My only issue with Amazon is I wish I bought their stock at the beginning of the pandemic
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Amen! I’m so risk averse I shoot myself in the foot regularly.
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Bump, in case any newbies shop at Amazon
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Good bounce.
Just go via the gray Amazon symbol at the top right of any HO screen, next to the search magnifying glass symbol.
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I suggest creating a CONTRIBUTOR level of membership and give them some posting perks…such as more space to upload pictures whereas non-contributors must post links from hosted sites, super awesome contributor emoticons or Avatars, perhaps a contributor’s forum for those supporting the site can chat, exchange ideas, etc. And if the site eventually hosts advertising then CONTRIBUTORS are exempt.
I don’t use Amazon at all. I try to help the site in other ways. I don’t like this idea very much.
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I don’t know if your reply was meant for me because my comment has nothing to do with Amazon.
Like @Phoenikia I thought because you were posting on the Amazon thread you were talking about elevating folks who bought a lot of Amazon stuff through the link.
Even if that is not the case, I think any stratification or hierarchy of members, especially based on monetary considerations, is the opposite of the community we hope to achieve here.
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Fair enough. Thank you. I disagree as it is a very common online method of generating revenue and respectfully encouraging user support.
We can agree to disagree in the most respectful way. 
I do so like your screen name…
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I don’t think a tiered membership system is in the spirit of this community.
ETA Especially the pay-to-play forum.
Sometimes my name is ironic. Lolol
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Have you considered setting up a Patreon for the site?
Although a tiered system wouldn’t make much sense, allowing members to make monthly pledges via Patreon and then offering a badge to recognize that might be a happy medium.
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Interesting, I think a yearly fee is another way in Patreon. Personally, I think if this “donation” system is added here, “anonymity” is preferred. You don’t want the person donated has more right than the person hasn’t.
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1000% agree.
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This is fine. But some users don’t use Amazon much, including myself. There is mention of Patreon and that’s fine too, but it’s a subscription model. For essential cultural resources I feel there should be an avenue for direct donation.
I think the Wikimedia Foundation does a good job of that and is a model that could be followed. Basically it’s a banner campaign that periodically gently reminds users that the site is free, but it costs money to provide, and hey – by the way – here is a link to throw in a few coins. I find it effective, as I can’t recall not giving to Wikipedia over the last decade. Seamless contribution links should be the goal.
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I think a lot of you expressed interest in supporting the site in ways other than through Amazon. I want to first thank you all for your appreciation of HO and your support!
The original thought of Amazon is that it requires no ‘cost’ to the supporter. And if it covers the cost of the site- great. Last I checked a month ago it was covering about 60-70% of it so that was pretty good. Since then we upgraded our server because of increased traffic, and we also more people clicking the Amazon link, so we shall see whether we need additional help.
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Still seems like it would not hurt to have a way for people to make small direct contributions, a la Wikimedia. I myself would be fine with paying to an HO paypal account (but not everyone uses paypal, I guess you would want to take credit cards too.) Patreon takes about 10% off the top from the incoming money and is subscription model (not my cup of tea).
For now, I will try to remember to direct my amazon purchases to HO. It is a bit of a problem remembering to use the affiliate link though.
And it seems that an affiliate click-through is only effective for 24 hours (sets a cookie). So best to click through with the HO affiliate link each time you want to buy something on Amazon. A good suggestion is to set a bookmark for https://www.amazon.com/?tag=amazon0d7e45-20 .
(Surprisingly, the Amazon Smile program, only available to 501(c)(3) nonprofits, gives a much lower donation percentage of only 0.1%, compared to 1%-4.5% for the affiliate program! Nonprofits would be much better off using the affiliate program than Smile!)
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Good to know!
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