Plans for the resources section and donations. (Poll inside)

[Eden]

Howdy!

To start AB is funded by staff members.  Either monetarily or by licenses.  We didn't have any plans to ask for donations given that we didn't want readers to feel that donors would have a protection from being bewared or given special treatment when it came to their post being in queue.  Currently the costs of maintaining the site are manageable and comfortable.

Until I had the idea to expand the Resources section beyond the original scope.  The original scope was to have a few articles that staff could write concerning freelancing, dealing with difficult clients, ect.  However, as time went on the idea to make the Resources section to a basic 101 course section really became appealing to me.  Plus with the move off of Livejournal the site has more traffic than it originally did on LJ.  As a group we're pretty busy taking care of the behind the scenes work as well as archiving.

So the next idea was to pay decent rates (3c a word) to ask individuals to write for us.  Which I don't mind self funding, but it would be slow going.  This is where we have to ask you:

Would you be open to the idea of donating to help fund the new articles?  Donors with site memberships would have a special rank.

 

The current items I'd like to see in the Resources section are:

Freelancing 101:  Getting Started

Payment Processors

Dealing with Difficult Clients

How to Build a TOS

Commissioning Art 101: Tips for New Clients

How to Mitigate Chargebacks

Enamel Pins 101: Getting Started

Enamel Pins - Third Party or Factory Direct?

Stickers and Charms 101

How to Price Your Art

Convention Tables 101: Surviving your first con

(I'm working on the items in Italics.  The items in Blue are already being licensed.)

 

Edit:  I also want to do a quick Q&A

1.  Will you accept donations after the Resources are completed?

No.  We'll return to business as usual.

 

2.  If there is excess money, what happens to it?

It'll be used to pay for the site until it's gone.

 

3.  Will there be record keeping and transparency?

Yes!  I'll be keeping a google doc with information concerning incoming donations and outgoing payments.  (With proof as is required)

 

4.  Would you accept donations of articles instead?

Yes!  Absolutely.

[Alkraas]

I'd love to! But only if PayPal is supported~

[Eden]

2 minutes ago, Alkraas said:

I'd love to! But only if PayPal is supported~

Yes!  It would probably be entirely through Paypal.  :)

[Ysera]

The list of potential upcoming resources has me kind of excited. And a plan for exactly how the donations would work out puts me at ease regarding donating.

[blkvkt]

would support this 100%!! 

[Rooc]

I would absolutely donate for this! I've been with A_B for ages and something I would love to help.

Looking at the list of proposed topics, could there also be a general one about how to begin to file taxes as a freelance/commission artist? I suppose I could submit my own question about this but I don't know if that'd be allowed.

[Eden]

On 8/29/2019 at 11:34 AM, Sigh said:

Looking at the list of proposed topics, could there also be a general one about how to begin to file taxes as a freelance/commission artist? I suppose I could submit my own question about this but I don't know if that'd be allowed.

Oh yes, thank you for reminding me to put that on the list.  Right now the AB trello is private, but I can make it public later to allow others to comment on it.

[theodor]

I would not, but I do feel like the 'donors being protected thing would still be an issue. Would there be a way to combat this, if donations were added?

[Eden]

11 hours ago, theodor said:

I would not, but I do feel like the 'donors being protected thing would still be an issue. Would there be a way to combat this, if donations were added?

I'm not sure what you're asking entirely. Can you clarify what you mean?

I'm not sure if you're asking how we would prevent the public from being afraid to post on a member who is a donor, or how we would prevent our staff from being lenient on a donor.

[theodor]

On 8/31/2019 at 11:00 AM, Celestina said:

I'm not sure what you're asking entirely. Can you clarify what you mean?

I'm not sure if you're asking how we would prevent the public from being afraid to post on a member who is a donor, or how we would prevent our staff from being lenient on a donor.

The first.

Although now that its mentioned, the second may be an issue as well.

[Eden]

10 hours ago, theodor said:

The first.

Although now that its mentioned, the second may be an issue as well.

Gotcha!

How to thank donors is still in the works. If a badge on their account is too intimidating, then maybe I can send a thank you sticker with our mascot on it.

The second I can't really show any "proof", but I assure everyone that this won't be the case. We have a lot if internal checks that prevent anyone from sneaking posts out of the queue. Every post that has ever been rejected is archived with the exact notice we sent to the user. Every time we get a post in every member of staff is emailed.

Plus the individuals that we have modding for us are very principled. I know without a shadow of a doubt that if we asked them to review posts with keeping donor status in mind they'd call us out publicly without hesitation.

[armaina]

On 8/30/2019 at 8:43 PM, theodor said:

I would not, but I do feel like the 'donors being protected thing would still be an issue. Would there be a way to combat this, if donations were added?

I do not care if they paid off for this site for years and funded all of our archiving efforts. If they stiffed a client or stiffed an artist they will get no love from me. Donations do not suddenly make a person not responsible for their business.

[Xaila]

4 minutes ago, armaina said:

I do not care if they paid off for this site for years and funded all of our archiving efforts. If they stiffed a client or stiffed an artist they will get no love from me. Donations do not suddenly make a person not responsible for their business.

This. Absolutely this. We've been accused of favoritism in Artists Beware for the longest time, but our critics in that regard never delivered solid proof we favored "populars" over "the little people".

We as a staff are our own harshest critics which is why we work so well and have such strong principles.

If a Donator wanted to get leniency from us because of said donations; I'd rather go broke refunding them. 

[theodor]

I am not saying staff will be, I am saying that some people may accuse staff of doing so, and asking how that will be combated. Apologies if it came off that way.

If I donated, I would want it to be 100% anonymous. I wouldnt want a thank you, or a badge of any sort, because I wouldnt want to be accused of being favoured. It would be a punch in the gut if an AB ended in my favour and then I got told it was only because I donated.

[Xaila]

People accuse us of a lot. We simply explain the truth as much as we can while respecting the confidentiality we hold ourselves to in regards to the posts people make to our queues.

That's up to the rest to take. But we would be around for over a decade if we folded at every internet accusation.

ANY posts that get settled aren't settled by us as staff. The resolution comes from the artists and clients. We might step in for assistance but only in regards to the site and its needs. It would be impossible for anyone to get something to go their way via our site staff because they slid us a fiver.

It wouldn't be hard to add a tag for anonymity to the donation plan if you would be more comfortable with that 

But at the end of the day, what was said still stands. We wouldn't let a donation swing a person into favor, and anyone claiming otherwise will get lol'd at and you would do well to take said claims for what they are; attempts to shit stir for no good reason.