New Donation Section

[RadioRob]

A few people have reached out to me asking how they can help support the site.  I've setup a new donation section of the site that can be found in the main navigation bar of the site while logged in as a member (it's not visible to guests).  You can also find it directly at: https://www.companyofmen.org/donate/

This area includes the ability to donate both via online credit card payment OR traditional offline payments (such as cash, check, or money orders).  I've explained more about this in the donation area, but in an effort to remain discreet, I hope you'll notice I'm not asking for any sort of personal information (such as your real name, address, city, state, zip code, or phone number).  This is configured to capture as little information as possible and any transaction that occurs will show on statements simply as "RadioRob Enterprises".   Part of my day job involves managing cyber security for a large number of banks on the east coast, so all of the time setting this up was applying the same practices used by large financial companies on this site.  This includes encryption, not storing unnecessary data, setting up secure and verified API validations to the merchant provider, etc.

If there are other payment methods that would be helpful to have such as Zelle, PayPal, or Venmo...  just let me know.  I did not initially setup those options because they exposed the real name of the person sending money as well as potentially shared other information such as a phone number.  My goal was to try and keep things as discrete and non-identifiable as possible however I'm happy to support whatever people want to utilize.  

[+ MysticMenace]

22 hours ago, RadioRob said:

keep things as discrete

this is fantastic, @RadioRob - you rock! speaking of, any way we can possibly replace the 'discrete' description in The Cabana to 'discreet'? thank u in advance!

[RadioRob]

Fixed.  (That was prior to my time and survived the migration from Xenforo to IPB!)

The other references were on me.  Now ya'll know why I'm a system administrator instead of copywriter.  

[Colton]

Is there a mailing address?

[RadioRob]

2 minutes ago, Colton said:

Is there a mailing address?

Yes there is. If you use the donation link above, when you get to the payment screen just choose the “Check/Offline Payment”. It will give you the address to send via traditional mail. 

By using the system above, it lets me know to watch the mail and also allows you to get a confirmation message automatically once it’s received. 

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions as well.

Thank you for your support!  It’s greatly appreciated. 

[+ Pensant]

Works great, @RadioRob! Well done.

[+ Lucky]

Just checking here, but is this site still considered the property of Daddy's estate, or has @RadioRob taken complete control?

[RadioRob]

In talking with Orin, (who had consulted with a lawyer and a finance person) there is no plan to pursue having an estate closed.  There were no assets of value to use to justify the task.  The domain itself, etc are potential items but since we're not trying to port those and have our own domain.  At the end of the registration period for those domains once they expire, it will get added back to the available addresses to buy.  Any creditors that might exist would basically close out their accounts.  Daddy did not have a house or other assets that might be worth trying to liquidate.  

I'm going to monitor the original domain expirations and attempt to purchase them once they become "public" again.  The last part that was still outstanding was Daddy's original server (and the redirects to this site) which came down 7/1.  The server was rented month to month from a hosting company.  While we transitioned everything, we left his server online to redirect people here.  That ended at the start of this month, so we're officially on our own and flying solo. 

In terms of legalities, it's my name that is on the domain registration and other paperwork...  if something happens and the government were to come after the site, they would be showing up at my house.  However as you can see by how I operate, I don't consider the site "mine".  I may be the leader of the community, but I don't see this as something I own.  Should the day come that I need to depart, all of the access and information required to operate the site will be passed along to someone else.

I have already taken steps to document all of the critical services and tools used by this site as well as the username/passwords for everything we use.  A copy of that data exists with Cooper and should I get hit by a bus tomorrow, he has more information than what I had available to me when we started this process.    

[+ Lucky]

That's comforting information, @RadioRob I know that you are doing a good job. I just wondered where things stood legally. Bottom line is that Daddy (RIP) should have done more to protect his business.

[marylander1940]

12 hours ago, Lucky said:

That's comforting information, @RadioRob I know that you are doing a good job. I just wondered where things stood legally. Bottom line is that Daddy (RIP) should have done more to protect his business.

As much as I agree with your statement after all we've talked about daddy's passing I don't think it's time for Monday morning quaterback or coulda woulda shoulda. Daddy didn't expect to die so relatively young and so sudden, life simply happens and sometimes we're not prepared for the unexpected as others later think we should have been. 

The situation was what it was when @Orin @RadioRob and so many others saved the site. They certainly made lemonade with what they faced and we're grateful for their labor!

[+ Lucky]

1 hour ago, marylander1940 said:

They certainly made lemonade with what they faced and we're grateful for their labor!

The sugar free lemonade was a nice touch! It makes it even more fun to post here every morning. I thank those who read my posts. I know you don't have to!

[+ Coolwave35]

I’m so glad you all went the fast route and just commandeered the site for the greater community. Thank you again RadioRob. 

[+ WilliamM]

On 7/10/2021 at 1:31 AM, RadioRob said:

A few people have reached out to me asking how they can help support the site.  I've setup a new donation section of the site that can be found in the main navigation bar of the site while logged in as a member (it's not visible to guests).  You can also find it directly at: https://www.companyofmen.org/donate/

This area includes the ability to donate both via online credit card payment OR traditional offline payments (such as cash, check, or money orders).  I've explained more about this in the donation area, but in an effort to remain discreet, I hope you'll notice I'm not asking for any sort of personal information (such as your real name, address, city, state, zip code, or phone number).  This is configured to capture as little information as possible and any transaction that occurs will show on statements simply as "RadioRob Enterprises".   Part of my day job involves managing cyber security for a large number of banks on the east coast, so all of the time setting this up was applying the same practices used by large financial companies on this site.  This includes encryption, not storing unnecessary data, setting up secure and verified API validations to the merchant provider, etc.

If there are other payment methods that would be helpful to have such as Zelle, PayPal, or Venmo...  just let me know.  I did not initially setup those options because they exposed the real name of the person sending money as well as potentially shared other information such as a phone number.  My goal was to try and keep things as discrete and non-identifiable as possible however I'm happy to support whatever people want to utilize.  

Perhaps you have made it too discreet. When sending a check to Daddy, he knew my name and address. I was fine with that (in case the envelope was lost in the mail). I occasionally sent Cash, as did other members.

[RadioRob]

We can still accept traditional cash or checks via USPS mail.  There is an option to choose:

- Credit Card
- Apple Pay / Google Pay
- Offline Payment (cash/check/money order)

If you choose offline payment, it will display where to send the payment. It will also notify me so I can watch the PO Box for it to be received and allow me to acknowledge receipt privately as well. 

[+ WilliamM]

Again, I don't understand the need for so much privacy. How would a new contributor who paid by credit card be acknowledged?

As important, why would a person in your position not want to the names of the members here?

[RadioRob]

17 minutes ago, WilliamM said:

Again, I don't understand the need for so much privacy. How would a new contributor who paid by credit card be acknowledged?

As important, why would a person in your position not want to the names of the members here?

They would be acknowledged because I am notified of the username that made the donation. I don’t know anything outside of the member that did and how much. I don’t know the real name, address, phone etc. But I would see that RadioRob donated $25 for example. 

I don’t need a “real” name… the username is good enough.  By not storing Personally Identifiable Information, it reduces the risk associated with making a donation and reduces the level of security I need to apply to the transaction. (Again, I work with the banks securing their websites so I’m used to PCI standards and requirements around protecting sensitive data.)

Members that do contribute to the site are automatically placed in the Supporters member group. I also privately acknowledge each donation as well via private message. 

[RadioRob]

What’s funny is most people would be pushing me to know/store less information about them.   

I generally view this as a question of “what do I need to know in order to effectively do my job?”  If it’s a “nice to know” thing, I try to avoid collecting it as it is something at the end of the day that could potentially be targeted for theft. I do everything possible to protect our data, but the best way to protect it is to not have it in the first place. 

[+ WilliamM]

I contributed anyway - last week.

[+ glutes]

This link is not working for me:

traditional offline payments 

Any help?

[RadioRob]

5 minutes ago, glutes said:

This link is not working for me:

traditional offline payments 

Any help?

https://www.companyofmen.org/clients/donations/1-site-operating-fund/?noDesc=1

• Enter whatever amount you want.  
• It will then display a checkout page that will confirm the amount.   It will ask how do you want to pay.  Choose "Check or Offline Payment".
• Click "Place Order and Pay".
• It will display the address I pasted above. 

When you use the link and the workflow above, it automatically notifies me so I can watch the PO Box.  If it's too much of a PITA, just toss something in the mail and toss me a PM.  I'll manually track it.