This forum was created almost 21 years ago.
When we began, the idea was that each member would have equal ownership by paying a one-off “subscription” to join. This money was used each year to cover hosting costs and was expected to continue in this way indefinitely.
Naturally the hosting costs have risen during that time and to partially offset this, I slightly increased the membership payment a couple of times.
However, we now face a predicament.
The hosting cost last year was US $187. This is due again in October but there is currently only 98 Euros (US $111) left in the PlaymoFriends account resulting from a gradual but quite severe drop in the number of people registering year on year.
16 people joined in 2024, 9 in 2025, and there has only been 4 so far this year. The registration fee is 7.50 euros but PayPal takes a 72 cent fee each time. It’s easy to see that the one-off payment system is no longer sufficiently funding hosting costs. We have been lucky up to this point because we were drawing on money received during the earlier “boom” years.
It was always thought that donations would not be required to fund the forum, but I’m beginning to realise that might be the only way to keep it going. Advertising banners could be an option too, but I’m not sure how difficult that is to set up and whether it would raise enough money to help.
