Major Changes to Waygook Downloads

[siamagoo]

Why is everyone nagging about donations all of a sudden? Is this site suddenly being run for profit? Surely the whole point of this is a place for everyone to post lesson plans and help each other out, thats all?

Probably because running websites like this cost money. The owners have to pay for things like bandwidth. 20TB is a huge amount of traffic, so I really doubt donations are going to line someone's pockets.

These are both excellent points. Maybe there could be some transparency about where this money is going? I just assume that $2500 is the cost of running a site like this, but I am also very gullible. 

[leo.dk]

I agree 10$ is absolute nothing for a years worth of resource. If you don’t like posting any thing or don’t have the time to do so, I will say pay the 10$. It took somebody a lot of hours to design these ppt and worksheets

[rjsinger]

I'm really sad about the new changes because they hurt the people who need it most - new teachers. I would much rather see a donations-based scheme, but that hasn't worked out.

So really, what's so taxing about throwing in your $10? Are you really so hard up? Do you not believe that the resources here are worth it? Are you just laying low hoping someone else will pay the fee because you want to save up for beer money?

So, come on, I know you're all painfully honest about your personal habits (see confessions of a Waygook), so how 'bout you fess up - what's been holding you back?

None of the above. I need a bank transfer option! Isn't that the number one way to do business with foreigners in Korea?

[hunterst]

Why not have users post the files for free on websites like yousendit.com or media fire and just post the download link on Waygook?  problem solved.

[fudoose]

I gotta be honest I don't think the bloke who owns this site is ever gonna make enough money from donations to break even.

Adverts have gotta be the way to go, I'm pretty sure nobody would mind having a recruiters page setup, the way this site is going it's gonna have more traffic than Dave's (prob does already), Waygook is such a quality product the owner deserves to make some money from it.

[beehappy1986]

I don't have a paypal account and I don't have the internet at home. It's too risky setting up an account at work as it's a unsafe network I've started putting my lesson plans online now though

[sheila]

No one is making money off this site... if anything, it's the opposite.  Our web admin guy has been fronting the cost basically and getting a bit of money from people clicking on advertisements.  As the site has grown, the monthly cost was around that of a luxury car payment.  This last month it was probably a mortgage payment. 

As a previous poster has said, nothing in life comes for free. To have the service available, we need to have some contributions. With that being said, it would be great if people stop worrying about getting their five and just contribute a little.  A little from a lot of people goes a long way to keeping all you waygooks happy.  What if we couldn't pay the bills for a month and the site was shut down? People would start freaking out all over Korea.  Keep in mind, we all know how much this site means to everyone because we use it too.

[bedheadredhead]

Why aren't I donating? Because I am new and I am not going to spend half an hour of my time fighting with paypal to get an account set up to donate 10 bucks just yet. At least let me get some use out of the website first! Also, I have my student debts to worry about...that's the reason why I'm here. Give me a couple of months and paychecks, let me get some use of the site and then I'll look into it. I really don't think critisizing other people's alcohol consumption is going to help the cause and you don't know people's financial situation.  Really how people choose to spend their money is a private matter. That being said it does look like the moderators put alot of work into this website so donating is something I will look into.

[kneezah]

I also like to see it as an option... To dontate $$s or to contribute work.  Personally I would prefer to just dontate things I have made.  It's a lot simpler than trying to set up a Paypal account.  When barryfunenglish.com when pay or contribute I also opted to contribute.  Yes, running a site like this cost money... Yes, it's a valuable resource...  I'd also like to think contributing quality work is on par with contributing .83 cents a month^^   

[siamagoo]

@Siamagoo: The only "big change" I've seen is the five post requirement. Is it really that difficult to share your opinion on something on waygook.org's various forums five times? How would that prevent new teachers from accessing downloads so much that it would hurt them? If you read the FAQ thread created by a mod closely, you'll notice that there is no requirement for each of the five to include uploaded powerpoints. You just can't post a single smiley or useless things like, "Yeah, me too." though I have been seeing more and more of the latter. XP

So you're saying the mods have made a pointless barrier that's easily worked around and  clutters up the message boards while doing nothing to solve the real problem?

But yeah, I read the FAQ thread. Personally, I wouldn't have felt comfortable posting a "me too  " when I first joined this site.

[Alfie]

This is such a valuable site to all of us, $10 for a year really doesn't sound all that bad...ughh, wish I had a credit card 

[margidaisy]

i would love to donate, i find waygook indispensable. and i understand that htere are costs involved so it's really great that it's free. however i don't have a credit card or paypal or anything like that (i'm south african).
if there was a korean account i could transfer to i would do so in a heartbeat.
make it happen?

[Davey]

if you this site a lot for teaching materials and ideas and want to donate but aren't really sure of the amount, one thing is to consider how much time you saved and stress you possibly prevented by using this site.

donations are great, but are unable to for whatever reason, please at least click on the ads every time you login to this site.

you also don't need a credit card, but you do need paypal as far as i know. you can link your home country's bank account to your paypal account, but obviously need to have money in your home bank account to donate.

[bigbino]

  sounds good..love the site..very helpful

[SmileySam]

hehehe "yeah me to"

No seriously - I would totally donate if I could, but I have no credit card. I will promise from here on out to click on the ad links though

[Wretchard]

Maybe posts could have one of those review buttons asking "was this post useful: yes / no,"  with a minimum number of "yes's" required for a free membership ?

Yeah I was thinking having a "like" button similar to facebook so people could "like" a certain ppt... then some people would probably avoid the ones not so "liked."

[flasyb]

I think the number of people suddenly posting so that they can get up to their 5 posts clearly shows how much they need this site to get their lessons from. If they didn't need it, they wouldn't have bothered posting their 5. It's a great site and I love it. I look forward to the day when I move to my new school building and can start using the ppts that people make, learn the craft and make my own. They look great!

[shhowse]

I don't mind the change, as I was wondering how you benefitted from a site like this anyway.  But I too am a little bit confused about the amount of posts.  Is it 5 posts/per download of 5 total?

Just five total posts, not per download. I see that you are sitting at 7 posts as I type this so you should already b in the clear and now classified as "lesson plan worthy".

[talitavangraan]

I agree - I don't have a credit card and if you put up the Korean account number, I would pay immediately and monthly!

[Waygookingumisi]

This is awesome idea it's very cheap, in my mind tho I think this site will become more popular it might become a pay site, but for now lets keep it this way, great idea and still keeping it available at a small price, good job