I am not to concerned about how the donations are made, so long as they go to the project and not peoples private pockets. Not accusing anyone here by any means, but I have seen it before in other places.
As far as having a dedicated donations spot, I think that would be great. One pool for everthin to go into. If you get 10 people putting 10 dollars in per month, thats just enough to slide by on a decent dedicated host. In addidtion to that, If we wanted to to Ad's, I am not opposed to that. I find absolutley nothing wrong with it, so long as people dont abuse them like they have in the past.
As far as giving a donor special status, there isnt a whole lot to do. I dont want someone putting in 10 dollars only to have the abilty to ask stupid questions so that idea to me wouldnt be a good one. Stupidity does not come at a price. I did not get that 10 dollars J.Smith put in, why should I have to answer his questions regarding wether or not I can send him my
eqgame.exe client.
Things like matt said, like avatars, diffent color names on boards, and possible a little notation(picture, subtitle, ect...) to let people know that that person contributs to their pleasure is a great way to do it. Sourcefourge has the little gear things to indicate dontaions, level of donations ect.. so we could have something like that.
Anyhow, I really dont have much room to speak, as I am technically only a member for around a month now(not including quite a few years ago) so maybe I shouldnt speak.
I just know this, I am going to try to help, any way possible. I love the project, although I dont play a lot of EQ anymore, but the things that people have done here I have much respect for. I dont want it to die, or become a limited little offset that doesnt have anything but a 4 year old release of the emu and absolutly no one moderating the forums.
Blah blah blah, I could go on for days. Oh look candy.........
-------Edit------
Furthermore, I just though of a cool feature if this would be possible. I know not with the current time frame, but something we could work out once we are in the clear again. The abilty for anyone to see the current donation amount that has been put in. SoD has the little light indicator, with could be just a load of ****, but something like that. Like a link that goes to the donation page for donating, and on it it would say
Code:
Current Donation Pool : $325.95
I think that would be a awesome feature so we know how much is in there at all times and we can dontated to a specifc level if need be, or heaven forbid, J.Smith decided that he was going to take $200 for gas money. We would still have enough for the server to keep moving, so who would be the wiser that he did that.