TP> I could cut the LiveCD builds down to every 4 days if that would help. TP> Mostly though the TDE site gets a lot of normal Web traffic and I just TP> don't have the funding to increase the TDE server bandwidth unfortunately. TP> Donations would help increase server uplink bandwidth, but they are TP> almost non-existent nowadays. Might I suggest putting a Donate button on the home web page, and on any other pages that get a lot of traffic? Don't make people search for a tiny little "donate" link, should it suddenly occur to them out of the blue that they ought to give. -- Patricia J. Hawkins

I did a small donation today too! A graphic donate button would attract even more the users. Yes, I think that building the R14 Ubuntu LiveCDs every 4 days might be more than enough to let the users try it, and to save on bandwidth. I will try back as soon as possible to update my Ubuntu system with R14 nightly build. Thanks! -Alexandre

By searching quickly on Internet, there are tons of Donate buttons available. It's just figuring out which one is free to use. Also, it could be made quickly in LibreOffice Draw. A rounded rectangle with a gradient as a background with Donate written on it might do the job! One thing that might be an improvement, at least it annoys me, is to remove the sounds that occurs at almost every clicks. A login/logout sound is okay, but when it's not for a children computer, the default sound theme might be a little annoying. Also, the default theme used on TDE when it is installed on Ubuntu looks better than the one used on other distros (as in the screenshot on the front page of the website). Is there are reason why it is not the same? Thanks! -Alexandre

On Wednesday 24 of July 2013 02:10:56 Alexandre Couture wrote: It's a discussion about link in the menu bar or about image on donate page? For myself, I can say that I like the solution, as it is now - green stand out nicely on the menu, and I prefer that it stays as text, not the picture. Slavek --

On Wednesday 24 July 2013 03:36:23 Timothy Pearson wrote: The proposed donate button is very elaborate. To be remotely accessible to the visually handicapped it would in fact have to be the size of the page, not just included on the page. I would concur with Tim and Slávek, but would add the following as an off-this-thread comment. All the recent talk about donations has actually scared me off donating right now. The discussion had made me feel that it was again time that I managed to give something. Not that I was going to give a lot, I'm afraid that I never have, but I was going to give something. But I now know that a) donating is not anonymous and b) that what I would call large amounts are the minimum anyone is interested in. "Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make a mighty ocean and a beauteous land" would appear *not* to be the order of the day. So, as of this moment, I have backed away from giving anything. I would quite simply be too embarrassed. I'm sure that I shall get over it. But the occasional passer-by may not, and a small, possibly several small, even very small, donations may be lost to TDE. In addition, and arguably worse, I feel that that it would also entail a loss of goodwill. "Don't go near TDE. It's just a scam. All they are interested in is parting you from your money." 10,000 givers of £1 would raise more money than one giver of £1,000. It pays (literally and figuratively) to keep the small, even the very small, givers on-board. (See *) Lisi * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdfunding

With regards to a.), how would you propose anonymous donations be implemented? Most financial transactions (at least in the US) are traceable unless you use cash, and even then generally one at least sees the person using the cash. I don't understand your objection here? With respect to b.), I disagree. Small donations are much appreciated! However, bear in mind that if only a couple people are donating (true story for the past few months!), and those amounts are small, I have to fund the entire TDE infrastructure out of my own pocket for those months (once the previous donations are used up by paying related bills of course). I am not complaining here, I am simply trying to allay your fears that TDE is some sort of scam. Every now and again I try to remind people that while TDE *is* free software, developing it is quite expensive. Even KDE has (corporate?) backers paying some of its development bills... How would you propose I rectify this bad image of TDE? Thanks! Tim

Don't worry about it. I guessed this was the case, but took the opportunity to clarify the situation for other list readers. ;-) Good! This is the way it will stay for now. For much of the life of this project donations have been feast or famine. This thread has resulted in an uptick, so things are looking a little better right now! Tim

On Wednesday 24 July 2013 11:52:52 Alexandre Couture wrote: I just looked. I could not find a donate button even though I was looking for it. :-( It is obviously very difficult to get the balance right. The present (new) TDE way seems rather good to me. Conspicuous, but not in your face. Lisi