<-- That button

Keith Adams

AROnline
AROnline - that annoying 'Donate' button...

THE MORE OBSERVANT regular readers will have noticed that there’s a ‘Donate’ button in the menu pane on the front page of the AROnline website. For the past ten years we’ve been growing this site, making it bigger and more invaluable, turning out what I hope is the definitive online resource for future generations curious about the death of the indigenous British motor industry.

It’s taken masses of time, but I’m determined to carry it on, adding content from Ford and Vauxhall, as well as from the specialist manufacturers, such as Jensen, Marcos and TVR. It all takes time and effort and, with my work on Octane continuing to preoccupy me, finding time to concentrate on AROnline is becoming increasingly difficult.

We’ve had lots of help along the way and the site wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as it is without the help of volunteers such as Declan Berridge, Alexander Boucke, Brian Gunn, Ian Nicholls, Clive Goldthorp, Andrew Elphick and Mike Humble et al.

It’s always been free – and I believe that the Internet should remain free at all points of contact – and there are no joining fees for the forum or premium content. What you see is what you get. You have your say, if you find errors and omissions, you’ve always been happy to email and let me know how to put it right. That, after all, is how the Internet works…

Hopefully you’ve had years of enjoyment, too.

That brings me back to that button on the left. I’ve added a ‘Donate’ option to AROnline as a way for you to show your appreciation for all the work we’ve put in over the years. The pennies that we gather can be ploughed back into the site and help give us resources to develop the community aspect of AROnline that I have criminally overlooked over the past few years.

You don’t have to, of course, and I won’t think the worse of you for ignoring this one. Times are hard and money is tight. However, if you come away from reading this thinking that you would like to help, please do email me and we’ll find other ways you can contribute. We’ll always want to see your cars, hear your recollections and appreciate your experiences…

Keith Adams

16 Comments

  1. When I click the link I get an empty white screen which says “fatal failure”. Honest!
    But, assuming it gets working again, it would be useful to know what the going rate is for people to make a donation. It’s not a concept I’ve come across before and I have no idea a) what the running costs are for a site like this are and b) how many users it has who might be expected to make a contribution.

  2. Hi Wilko,

    Thanks for your comments. Do you mean when you click the link on the Blogs page or the button itself on the menu? If it’s the latter, I may have fixed the problem (although I never have one here… you are the third person to mention ‘fatal failure’ to me).

    If you refresh the homepage (probably best to do Shift & F5), it should be okay. I think I have fixed the problem by creating my own link to Paypal, rather than using the one they supply. That issue looked browser specific (are you using Internet Explorer?) so by creating my own, it *might* be fixed.

    In answer to your questions 🙂

    The running costs aren’t huge in terms of hosting, but in terms of time and development costs, they are. There is not any expectation from me in terms of how much to give or how many people might be expected to do so… As the Tesco advert says, ‘Every little helps’.

  3. Another idea to raise cash could be to develop advertising on the site. I have noticed one or two ads, but there must be lots of MGR specialist garages across the country who would love to reach the unique enthusiast audience that this site attracts.

    I realise that selling advertising is time consuming and possibly impractical for that reason, but how about using the site’s community to help? For example, you could produce a standard letter which forum users could download and print off and, then when they go to their local place, they could hand it over and give them the sales pitch. Ok, maybe a bit outlandish, and I’m not saying such an approach would yield amazing results, but it could be worth a shot…

  4. Wilko,

    It sort of helps. In other words I remain baffled. Could you try refreshing the homepage again and trying the link on the menu, please? This is the code that Paypal supplied, and I have no idea what to do if that doesn’t work…

    Bugger!

    Regards
    Keith

  5. It’s slightly different but, sadly, not much of an improvement. What happens now is that, instead of opening a new window, the menu bar goes white and has the words “fatal failure”.

  6. Hi Wilko,

    How about now? I’ve found out by Googling that these buttons don’t work in a frame as standard (sorry, this site is still out of the ark in that respect), but by adding another commend to eBay’s code, that seems to sort the problem.

    If you could do a refresh – again – and let me know what happens, that would be most appreciated.

    Regards
    Keith

  7. Thanks Wilko. Apparently, it’s down to the latest update of Internet Explorer 8, but at least it’s sorted now. Seems my timing was impeccably bad as usual!

    /K

  8. Yes, I have enjoyed this site for many years but, of late, it is certainly becoming less “AR”.

    The JLR and MG news updates are good. I suppose, though, most fresh AR or BL etc. material must be getting thin on the ground now as so much is already covered quite excellently and comprehensively on this site. However, do we want “Ford” and “Vauxhall” here too?

    So were I to “donate” to an online resource for British motor heritage, I would wish it to stay that way as there are plenty of other sites on the net for other marques.

    Perhaps, of course, we would be contributing to a new photoshop package for yet more “mock”-ery?

    Martin

  9. Hi Martin,

    A good point. And one that’s worth looking into. I’ve certainly not inundated this site with Ford and Vauxhall stuff, but have added a few pieces as I think they make great context for what I’ve been doing over the years. The point about other sites, is kinda not true – I’ve never been able to find good development histories of stuff like the Cavalier and Cortina online. Happy to be stand corrected though – as it’s less work for me…

    I’m constantly digging out new ARG stuff, though. The lead story on today’s front page should be evidence of this and I have another scoop coming very soon – just waiting on those pics 🙂

    But there’s no obligation nor expectation to donate, and I am sorry if it looks that way.

    /K

  10. @Keith Adams
    @Martin

    The other point, from what I can see, is that the addition of stuff about Ford, Vauxhall, Rootes, etc, has not been at the expense of all the BMC>MG content. It’s all been a additional bonus which you can take or leave at your pleasure…

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