Seasonal donation?

[Jools]

Hi All,

I hope all of you celebrating over the festive period have a great time and get to spend time with those you love.

It's also a time of progress on the site as I usually get a few solid days to work on it. From Ingo's seminal "Ancistrinae lecture" in the 90s, the launch of the forum itself in 2003 to the full L001-L250 index and more have all been launched at this time of year.

Anyway, the point of posting here is to please ask for any donations you feel like giving and can spare. I know not everyone can afford fish tanks and helping us out - but if you can it would be appreciated.

Official Donation Link

As they say over at Wikipedia, "if everyone who used the site this year" donated $5 we'd be clearing our annual running costs!

It's also a fantastic opportunity for me to thank all the moderators, administrators, friends, photographers, and supporters of the site who all help in their own ways. You are awesome!

So, have a great Christmas and all the absolute best for 2025!

Cheers,

Jools

[Jools]

Thank you @edds !

Cheers,

Jools

[edds]

Thank you @edds !

Cheers,

Jools

You are welcome. Thank you for all your work on the site.

Ed

[Jools]

Thank you @Yellowcat !

Cheers,

Jools

[Jools]

Thank you @TwoTankAmin - I really appreciate your continued support. Hope you have a great 2025.

Cheers,

Jools

[aquaholic]

What about a nominal fee for requests to determine individual gender? Or confirm species identification?

With appropriate disclaimers of course.

[bekateen]

What about a nominal fee for requests to determine individual gender? Or confirm species identification?

With appropriate disclaimers of course.

Lol, if only!

Happy new year!
Eric

[Jools]

It's a nice suggestion, but at our core I would like this website to remain free to use. And I mean free, once you log in, no google ads, no tracking etc. Has done for the best part of 30 years I've been running it and I'm not for changing. And, I am not sure I want to get into that world of disclaimers etc. Plus, sometimes things break and I'd prefer not to have the pressure of fixing them for paying users.

Unconditional donations, without thought of service, are more my cup of tea. It's not here to make money, but it's nice when it costs me less each month

Happy New Year all and here's to a wonderful year of catfishes!

Cheers,

Jools

[TwoTankAmin]

I would like to explain why I donate the way I do to this site.

Before I was even a member here I knew it was one of the better sources online for catfish information. I cannot count the number of times on the other forums on which I posted over the years that I have suggested somebody come here for quality information. I came here in Apr. 2008 at the suggestion of Barbie. I knew her first from Tom's Place. She was responsible for getting me started with zebra plecos in Apr. 2006. I was actually too intimidated by my small amount of experience compared to all of the experts here. It took me a while to build up my courage.

But, I knew I was sending many folks here for info because it was high quality and reliable. Moreso than the vast majority of fish sites on the net, This places is an invaluable resource which should not be lost because the bills needed to be paid. I also knew that, on any site, most of the members do not donate. So I figured I should do the best I could. I do not think Jools could manage it if folks did not donate.

But I was also lucky in that the plecos I worked with were pretty pricey and I had really great luck in breeding them. So, that made it possible to make the money from which I have donated. There are 753 pages which list the members. Some never posted. There are about 30 members/page which works out to about 22,500 members. The list of those who have donated any amount is 303 people. Even if only 1/2 of those members,11,250, have been active at some time, this means only about 2.6% of us have donated anything. So as I see it, 10,947 are taking a free ride on Jools and those who have donated.

I realize some folks cannot afford to donate much, but, if you can afford to have a tank and fish, you should be able to donate a measly $5/year. That is less than a burger and fries at BK or McDonalds.

So, please do your part help insure this place stays alive for many years to come. And here is a another good reason you should donate, it will make you feel good.

[Jools]

Thanks Chris, and here we are on 12th night at the end of the festive period! A last but certainly not least shout out to @Narelle who also came in with a great donation too.

Thanks everyone and here's to a great 2025!

Cheers,

Jools