News Comment:

SWEET BABY LUNA TELL ME THIS IS TRUE!! 😭 So many have been waiting so long 😢

I really hope there's a crowdfund! And Keith coming back to Subeta full-time for a while is exciting as well! :O

Never thought I'd see the day, how long were they maintaining they didn't wanna crowdfund? I guess "time to think about it" isn't the same as "we're doing it" and I really hope someone can help keith with like, a goals roadmap because it feels like kumos has been nebulous at best.

This is only mildly bizarre considering Keith launched Kumos literally 5 months ago? xD Was kumos not created thinking about the future of the site?

Idk sorry I'm just in a nitpicky/details mood, I just finished filing taxes lmao. I guess I'm just along for the ride, setting my expectations at zero and willing to stick around and see where we go from there.

I say this as someone who hasn't canceled their subscription in like two years so I guess I'll kick something towards it anyway.

When you can't rely on people buying CSC with PayPal for almost a year because...it's just broken, a fundraiser gets considered more seriously.

well i'm stupid so i'm gonna ask a stupid question. why is a fundraiser more enticing than just buying CSC? because some people can't buy CSC because of paypal, etc? (not trying to diminish that as a reason - just wondering if that is the only reason) or because the funds raised would be going towards the progress of a specific thing? :0

It could let people donate less than $5 USD. Maybe you can't do $5 but you could do $2. It's nice when you're on the wrong side of conversion.

I wonder if it's also a tax reason. IIRC buying CSC is marked as goods and services, maybe this would just be donations?

Paypal has been nice to me, even internationally, for over a decade. Including the latest uses between myself and an artist in Germany. Had absolutely no issues. I have a poster resolution commission piece now of two characters I adore (and have had me by the throat for almost four years straight.)

To say that Paypal is having issues is kind of an exaggeration. I maintain that Subeta just doesn't want to deal with the math of adding tax because of it being what's meant to be a full-fledged business vs my art commission. I still say it's a relatively lazy excuse but it's not my site or business, just my opinion.

And STILL, I also agree that there needs to be more than USD options and support. A fundraiser, in whatever way it turns up, won't raise many funds otherwise.

Presumably, wouldn't using an existing fundraising site like GoFundMe ensure that they have all of the payment options taken care of?

And to attempt to answer your question, hypothetically, , a fundraiser would set a very specific short-term money goal to reach a particular, predetermined goal. Ideally, this is very well organized and planned and tackles some kind of major problem or roadblock. For example, the site is on a skeleton crew and we've heard about the need for a lot of Subeta to be reprogrammed. So they could plan that for example, if they make $40k, that's enough to hire a programmer for the next year to tackle that problem. That's not something that is going to happen with people buying CSC day to day, even if we could get Paypal to work properly. Tbh I'm kind of skeptical we could raise that much now, as opposed to maybe the pre-pandemic userbase and a bigger team. Idk, I'm interested to see how this plays out.

I 100% support the idea of a fundraiser to get the original site code updated!

From what Keith has said, it's a larger and more expensive undertaking than they thought it would be. If the code could be modernized it would resolve a lot of the little hiccups folks encounter, and it would mean the staff could start from an updated base to make changes based on user feedback. Continually improving the site based on feedback is a huge part of keeping and adding to the user base! If the OG site is updated, the two additional sites aren't really needed (though sure, Kumos could be used to trial stuff offsite still if that's what they want to do!). That means the full focus can shift back to here, which would be helpful especially since it's a small crew.

I wonder if there are folks on the site who work in a professional capacity that would be helpful, like a consultant for project planning or a coder or things like that? Maybe that would give us an in to some "donated" or lower cost assistance!

I think it could also be helpful to have a updated list of feedback on certain things going into the recoding, so any specific or popular ideas for changes can be included in the rewrite. I know it's a long project, but wow is it worth it in my mind! I mean, I've been on Subeta for 17 years and it's a pretty big part of my current self care work (who knew a pet site could mean so much to people) so I would be heartbroken if it went away and am down to do what I can to help it thrive in the years to come!

I'm all for a fundraiser if there's something that can be done to make a new plot. That's what we really need. A new plot. Something to get people to log in.

If subeta wants to do a fundraiser, I support it. I think it's good it's being considered. I can see the apprehension about doing one as it then means there has to be a deliverable product and the pressure is then super high, but I suppose, I don't think subeta will have a proper chance of developing without it, and at the very least, it covers basic operational costs for the foreseeable future. I think a lot of us that have stuck by are realistic and chill and just want the site to continue existing.

Yes, that's so true. I would really love for this site to keep chugging forward.