voxspace wrote:Where is the small "donate" button?
Hm, Ads and donations could allow to accelerate the project..
new host, prizes for best packs, etc.
I've received donations for quite awhile now. They've always been used in ways that would directly benefit the community which sent them to me in the first place (directly though paying for my hosting and indirectly by helping to fund computer upgrades which make my work easier).
Regarding hosting, I've been quite happy with Dreamhost since I switched to them nearly a year ago (I actually have to renew the hosting agreement at the end of the month). They've been reliable and their service has always been good.
The only question is if you want to go this way. It would higher a lot the energy flow here. I mean your time spent on the project as well as M$s attention, as they might not be ok with their msupdate site loosing popularity drastically.

, I highly doubt the relatively small number of people downloading my pack is going to make any noticeable impact on the traffic to MS' servers.
Or maybe you can continue to improve the output (development) as well as not preventing some input for you ($s).
Here's the thing, I am first and foremost a full time student (for the next year anyway) and a husband (and a cat owner...damn
attention whore that she is

). My MSFN-related work is a hobby to me, not a job or a profession. If you were to add up all the donations I've received since I first started accepting them and compared that to the number of hours I've spent on this project, you'd find that I'm making at most pennies an hour. Which is fine by me seeing as how I do this for the enjoyment of doing it (though I'll admit sometimes it feels more like a job). As long as the whole project is self-sufficient (donations keep the site alive), I'm happy. Anything on top of that is gravy (and much appreciated).
Another issue that comes up with making things more "professional" is that with the exchange of money, there's generally an implied sense of warranty as well. Quite frankly, I don't have the time or the resources to provide professional-quality support. That's what the forums are for. Donations make it clear that money being sent is being sent freewill with nothing expected in return.
RogueSpear wrote:<snip>
What he said
hp38guser wrote:I think the project needs more documentation. It's very difficult to translate the pack right now.
I agree, but as I've said before, I have barely the time to do all of this right now as it as. I have
requested help in the past in creating a translation guide, but nobody has taken me up on it.