Donate

The thought of having a “Donate” button on this website is probably tougher for us to wrap our heads around than it is for many of our visitors. Going back as far as VegettoEX’s Home Page in 1998, we have done anything and everything in our power to keep things as “real” and “transparent” as we can with the site. We have never asked the community for anything, and do not expect anything in return for running the site. There have been plenty of generous “donations” over the years (media and forum hosting, for example). We have even had prize donations for website contests. These have always been unsolicited, mean the world to us, and make the community a better place.

We have had people ask about monetary donations in the past, but have always struck them down. This is for fans, by fans, gosh darn it! Things are a little different now, though. This site is not run by a 16-year-old punk kid starting a links page. We are fortunate enough to all be adults with jobs, but there is no getting around just how expensive it is to maintain this website. There are always things that need to be purchased, both for review and other purposes, but the biggest expense is literally just keeping the proverbial lights on day-to-day.

We put up a thread on our message board to see what others had to say. This is a wonderful community, and the last thing we wanted to do was alienate people by suddenly having a “Donate” button show up without any explanation. The response was overwhelming and supportive, so we have decided to move forward with it. From this page, you can donate any amount that you wish via PayPal.

Of course, the big question then is… what is this money getting used for, and how can we be sure it is being used properly?

To answer that second question first, one need only look at our history and the content of this website. We have been around since 1998, and are readily available and contributing on a daily basis. We can be held accountable by thousands upon thousands of fans, so there is literally nothing you need to worry about in that respect. It is our hope that if you are even halfway considering donating, you know this already.

In terms of recognition for donations, we have decided that it does not help anyone if donors receive any kinds of special “perks”; there will be no exclusive access to website content, or any shenanigans like that. We want people to donate because they want to. With that in mind, we also want to recognize contributions if people want a little “Hello!”

What we have decided to do is have a little fun with the contributions and recognition. This page will be updated any time something is purchased with donations, and we will not only list the people who contributed to the purchase of said item (unless they wish to remain anonymous, which is completely fine), but we will give the item a name in their honor. For example, one of the new items may be “The GokuEX Memorial Microphone Boom Stand”. We will refer to it as such any time it is mentioned, rather than you have to deal with us asking for donations time and time again. We have no interest in doing that; you may occasionally hear it mentioned on the website and podcast, but you absolutely do not need to worry about being bombarded with donation requests. We do not like hearing that, either, and so we are passing the savings along to you! Additionally, items purchased are for the benefit of all areas of the website; for example, items purchased will not only be for the podcast, will not only be CDs for review, will not only be video games for review, etc.

If you would like to make a donation through methods other than PayPal, would like to donate physical merchandise instead, or if you have any concerns at all, be sure to let us know!