I had made a rather lengthy post regarding this and I have to find it.
First of all, all the money donated is NOT going into staff or admins pocket for joy riding. It all goes into the support of the forum which the cost can range from $2500 to $3500 per year depending on several situations to maintain the cloud service and development.
SOS will never ask people to join for a fee, or to join a subscription where it is renewed once a year.
It is free to join and totally free to participate.
When SOS started in 2009, I was paying for all the server cost out of my own pocket until the day came that it seem that I had to start asking for help. It became obvious that many of you joined the request and graciously offered donations from $5 and upwards. We also have vendors that give to.
I do have a PC that it’s primary function supported by SOS that performs these functions:
1. Administration of the forum backbone software and its functions including software updates.
2. Using File transfer protocols to upload and download various programs and utilities.
3. Using File Transfer protocols to maintain the Showcase Gallery.
4. Using graphic software to crop, manipulate images sent to me for entry into the showcase gallery.
5. Researching “software add ons” to add different features.
6. To maintain our Cloud enterprise server in Los Angeles, CA.
7. To communicate with engineers at cloud services for functionality problems.
8. Plus much more and NO, I do not get any monetary compensation for any of this. Some of these functions cost several hours of my time behind the scenes. And again, I have never been compensated financially for any of these activities.
So there is my responsibility and transparency.