[Theforum] sponsorships

[Dean Mah]

We're definitely not too proud to accept money.  I'd like to think
that the money is given freely without any obligations attached.  I'd
like for us to be able to recognize a list of contributors and
donaters on the site because we want to rather than we are required to
by agreement.  If a corporation decides to donate something to us, we
should recognize it as we do for donations by individuals.  I don't
want us to be doing anything special for corporations.

However, if sponsorship is a route that everyone wants to take, I
would suggest that we not:

* have banner ads of any kind.
* do not allow a bias to creep in.
* do not post links from the front page.
* do not add more than a few lines to the footer of the list.
* do not favour members from sponsored sites.
* do not allow sponsors to be placed in a position of more power than
  ordinary members.
* do not allow sponsors to dictate any terms outside of the initial
  sponsorship agreement, e.g., content approval, list moderation,
  backend or frontend choices.

I'm sure there's more but I'm sure that everyone gets my general
feeling on the matter.  :)

Dean


aardvark writes:

> perhaps we need to look at this as a farther-ranging discussion,
> then...
>
> dan, do you really like paying for the hosting and bandwidth?  do
> we all like begging for donations?
>
> what sorts of sponsorships, or anything for that matter, are we
> willing to do as an organization to pay for this?
>
> frankly, i'm not willing to let evolt.org die just because we're too
> proud to accept money... none of us are, or we wouldn't ask for
> donations...
>
> no, this isn't the same, but what can be do to help alleviate the
> cost to one person?  frankly, i think's it's as dim for an organization
> to let one person pay as it is to let one person administer
> everything (that's not a shot, but it *is* a parallel)...
>
> what happens when dan's broken the bank?
>
> > From: "Daniel J. Cody" <djc at members.evolt.org>
> >
> > took the words out of my mouth..
> >
> > Dean Mah wrote:
> > > Seems to be the least intrusive.  We'd need to get the authors of
> > > the selected material to opt in, correct?  Would this satisfy the
> > > sponsor's requirement?  I'd personally vote no on the other
> > > suggestions no matter how much I want to see you dance.