Ads...

For whatever reason, the administrators of this site have continued to allow advertising on PilotNation regardless of the fact some have said they would chip-in to defray the cost of ridding the site of advertising.

WARNING:  I have noticed that a number of the advertisers that pop-up on PN are not safe!!

Now that most of us are home just walking between the refrigerator and our devices, we want to simply "click and buy," but don't without first checking on the legitimacy of the manufacturer/seller/site.

Some of the conniving sellers are simply taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic, and anyone who shops there are at risk of sharing their credit card information and getting either fake products or nothing at all.

Come on PN administrators...get rid of the advertisements.

StudentPilot wrote:For whatever reason, the administrators of this site have continued to allow advertising on PilotNation regardless of the fact some have said they would chip-in to defray the cost of ridding the site of advertising.

WARNING:  I have noticed that a number of the advertisers that pop-up on PN are not safe!!

Now that most of us are home just walking between the refrigerator and our devices, we want to simply "click and buy," but don't without first checking on the legitimacy of the manufacturer/seller/site.

Some of the conniving sellers are simply taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic, and anyone who shops there are at risk of sharing their credit card information and getting either fake products or nothing at all.

Come on PN administrators...get rid of the advertisements.

Ha, not sure where you've been shopping! I was looking for a way to get rid of excess used motor oil, and all I get are ads for oil burners and heaters.

up7587 wrote:Ha, not sure where you've been shopping!

I was thinking about purchasing some masks for the people in my neighborhood, but the site that came up on PN seemed kind of sketchy so I asked a friend of mine who works for an internet security firm to check it out, he said, "don't touch it, it's likely bogus!"

I have activated the new donation process here on the forum.  Members who are signed in can click on the "Contribution" link located in the bottom right corner on any page, in the footer.  You can buy credits that can then be used by the forum.  A big change recently is that we can no longer spend credits in an ala carte way to turn off ads; rather, we now have to buy a package upgrade.  This is more expensive, but also gives some other options.

Through the link down there, you can donate via credit card on the Skrill or Stripe platforms.  Full disclosure: I know nothing about either of these platforms.  Our forum host is based in Europe, so that may be why.  

As an admin, I have the ability to buy credits via PayPal, but that unfortunately does not appear to be an option for everyone else... so if you would prefer, you can message me directly and we can handle this via VenMo, PayPal or otherwise.

We currently need another 4,500 credits on top of what we have to block ads for another 12 months, or about $50....

Stripe says it is headquartered in San Francisco.  Wonder why they list denominations is Euros? And what exchange rate do they use? Currently a Euro is $1.08.

up7587 wrote:Stripe says it is headquartered in San Francisco.  Wonder why they list denominations is Euros?  And what exchange rate do they use?  Currently a Euro is $1.08.

Interesting--the link must function differently for non-Admin folks. When I looked at it last night, it took me to a different screen where I could change the denomination to US Dollars. I didn't see a lot of options to modify the setup, but I will try to research that.

Feel free to message me via the links just below the image at the top of the page above in the mean time.

Ads have been turned off until 5/9/21.

Thanks, I don't see them today.

Thank you to FloridaPilot, up7587, and DoubleDipper who all chipped in for the no-ads purchase!

Admin wrote:Ads have been turned off until 5/9/21.

And like clockwork, the ads are back on 5/9/21!!

DoubleDipper wrote:

Admin wrote:Ads have been turned off until 5/9/21.

And like clockwork, the ads are back on 5/9/21!!

...and now a day later the ads are gone again.

Thanks, Admin, does that mean we still had enough money in the bank to go another ad-free year?  

Hey, do we still have any administrators of PilotNation who log in from time-to-time?

Because if we do, someone needs to determine how to collect the money and pay the webmasters, so we don't end up seeing advertisements all over this site beginning on May 9th.

Just like in past years, I am sure there are a number of us willing to pitch-in and help, but we need an administrator to actually do the work or PilotNation will become the crap hole some of the other WCC fan sites have become.

I'm an admin, but for some reason, I don't have the ability to spend credits the way that PilotNut described things a couple of posts up.  When I log in to the admin panel and click on those links, I just get a message that says "Only the founder can access this section."

RJ - You just need the magic touch.

I just looked and ads will be back in 5 days, and the fee to block them for another year is $66.00. That can be paid to the machine behind the curtain via PayPal by me.

If a few folks want to pony up, I don't mind handling the renewal--its easy... but let me touch base with RJ first and see if he wants to do it...

I'm glad to add a few bucks to the pot. Let me know how you want to receive the money, I can do Venmo, mail cash or a check.

Ads have been removed for another year. It cost $66 for the year, and I personally paid that through Pay Pal.

If a few folks would like to contribute to help offset that cost, that would be appreciated. It would be best to shoot me a message on this site and I can share my venmo or paypal information.

DoubleDipper wrote:Hey, do we still have any administrators of PilotNation who log in from time-to-time?

Because if we do, someone needs to determine how to collect the money and pay the webmasters, so we don't end up seeing advertisements all over this site beginning on May 9th.

Just like in past years, I am sure there are a number of us willing to pitch-in and help, but we need an administrator to actually do the work or PilotNation will become the crap hole some of the other WCC fan sites have become.

It is that time of year again!!

RJ and PNut, let us know if we can help keep this forum advertisement free by sending along some donations...

StudentPilot wrote:For whatever reason, the administrators of this site have continued to allow advertising on PilotNation regardless of the fact some have said they would chip-in to defray the cost of ridding the site of advertising.

WARNING:  I have noticed that a number of the advertisers that pop-up on PN are not safe!!

Now that most of us are home just walking between the refrigerator and our devices, we want to simply "click and buy," but don't without first checking on the legitimacy of the manufacturer/seller/site.

Some of the conniving sellers are simply taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic, and anyone who shops there are at risk of sharing their credit card information and getting either fake products or nothing at all.

Come on PN administrators...get rid of the advertisements.

The pandemic may be "officially" over today, but there are still plenty of bad actors hiding behind advertisements to steal credit card info or sell fake products.

Is there is fund we can contribute to as means of getting rid of the ads?

PilotNut is looking into it.

I'm going to leave this in Rob's Jacket's capable hands.

If anyone else would like to step up and help run the place, feel free to message me and/ or RJ.

PilotNut wrote:I'm going to leave this in Rob's Jacket's capable hands.

If anyone else would like to step up and help run the place, feel free to message me and/ or RJ.

Have our administrators aged out?

What do the administrators do exactly?

If I didn't live in Puerto Rico (where I am located, we regularly go for days without internet) I would gladly pick up the duties.

There must be some 20/30 somethings on PN who would want this high paying position.

If not, someone just tell us how to get rid of the advertisements and update the WCC links.

Hey everyone!

Sorry about the delay in getting the ads gone--I have a pretty hefty ad blocker on my browser, so I didn't notice that they were back until PilotNut pinged me about it. I took care of the cost out of my own pocket, so if folks would like to help cover that, just send me a PM, and I'd be happy to share my Venmo info.

Like PilotNut mentioned, if anybody else wants to take on admin privileges, I'm happy to share them. All things considered, this is a pretty calm corner of the internet, so the work mainly consists of deleting the spam that shows up every once in a while and making sure that we keep the ads away and renew our domain name every year.

It's that time of year again...domain name renewal and whatever it takes to swat the advertisers.

RJ, I am more than pleased to pay my share to keep PN operating as a means of keeping the UP community informed.

Lately, I have been getting the notice that the website is not secure, but then it decides it is   ...scratching my head over that.

I can send money via Venmo if that's what it takes...

Count me in! Happy to help out.

Thanks for the heads up, everyone. I'll get the ads taken care of and let you know if there's any new costs this year.