There are many expenses that come with running this site, and as the popularity of EQTC grows, so do the costs. It is no longer feasible for us to pay for the costs by ourselves, so we're asking for the help of those in the community who are able to contribute. (FYI: All of the first two years, including domain name registrations, EZBoard fees, software and hardware costs were covered by the DenMother and House Ogre. Since December 2001, we've accepted donations, but they do not cover the growing costs of running this site.) While we're thrilled that the site has become so popular, the surge in traffic is really starting to cost money, especially now that it's become so costly to keep the message boards free of ads. (Not to mention a solid 60-80 hours a week of combined time from the DenMother and the House Ogre while the database is being built/developed.)

We really DO want to keep the boards ad-free, and continue to develop the tradeskill database that will make recipe and supply hunting much easier, but we cannot do it without the support of the community.

Currently, we have only the one method for donating to the site, though we may work out a second alternative for those of you who have problems with Paypal accounts for any reason:

Paypal - donations go directly to the DemMother to help cover the new hosting costs, message board costs, software/hardware expenses, etc. If there's any left over (there usually isn't), it will go to cover things for Niami like asprin, chocolate, massage therapy, ... and hair color to hide the grey hairs that the site has caused ... consider it her "pay" for the amount of work put into this site. ;)