Tokens / license

[Jachym]

Hi guys,

there is one more change which I was in a way forced to do.

I decided not to go into details or explain things in the blog, but the reality continues to be that vast majority of users ignore the fact Meteotemplate is donationware - this means it is "free to try" and if you like it, want to use it and it works for you, please contribute. I even leave it up to you to decide how much you value it.

If I only did MT for money the response Im getting is "majority of people don´t like what I do, so what´s the point".

I will of course not think that but given there is now 1000+ of you, I simply cannot do ignore this anymore. After the last update I had to make a decision - force donations upon update request, or simply quit doing this. It is taking so much time that I had to quit my part-time job to continue, not to mention the ever increasing costs for faster server to cope with the ever increasing server load. This is not for me to buy a new computer or phone, this is simply to cover the costs and time, which in a way is costs as well because I need to offset the costs for the part-time job I quit.

There is in fact no change. It has always been like this, you even agreed with this when you checked the license agreement box. The only change is that I have to be more strict about this. I feel like it would be unfair towards those who contributed to now say, you know what guys, sorry, I cannot continue. I am sure you will agree with me on that.

I am always happy to help you, but given the ever increasing number of users, there simply is more and more emails to deal with, development is now only about 25% of time I spend on the actual coding (fixes, new things).

I am well aware of the fact some people will not like this, feel pissed off and maybe even stop using the template. Im of course not happy about this, but that´s just the way it is. If things were free for me I would do things for free as well, trust me. I tried several things, I did not want to push people, but I did include it in the wiki, download page and now even the license, but unfortunately without success because the percentage of contributing users still remained largely minor, I cannot make exceptions because that would be unfair towards the other users.

Those who applied for a token will be informed about this if I do not have a record of any contribution (there has already been over 50 of you who agreed with the license, but did not satisfy all the points). Please note, in case you used a different email when using PayPal, it is possible that I do not have you paired with the donation, in such case of course let me know and I will check it.

I still believe this is a fair deal - get it for free, try it, then decide - don´t like it? Fine. Like it? Then I leave it up to you to decide how much you think it is worth - taking into account how much support you needed, how many blocks/plugins you use etc. Unfair would be to now say I cannot work on MT anymore because of lack of funds. It would be unfair towards those who helped, some even repeatedly.

Jachym

[Fraggboy]

Jachym,

Since you already have the database with the members who have donated to you, when someone asks for assistance, check the database. If they haven't donated, kindly share a link to this thread..

I understand and appreciate your hard work man!!

[John B]

I shall leave Jáchym's advertising spiel in place. After all he does deserve it given that his software is 'free' unless you choose donate a few shekels to his cause. To be honest, anyone who uses Jáchym's time, trouble and money in producing a web by site using as a construction tool the Meteotemplate system has a moral obligation to donate something, even if it's only a few bob - well, in Jáchym's case, Korunas (Kč).

That has appeared in my 'INFO' section since it was first included on my site. I stand by it. I am not a wealthy man nor even a wage earner these days; I'm a pensioner - an OAP.

So, Jáchym, I support your stance of 'no donation no upgrades'. How you can police the policy, though, I'd have to think long and deeply and, given my limitations when it comes to php, no doubt uselessly. Oh yes, I too have a donation 'button' on my site. Hundreds upon hundreds of visitors over time (not daily) and no donations.

Regards,
John