Really, you should donate
Rather than harassing people every month about the cost of Sega/Sonic Retro, I figure it’d be far nicer to just ask once a year for you to donate—it’s far less annoying for all parties. Given that most of you seem to have a few extra bucks in the summertime, I figure there’s no better time than now.
We here at Sonic Retro try our best to provide you with information and entertainment on a number of different mediums, from our front page news updates to our extensive archives of knowledge to the forums, IRC and podcasts. Considering that we do not put advertising on any of these products nor does anyone on staff get paid to produce these things, we’re offering you a lot for free both in terms of resources and labor. In exchange, all we ask is that you chip in to help us pay to bring these services to you.
Our current costs per operating year are:
- $600 – Retro Server: This covers the electricity and bandwidth costs (currently 1.5TB at 100Mbps) for our main server, which hosts the website.
- $240 – Badnik Server: This covers the entirety of BadnikNET IRC, as well as support functions for the Retro server
- $50 – IPB license: This keeps our board software license in good standing and keeps us eligible for patches and upgrades
- $50 – Domains: This covers our renewals for the domains we have, as well as an extra domain that may be purchased next year
That brings us to $940 a year. Normally, I just grab the Badnik costs out of pocket, so that brings the bill to $700. If you could help by sending us money to cover these costs, it would be greatly appreciated.
When we occasionally have more funds than our operating costs, we use the excess money to purchase goods and services that help the Retro community. Some of the many things I have paid for this last year include shipping foreign goods to members in other countries so they can produce scans and photos, paying international library fees, and buying products to scan. Many of these items tend to pop up on a random basis on auction sites and it always handy to have money to cover these costs. The only thing I know right now that I do want is a 50-page Sega slot machine service manual to scan and distribute, which runs around $25.
In addition to the server expenses I mentioned earlier, I am interested in purchasing some t-shirts to sell for fundraising in the future (most likely a brown/black/blue run of shirts with the Retro star logo and/or a blue shirt with the 1960s-style Sega logo on it.) However, I would need to know if you guys are interested in buying such shirts (which would be between $12 and $15 plus shipping depending on how many I could order at one time.) I’m friends with a company that does professional merchandise for many well-known bands, so this isn’t shoddy shit—these are nice, high-quality American Apparel or Alternative Apparel shirts.
What’s in it for me?
If you donate between now and July 15, you will receive:
- “Best Member Ever” achievement, if you do not already have it
- A special achievement for the donation drive
- Three Retro 1″ pins (if you donate $10 or more)
- A prize from our prize pool of t-shirts, games, books and more (if you donate over a certain amount to be determined—probably $25-30)
- Two extra-special prizes for the top two donators
You can donate by using my PayPal address of [email protected] or using this donation page to donate by credit/debit card or bank account. Thank you for donating to support Retro! Your donations are the fuel that powers our Speedboat of Awesome.