Site Donation FYI

[Hookem Horns]

1.) You do not need to have a Paypal account to donate through Paypal. There is an area that says ...
Don't have a PayPal account?
Use your credit card or bank account (where available). Continue

Just click continue and you can proceed.

2.) If you are uncomfortable with submitting a credit card online you can send a check. To do so send it to ...
Texans Talk (also make the check out to Texans Talk)
7805 Elkhorn Mountain Trail
Austin, Texas 78729

3.) If you are not planning to donate please do not click the green "Donate" link, click an amount and submit just out of curiosity. This creates an unconfirmed donation.

4.) For now the donation goal is set to $150 a month. Our actual expense is $300 per month. However I have allowed another NFL team to host their board on our server. I am hoping between both of us we can reach the $300 per month to cover this thing.

New 9/22/2011 Many of you have asked me if there is a way to make automatic monthly donations like a subscription. We have that set up now for any that wish to contribute in this way. In the navigation bar in the header you will now see a link called "Automatic Monthly Contribution". Click that and subscribe. This is through Paypal and you can login to your Paypal account at any time and stop the autopay if you wish to stop.

As always we always appreciate the donations and your support!

[Maddict5]

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcsouth

The fan chat board hosted by the Tennessee Titans' web site disappeared not too long ago, prompting a few questions.

I've emailed a few people who got in touch with the explanation that I got: the Titans recently flipped their web site over to an NFL platform, and while the league brings teams on board it is not supporting message boards yet. There could be a deal for all 32 clubs in the works.

The team created an official Facebook page to help offset the loss.

I've also pointed some people to titanscentral.net, a long-standing independent board fueled by what seems to me to be a good group of people, many of whom have helped me out in the past and several of whom keep me on my toes here at the AFC South Blog.

But it turns out a board intended to replace the TOMB (Titans Official Message Board) has surfaced -- titanstailgate.com is working, but you need this link to get there. It has no official affiliation with the team.

The back story of how it came to be is an interesting one, according to Jesse in Nashville who emailed me:

The benefactor ended up being the owner of TexansTalk.com who saw the plight of the TOMB and stepped up to help out some fellow AFC South fans. When surprised with the amount of money titans fans donated to the new message board, the Texans [board] owner wrote, "First of all I want to thank everyone here for the donations. In case you haven't read between the lines this new board is being hosted on the TexansTalk.com server. I know many of you guys personally and I am happy to help you guys out (despite any ill feelings I may have for the team you root for)."

Doesn't it make you all mushy inside? It's a Texans fan helping out the fans of the team that fled his city in 1997, creating the void his new team was created to fill.

It's like when Dr. Peter Venkman said in Ghostbusters, "Dogs and cats, living together; mass hysteria."

It turns out, the administrator of the new site, Yvette Thomas, had become friends over the years with Kevin Bilberry of TexansTalk.com.

Said Thomas:

"When I was informed the TOMB's demise was imminent, I called Kevin to ask about his overhead. I needed hard numbers to see what we were up against. When I told him our concept and our plans for content, he said his server should be big enough to handle our load. That was an offer I was stunned to receive. We promptly installed a donation app on the board with all funds going directly to him. We intend to always be good tenants and whatever we can do to offset his cost is fine by all of us."

[TEXANS84]

Awesome job Kevin, you da man.

[Silver Oak]

it chills my heart to know I've donated to the TOMB, when they spew so much hatred at the Texans.

All in all though, gracious gesture Hook Em.

[badboy]

My compliments to Kevin. Let's keep up with our part too as we should never be outdone. Hey where else do you get to talk with me for only $5?

[swtbound07]

Originally Posted by badboy

My compliments to Kevin. Let's keep up with our part too as we should never be outdone. Hey where else do you get to talk with me for only $5?

I can get you for 2.99, but only for a minute.

If I had known the other team was the titans, perhaps I wouldn't have pulled the trigger on a donation. JK...kinda

Originally Posted by Hookem Horns

You have probably noticed the new Donation feature. This a mod that will help us track donations and allow everyone to see how we are doing each month. Here are some things for everyone to know.

1.) You do not need to have a Paypal account to donate through Paypal. There is an area that says ...
Don't have a PayPal account?
Use your credit card or bank account (where available). Continue

Just click continue and you can proceed.

2.) If you are uncomfortable with submitting a credit card online you can send a check. To do so send it to ...
Texans Talk (also make the check out to Texans Talk)
7805 Elkhorn Mountain Trail
Austin, Texas 78729

3.) If you are not planning to donate please do not click the green "Donate" link, click an amount and submit just out of curiosity. This creates an unconfirmed donation.

4.) For now the donation goal is set to $150 a month. Our actual expense is $300 per month. However I have allowed another NFL team to host their board on our server. I am hoping between both of us we can reach the $300 per month to cover this thing.

BTW, the goal thing is for all to see the how we are doing. We will not be pulling the plug if the goal is not met (unless we run out of money )

5.) If you do donate the donation goal bar does not automatically update. It must be manually confirmed by me. Once I receive an email from Paypal and I can confirm the donation I will update the donation bar. I will try to stay on top of this however feel free to PM me if a couple of days goes by and your donation is still not confirmed.

As always we always appreciate the donations and your support.

I will make a donation when I can. temporairily out of work due to a herniated disk in my neck and not sure when I will go back to work. It's not often when I feel a donation is a worthy cause but here I do.

[badboy]

Originally Posted by whiskeyrbl

I will make a donation when I can. temporairily out of work due to a herniated disk in my neck and not sure when I will go back to work. It's not often when I feel a donation is a worthy cause but here I do.

I got you covered. I will donate for you tomorrow with mine. I will IM you concerning your neck as I may be able to offer help there. Steve

[badboy]

Originally Posted by Hookem Horns

You have probably noticed the new Donation feature. This a mod that will help us track donations and allow everyone to see how we are doing each month. Here are some things for everyone to know.

1.) You do not need to have a Paypal account to donate through Paypal. There is an area that says ...
Don't have a PayPal account?
Use your credit card or bank account (where available). Continue

Just click continue and you can proceed.

2.) If you are uncomfortable with submitting a credit card online you can send a check. To do so send it to ...
Texans Talk (also make the check out to Texans Talk)
7805 Elkhorn Mountain Trail
Austin, Texas 78729

3.) If you are not planning to donate please do not click the green "Donate" link, click an amount and submit just out of curiosity. This creates an unconfirmed donation.

4.) For now the donation goal is set to $150 a month. Our actual expense is $300 per month. However I have allowed another NFL team to host their board on our server. I am hoping between both of us we can reach the $300 per month to cover this thing.

BTW, the goal thing is for all to see the how we are doing. We will not be pulling the plug if the goal is not met (unless we run out of money )

5.) If you do donate the donation goal bar does not automatically update. It must be manually confirmed by me. Once I receive an email from Paypal and I can confirm the donation I will update the donation bar. I will try to stay on top of this however feel free to PM me if a couple of days goes by and your donation is still not confirmed.

As always we always appreciate the donations and your support.

Just a reminder everyone that it is a new month and time to donate to the message board to keep this thing going! It is very inexpensive and most of us use it frequently so you get a good return on the investment.

Steve

[scourge]

It would be much easier if you set it up for automatic withdrawls. That way I could set it and forget it.

[Hookem Horns]

Originally Posted by scourge

It would be much easier if you set it up for automatic withdrawls. That way I could set it and forget it.

There might be a way to do that through Paypal I will check. Thank you scourge and everyone else that has been supporting us financially!

The auto goal meter is set up at a $150 per month goal. It takes a little more than $300 a month to run this place and I was splitting the goal between us and the Titans site. Three months ago we exceeded our $150 goal to the point where our goals were met in advance each month until now. Hence no goal meter the last couple of months until this month (hence the goal meter kicking in for July).

We are still not making the $300 per mainly because of the Titans. It's no knock on them (despite them being Titans fans ), it's just that they don't have the same membership numbers we have and are still getting that thing off the ground.

I might need to adjust the goals since we can pull more weight than them. If I do this I want all to know in advance why and that it isn't because our expenses have gone up.

[badboy]

Originally Posted by Hookem Horns

There might be a way to do that through Paypal I will check. Thank you scourge and everyone else that has been supporting us financially!

The auto goal meter is set up at a $150 per month goal. It takes a little more than $300 a month to run this place and I was splitting the goal between us and the Titans site. Three months ago we exceeded our $150 goal to the point where our goals were met in advance each month until now. Hence no goal meter the last couple of months until this month (hence the goal meter kicking in for July).

We are still not making the $300 per mainly because of the Titans. It's no knock on them (despite them being Titans fans ), it's just that they don't have the same membership numbers we have and are still getting that thing off the ground.

I might need to adjust the goals since we can pull more weight than them. If I do this I want all to know in advance why and that it isn't because our expenses have gone up.

Not to be crappy but with all the folks using the board, $300 should be easily taken care of. HH keep us informed how the donations are flowing. Most of us don't want to lose this MB.

[scourge]

Originally Posted by Hookem Horns

There might be a way to do that through Paypal I will check. Thank you scourge and everyone else that has been supporting us financially!

That is how it was set up through another site I donated to. Either individual donations or auto withdrawal. Both through PayPal. If you can get that set up, cool.

[Texan_Bill]

Originally Posted by Hookem Horns

Three months ago we exceeded our $150 goal to the point where our goals were met in advance each month until now. Hence no goal meter the last couple of months until this month (hence the goal meter kicking in for July).

On the upside; this morning when I logged on (~7:30ish) the goal meter was at 3%. Now at 3:30 it's up to 77% of the goal and it's only the 2nd.. That's pretty nice. So, if you adjust the goal, I think the new number would still be met.

And if I haven't said it in a while: Thanks for TexansTalk!!!

[drewmar74]

Originally Posted by Texan_Bill

And if I haven't said it in a while: Thanks for TexansTalk!!!

QFT!

My donation will be there around the 15th as usual.....

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by Hookem Horns

There might be a way to do that through Paypal I will check. Thank you scourge and everyone else that has been supporting us financially!

The auto goal meter is set up at a $150 per month goal. It takes a little more than $300 a month to run this place and I was splitting the goal between us and the Titans site. Three months ago we exceeded our $150 goal to the point where our goals were met in advance each month until now. Hence no goal meter the last couple of months until this month (hence the goal meter kicking in for July).

We are still not making the $300 per mainly because of the Titans. It's no knock on them (despite them being Titans fans ), it's just that they don't have the same membership numbers we have and are still getting that thing off the ground.

I might need to adjust the goals since we can pull more weight than them. If I do this I want all to know in advance why and that it isn't because our expenses have gone up.

What!?! My donations are carrying the Titans?!?!
hmmm.... I don't think I like that.

[badboy]

I realize it is the first day of the month, but just a reminder we need to keep this message board cruising on premium gasoline. Some of the new posters may not have read this thread about how we get to keep having fun and exchanging ideas and complaints about Texans and other things. So, everybody get your donation in. Don't want to see no begging and pleading from Hook'em. This dude has graciously given his time and money to start and keep this board running. Let's take a load off him and DONATE! Steve

[silvrhand]

Just FYI as well, honestly we should look at different servers if it's really $300 a month, that's a very high rate for what this site generates IMHO. I could be wrong here cause I haven't seen the site bandwidth/stats requirements. I have built several ISP's in my career, so I'm very familiar with it.

$300 just seems like a lot a month to keep up. Also we should have a site donation check so we know how far behind, and how much we need so we can remember when we need to donate.

FYI: I'm not throwing stones cause running a site is a thankless jobs but I do think we should look at alternative hosting options.

[JB]

Sorry to take so long, but I will try to be a monthly contributor if possible.....

economy sucks!

[silvrhand]

Can you setup a subscription for $5/$10 every 3 months through paypal? Easier for those of us to donate instead of trying to remember each month.