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Fpn Supporters, Unite!


wimg

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Dearest Members and Visitors of our little Fountain Pen Nut House on the digital prairie,

 

Current situation

As you all know, we are an entirely volunteer run site, and contrary to popular belief in some places ;), we really run on a shoestring budget. Donations, anonymous and otherwise, premium accounts and advertisements all have contributed to the extent that we haven't been making a loss the last few years, but beyond the real out-of-pocket costs, for hosting, software, taxes, banking, paypal, bookkeeping and accounting costs, there is not much left in the kitty to either extend FPN, or even think about hiring a professional, full or part time, to help out with running the site. We currently collect about $10,000 to $13,000 on an annual basis, and have a more or less constant buffer of about $3000 in the bank and/or with PayPal, on average anyway. Obviously it varies a bit when we have to make large payments, like paying for hosting or buying inks ;).

 

We are at breaking point by now, from a work point of view, as several of our volunteers spend a full day job or more timewise on keeping FPN running and ticking over. I also think our volunteers (moderators and admins) do an impressive job, because there rarely is a hiccup of any sort to affect any of us visiting here. However, with the size of FPN, the constant growth, and the enormous increase in time required to keep the site running smoothly, we have become so big now that we can't get around the fact that professional help is needed. We have been growing, since our inception almost 11 years ago, from nothing to a position of #34,000 right now in the worldwide website rankings according to Alexa, and are the second biggest (fountain) pen site worldwide as a result, with only Montblanc being bigger at position #29,000. A few years ago we had just passed #100,000, last year we were at #45,000, so we are still getting stronger by the day :). And in the USA, we are even at position #10,000! Pageviews currently stand at 3.1 million per month according to Google, and 6.7 million according to AwStats. Considering there are more than 30 million websites worldwide currently, we are not doing too badly ;).

 

Next steps...

Anyway, after a lot of brainstorming, we decided to start showing our presence more, and start actively positioning and promoting FPN, all with a view to try and make a breakthrough in order to keep on growing and promoting fountain pens, inks and paraphernalia! And we need your help with that!

 

The first step in this process is to introduce two new FPN Supporter options. We renamed the Gold - Iridium donation option to Donor - Iridium, to distinguish it from the Gold Membership we have, and which stays the same otherwise. We created the FPN Supporter - Rhodium, and FPN Supporter - Platinum donation options, named obviously to keep things pen related and in the same vein :). These FPN Supporter donation options are yearly donation subscriptions, as opposed to the half-yearly Iridium subscription, and are fixed annual donations rather than variable donations. Iridium donations start at $2 (lower limit due to PayPal costs) bi-annually, up to whatever you feel like giving :), and Rhodium at $30, and Platinum at $60, both annually.

We will give you some extras in return, to thank you for your support. See the comparison chart at the bottom of this post :).

 

Become an FPN Supporter or Donor!

In order to become an FPN Donor or Supporter, it is easiest to click on the new blue "Donors & Supporters" image which appears in the rotating FPN Advert at the top right of the board, or the one at the bottom left, and take things from there. See below :).

 

fpn_1423397537__donsup-180.png

 

Alternatively, you can click, on the Home/Forum Index page, in the FPN Quick Jumps section in the sidebar, on "FPN Donor & Supporter Options", or click the "Support FPN" tab at the top of the window, just underneath the header area, and next click on the image displayed above :).

 

Or, click on FPN Donor and Supporter Options here :).

 

BTW, for those of you who picked up on the ink discounts :), there is a separate news topic on the subject of inks :).

 

Thank you in advance for your support!

 

Warmest regards, Wim

On behalf of the Moderator and Admin Team

 

 

fpn_1423396992__fpn-supporter5.png

the Mad Dutchman
laugh a little, love a little, live a lot; laugh a lot, love a lot, live forever

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  • wimg

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Become an FPN Supporter or Donor!

 

 

DONE !!... Wim.... Thanks so much for all your work and Team FPN work. It is truly appreciated. :wub: :wub:

 

 

C.

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"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it's the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking,

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Hi Wim,

 

I really appreciate the splendid work you and the other admins put in keeping the site going. So from today I'm an official supporter as well. Keep the good work going!

 

Geert Jan

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Glad to be of support to this wonderful forum and community.

 

THANKS to you, Wim, and all the great mods for all the hard work you do to keep FPN a super place to visit and hang out!!!

 

:thumbup:

 

 

Mark

FP Addict & Pretty Nice Guy

 

 

 

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DONE !!... Wim.... Thanks so much for all your work and Team FPN work. It is truly appreciated. :wub: :wub:

 

 

C.

 

 

Hi Wim,

 

I really appreciate the splendid work you and the other admins put in keeping the site going. So from today I'm an official supporter as well. Keep the good work going!

 

Geert Jan

 

 

Glad to be of support to this wonderful forum and community.

 

THANKS to you, Wim, and all the great mods for all the hard work you do to keep FPN a super place to visit and hang out!!!

 

:thumbup:

 

 

Mark

 

Thank you, C., Geert Jan and Mark, much appreciated.

 

You make me blush, and I reckon the entire team does :).

Warmest regards, Wim

the Mad Dutchman
laugh a little, love a little, live a lot; laugh a lot, love a lot, live forever

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I'm in! Thanks, Wim, to you and the team that keeps FPN interesting, informative and a congenial place to visit and hang out.

 

David

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The FPN is the best so I am happy to contribute to its' future. Everything the administration does to keep FPN up and running is sincerely appreciated. I look forward to the future of our website.

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Thank you David, Nanor and Londonbooks!

 

You kind words and support are very much appreciated!

 

Warmest regards, Wim

the Mad Dutchman
laugh a little, love a little, live a lot; laugh a lot, love a lot, live forever

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Just a suggestion for the name highlights for Iridium and Rhodium seems to be very close in matching to the text color. Color shift?

Edited by Icywolfe

#Nope

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Just a suggestion for the name highlights for Iridium and Rhodium seems to be very close in matching to the text color. Color shift?

 

Thank you for your helpful thought!

 

We were trying to keep the background as close as possible to the metal colours with the backgrounds, and we haven't found a match yet for the text that does justice to the concept :).

If you'd like to have a go at it, please be my guest - I'd suggest starting a topic in Community Feedback in that case, I will post the background colours used in that case :).

 

Warm regards, Wim

the Mad Dutchman
laugh a little, love a little, live a lot; laugh a lot, love a lot, live forever

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Done.

 

Thank you, Wim and team. I know the site must absorb enormous time and effort.

Washington Nationals 2019: the fight for .500; "stay in the fight"; WON the fight

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I'm in.

Have to show appreciation for all the time I send here.

Thanks for all the hard work everyone does here to make this a great place to hang.

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Isn't Platinum almost undercutting The ruby from here?

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/html/fpnpremactsc.html

 

No, not at all. A Ruby Premium Account Holder is allowed significantly more (we recently upped the stakes, but haven't adapted the comparison chart in the store yet), and in addition FPN Supporters cannot start topics in The Mall, and only Premium Account Holders are allowed to actively promote their wares and services in The Mall and/or a Blog if the account includes those facilities, including links to Classifieds, eBay, price lists, etc. This is a very big difference, as this is something that no one else is allowed to do anywhere on FPN. Also the number of pens for sale to be posted in Classifieds by Premium Account Holders is significantly higher than is allowed by Gold Members or FPN Supporters for that matter.

 

In addition, Premium Accounts are offered as a service, which we have to due to taxation laws and regulations, and FPN Support is a donor type approach.

 

In short, an FPN Supporter gets extra facilities as a thank you for the donation, a Premium Account Holder acquires the option to actively promote his or her business.

 

HTH, warm regards, Wim

the Mad Dutchman
laugh a little, love a little, live a lot; laugh a lot, love a lot, live forever

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Isn't it generally reasonable to provide financial details to potential investors?

 

For example, an examination of hosting costs may reveal that there are ways to save money in that area...

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I'm in! Just became a Rhodium Supporter.

Whatever is true,whatever is noble,whatever is right,whatever is pure,whatever is lovely,whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

Philippians 4.8

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Thank you both, much appreciated!

 

Warmest regards, WIm

the Mad Dutchman
laugh a little, love a little, live a lot; laugh a lot, love a lot, live forever

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Glad to have become a supporter. Many thanks to wimg and the mods for all your effort. Given FPN's status it seems appropriate to seek professional support.

D.C.

D.C. in PA - Always bitin' off more than I can chew.

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I'm in. Thanks to all the admins & mods for your hard work. I look forward to the inks and a Charlie pen when the details get sorted out.

 

Warm regards,

-Root

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