I was just reading Doug's post about what goes on BEHIND THE SCENES AT RETOUCH PRO (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3824) and realizing yet again what an amazing place this is.

I'm thankful to have found it, and even more thankful to have been invited to be a working part of it.

On November 21st, six months will have passed since the last donation drive. It will also be one week before we celebrate Thanksgiving and begin the holiday season here in the US.

I can't think of a better time to show Doug how thankful I am for this site, and to try and help make the holiday season here at RetouchPro a bit more special.

I intend to send an extra $5 to Doug on November 21st to help support the site.

With more than 2 months to prepare, an extra $5 won't be too hard to scrape together. I hope you'll all join me in showing Doug how much we appreciate all he's done here!

Do I have any takers? :D

I think you'll have a lot of takers. :)

Ed

RetouchPRO is high on my list of things to be thankful for, and $5 is a small price to pay for the hours/days/weeks of informative, friendly interaction I've shared in this last year.

Count me in.

Jim

I'll gladly double that for a very low cost education.
Whats the game plan for sending it in so it all arrives in a big armored truck?

Count me in too!

Jak, will you remind us again closer to the date?

Thanks, Margaret :) :)

On the main menu, select SUPPORT.

Count me in, too.

Me too! (me also?).

You always have my support. :)
DJ

Originally posted by winwintoo
Jak, will you remind us again closer to the date?


You bet! Thanks everyone... :D

Hey, we've got a long way to go. There'll be many more!

Ed

Originally posted by Ed_L
Hey, we've got a long way to go. There'll be many more!

Ed

I know you're right, Ed :)

Only 2 months to go! Plenty of time to save up your pennies and support RetouchPRO. Hey, $5 isn't much...

As of right now, RetouchPRO has 889 members. If everyone sends Doug $5, that'll be $4,445!!

That'd keep us going for a while.

(wouldn't it be cool if everyone did?)

I just asked Chris to rename this thread to something a little more "noticable" than my original name - which was "Thank You!"

Love that Brit sense of humor...!!

Thank you, Chris - good one!

Originally posted by Jakaleena
I just asked Chris to rename this thread to something a little more "noticable" than my original name - which was "Thank You!"

Love that Brit sense of humor...!!

Thank you, Chris - good one! New name appears at the top of the page when you get here, but still says thank you when you do a search for new posts. Just sew yew know.
:wavey:

Rarely use the new posts link but Turn Out... appeared in my search.

Turn out appeared in mine too. I thought it was a new thread.

Ed

It appears in MINE now. Maybe I just caught it as it was being changed or something.
:wavey:

count me in for a $5 donation, I just love this site, how do I send it from NZ?do you take cheques?

Cool Peter! Thanks!

Just click on Support on the popout menu to find out how to send your donation

:) :) :) :) :)

Always happy to do my share! What a great site this has turned out to be. First "met'"Doug on the Adobe Photoshop forum which was my "must visit" link every day. He very kindly helped me with some problem I was having. Anyway, hate to admit it, but my visits there are fewer and fewer. What's nice about this site is that it just isn't technical knowledge one finds here. What an informative, well rounded group of members!

Paulette

Just popping this back to the top for those who might not have seen it yet.

There are a lot of regulars on the site who's names aren't here on the pledge list yet.

If you haven't already, speak up now and make your commitment to support RetouchPRO in the upcoming donation drive.

It's worth at least $5 for all you get from RetouchPro - right? :)

If it wasn't worth $5.00 every so often, I wouldn't have been here for as long as I have. That's a pretty small price to pay for the pleasure of giving so many people bad advice. :D

Ed

I think I owe $5. Thanks to John Opitz.:)

Count me in!! (but it's gonna take a while since it's coming by snail mail again)

- David :)

Wouldn't miss it. :)
You people are worth your weight in gold when it comes to generosity. :) I'm thrilled to be part of such a wonderful group. :)
DJ

you can count me in but i am in the uk what currancy do you want :(

Kelvin -

Just click Support on the popout menu to find out how to make your donation...

And THANKS!

That donation thing couldn't be easier or quicker ... especially if you've already got an account with Amazon :)

Thought I responded weeks ago - doesn't look like it though. Of course I'm in! More than $5 for me though, since I've learned more from this site than all my other learning sources put together, I think!

Jeanie

Count me in for $5.00.

Sharon:)

We've added 120 new members since this thread started (1009 now - Wow!) and there's just a little over a month left until the big day, so I'm popping this back to the top to remind everyone about the upcoming donation drive...

Another 41 new members have joined us since the last reminder I posted, and we're down to 28 days to go on the donation drive, so I'm just bringing this back to the top...

Just another reminder - only 16 days to go!

One thing I'd like to bring up. When I donated the first time to RetouchPRO, I was a little embarrased because my debit card was not honored until we updated our information.. Turns out that my wife had her card stolen, and we forgot to update the card number at Amazon.com. So if you've had reason to get a new card, be sure that your new number is listed as the active card number.

Ed

Thanks for this reminder, Jakaleena. I'm new here but really value the information, the comaraderie and inspiration. I'm sending my early Christmas present to Doug today.

Everybody ready??

We're down to just one week left to go.... :)

ooh nice timing, I get paid next week :thumbsup:

- David :)

I'll be travelling next week so I jumped the gun and sent my small donation off today.

Thanks to Doug, the Moderators, and all the members who make this the most worthwhile site on the Internet.:)

Jim

OK, it's about 20 more minutes until the 21st officially arrives. But I'm going to bed, so I put mine in early.

Ed

It's officially November 21st, and I've made my payment.

Thanks again, Doug, for establishing such a great place to learn, practice, share and enjoy! :wavey:

well, you'll have to wait for my donation to come the old fashioned way (Snail mail) once again Doug, but you WILL get it, I promise!!

- David :)

Mine will be in the mail today! I decided to send about as much as a Photoshop book costs, since I've learned more from this site than I have from all of my books put together!

Thanks Doug! :D
Jeanie

I sent mine. :) Worth every penny. :)
DJ

Is Nov. 21st always the date of the donation drive? Is that mentioned somewhere for new members? First I heard of it, but I sent a donation this past summer shortly after I joined, since I was so happy this place exists and want to make sure it continues to exist and grow. :)

Phyllis

Phyllis, this particular drive was sparked by Jak's post at the beginning of this thread:

Info about current donation drive (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3835&perpage=10&pagenumber=1)

Doug will allow us to donate any day, any time. :)

Always happy to do my share for this site. In my opinion, its become the premier site for photo restoration and assistance on the web. Thank you to everyone involved with the site for your hard work and generousity.

Paulette

I sent mine today.


I didn't know I could contribute anytime. Had I known I would have given earlier.

Tony

Well, I just found this thread. Guess I should explore more than I do. Sent in my contribution just now.

Talk about value for money, I'm in as well............

I'm sure Doug takes Euros, Sterling (come on you Brits, cough it up):tongue: Travelers Cheques, Krugerrands (one can hope) as well as the Almighty Dollar.
How many of you bought a $6-7 magazine last month? well for this month pick up a copy of Retouchpro and do us all a favor.

Sláinte

This place is pure gold ... I think my gold card is the proper card to use. :) My hat is off to Doug and all of the moderators that assist. Thank You.

Just wanted to bring this thread up to the top again -- in case anyone forgot to send in their donation to keep this site up and running.

Thanksgiving is a great time to remember just how thankful we are to have RetouchPro as a place to learn, practice skills, share stories, tips, and new artwork, and chat with folks who understand and share our passion.

Just click on "Support" on the menubar (navigation bar).

A bit late, but I hope I'm still within Jak's week ;)

BTW, Jak & Greg C have been very quiet in the last while :confused:

Not sure about anyone else here, but at this time of the year, Jak is one extremely busy girl.

You probably won't be seeing much of me at all until January sometime. I've been checking my forum for necessary maintenance a couple of times a week, and even had time the other day to play in the Help Requested forum, but having that much time available in one lump chunk was just a really nice fluke... :)

For those of you keeping track, this donation drive has brought in about $200 so far. Thanks to all of you who helped out by donating!

Here's what Doug has had to say about the cost of running RetouchPro. As you can see, there needs to be a lot more support offered...

Our current server costs approx. $350/year. Each 10meg of hd space over our alotted 550meg will cost $10/month (yes, that's per month). There are cheaper services out there, but as I said in an earlier post, none more reliable, and that's the most important thing.

I'd like to move us onto our own dedicated server, but to do that properly would be $2000/year or more. That would give us 100% of the hd to do with as we please. As it stands, we share a server with a few hundred other sites.

There are also recurring licensing fees for the various programs that make up the different sections of the site. New software to add features is done basically on a spare funds basis (if there are spare funds, we add features).

And if everyone donated $1/year we'd be more than halfway to our dedicated server. However, most of our funds come from repeat donations from the same dozen or so kind users.

We make zero money from the t-shirts, etc., but no one buys them anyway. We've sold a grand total of 8 shirts, 1 coffeemug, and zero mousepads.

Thank you, Chuck.

Donations are always gladly accepted at any time of the year/month/day/night... :D

1190 people have subscribed as members here, but only about half have EVER posted on the site. Of those, half have only posted once or twice. Many people come and go: groups of students assigned to do one or two Challenges, people with a particular problem image or computer question that they need one-time help with, the occasional huckster who drops in just to try to sell their product, etc. Other folks visit seriously, and find that we're not the right place for them -- not artistic enough, not chatty enough, etc.

There are fewer than 50 members who have posted regularly within the last month or so (if my calculations are reasonably accurate). It's those 50 of us that are likely to help keep the site running. Not every person would be willing, and not every willing person would be financially able to contribute regularly. Some people contribute their fair share and more by the information and assistance that they post for the rest of us.

So that brings us to YOU and ME. I'll help. Will You? :nod:

Well said CJ.

I was a bit late, but my money is on the way,

Take care, Margaret