-point", but all meant in good spirits! :)

I'm in favour of this site having a discrete button that people can click to make donations if they so wish.

I think that Mark, you make all your points very well and very eloquently, and you make a very good argument for not having one.

However - I must be honest and say that I don't agree that it gives a negative impression of a website (or freeware, or anything else, either Internet-based or otherwise, that is free but allows people the option of making a donation) if there is a means by which people who feel so inclined can donate money to support that website.

On the contrary, I think it is completely normal for any endeavour that is free at the point of use and is quite clearly not going to make a ton of money out of advertising to leave open the option of someone making a donation. It doesn't automatically mean that that endeavour is unstable, or about to go under - it means that it welcomes the support of people who support what they're trying to do, and who want to see it progress further.

This site is basically an information resource site - there's quite demonstrably no "e-commerce" aspect to this site. We aren't selling anything, and can't sell anything unique to us because we don't own the copyright to the material on this website, WB do.

The biggest information resource site on the Internet is Wikipedia, and Wikipedia (or rather, Wikipedia's parent website, Wikimedia) accept donations. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home

That said - the way He-Man.Org have begged for money over the years is something I personally find distasteful, and on that score Mark I think you and I are of the same mind. I actually started a thread about this on this team forum a couple of years ago, mocking them for the wording on their website where they asked every user for $10. In light of this discussion, the thread makes for interesting re-reading: http://www.thundercatslair.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2535&highlight=support+tcl.org :)

If the proposal were to actively solicit donations for the site, I would be opposed to that. I agree that that comes over as begging.

But, I'm too pragmatic a person to be opposed to sticking a button discretely on the front page of the site that people can click if they like.

I hear loud and clear the team members who are opposed to the idea of accepting donations saying that they will pay the running costs of this site, and that's fantastic. :)

But, my one question would be, would those same people be happy to pay those running costs if increased traffic to this website (post-TCats relaunch, etc.) bumped those costs up to $500 - $700 per annum?

If the answer to that question is yes, then fair enough, that pretty much ends the debate. :)

And before anyone gets the wrong idea, even though my finances are tight, I wouldn't be opposed to each team member contributing a bit to keeping this site online - however, I must confess that, quite aside from my own circumstances, if we were to get into the realms of larger sums of money, I wouldn't be as keen to do this if the team as a whole were voting down opportunities to meet at least some of these costs via outside means.

I completely agree with you, Mark, that we're none of us here to turn a profit - I find this a rather strange statement to make as I don't think this has ever come up or been suggested. If we were interested in making money I think we'd quite honestly have become involved with a different website - one where we owned the copyright to the materials on it.

But, trying to cover a proportion of your costs isn't making a profit, it's what it says on the tin.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I was actually hoping that this thread would be a poll that the members of the team could vote on by clicking a button rather than having to go into this in detail if a member didn't want to take the time. I personally think this is something that all members of the team should have a say in and where the majority view (whatever that may be) should be respected. But at the end of the day, it's not a subject worth falling out over. :)

Again, none of the above meant to belittle your well-constructed argument, Mark my friend - just putting the other side of the coin. :)

Take care... :)

"grizzlor, post: 27639" said:

He-man.org has become the solo motu fan site worthy of spending much time because they're the source of all the motu official news and they're partnered with everyone selling or promoting a motu product of any kind. That is what drives the community there IMO. Now I don't want to be like He-man.org, I don't like their 'pay for play' motto and the place feels kind of soulless to me. I don't like the result of the site relaunch and I find myself spending less and less time there.

I'm not gonna diss He-Man.org because the owners are friends, but I do feel (while they have done a great job, and they have!) this site can be so much more. The good thing is they have been through 'their' relaunch and we can learn from their mistakes over the last 8 years! :eek: He-Man.org will always be the benchmark to aim for and I do feel we are on track. Yes they have more talented artists than us (in the fact we only have the one), but we hold our own with what we have. We can do what they do for the He-Man fan base without the need for fan donations.

I'd like us to be the site that old and new fans come to, where we're constantly bringing the best news, exclusive content, interviews with creators of the new version of the ThunderCats and from time to time surfacing long forgotten content to do with the original series.

I've got to admit, what we are getting recently is brilliant. Sometimes I do find you forceful Mark and a bit OTT, but you have to have credit for the exclusive news you got us. Kudos for that.

Getting back to the question of donations... I think that this would send a bad message to both the professionals we'd hope to deal with and to the fans who would visit our site. For the professionals it will drive home to them the message that we're an amateur group who run a donation based site... and they'll fear that we may no longer be around if we don't get enough donations. They'll hesitate to commit time to us because we don't look permanent. However subtle this message may be, however carefully we may place or phrase the donation request, it will have a negative impact on how people perceive the site and us as managers of the site.

Same thing goes for fans, they will also perceive a certain amount of weakness in us. Not the right word that I'm looking for, but it will do. I'd prefer that visitors come away feeling like we're a well put together site with the best community, the best news and that we offer direct access to the pros working on the show and the merchandise.

Again, I agree. To me if someone is needing donations out of the blue I'll immediatley think "that site is in trouble and the owners cannot afford to run it"

It also screams, this site is on borrowed time, so why use it for fan interaction on both the company and fans part! It really has to be a last resort or set in place for a well publicised and spoken overhaul of the site that is desperately needed (like more bandwidth or expensive hosting if the site goes through the roof beyond belief!)

I'm also proposing that if the majority still disagrees with me, that I'll front any urgent site costs that come up, or I'll work on a solution to come up with that funding in some other way.

I've already agreed to front the upcoming costs and will reiterate that again to back up this post. While I was a driving force moving the site forward, I feel I have not contributed enough financially.

"He-Fan, post: 27650" said:

But, my one question would be, would those same people be happy to pay those running costs if increased traffic to this website (post-TCats relaunch, etc.) bumped those costs up to $500 - $700 per annum?

Well if that did happen, I doubt a donation button would cover it anyway. That's an hyperthetical question since we do not know the actual scale of which traffic will increase. It's a case of crossing that bridge when we come to it. That's a scenario on the worst case list.

"blackiecats, post: 27654" said:

I've got to admit, what we are getting recently is brilliant. Sometimes I do find you forceful Mark and a bit OTT, but you have to have credit for the exclusive news you got us. Kudos for that.

lol, well I'm forceful in most of the things I do in life so that's nothing new, and I'm over the top because I care! Any friend who knows me well thinks I'm way over the top about ThunderCats. And I have to agree with them all.

Since He-Man.org came up in this discussion, I think we need to understand the differences between what that site is doing, and what we are trying to do.

When He-Man.org relaunched with its new design and layout, they made the site content focused on fan contribution.

This is the key difference between ThunderCats Lair....and He-Man.org.

We create our own content while Val and Emiliano do not.

So when we talk about exclusives, I really don't see that being a driving factor in this discussion...because they don't have any.

All the news they gather on the front page comes from fans who post on the forums. I do not consider this exclusive content in the same way we are defining our exclusive content.

Yeah, Val and Emiliano know people, but I don't think they've gone to the Four Horsemen and requested they get access to sculpts of MOTU or else they don't get any attention from the site. He-Man.org is run by people who have relationships with key figures within the MOTU property, but the site does not rely on those relationships in order to be successful. They rely on the fans to create their content and they get the majority of the news from their forum members.

Our toy guide, for example, is exclusive content to ThunderCats Lair. It doesn't necessarily have to come from companies; it is unique content that no other ThunderCats/toy site can compete with. We didn't (for the most part) get the information and photos from external sources...we used our own team to create amazing content.

Of course, we do get exclusive content from many people outside of the site...Chris' ability to get access to original comic artwork; Mark's relationship with Hard Hero and now, Culture Shock Collectibles; and Nick's interviews.

I guess my point is, that we shouldn't really be basing ThunderCats Lair on what other sites are doing or how they are run; we have created our own path and five years in, we now have the ability to expand on our identity. No one else's.

I don't agree that having a donation button means we are an amateur site. I will be the first to admit that I was the one that wanted this site to be as professional as possible, without losing the "fan" aspect of what makes us so great.

Exclusives don't necessarily mean that we are a professional 'fan' site. Reporting accurate news and providing the best possible place for fans to discuss ThunderCats-related topics can be considered a professional 'fan' site.

Asking for help shouldn't be looked at as a bad thing; at the same time, we should only ask for help when we need it. At this point, we don't need it.

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I've kept this a secret because I didn't want it to be a big deal, but the current theme I am using for the new site is not the same theme Mark and I purchased a couple years ago; it is the same underlying coding, but I went ahead and spent $100 so that we could get the latest version of the theme.

Mark and I purchased the Revolution theme in 2008; the guys who developed that theme evolved it into StudioPress (http://www.studiopress.com).

So whatever we spent in 2008 plus what I spent for the new coding...as well as the site hosting. It kind of adds up.

Anyhow, I've personally put a lot of resources into the site and while I have no problems with continuing to do so, I wanted additional income so that we could do other things with the site.

We could also say that the amount of time each of us have spent working on the site is also considered an 'expense.'

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My take on the donation button: It's not a bad idea, and I'm not against it, but so long as we have individuals willing to help with the cost of the site, then it should be an option, rather than a necessity.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense; I'm writing this around 3AM...I wanted to chime in now since I won't be able to post very much this weekend.

Chris here...

Guys, just another thought to throw into the mix with regards to the addition of a "Donate" button...

On the one hand, you could argue that this is something to be added when it's needed - i.e., if the running costs of this site reach a point beyond which private individuals are able to support it. Neil is right to say that at this stage that talk of increased traffic driving up our hosting costs is all hypothetical, and that as such, right this minute, we don't need any outside donations.

But - if we find in the future that this is a route we need to go down, it will mean adding some sort of donate button to the layout of the site that we're using at that time, which makes its addition a bit more noticeable.

By contrast, if you slipped it in with the site "relaunch", when everything looks new, it becomes less obvious and there's no need to make any fanfare about it - it's just something that gets discretely added. :)

I know at least one member of the team wasn't happy when we started discussing this at the team meeting - at the end of the day I just asked a throwaway question, I actually never envisaged it would evoke such strong reactions, LOL - but, the reason why it came up at all is because we were looking at the new front page that Manny has designed, and what should or could be added to it. :)

So, I personally still think that if we were going to add a button given folks the option to donate, when the site relaunches is a good time to do it discretely and without looking like we're begging - however, I'm happy with whatever the majority think is best. :)

Take care... :)

I've read alot of the arguments presented by members of the team on this thread and would like to present my arguments.

I have to say, though, that we're not a business, nor should we be. Let's not look at this with that mentality - we're a fan website that happens to do a lot for the websites. Personally? I think EOT.net and Purrsia are beneath us. They really offer nothing that competes with anything we do. This sudden burst of interest has led people to coming to this website - not theirs. For that, we owe ourselves a huge pat on the back for being the best presented website in the fan community.

I mean - this is fun. It's really fun. Ever since I joined the team, I was pressed and determined to interview the voice-acting cast of ThunderCats amongst other writers etc. I did that. It was challenging but I was so glad to get us some content that no other website could get. Looking at what we have to offer... it's miles ahead. I'd never want this to be seen as something more than it is - a website run by dedicated fans of the show. That's why people listen to the podcast, discuss the toys, cartoons etc..

This links to a side note on working with Warner Bros.? By all means, but I doubt it'll happen. I've emailed back and forths with Warner Bros. on some things related to this website and other things (interview wise) and they're not great. Heck, I emailed a complaint regarding the UK Season 2 DVD boxset and they never even bothered to email me back. I respect Mark for his patience and attempt to give this website several working relationships so that we can work with them and give this website some great content.

Donation button.. I've thought long and hard about it. Honestly, fans aren't going to look at it and think 'oh, those cheap so-and-so's'. They'll see it as 'yes, I might/might not give money to a company that finances itself'. Chris' link, for example, does so. I would have donated money to them had my finances not been as tight. Btw, I'm really not in any financial position to donate money to the website at the moment and I apologise in advance for this seeing how Manny, Mark and others donate money towards the website, I couldn't really do this until I was in a better financial position.

Advertising or donation button.. we're still not going to raise the funds we need. That still leaves the overall message that, yes, we're a bunch of passionate ThunderCats fans running a website. I understand Mark' position, mind you. We don't want to be seen as amateurs. But when you have Wikipedia asking for donations, a website I use regularly called PWT (Pro Wrestliing Torrents) doing so and no fans complaining about it whatsoever considering what you get with membership and the amount of content, it won't hurt us in the slightest.

Here's the link and their approach: http://special.pwtorrents.net/donate.php

Usually, donations come with perks. We can't really offer that at the moment. However, would it really hurt? Absolutely not. We're talking about a small button, ThunderCats looking, on the website that leads to a page where we discuss that we're non-profit and pay server bills so we'd like to offer people to donate towards the website. Maybe we could offer them something otherwise, cheap and effective.

So I'm swinging for it, personally - although I wouldn't be too fussed if we didn't have it. Any help would help and it's just there, open, for anyone to click and use. I'm not looking at donation websites and thinking cheap and I don't think that's a realistic outlook - IF we were bigger and profitable yet asking for donations, maybe. But we're not.

I think it's good we're discussing it now and getting it out of the way - however, if a majority decision is reached, it must be accepted. I don't agree, Mark, with all due respect, with your last sentence. If a majority ruled that we should have it, you have to make a sacrifice and accept it. We all have to with these decisions sometimes.

Hey Nick,

If the goal of adding a donation button is to raise money for the site, and I'm offering to donate that money myself doesn't that make the donation button useless?

When I made the comment about the site not being 'for profit', I was saying that because in the absence of a true financial need, asking for donations is to ask 'for profit' isn't it?

If we're saying... let's put a small discrete 'donate here' button and we say the usual... well it's for server expenses and bandwidth and what not... but you have me and others on the team who are able to put our own cash in first, then any donations from fans becomes 'extra' money. Which I would call profit, or money that sits waiting for a purpose.

I would sooner put my own money in than accept donations from fans. But I would sooner take advertising dollars than put my own money in.

We've not really discussed advertising as a viable option for funding site costs, and I'd like to get into that a bit more. Are we generally in agreement that it is preferred to generate money from google ads, amazon ads and banner ads from companies like Hard Hero, Pop Culture, Bandai etc.? If that advertising money covered all expenses and allowed us to save some of those funds for promos/giveaways or future site development... would anybody still feel the need to advocate a donate button?

I just think that whilst it's admirable that you're obviously caring enough about this issue to put in some of your own money if the decision weren't to go your way, I feel that whatever decision is come to, donation button or no, it must be respected and followed. It's only fair, considering we're all voting for this as a team.

However, advertising wise, it would very much depend. Are we talking about those annoying advert popups that may fund the site but actually turn prospective site viewers away? A donation button isn't going to turn folk away from the site or make it look amateur compared to annoying adverts popping up here and there, making our website look annoying to scan through.

I'll do a little work on the advertising side of things, I have a strong distaste for sites that do pop ups or action banners and I use firefox ad-block plus to enjoy an advertising free internet. Best app ever!

What I have in mind is to use the banner space we've already given to hardhero.com for free (on the main page) as a rotational banner depending on who has signed up with us as an advertiser.

I would like to approach Hard Hero, Pop Culture Shock, Bandai (through whoever is going to manage that relationship) and Icon Heroes.

Secondary approaches would be made to online statue vendors like bigboxtoystore and others like them.

We're now the top search result for "thundercats statue" and the top google search result for "thundercats" behind wikipedia and google images so we wouldn't be making empty promises about our power to direct traffic to these guys.

I would anticipate being able to earn up to $800 a year in advertising revenues if we got two or three advertisers to sign up with us.

I don't like ads. And looking what He-Man.org ended up looking like with all those ads, I dislike it even more. I'm trying Google Ads, but that's only on the front page and may be another handful of other pages. But no more than 1 or 2 ads max.

We'll use our Amazon store as well. I really don't want ads plastered all over the site.

Neither do I, which is why I'm only talking about using the existing banner space we've already dedicated to hardhero for free.

Im am in agreement of a discrete donation button. Some people do like to give back to the website via financial means. Being on top of Google rankings can mean dollar signs for companies interested in advertising especially now with all the merchandise coming out.

Im sure that companies such as http://www.shopafx.com/, and many of the other toy stores out there would love to get the traffic from having advertising on our front page.

It is worth a try but i must say that Amazon revenue is dead and we should also try the advertising route to receive more funds for site upkeep and things such as giveaways

Chris here...

Hope nobody minds me bumping this thread back up, but Mark's recent posting about making contact with Icon Heroes reminded me that this is still semi-unresolved, so thought it might be a good idea to kick it back out of the long grass, LOL! :)

Earlier in this thread, Mark asked the question about whether those of us in favour of a "donate" button would still feel the need for it if funds could be raised via tasteful advertising of the type he describes.

Whilst obviously we'd need more details to say for certain, I will hold my hand up and say that if we could make the site wholly or partially self-financing by going down this route, even with increased hosting costs caused by increased traffic, I would consider that this would torpedo the need for a "donate" button.

In that circumstance we'd need to think about what we'd do if there was money over - my own inclination being to keep any money that was over to put towards future hosting bills if some of the advertising dried up, as obviously when Hard Hero / Pop Culture Shock / Icon Heroes lose their ThunderCats licenses, they won't necessarily want to keep paying advertising costs to a ThunderCats-based website. :)

I must admit, I still don't share Mark's view that a tasteful donate button screams "amateur", especially considering that we are, first and foremost, a fan site, not an official arm of WB or anything like that. But, given how distasteful the concept of a donate button is to Mark and Neil, if the funds can be raised via tasteful advertising approved by all the team, I'd be willing to run with that idea as an alternative. :)

Once again, the person whose thoughts I'd most like to hear on this would be those of MannyF, as he's the one designing the relaunched TCL site - what are your thoughts on the specific proposals outlined, Manny? :)

EDIT: An additional thought - did we ever resolve what to do with the Mumm-Ra statue that was donated by Hard Hero to the winner of the TCats Fan Awards, which turned out to be us? If not, I'd like to bring that back to the forefront too, and say that IMO that should be sold on eBay and the funds used to contribute to this site's hosting bills. :)

Take care... :)

Chris here...

Did we ever reach a resolution on the above? :)

Take care... :)

No, but I honestly think a donation button isn't going to be anything detrimental for us. I think most people are understanding about the commitment and time we put into this website - besides our obviously very busy personal lives. At the same time, advertising won't do us any harm either. We get guaranteed cash from advertising - not from donations.

Either way, I'm game.

I'm working on the advertising angle and will have an update here in the next few weeks. I'll of course make sure that we all have input to deciding if the advertising proposals I get make sense for the site overall before agreeing to anything.

Guys, here is my updated thoughts on advertising banner space. What I am about to propose to the three statue companies and a few of the major online statue retailers is that they do the following:

1) Pay $600 for a 6-10 month exclusive banner rights (to be negotiated, I'll start at 6 months) at the size of the banner we have up for hardhero.com right now

2) Pay $300 for a 6-10 month banner ad (to be negotiated, I'll start at 6 months), but we reserve the right to rotate in another advertiser or multiple other advertisers at our own discretion (limit of five advertisers)

I'm willing to negotiate downwards a bit but I'd like your feedback before I make the offer.

I will also do my damndest to approach Bandai with this offer.

What does everyone think?

Chris here...

"grizzlor, post: 29013" said:

Guys, here is my updated thoughts on advertising banner space. What I am about to propose to the three statue companies and a few of the major online statue retailers is that they do the following:

1) Pay $600 for a 6-10 month exclusive banner rights (to be negotiated, I'll start at 6 months) at the size of the banner we have up for hardhero.com right now

2) Pay $300 for a 6-10 month banner ad (to be negotiated, I'll start at 6 months), but we reserve the right to rotate in another advertiser or multiple other advertisers at our own discretion (limit of five advertisers)

I'm willing to negotiate downwards a bit but I'd like your feedback before I make the offer.

I will also do my damndest to approach Bandai with this offer.

What does everyone think?

Hey Mark, for myself I think this sounds excellent - I have a couple of questions, which are probably down to me being a bit dim, LOL! :D The questions being:

1) With option #1, would this exclusive deal still mean that all three statue companies were able to advertise on the front page, each for $600 (or whatever figure you agreed)? :)

2) With option #2, when you talk about other advertisers, presumably what you're referring to here is companies other than the either of the three statue companies? Could you give me an explanation of how this second system would work? :)

As I say, on paper I'm absolutely behind what you've come up with here - if you could LMK the answers to my questions above, that would be excellent. Well done for all your excellent work, Mark! :thumbsup:

Take care... :)

What I intend with the two options is that we would either have a single advertiser who is the only banner ad we're displaying for $600;

Or that we would have up to five advertiser banners that rotate supporting five different ads for up to $1500 (assuming we got five people to ante up).

I am really offering the second option in the hopes that it would motivate at least one company to jump on option one. I reckon $600 would be plenty to cover our costs and leave a little over for the future. I am hoping we can get someone really big like Bandai or WB to pay us a bundle for space later on.

We'll see if anyone bites...

Any other feedback before I start circulating this offer? Any conditions you guys would like to attach?