On the news page

[giovanni]

Hi gang, Giovanni and Eugenio here.

From yesterday night, on the news page we uploaded a new tool; it's a 'donate' button.
We've been thinking about that for a long time, and we ended up uploading it with a very very simple 'declaration': "in order to keep this site free of charge, donate".

Now, none of you have to feel forced about it; we've been offered help from many fans in the last few years and always rejected; sincerely we never thought about closing down the web, but did our best to keep it alive with the t-shirt deal (new ones coming very soon, I guess that by the end of this week we can show you all the details).
Instead of doing like all of the other big names on the web (Sting, The Police, U2 and almost every well known band and artists around) that ask for a yearly subscription fee, Eugenio, Stewart and I have a different policy towards this issue in runnning SC.net: we want to keep it free for everyone who wants to have news about Stewart, be part of the forum, listen to exclusive tracks and see exclusive videos. Not that who ask for a yearly fee is doing something wrong, it's just that we simply feel having this web free of subscription fees, but some donation could be of good support.
Support can come from buying a t-shirt or a simple donation, or whatever may come to your mind, but don't feel forced, we know moneywise each one of us live a different situation, and SC.net is not a priority.

Don't forget to keep the beat!

Sc.net staff

[smax]

reaonsable and respectful post, Gio, thank you....

a WORLD away from the money-grabbing assumptions of TPT.com.

[dafttart]

Nicely put and about bloody time too xoxox

[quote="giovanni"]
Now, none of you have to feel forced about it; we've been offered help from many fans in the last few years and always rejected; sincerely we never thought about closing down the web, but did our best to keep it alive with the t-shirt deal (new ones coming very soon, I guess that by the end of this week we can show you all the details).
/quote]

Er and Giovanni, I hope I didn't misunderstand the reply you sent to my email about posting photos of you guys wearing the new t-shirts Thought you said it was ok. Should I run for cover?!!

[BongoBoy]

Now I can buy more shirts...guilt free !!!

If it goes to a good cause how can I not ?

heh,heh.

Awesome motivavtion.
BB.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

There'll be a stampede of folks buying the new shirts, of that I'm sure.

Other than that, do we have a yearly suggested donation? I sure don't mind kicking in some extra, given the time I spend hanging around here.

[george]

Hmmm...ok I understand that there are costs of running this site, it's more than just a passion and everyone has to eat at the end of the day...BUT (And please don't all come down on me on this one)...

If I was a world famous drummer who had just done a world tour that had grossed nearly 300 million dollars and I had had only a small percentage of it ...I would make sure that I would pay the sum needed to keep my website alive.

But then again I'm not that person...and I don't know how much it costs to keep this thing running...

No offence Gio

Cheers

George

[TheEqualizer]

I am not sure if putting the "donate" button on the "News" page is the most effective location.

I for one almost never visit that page. Maybe I'm an anomoly (however you spell it). Maybe if is added to the main top menu as an item (Home, News, Bio, Discog, Multi . . . and then Donate).

Anyways, looking forward to the shirts. Team Italia really hit it out of the park with them.

[63falcon]

Not a huge issue-I have always wondered how these web things stay in business. I am a non-crdie card, non-"plastic" person, so am at a loss as how I'd be able to participate. I have never even done a PayPal thing.....so maybe the t-shirt thing, w/ some sort of printable order form, AND the ability to actually MAIL in an order, I know, its an old fashioned idea...heehee, , so keep us posted.

[Throb]

I'm down for a T Shirt

It would be great top have in time to wear to the U2 Rose Bowl show at the end of next month.

That way it would be easier for any fellow nutters at the show to spot me among the 89,999 other people.

[Krokodyle]

Hmmm...ok I understand that there are costs of running this site, it's more than just a passion and everyone has to eat at the end of the day...BUT (And please don't all come down on me on this one)...

If I was a world famous drummer who had just done a world tour that had grossed nearly 300 million dollars and I had had only a small percentage of it ...I would make sure that I would pay the sum needed to keep my website alive.

But then again I'm not that person...and I don't know how much it costs to keep this thing running...

No offence Gio

Cheers

George

I sort of have to concur with George here. This last tour was supposedly the third highest grossing tour of all time. Yeah, I'm aware there were a LOT of expenses involved, and it paid a LOT of people's salaries, and a chunk of money went to charities, etc. etc., but geez, when you take into account tour merchandise sales and subsequent sales of the "Certifiable"....even if our boys saw 5% each, that something like $1.5 Million per Outlando for 2 years of work (and I'm guessing that they got a higher percentage than 5%, hmm?).

And it's not like Stewart was broke before this all came about, either.

No offense intended, but there's no way I can justify DONATING to this site. I've already spent tons of money on the Police AND Andy AND Stewart AND Sting over the past 30 years. Contrary to what was stated in the original post, I feel there IS something wrong with huge bands charging money for access to forums (and, in rare cases, threatening/persecuting non-official ones). And yeah, I also know that it does cost money to host a site, for bandwidth, and to maintain it. But a site like this can be thought of as an investment IN their fans. By using funds from another part of the business to keep the board/forums open, the fans will keep coming back and, consequently, continue to support the artist.

BUT, with that rant out of the way--and I mean it as an alternate viewpoint/discussion rather than an angry condemnation--I would be more likely to buy an SC.net shirt if part of the proceeds went towards maintaining the site. And if worse came to worse, Stewart could always set up a Website Benefit Gig or something

[visions]

You guys do a fantastic job and love to help in way i can to keep us connected...

Lets not forget those tickets Stewart gave out free to his nutters! (he did not have to do that)

He has family and a life outside this place and the Police

If i did not have this place to keep up dated on things i would have missed out on so much

meeting the nutters

being able to tell Stewart myself how much I love his work and give him personal thanks for what he has given to me by what he does

and all the new friends that have been so generous and so caring for each other.....

As Gio said is your choice if you want to help or not....

I here to help in anyway I can so I can give just a little bit back.

cheers, Jan.

[giovanni]

Thanks for all your feedback; I do understand each point of view, and I sincerely expected all of what you wrote.
To make it clear, as almost everybody know, SC.net is run by Eugenio and I, at our cost, just for passion, as easy as that. Stewart is obviously involved with main decisions, but he does not own this web, we do.
Like many other artists, websites are usually run by external companies, or by managers; rarely they are run directly by the artist himself (and you can tell in most of the cases the artist is not even involved with all that happens on their web, or even worst, they are run by people who do not care about the artist, but work on the web as a dayjob as well as other tons of webs); all these companies have a cost, and usually these costs are sustained by subscriptions. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with it, it's pretty normal; back to my examples (U2, The Police, etc...), with all the money they earn with sales of records, concerts, etc...we would say that their website could easily be maintained by part of the income, but it's not like that: they charge for restricted areas of their web (forum, videos, audios, etc...). I repeat: nothing wrong at all with that because there are people working on it, outside the artist's management, there are external companies, as well as real costs to keep the web alive; I'm absolutely happy to pay for Sting's web and was very happy to pay for TPT.com.
Now, we are not at that level of items that can given away for free (the Police dvd is a good example, or the complimentary cd you get subscribing at U2.com is another one) but surely with more support, we can first of all (for once in our lifetime) cover the costs, and have some income to spend on the web with more interesting tools and ideas that I'm sure might be interesting for all of us (the more you see the videos and the more you listen to the exclusive tracks on our multimedia, the more we pay for the bandwith used; this is one of the reasons we can't upload all the stuff we have).
Stewart gives his support by leaving me the chance to use his name for t-shirts, for merchandise and that's enough on his side; SC.net is an entity on its own and Stewart's management is not involved; at the same time we do collaborate very well with them (see The Police ticket giveaway for MSG issue, hard to make it happen, but it shows very well how we love working together and how Stewart, his manager, Eugenio and I like to do something cool to say thanks to all of you), but our deal is that we (Eugenio and I) own this place, that of course brings Stewart Copeland name, even if it's not owned by him.
Personally speaking I can also say that sincerely we would'n like be involved as 'employees', if you know what I mean; if someone (Stewart included) would pay money becoming the 'owner' (even if partially) of the web, we would feel forced to work here with a different kind of responsability, a different weight on our shoulder, but we have a life and have different priorities; it's absolutely way much better to own this place on our side, and at the same time having complete Stewart support; Stewart likes it this way, you don't have to pay for a subscription and I'm happy if you enjoy coming here.

Said that, I do absolutely understand your opinion and different kind of feedback; it's up to each one of you what to, but nothing, and I repeat, nothing will change in the attitude we run this place if some of you choose to donate and some of you do not; don't feel forced and leave it to your own opinion; we do respect each decision.
As already mentioned, if you like the t-shirts, that's another great way to support this place; I just wanted you to have it clear why Eugenio and I took this decision and why this place is a separate entity and will keep on being like that.

Enjoy the show.
Ciao ciao
Giovanni

[BongoBoy]

Just speaking for myself of course. No need for an explanation Gio, it's an optional thing. In this financial environment we all have to get creative.

...and this is the friendliest site in the history of the web.

Seems like a no brainer to me.

(and the shirts are always cool.)

Cheers to team Italia !

BB.

[smudge]

Thank you Team Italia for the explanation. When I first found out that this whole site was paid for by the volunteers who run it, I was pretty shocked. I can understand the point that was made by George and Krokodyle (very well expressed), but I think Giovanni is right. It is good to have the 'blessing' of the artist, but to be independent.

I would say 'no' to the idea of a suggested donation - only because everyone has different circumstances, different currencies, and different amount of use of the site. It would be hard to suggest something that was reasonable for everyone. My experience of this community is that people are very fair-minded. Maybe best to leave it to individuals to make a private decision?

But I agree with EQ. I guess it might be difficult to put a donate button on the forum pages, but perhaps put it a bit higher up on the News page.

Also, just a suggestion. Been thinking for a while that it would be really helpful to have a 'locked' topic with messages from our site gurus that was stickied at the top of the Krypton Forum explaining how things work in general (for example, avatars, how to post pictures, how subscription requests are dealt with). Perhaps there could be an explanation in there about how the site is run, and how voluntary donations can be made?

I'm glad you've decided to do this Team Italia. I hope it makes things easier for you to do what you want to do with the wonderful site.