ukamikazu

APE Supporter Membership Drive all in one!

Ladies and Gentlemen,
You may have noticed that a precious small handful of us have a badge above our avatars that says, "ape supporter" and our handle in either bronze, silver or gold. If you click that badge it takes you to a page explaining what this means and how you can get one of your own. This service was recently enabled as a way of encouraging us to support our home here at AquaticPlantsEnthusiats.com.

As you all well know, Orlando is very different from many on-line vendors in that he not only tries to wisely market truly excellent products but culture the users of those products as well as attract the right kind of people to the hobby by being friendly, responsive and willingly sharing the waters of the deep well that is his knowledge and experience, and he gives that away for free to anyone who asks. That is the secret of his success.

With the rigors of raising a family and trying to run a business, it would not be incorrect to empathetically presume that maybe this forum could be an albatross around his neck. The cost of hosting, server hardware, storage, security, bandwidth and subscription based technical support add up and only increase with time. When I paid for my Gold level supporter subscription, I got a little something out of it, in fact I got a lot if you look at what you get on the page that describes the various membership levels, but I got so much more than that.

I received the prestige of being a supporter and I know that my portion of all these wonderful services in this truly remarkable community are covered. I know that I make a difference. It also encourages Orlando to keep doing even more of all the wonderful things he gives us, which he would still give us even without our support, but showing that you really mean it, putting your money where your mouth is, is real appreciation for this exceptional place given to us by this exceptional man.

$29.99 per year is not that much to ask but I know times are tough right now for everyone and this is the perfect time when we should be the most charitable and demonstrate the greatest solidarity. If 30 bucks a year is too much, and it can be nowadays, we understand, then there is also Silver level membership for $19.99 a year and even Bronze membership for $9.99. I'm afraid this isn't tax deductible, but for such small amounts, why would that even matter? Not eat dinner out one night, buy that new CD next pay check or watch a DVD you already own on a Friday night instead of going to the matinée at your local cinema. Skipping out on one of these things sometime in the next two weeks will easily cover your preferred membership level for a whole year. It's easy and satisfying. It's a good thing to do, but the beauty of it and this place is you don't have to either. I'm reminded of a holy man who described the perfect organized faith as one that truly believes, encourages and upholds this as its only dogma: All should; None must; Those that can, aught.

These monies could also allow for further expansion of services, better technology and more if we but ask, but asking with your APE Supporter membership can make this more of a reality.

You've heard of managing your carbon footprint? Well think of this as a way of also managing your data footprint. Every little bit helps us here.

ukamikazu

"Yeah, I like APE, but what about my other forum memberships on older, more established boards?" That's a good question. I have a membership on those forums too and they are helpful, even venerable institutions by any definition. Here is what I get out of APE that makes me call it home and want to be an active part of the community:

1. It's a small, cozy, intimate community where Orlando makes constant appearances so I never want of his attention when I need it. Personally, I've never cared for large crowds with their sometimes strange politics, group dynamics, cold comforts and occasional cults of personalities. And I never had to pay Orlando or stroke his ego in the first place. I was made welcome my first day, which is just about a year ago now and Orlando didn't even know me from a bar of soap at the time.

2. All of the information collected here and the advice given is absolutely free. To anyone at anytime. No special sub-forums that you have to pay extra to see the content, never mind if it is useful or not or even in terms that you can understand.

3. As time goes on, a lot of information that you have to do some serious googling on is being aggregated here. This process is also accelerating. Imagine a realistic future where this little forum serves as the indices, appendices, table of contents and bibliography for the whole of the hobby. It can happen with your support, cooperation and openness. Where else can you have a one stop shop for grading your crystal red shrimps, looking up what possible deficiency your plant may be suffering from, figure out the correct lighting levels for your next build out and be introduced to some cool new music in one go? Here, that's where!

4. As far as I know, this is the only planted aquarium forum where you can embed videos in your posts from Vimeo or YouTube. This alone is invaluable. From my simple video on how to make your own aquarium to the many wonderful presentations that Orlando and others have posted for us to use as our inspiration and to shorten the gaps in our collective knowledge. Need to know how to set up a pressurized CO2 system? We can show you that! How about the results of the last International Aquascaping Competition? At your fingertips! Want to see how Tropica grows their fantastic plants and the best strategy for planting them? You're covered! It's almost all here and it grows every day!

5. None of us knows everything, but together we all know a lot! This is our strength under Orlando's leadership and it will only increase because I think I can safely say that everyone who bothers checking in here regularly genuinely believes that information wants to be free and sharing is caring. Sounds sappy, but I'm going to stick with this wording regardless of the barbs I get.

Buying that membership and letting it renew automatically every year will not only maintain all these fantastic facets of our little slice of heaven, but expand them and help to create new ones that while they may exist in other places, will be made better here with your support.

ukamikazu

"It's fairly obvious now how this is a drive for APE Supporter memberships and contributions." I thought you'd see it my way. To further raise awareness, anyone else who has acquired their APE Supporter status, please post in this thread showing your pride and explaining why you did it and what you feel you are getting out of it.

Even if you are not participating in my little challenge, I encourage you to get your membership as soon as possible and them post here explaining again why you did it and to demonstrate that you did it. Do it to encourage others and to encourage the contestants. Do it because you care and because it is the right thing to do. Do it for our little community and Orlando. Most of all, do it for yourself and be a critical part of what will one day surely be a great institution. You could become a part of history.

For more information, please click the "ape supporter" badge above my avatar or post your questions here and we'll be happy to answer them.

Thanks for reading and bon chance!

Jdinh04

Lots of great info here. I will need to get on my support status!

__________________
AquaScapist.com
Planted Aquarium Blog & Resource

ukamikazu

That's the reaction I'm looking for and the very esprit de corps that makes us special.

ukamikazu

As you may have noticed, no one wanted to take my money. I admit I am shocked so I have edited this thread accordingly to remove references to that bit.

However, I am leaving the rest up as an inspirational plea to get your membership going. I have since seen a few more people around with the APE Supporter badge but I would prefer to think they got it for themselves rather than any cheerleading I did.

I still encourage anyone to try it out and if you like, post here why you did it and how it makes you feel.

Thank you all for your attention!

hydrophyte

I was just waiting to get a little dough in my PayPal account before signing up. I think that that the paid membership is well worth the modest fee. APE is a fun environment.

__________________
Hydrophyte