ChatterBank4 mins ago
Donations
141 Answers
Here's how much we've raised this month:
Want to donate? Use the form below
Alternative Payment Methods
PayPal Donations
Bank Transfer
Please exercise caution when sending any money via Bank transfer. If you would like to verify the bank details on this page please email The Editor using the email address below.
Bank: Natwest Bank
Name: ANSWERBANK LTD
Sort-Code: 54-21-22
Account Number: 24150533
Cheques
Please email for details: theeditor AT theanswerbank DOT co DOT uk
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Historic Monthly Donation Sums:
August 2022: £127
September 2022: £91.45
October 2022: £29.23
November 2022: £8
December 2022: £10
January 2023: £33
February 2023: £31
March 2023: £482.58
April 2023: £50.60
May 2023: £303.38
June 2023: £192.01
July 2023: £88
August 2023: £192.96
September 2023: £110.36
October 2023: £103.58
November 2023: £70.26
December 2023: £54.12
January 2024: £56.14
February 2024: £81.98
March 2024: £81.98
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Dear AnswerBank Community,
I wanted to write to you all to explain a new feature that we have rolled out across The AnswerBank, and, most importantly, to why we have chosen to do so. I am of course talking about the new Donations feature, which you may have noticed recently.
As you know, The AnswerBank is free, and always has been, for our users to access. We have never charged any fees, and, historically, maintenance and upkeep of the website has always been funded by advertising alone. Sadly, over the years, our advertising revenue has declined, in part due to a gradual decrease in traffic volumes, but also due to the rise in the use of Ad Blockers and similar technology.
Whilst we do understand that there are users of The AnswerBank that would prefer to see less advertising on the website, it has always seemed the fairest way to continue to raise funds to cover our costs whilst keeping it free and accessible for all users. However, unfortunately, it is no longer sufficient to continually develop and maintain the platform based on advertising revenue alone.
That’s why we need your help; to raise funds, via voluntary donations. Through your donations, we would like to not only continue to support, maintain and provide the service that The AnswerBank offers; we would like to make it even better. We want to implement new features, as requested by the community, and as part of this, we would like to engage you with our plans to invest the funds raised into the platform.
The new Donations feature is of course entirely optional, but we are hopeful that the community can support this as a way of not only sustaining the platform, but to help it flourish and improve into the future. You can give as much or as little as you would like (although there is a £2 minimum enforced by our donations partner to cover card processing fee’s). You can donate as a one-off, or you can opt to donate regularly on a weekly or monthly basis; whatever suits you best.
We plan to be transparent as we move forwards with regards to the funds we are raising and the impact this is having on the continued success and development of The AnswerBank, so it is out intention to provide updates regularly.
All the best.
M.
Want to donate? Use the form below
WARNING:
Our **Recommended** Payment Processor is DonorBox (using the above form). Please note that you should always exercise Due Diligence when making any payment online and The AnswerBank is no different. We will continually monitor this page and the Donations coming in, but we would ask Members to not make any payment to any other payment method that is not shown on this Question, regardless of how convincing it may seem. Please be safe online.Alternative Payment Methods
PayPal Donations
Bank Transfer
Please exercise caution when sending any money via Bank transfer. If you would like to verify the bank details on this page please email The Editor using the email address below.
Bank: Natwest Bank
Name: ANSWERBANK LTD
Sort-Code: 54-21-22
Account Number: 24150533
Cheques
Please email for details: theeditor AT theanswerbank DOT co DOT uk
--------
Historic Monthly Donation Sums:
August 2022: £127
September 2022: £91.45
October 2022: £29.23
November 2022: £8
December 2022: £10
January 2023: £33
February 2023: £31
March 2023: £482.58
April 2023: £50.60
May 2023: £303.38
June 2023: £192.01
July 2023: £88
August 2023: £192.96
September 2023: £110.36
October 2023: £103.58
November 2023: £70.26
December 2023: £54.12
January 2024: £56.14
February 2024: £81.98
March 2024: £81.98
----
Dear AnswerBank Community,
I wanted to write to you all to explain a new feature that we have rolled out across The AnswerBank, and, most importantly, to why we have chosen to do so. I am of course talking about the new Donations feature, which you may have noticed recently.
As you know, The AnswerBank is free, and always has been, for our users to access. We have never charged any fees, and, historically, maintenance and upkeep of the website has always been funded by advertising alone. Sadly, over the years, our advertising revenue has declined, in part due to a gradual decrease in traffic volumes, but also due to the rise in the use of Ad Blockers and similar technology.
Whilst we do understand that there are users of The AnswerBank that would prefer to see less advertising on the website, it has always seemed the fairest way to continue to raise funds to cover our costs whilst keeping it free and accessible for all users. However, unfortunately, it is no longer sufficient to continually develop and maintain the platform based on advertising revenue alone.
That’s why we need your help; to raise funds, via voluntary donations. Through your donations, we would like to not only continue to support, maintain and provide the service that The AnswerBank offers; we would like to make it even better. We want to implement new features, as requested by the community, and as part of this, we would like to engage you with our plans to invest the funds raised into the platform.
The new Donations feature is of course entirely optional, but we are hopeful that the community can support this as a way of not only sustaining the platform, but to help it flourish and improve into the future. You can give as much or as little as you would like (although there is a £2 minimum enforced by our donations partner to cover card processing fee’s). You can donate as a one-off, or you can opt to donate regularly on a weekly or monthly basis; whatever suits you best.
We plan to be transparent as we move forwards with regards to the funds we are raising and the impact this is having on the continued success and development of The AnswerBank, so it is out intention to provide updates regularly.
All the best.
M.
Answers
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I have found a lot of useful information from being a member, right from my first post about a leaking toilet cistern back in 2005. I just wish we had the facility to block certain users! The constant sniping and accusatory comments because of other people's political persuasion. Instead I just ignore posts from certain ABers. I do have to agree with vulcan42 who wrote "I suspect it's allowed because it increases traffic and therefore revenue, so why should we finance a site just to be trolled and bullied, also in the rules, by a certain few?" I also find it hard to believe that posts have had to be removed from this discussion - what on earth could be written that is so bad it has to be removed from such an innocuous thread?
People on here brag about a lot of things, zacs, often knowing nothing about those they're bragging to and therefore completely unaware that they're creating an impression of themselves far from that intended. If that happens with donations I would recommend doing as I do - smile quietly - and take it all with a large pinch of salt. ;o)
Rather than one of my usual rambles, may I instead just quote a large part of Naomi's recent post which IMHO hits the nail right on the head. Thank you Naomi, put so much better than I could..
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I've thought about this suggestion and I see no proposal for practical change that might affect the user in a positive way. For example, biased mods who work not on what's posted but on who's posting are allowed to continue and more to the point, when faced with justified criticism, are defended. Posts are often removed for no apparent reason and all that is offered by way of explanation is someone bleating on about 'the rules' - rules which, in reality, haven’t featured in the removal. One user finds himself suspended on a regular basis, most of the time for far less than other people get away with daily. Why would anyone pay for any of that?
Additionally when people have a gripe they're told to contact the Ed - but unless that gripe is connected to a technical issue a response is rarely forthcoming. To my certain knowledge at least two people have offered to help keep the site clear of spam and other rubbish but no response has been received - not even the courtesy of a 'Don't call us, we'll call you' - and that, quite frankly, demonstrates a disdain for the membership that shouldn't exist.
You say you plan to be transparent with regard to funds but as much as we all like AB, unless this site adopts transparency in other areas and changes its ever protective attitude towards mods who are clearly unsuited to the role, and are in actual fact, detrimental to the site, nothing will change for the user and in those circumstances I really don’t think your new plan will be successful.
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I've thought about this suggestion and I see no proposal for practical change that might affect the user in a positive way. For example, biased mods who work not on what's posted but on who's posting are allowed to continue and more to the point, when faced with justified criticism, are defended. Posts are often removed for no apparent reason and all that is offered by way of explanation is someone bleating on about 'the rules' - rules which, in reality, haven’t featured in the removal. One user finds himself suspended on a regular basis, most of the time for far less than other people get away with daily. Why would anyone pay for any of that?
Additionally when people have a gripe they're told to contact the Ed - but unless that gripe is connected to a technical issue a response is rarely forthcoming. To my certain knowledge at least two people have offered to help keep the site clear of spam and other rubbish but no response has been received - not even the courtesy of a 'Don't call us, we'll call you' - and that, quite frankly, demonstrates a disdain for the membership that shouldn't exist.
You say you plan to be transparent with regard to funds but as much as we all like AB, unless this site adopts transparency in other areas and changes its ever protective attitude towards mods who are clearly unsuited to the role, and are in actual fact, detrimental to the site, nothing will change for the user and in those circumstances I really don’t think your new plan will be successful.
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13.09 You mention getting in touch with E/D .
I had a post removed a few weeks ago by an over Zealous mod, for no apparent reason and not been able to get in touch with E/d ever since.
"An error has occured" is the only answer I get.
Bet "an error has occured" will not appear when I try to make donation
I had a post removed a few weeks ago by an over Zealous mod, for no apparent reason and not been able to get in touch with E/d ever since.
"An error has occured" is the only answer I get.
Bet "an error has occured" will not appear when I try to make donation
As requested by some members, we have updated the original Question to include the Bank Details for The AnswerBank. We appreciate that some members would prefer that the entirety of the proceeds of their Donation were received by The AnswerBank (DonorBox charge a small percentage Fee for using their Platform).
Whilst DonorBox remains the easiest way to Donate for many, we hope that this is an acceptable alternative.
Whilst DonorBox remains the easiest way to Donate for many, we hope that this is an acceptable alternative.
I have scrolled through the thread and it does indeed make sad reading. It opens with our editorial team making a strong point that they would like to be transparent in their intentions. Sadly that is not the case with just a few( a very malign few) who frequent the site with an agenda that is designed to cause dissonance and discord with a non stop barrage of dislike for anything and everything except themselves. They have had a number of user names and personas but always the same distasteful attitude. Regular, well balanced, and pleasant posters have ceased logging in because they have lives that do not welcome the non stop nasty criticisms, or running campaigns of aggravation, that seem to motivate these sad cases. There is even a thread running that advocates shutting down the site in an obvious trolling of the very Editorial team that are striving to keep it viable. That poster has been banned at least twice and had more that 4 user names. His presence is not part of the solution it is the whole of the problem, alongside just a few like minded avoid at all costs posters. Some long term posters have warned that a few are ruining a site that offers something unique in the dog eat dog web fight for traffic. The people who would use a site without rancour will come if you build it. First you have to get rid of the deliberately malevolent and needily narcistic. Openly targeting the site moderators on a day to day basis is in itself a sign that the individuals who do it are determined to trash the site, and to then allow them to show the same disrespect to everyone else is a kiss of death for the fair minded or sociable amongst us. What first attracted lots of us is still here. It has been buried by what attracts the malicious. That being naivety in the very system that wants to be attractive to a wide spectrum of thoughtful adults. As for ads ... I have ads all day long popping up in my email addresses. These are ads that I can subscribe to or not and if I am interested in a range or type of product I can allow them to flag me. On here it is all or nothing and frankly I do not need any of the products that seem to be on offer. The one trial of gardening products that was featured for a while was clumsily done and frankly more likely to put off a buyer. Remember team we may be carrying a few years and foibles but we are not stupid.
You are on a vicious circle as in the site has spiralled downhill in terms of what it offers. Break this and I may reconsider but not at the moment - for given the slide, so too my involvement in it. Just measure my messages by month over time and you will see there is a significant slide....in short, the 'joie de vivre' has disappeared.
