Hello, I have a problem and I was wondering whether you could assist me, I have tried emailing Raulken but I think he probably too busy to help.

I'm one of the administrators of northernforum.forumup.co.uk, we try to specialise in providing a forum for railway staff and enthusiasts based in the UK - we have recently been giving the oppertunity to work with and donate money for a UK charity, 'The Railway Children' (Registered charity 1058991) who work with homeless children in the UK and abroard who are forced to live on railway stations. We have been giving an opperunity to have some hosting and in desperate need to have the data backup of the existing data on the forum.

Whilst money is tight we aren't able unfortunately to justify 70eur to purchase the backups, however the donation of our members have enabled us to use the ad-free service, of which we have had 70eur worth. We would therefore be looking to see if by any tiny possibility that we could be provided with the backups we so desperatly need to expand our forum and continue to raise more money for this charity free of charge. In return we would be certain to donate a further 70eur (£50) to the charity (in thanks) and we would be more than happy to promote forumup and the superb service they provide.

If you please get in contact with me directly at northernforum at googlemail c.o.m. unfortunately the admin contact with forumup is currently offline due to computer failiure.

Thankyou

James Taylor

I am sorry, but we cannot help you with that special request on this support forum. It is exclusively up to our Webmaster Raulken. I don't think he will honor it, though. ForumUp is free to use. In addition, there is no limit to how many posts or members you may have on a ForumUp forum, so it can keep on expanding.

You don't need a forum to raise money for a charity. You could use the webspace you have been donated to make a website with information, articles, etc., and give a link to your ForumUp forum. Then on your ForumUp forum, put the link to your website. On your website, put a PayPal donation button and contact info for people to mail in donations. A charity site would certainly have more than a forum.

The main reason we wish to move is that the charity are stating only adverts for them should be carried, which unfortunately means ad-free would only be lasting a week or so at a time which we cannot justify due to the charitable links we have.

Is there any chance you could pass this message onto Raulken on my behalf or provide an email address for him? I've tried emailing webmaster at forumup c.o.m and have yet not had a reply.

Thanks

James

James, I agree with Margaret in saying that the chances are limited, at best, for the reasons given.

However, Raulken is likely to get all kinds of "strange requests" to his email, and most of them in English. So, to make sure that he can single out your inquiry, and fully understand it, it could be a good idea if you have it translated to Italian. A proper translation, and not an automated online one, mind you. And with proper references to the actual charity organisation, of course.

JsT wrote:

The main reason we wish to move is that the charity are stating only adverts for them should be carried, which unfortunately means ad-free would only be lasting a week or so at a time which we cannot justify due to the charitable links we have.

I can fully understand the latter part, that you cannot justify to pay for a forum, nor to keep the ads off a forum, using charity money.

But it seems a bit strange that the charity states that you are only allowed to carry their ads, when the commercial advertising is what makes it possible for you to have an unlimited forum for free -- exactly as you need it to be.

And it even becomes strange in relation to your inquiry about a free back-up, as that back-up would be "paid for" by the very same advertisers, in a sense.

There may be legal complications that I am not aware of, but from a "policy" only point of view the whole thing seems a bit misguided, and detrimental to your charity cause, in this case.

FoxLeonard