Greetings,

First, let me start off saying the café is a great resource for magicians and entertainers….

I have received a couple of emails from the café requesting donations…. And I have donated on one occasion with out giving it a second thought.

But, they keep saying the server is costing LOTS and LOTS OF MONEY and this is a free service…
Yes, it does cost, but, please consider giving more details,, maybe the cost and the revenue that the café is bringing in and how it is being spent…

Is the café bringing in $20 grand a month and the owner is requesting a salary of $15 grand a month and the expenses are $10 grand? Then I would say no do not donate…

BUT, if the café is bringing in $5000 a month and the owner is only making a grand or two a month… and then I would say YES support by donating……

See my view point???? I would love to support this place more. But I think it should be a bit more open. Besides giving a generic request and answers…

What are your view points of the café and memebers?

I have never had a request either e-mail or other that has asked for money. I was alerted by PM once, as was everyone I believe, that we had the option. But never an e-mail, I just checked it and there is nothing.
I may be a little green with the whole internet thing, but I think even a grand or two profit would be optimistic.
maybe they just don't want my money.

Well I meant by email, pvt message......

Even so I only received one. Your going to find that most folk here that like the Café' probably don't have the same opinion as that of yours. Those that don't probably won't read this.

Personally, as this isn't a non-profit organization, I think the Café' can do what they wish. They could charge admission and not give a clue about where the money goes. Since they don't I won't complain.

Who knows, I may be wrong. I still don't know whats wrong with my money.

I don't know if anybody else has, but I know I haven't sent emails for donations, only posted PMs and a couple posts.

I suppose that's a fair request Curtis, at least to a point. We put the donation link up there and posted messages about it in response to people who suggested we do just that. Donations are completely voluntary, and making a donation doesn't necessarily mean getting a profit & loss statement in return. However, I can at least offer you a few tidbits.

To this day, which has been just under four years, I have been paying 85%-plus of the server expenses to keep the Café running. Without getting into the finer details publicly (unless Steve allows me to), I'll simply say the costs have been well over five grand total. Getting this new server - just the setup - cost a grand, and we (obviously) still have monthly fees on top of that. This doesn't include any tech fees I've paid either, these are simply server rental fees. Donations received so far don't even come close to how much I've paid out. They helped enormously with getting the new server though, and for that I'm grateful. The bottom line is that the Café is still very much in the red. It is *not* a money-making site, though it may become one someday in the future. Who knows? Anyway, I hope that helps you!

For those interested, I do this because of a passion. Not one connected specifically to magic, but to improving my programming skills. There are very few other places where I could have learned as much as I have here, and there is still much more I want to do. As a training ground, it's quite possibly the best money I've ever spent.

With all that being said, this is Steve's site, not mine. He makes the calls, I do the work, and we enjoy a great relationship. People in general may not know how much I've contributed to the Café because I only post in a couple forums, but that's ok, I actually prefer it that way. What he has conceived here is nothing short of amazing to me. Everything you see is either his idea or a byproduct of it. I'm just happy to have been a part of it since the very beginning.

See that clears things a bit more.... When you ask people to donate money you have to give a justfied cause...
Keep in mind when you send out messages through prvts... We recieve an email notifiying us... (if you select this option of course) this is what I meant about emails...

Plus when you are asking for donation while you sale ad space raises questions as well.... I am not accusing of wrong conduct or asking for a P and L statement... just clearfication.........

Keep up the great work on this site....
Cheers

Curtis,
Thanks for taking the time to participate here. Folks like you are what makes The Magic Café such a great community.

As Gene explained, things are not always what they may seem.
Though I feel no obligation to explain to our members everything that happens here on the Café (whether on the board or behind the scenes), I am certainly not trying to pull a fast one, nor am I crying poverty either. Gene and I have spent years paying for everyone else's good time, and finally decided to let others give us a small helping hand - which we are ever grateful for!

Regarding the banners, many are trade-outs (exchanges for advertising space for the Café elsewhere) while others are often favors to business associates and/or friends. Doing so allows us to promote the Café, help our magic community grow and keep great features coming, such as our special guests each month. Since the Café is a free resource for magicdom, we often must be creative in order to achieve the desired results - I'm sure you can understand.

Again, thanks for your continued support of our magical community.