Donate (Subscribe) to this website

If you find this site useful and would like to support it, you can do so simply by clicking the button below and donating whatever you like.

1. Click the "Donate" button below
2. Login to PayPal and choose an amount to donate
3. Write your forum username for this site in the notes section when donating, so I know which account to upgrade
4. Wait approx 48 hours for me to upgrade your account (this is unfortunately a manual process)

To donate you can either use your PayPal account or a credit card (using secure authorisation).  Basically, if you have ever bought anything from eBay you should be able to easily donate any amount within about a minute of clicking the button above.
Donations can be for as little as £1 (UK pound).  £1 is approx $1.65 US at the time of writing.
If you have any problems with the PayPal system please e-mail me.

	Tourist	Free Member	Premium Member
Read forums	yes	yes	yes
Post to forums	yes	yes	yes
Read 'Den of Iniquity' forum		yes	yes
Edit your forum posts		yes	yes
Alternative forum view (threaded)		yes	yes
Custom CantoDict settings		yes	yes
Ability to add words to a personal Vocab List, which may be used in quizzes etc		yes	yes
Become a "trusted" forum member with reduced anti-spam restrictions			yes
Custom Quiz while reading the forums			yes
Remove adverts from forums			yes
Remove adverts from CantoDict			yes
Expanded CantoDict views			yes
Expanded CantoDict Parser (character limit increased from 250 to 5000)			yes
Expanded Vocab List functionality			yes
Output High Resolution images of each Chinese character entry			yes
Priority over other users when using scripts such as the Parser			yes
Exclusive access to download Study Chinese - PDA. This is a Chinese Flashcards program kindly donated to members by the author.  more info and download link			yes
Cheesy "I'm a Premium Subscriber" logo next to your name to guilt non-subscribers out in the forums			no!
Cost :	free	free	Your Choice!
A Free Member is someone who has registered on the forums. A Premium Member is someone who has donated via PayPal. Everyone else is a Tourist.

Why are you asking for money? The web should be free!
The situation is that this site was started as a hobby, but has grown beyond all expectations. It is still a labour of love, but its popularity means I need to manage the site finances responsibly in order to safeguard its future.  Each month approximately two million pages are viewed, which costs money. If I don't work to make the site pay for itself, then a time may come in the future when I can't justify running it at a loss.
Out of the tens of thousands of different people who visit each month, less than one considers the site is worth supporting financially (the period of June 2005 to February 2006 averaged less than one donation per month).

I genuinely don't understand this.  The link above allows anyone with a credit card or PayPal account to safely donate whatever they wish, even if it is just a couple of dollars. And it's not even a donation - you become a premium subscriber with associated benefits.

Running costs aside, there is also the consideration of the countless hours spent programming and maintaining the site.  Do you tip hairdressers or waiters? What about street musicians?  Well thanks to PayPal you can now tip a webmaster!

Having said all that, I do personally believe that the web *should* be free. For that reason I will not ever make the site "subscription only".

If after reading this far, you decide you don't want to become a premium subscriber, I would genuinely like to know your reasons. There is a poll and forum thread for this very purpose here.  You would be doing me a favour by helping me understand why the scheme hasn't been successful.

UPDATE
Since the above was written, memberships have gone up, and I'm pleased to say that the site now gets approximately three new members or renewals per month.  Many thanks to everyone that has donated!

Do people really just donate a pound? I wouldn't want to offend you by paying too low a sum.
(this is a genuine question I've been asked)
Yes, some people have donated a pound, and some have donated more. Either way, it is extremely appreciated.  Like I say, currently less than 1 in 5,000 (could be as high as 30,000) people make such a gesture.
A few people have suggested that I specify a sum but I honestly think the current way is the fairest.  £10 per year may be pocket change to someone in one country, but be far more in real terms in another.  By allowing people to pay what they like then everybody is equally free to be able to support the site.
I live in the UK by the way, so to give you some idea of the currency, a pint of beer would cost me nearly £3, a cinema ticket £7 and a restaurant dinner maybe £20.

What about adverts?
Affiliate schemes and adverts have raised more than donations, but not by a large amount.  Affiliate payments and donations together have probably amounted to just over 50% of my costs over five years - so it is lucky that this site isn't part of a business plan to get rich .

By the way, if you hate the adverts and resent the idea of paying to remove them, take solace that they could be a lot worse. I've turned down several (extremely lucrative) offers from large advertising agencies to pollute the site with intrusive popups, morally dubious gambling adverts (children visit this site after all) and the usual purveyors of adult pharmaceuticals.

If I donate, will anybody on the site ever know about it? 
You are free to post about it, but please note that It is not my policy to identify people who donate as I don't think it would be in keeping with our friendly community forums if I announced who had contributed.  In other words, any donations are anonymous as far as I am concerned.

If you haven't already read it, please look at the Help This Site page for other ways of helping.

Thanks for taking the time to read this page!