Supporting Memberships - Frequently Asked Questions

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Summary

We have always valued the open and free nature of the Plaza and we wish to keep this vision and mission alive for all times. Becoming a member of the LotR Fanatics Plaza will remain free and all features of the Plaza will always be open to all members. Members who are willing and able to support us financially are given the opportunity to become a Supporting Member by donating a small amount of money to the Plaza as monthly subscription or by making a somewhat larger donation lasting several months. By doing so they become Supporting members signifying that they actively support the Plaza and the future of the Plaza.

The Plaza's Financials

Since its founding on January 2002 the Plaza has ever been moving to bigger and better hosting solutions to facilitate in the Plaza's amazing growth. At this moment the Plaza is hosted our dedicated dual-CPU server. Our fixed costs are the following:

• Monthly server and bandwith costs: $229.00

Since becoming our own separate site in December of 2004, we no longer have the Plaza shop income to rely on. We have moved to strictly support memberships and a very limited advertising arrangement in order to keep the Plaza on line.

How much does it cost to become a Supporting Member?

There are different ways of supporting us and you can choose for yourself how much you are willing to donate to the Plaza. At this moment we have three levels:

* Standard Supporting Membership: this is the standard entry level Supporting membership. It comes with the perks described above compared to the normal non-paying membership. It costs about $3.50 per month. * Extra Support Supporting Membership: For those who are able and willing to donate a little more. It does not come with extra perks compared to the standard Supporting membership, just the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting the Plaza. It costs about $5.00 per month. * Supreme Support Supporting Membership: For those who are able and willing to donate even more. Again it does not come with extra perks compared to the standard or extra Supporting membership, just the even greater satisfaction of knowing you are supporting the Plaza. It costs about $7.50 per month.

Where does the money go to?

The money raised by the Plaza's Supporting Membership program is used in the following ways:

• First of all the money is used to cover the costs of running the Plaza. The money will be used to pay our monthly bills of our hosting company Liquidweb as well as to pay for our domain names, and server maintenance and upgrades/patches.
• Should the program become so successful that we are able to more than cover the running costs of the Plaza then the extra funds will be used for the following: `
  1. To build up reserves for the future of the Plaza. This to ensure that even if the number of Supporting members diminishes in time we could still run the Plaza using the reserves built up when membership income was still high.
  2. To charities which can be suggested on a monthly basis by the Supporting Members and which will be decided by a vote. This will become the main purpose of the new Supporting Members-only forum. In this way the Plaza could support charities having to do with literacy, education or poverty. It is our hope that the program will become so popular that we will not only be able to safe-guard the existence of the Plaza but also give monthly donations to charities of our choice all in the spirit of J.R.R. Tolkien.

What extras do Supporting Members get?

Unlike other sites that make huge differences between their paying and non-paying members we would like to keep the differences as small as possible. Becoming a Supporting Member of the Plaza should be about your wish to support us, not to gain extra status or access to extra perks. We want to keep all members equal, being a Supporting Member does not put you above regular members and all rules still apply to Supporting Members. We understand however that we do need to offer some perks to people who contribute financially: Support Members have access to the Support Members Forum, where discussions relating to Support Membership issues are held, as well as special activities in which Support Members can participate. These are generally of an informal and entertaining nature. Regular members can only receive private messages, but may not send them. Support members can also chose to include the support member icon in their title bar.

What if I cannot pay?

As explained in the summary being a Supporting Member is totally voluntary and we totally understand if you are too young or for some other reason are not able to support the Plaza financially. You do not need to feel ashamed or feel like a lesser member in any way. Don't worry about it! All features of the Plaza are still open to you and you are in all respects equal to those who are capable to become a supporting member.

How can I pay?

We currently support PayPal payment through the major Credit Cards. For more details check the payment schedules here:

Money Orders

Click here for Money Order payments and the different payment programs we have set up

PayPal

If you have a PayPal account then this is a very easy and quick way to become a Supporting member.

What if I do not want to use a Credit Card?

With all the horror stories and tales of abuse going around, using a Credit Card online is still something that many people refuse to do. We understand that. Almost all fraud however is done by websites/companies that collect your credit card details on their own site and use that info to make withdrawals without your permission. Payment of Supporting Memberships is directly done at PayPal.com. This company is probably the best known of those that directly mediate in online credit card payments. They are the only one that stores your credit card details. They have been in the business for many years and have excellent reputations. We cannot and do not give a guarantee that you will not be a victim of fraud but we can assure you that this is about as safe as it gets. Of course we fully understand your concerns and leave the choice to you.

What if I do not have a Credit Card?

PayPal.com supports online checks which can be used by US citizens. Money orders are also accepted. We do not want you to send cash to the webmaster our of fear that such mail could get lost.

If you know someone who has a credit card then you could of course give that person cash and have him make the transaction.

We also support the retail purchasing of debit cards from the major credit card companies. These are available at many retail outlets. You simply choose the brand of card you want, and decide how much should be in your account. Pay that in cash at the register, and have the card swiped. Once you get home, one phone call activates the card, and you can then shop anywhere on the internet with it, just as you can with a regular credit card. However, these are even safer, as the only information that hackers could obtain is your current balance, and that is all that you could lose, in the unlikely event that such accounts could be hacked. Your primary financial data is completely seperate, and never becomes associated with these cards. When the account runs low, simply refill the card at any participating retailer.

How can I check my Status & Payments?

Premium Members can check all the details of their Supporting Membership details on the main page of their profile. At the bottom of their profile they can find the following details:

• The Payment transaction details. Here you can see who purchased the Support Membership and who received it. If you bought a Supporting Membership for yourself then the giver and receiver will be the same. You will also see the date and time of the transaction and what you purchased.
• The duration of your Supporting Membership. If you are using a monthly recurring payment method then this duration will be indefinite otherwise it will show the number of months you purchased in advance.
• The Public/Private setting of your Supporting Membership. If you set this to private then there will be no Supporting Member logo in your profile and your name will not be listed in our list of Supporting Members. If set to public then you will have the logo and your name in the listing.

All transaction details are only viewable by the supporting member himself/herself and the Plaza Administrators.

Why is my child asking me to do this?

The Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza is an online community made up of people from all over the world who come together to celebrate the genius of J.R.R. Tolkien and his wonderful writings. The site is administered by 34 dedicated volunteers who hail literally from every corner of the world, giving us practically 24 hour coverage against spam, pornography and other undesirable elements that all too often infect less monitored web sites. We aim to offer one of the safest Web sites available, one that is suitable for members of all ages.

Since the Plaza is a totally textual atmosphere, good writing and reading skills are vital for successful membership. Through sustained involvement in reading and responding to the written contributions of others, members frequently find their reading and writing skills enhanced. The ability to express oneself in non-verbal, textual only ways is a critical skill in today's world, and Plaza members enjoy the opportunity to improve those skills painlessly, by having fun and being creative.

Creativity and imagination are key elements of all parts of the Plaza. Role playing encourages members to assume a fictional persona, and actually think about how that character would act and react to an infinite number of situations. Unlike video games, interaction on the Plaza requires academic and scholastic skills, not just good reflexes.

Membership on the Plaza makes the world more real. Meeting and interacting with people from all over enables our members to become personally engaged with other countries, other cultures. When there is a disaster in some part of the world, our members know someone there, and world news takes on a more immediate meaning. In today's global environment, this is an incredible bonus.

The Plaza is run completely by volunteers. We are artists, teachers, managers. students, parents, and much, much more. But we are not self-sufficient millionaires. We need to come to the membership, to those that can give, to meet the expenses of the site for everyone. That is what your child is asking you to do, be part of something that we think is unique, special, and a wonderful way for Tolkien fanatics to get together and share his vision. As we say, help us keep the dream alive. And thank you.