FTR: Voluntary Subscription Introduced

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Hello everyone, this post is quite important (well, for me anyway :P), so please, take your time to read it. I promise I will be brief, or at least I will try to be :)

What Is It and Why

Those of you, who follow For the Record for a while probably noticed…. issues we’ve been having last month. The site was crashing, sometimes it was unavailable, there were some glitches and it was generally slow. The common reason for that was basically an overloaded server – I posted that on the FTR Facebook Page.

For the Record grew immensely in last three months. Not so long time ago, I proudly posted about 100k reader peaks per day, but last week, we reached an insane number of over (!) 200k for two days in a row. I really didn’t think there would be any more room for growth above 100k, but I was wrong and I am really glad I was :) Sometimes I just open up Google Analytics and watch the access numbers in real time and I am like “Whoa, 10 people from Manila, I wonder who’s reading FTR there…” – okay, I am getting sidetracked again, sorry.

Such numbers don’t come “just so” without a price and it was clear to me and Edrard that more bandwith and new server is sorely needed – and that’s what we did. We got both. Second issue FTR was facing was the threat of DDOS attacks. We had several attempts – one succeeded (you might remember FTR being down for a day), after which we added DDOS protection to hosting (I am not sure how exactly that works, but it works even though it isn’t cheap) and after that we haven’t had trouble staying up ever since. This is mostly thanks to tireless efforts of Edrard, who is “on call” as tech support practically all the time. Considering the fact that he is freshly a father and that he lives in Kiev, I am sure you understand he has other things on his mind, but despite that, he’s been there practically 24/7 to fix FTR messes (there were more than you can imagine – like that time I shut down FTR myself by uploading 50 megs of pictures into one post, overwhelming the bandwith) and for that, I am deeply grateful.

In short: the upkeep of For The Record grew immensely and as grateful as I am for all the donations past and present, I am sure you can imagine that they don’t cover the price of this setup, not by a longshot. At the same time, however, moving the site anywhere else is not an option for several reasons (if needed, I can explain that in detail, but I don’t want to write pages of text again) and ads… well, judging from my past experience, I want to avoid it at all costs (it is the last resort).

At the same time, I want to find a stable model of financing FTR activities to ensure that FTR is here as long as there are new patches coming out for World of Tanks – and later World of Warships too, a game that shows much more promise than the Warplanes, so we are looking at maybe even 4-5 years of existence. Yes, I am willing to commit to that – if you help me.

Therefore, once again, I decided that it is time for a change.

Several people pointed out that the best way to do it would be a voluntary monthly subscription (thanks, Lonigus and Rita!). After all, imagine if out of those 200k people, one percent decided to donate 1 Euro per Month. That’s a LOT of money and of course I don’t expect the subscription to reach such a height, but this is the basic principle. Some of you, dear readers have donated substantial amounts of money – and again, I am grateful for that – but many people donating small amounts makes it easier for everyone.

Therefore, after hearing some positive reference (Highflyer, he uses it as well), I decided to try using the Patreon service, because it allows to do exactly that, set up a subscription.

What is Patreon

Well… let me post their own promotion video, that explains it the best:

 

 

Compared to the video, there is a bit of a change though – you can set it so that the subscription is not based on posts/pieces of course, but comes monthly – and that’s what I did. It’s basically a monthly subscription. Overall, the system has following advantages:

- it’s safe: the Patreon site is not small and is endorsed by many artists over the web, even serious magazines
- you don’t need Paypal anymore, simple credit card is enough
- it’s very easy to use
- you can opt out any time and cancel the subscription

How to Contribute

As I said, it’s extremely easy.

Step 1: Go to For the Record Patreon page
Step 2: On the left side from the big grinning skull, select how much you want to donate monthly and press “Become a Patron”

Keep in mind please that it’s USD, not EUR and that the sum you choose will be deducted from your account at the beginning of each month, until you cancel the subscription, which is also very easy to do and you can do it any time.

Step 3: Confirm the amount
Step 4: Sign up, either via FB, or simply by registering.

You can put some BS nickname in the “Full name”, but I strongly suggest you use your World of Tanks nickname, so I know who to thank and possibly reward. However, you DO need to save/remember this login, as it will be used, when you decide to cancel the subscription.

Step 5: Now you are on the payment page – read everything there carefully and then enter your credit card info, the card will be charged at the beginning of each month for the amount you see in the “Pledge Amount” field above. You can use Paypal for this as well.
Step 6: Press “Confirm and Pledge” button
Step 7: Go to your e-mail you registered with and confirm your account (clicking on the button in the Patreon e-mail), I suspect that without that step, the payment won’t go through

What will YOU be getting out of it?

Well, here’s a pickle. Usually, the artists reward their contributors with some extra content, but for me, it’s different – everything I do goes to For the Record for everyone to see. There is no special content for anyone, I hate that stuff and I refuse to do it. So, basically, no matter whether you subscribe or not, you will get everything.

However, if there is enough money, I could do some serious research for a change. Hell, I could even start doing this for a living, but that’s just a pipe dream I guess. It would however mean more articles, more of everything, some indepth research into certain matters… we’d have to see. But definitely even more time given to FTR.

What will the money be used for?

There’s the upkeep:

- server hosting, bandwidth and hardware costs
- DDOS protection
- reward for Edrard for being the ultimate tech support guy
- general FTR improvement (new design? that one got complicated)

And there’s stuff I really need lately (related to FTR):

- new computer (I wanted to get one last year already, but I ran into a rough patch and spent the money saved for something else)
- failing that, keeping my old one running (example: last week my router burned out)
- research material: trips to archives, books, magazines, that kind of stuff

Please note: I am specifically not saying how much FTR costs per month. I think you’d be surprised (it’s quite high), but I want to avoid two types of situations: 1) having to defend “why this costs that and that much” and 2) “so the upkeep cost was covered, not a cent more!” – I might not be an IT guy, but I am not an idiot, I know the usual costs of things, so no, I am not getting ripped off anywhere.

I am not asking for any specific amount anywhere – it’s up to you to subscribe for how much you think I deserve. If you think I’m doing a bad job, by all means – don’t subscribe, it’s okay. If you don’t want to subscribe because you think I am a dick or disagree with my views – by all means, don’t, it’s okay. My decision to continue with FTR is also not based on how much I get – that is completely independent.

Final Word

I have to admit one thing. There were (and probably will be) days where I HATE For the Record. Half a year ago, I wrote about it taking over my life and it did, but that’s not FTR’s fault, that’s just the way I do things. I rarely “branch out”, I generally prefer to focus on one project and try to drive it to perfection. Such is the case of FTR, although I am sure we all agree that there’s a long way to go for that. The disadvantage of such approach is the fact that I just can’t “lay back”, I hate retreating to any older “levels” and if being on top of things requires complete attention, well… so be it.

Not so long ago (two weeks?) I was in a really bad mood (I was ill practically non-stop since Christmas, some extremely nasty returning flu) and was considering dropping FTR once again, but we’ve gone so far, it would be a shame, wouldn’t it?

Awww shit, and here I promised I’d be brief. Well, if you are reading this, thanks for your patience with me and for all your support. As always, it is greatly appreciated.

138 thoughts on “FTR: Voluntary Subscription Introduced”

  1. Im happy to donate for this great content. FTR is worth it. Having said that, I don’t have much to work with, but something shows that this effort really is appreciated.

    • Yes I’m happy to help also.
      The translations of CZ, Polish and Russian blogs are fantastic. Also someone putting so much time into a website needs some financial support. I also fully agree with your position against nazi’s, that’s another reason I like your site..
      Thanks again.

      • Sorry SS I have a debit card but no credit card so my payment was declined, unfortunately I can’t make a one-off payment either.
        I understand Patreon are working on making a single payment possible so as soon as that happens I’ll pay 12 months in one go.

        • Yeah, heaven forbid somebody’s actually raising valid points and pointing out how absurd your comments are… “quick, to the hurr-mobile!”

  2. well,SS i am 15 years old and i do not have credit card and as a result i can not help you(giving you some money).I am glad that i can read a lot of news about world of tanks,history of tanks and some news about world of warplanes but i really sorry that i can not help you.I hope that you will understand me.

    • I’m 17 also no credit card but I use PayPal and will give you ss “only” 2 USD per month but if this 1% would give the same amount of money it would be a realy much mony per month

    • Same here. I wish I could help but ill continue to look forward to the future of this website.

  3. Well, I decided to support you with this (even if it’s just with the measly amount of $1 USD per month), because… well, what you are providing to all of us here, is basically a service. And a free one. With no ads, and nothing. So my (and I’m pretty sure many others’) way of thanking you is applying for this “subscription”.
    I’ve been checking FTR daily ever since I found about it… almost a year ago I think, and I do hope you remain around for at least a couple of years more.
    Good luck with this, and stay strong.

  5. Good read and I hope you get many subscribers SS. I love reading your blog always.
    PS: i would subscribe if I had a job, and well, since that part is not happening yet, sadly I can’t :( But I do hope alot of readers do it :) :) Good luck!

  6. A good idea.
    I read FTR several times a day, so I will most definitely give a bit, as soon as this financially shitty month comes to an end!

  7. I think I will subscribe for this. =)
    There is not a single day when I’m not reading ftr, so I think I really should donate for this site.
    Keep up the awesomely good work. ^^

  8. Love this blog, it’s absolutely the best information source for WoT.

    It bothers me that the money goes into buying you a new PC. If you’d drop that I’d happily donate.

    • I don’t understand this thinking: 1 ) the man provides you with a service, one that he spends time to give you 2 ) He told you the truth about what he wants to do with the fruits of his labor

    • It does cause wear and tear for him spending time doing this.
      Mouse goes out, Keyboard goes out… If he says he wants a new laptop every year or so then yea there is a valid objection. If he says he wants to use it to keep everything running then there really isn’t anything wrong with that.

      I have never seen a plumber or sparky give someone their car repair bill, but my guess is that he charges a little extra to pay for it.

    • Might want to donate.
      Bothers that the money goes to an actual expense.
      lolgajgohauhg I’m mad

  9. Slappin’ down my $10, not much but that’s about all I can spare from monthly allowance. Still… worth it since I check here every few hours. Interesting reads all day everyday. Keep up the good work.

  10. I think I will subscribe too because in the last months I found myself checking your blog daily!
    Have you considered joining other wot bloggers and streamers, like jingles, sidestrafe, rocketbrainsurgeon and so on?

    • “I would gladly pay you next tuesday, for an FTR post today”.
      I’ll donate a buck for you too.

      • Allright, with me and Kazomir subscribed we have passed $200 per month.
        It’s looking bright.

  14. Sorry that i cant be of any monetary help SS(15 year old with no allowance), however, i can contribute in other ways, if you need some IT help, feel free to send me an e-mail, or contact me in any other way and i will help you to the best of my ability(at no charge of course)

  15. As soon as I setup my credit card account you can count on my support ;)
    That would be well spent money (well better than some stuff I spent it on), anyway keep up a good work and know that you have a large community to support you.

  17. I’ve been lurking about here for a long time. Decided it’s time to make an account and subscribe to this great site. Keep up the good work SS!

  18. Seems like a good way of supporting this.
    Reading this from back in the days when it was merely a thread in General discussion on WG forum, i saw it grew and developed into really, really good site for informations. I will try to subscribe as soon as i sort out some things currently going on , you deserved it , Silent.

  20. I’d rather Flattr articles or donate money like I used to :(
    I really was hoping for Flattr.
    Can we still donate through Paypal ?

    • Seemingly, as I just found out, you can only use Paypal for monthly subscriptions, if you do own a credit card. :/

      • If you live in Germany, you can use PayPal together with Lastschriftverfahren or Giropay. No CC required.

  21. have you thought about integrating PaysaveCards?
    Me myself don’t own a creditcard, neither do i have paypal, since i don’t like the concept of the first, and have security issues with both.

    On the other hand, i use a lot of paysavecard and i guess many more do too (at least i know 4 ppl in my coser range)
    most of the time, the ammount of money does not completely match the cost of something. at least i would be glad to send the remaining ammount towards your site.
    That way, a paysavecard that many ppl just throw away because it only has like 50cents – 2€ on it would profit you :)

    • I wanted to ask the same thing – I don’t own a credit card, but use paysafe too and would really like to contribute.

    • Yeah, great idea :) I’m one of those guys who use Paysafecard for WoT and Steam as well :)

  24. Better support FTR than quickymaggot. At least SS provides us with usefull info. IMO WG themselves should help him with funds too.

    • Better for him to stay independent than becoming a WG minion, in my humble opinion.
      SS, ads are not that bad, since the content of the blog stays really good ads don’t bother me. No pop-up piece of shit and it’s ok.

  25. Well as long as Rita has no subscription on Twitch yet Iam gonna drop the money into FTR since i know that indirectly Iam also supporting her.

  28. I may be le poor… but I can at least manage $1 a month. Keep up the good work SS, doing what I do would be a lot harder if you didn’t do what you do.

  29. I signed up, great content as SilentStalker provides is worth money:) Keep up the great work SilentStalker.

  30. SS I think with all this work you do you deserve at least 10 eu per subscription. If I could mis it I would have give you that. But I’m just a poor student so I will look for you if I can give you a small amount a month.
    every little bit helps.

      • Frank, FTR has been the only webpage that I open daily ever since it started existing. Hell, I still remember your translations in CZ/SK world of tanks forums. Yea, that’s a long way isn’t it?

        You are the reason why my slovak lessons are no longer boring as hell, you greatly helped me with my “yearly work” for school, where my topic was about WWII tanks, when I press “f” in the URL bar, google chrome no longer shows facebook first, but ftr.wot-news.com.

        I’m a student with no income other than money my parrents give me every week, but I usually spare 2-5€ a week. Monthly, 10€ is yours. Promise me to keep up posting articles, doing occasional QA streams with Rita (I still have lots of questions :P ), working on your research like you do and I’ll be with you and FTR till the very end. I’ve read the first article on FTR and I plan to stick with it till I finish reading the last one.

        My student credit card should be done next month.
        //cheers

  31. Hey SS. Im from Manila!! And i read ftr posts everyday! I post some of your stuff on my IG and i recommend them your website as a great source of wot news.
    If youre on IG, my instagram name is @gianpangan24 :)

  33. Hey SS just wondering but this WordPress site will no longer be used and instead everything new is to be posted through the patreon site, yes?

  34. Support! Added a subscription over 1.40 USD (about 1 €) a month.

    Your site is one of the best wot news sources. Especially without ads and nag screens.

  35. If i had a job i would definetly donate.
    I love this forum and i appreciate every single thing that you guys do for us !
    Keep up the good work !

    And help me turn off the AdBlock on this domain. I turned it off but it keeps on blocking no matter what i do.

    • Might be that FTR nolonger have any ads, the ad provider kicked us out.

  36. Well, I guess it’s time to get a credit card… Thank you SS for giving me motivation to do so! ;D

  37. SS you have the possibility of making this your actual job, for example VaatiVidya on YT with 184k subs has 4,2k USD per month on Patreon.

  38. “that’s just a pipe dream” > gets enough patrons to live well, do research(+stuff) and make a monthly giveaways on top of that… I want that to happen.
    I just wish you would try with non-intrusive ads again(off for patrons).
    Any case good luck(cant help atm), and I’m hoping FTR lives way longer than 5 years.

    • Also how about some streaming:
      -Live QA with patrons which you then post on FTR?
      -Occasionally platooning with random patrons?
      It is not special content(I think?) since everyone can see it.

      • It’s special content since only Patreons can participate.
        “I just wish you would try with non-intrusive ads again” what do you mean? FTR doesn’t have ads. You might have an adware on your browser if you see intrusive ads.

        • Participate yes, but all see the information at the same time(no harm there imo).
          And I wrote “non-intrusive ads AGAIN” as in there are none now, but there were some at one point in the past.

  39. SS – if there is a way to host advertising without pop-up ads or anything really annoying, I think you should reconsider not having them. I know it can be tricky and create problems of its own, but you do work hard and deserve to be compensated.

  40. Wow, it was just 50$ when I left to do university stuff and now it’s 220+$. I signed up for 2$/mo but I’ll pump it up if I get rehired after my job term ends.

  41. Following you on ftr and Facebook I would like to see where I can help. Financially but I also have an other idea which I will share with you

  42. I feel quite bad that I did not do anything useful for FTR, but I really need the money myself. I am not much of a money earner and am not even 18 years old yet, so I am not taking any responsibilities for donating money to whatever thing on the web.
    Still though, it’s a piety, not being able to help somebody when you know he has a problem. But I will be there, reading and watching your blog daily, supporting by writing mostly friendly comments. This is my way of showing help, being a worthy reader and poster, but I will not do anything else beside that.

    • He had google ads and few months ago something heppend and he no longer get money ….or something like that because I can’t remember now (what a shame i can’t remember after being fan of this page after 3 years :( )

      • He had ads from AdSense but Edrard having to log into AdSense on SS’ site when he was troubleshooting a problem got atleast SS banned from AdSense.

  48. I visit your site several times every day since this blog got online Silentstalker. Compared to many other things I do for fun reading your stuff has made up some serious amount of my time.
    As I am on federal voluntary service I don’t have much money but this one Euro I can give and I think it’s one of the best Euros (per month) I’ve ever invested.

    Btw I don’t care what you use this money for. I pay you for keeping this an awesome blog and I think you’re free to do with this money whatever you want, even if you decide to buy a horse for it and paint it purple. (Buying a new PC maybe still a better idea.)

    And I guess you will get more than you might think from this whole thing. This Patreon Counter is rising and rising since you released this article. :)

  50. $2/mth. If my current round of interviews do well, more will follow! What else could be my homepage on my browser overlay when I’m in the queue during tier 8 events? And thank you for posting an article I wrote even if it did cause a total firestorm and then get taken down… :D Gave me the confidence to send a column into Gizmodo, which got published and didn’t get taken down!!! So thanks xD

  52. I ain’t got no money, but here, take my invisible money instead

  53. I’ve chipped in 2 bucks a month! Cheers to you SilentStalker, I really hope that you will get enough patrons to keep the blog running and maybe even more, who knows!

  54. I have been reading your blog as long as I can remember for my WoT info, I can only spare a little for now so it’s only $2.
    Thank you for doing this from a Brit on the NA server!

  55. You got my dollar. You deserve to make costs and make improvement and make money. You do great work here. Take pride and profit in it.

  57. $3 per month for FTR. I love it, it’s clean with lots of info. Please keep up the good work.

  58. You’ve already crossed the border for 100 patrons and soon will cross $400 in subscriptions! Let’s see how big we can go, shall we?

  59. First time commenting, thank you SS for the work you’ve done. I can’t remember how long I’ve been reading your site/posts but you’ve always done awesome work. Hopefully you’ll get all of your readers to donate, cheers!

    ps. Visa Electron works if anyone is wondering.

  60. I would love to subscribe if it helps you maintain and grow this amazing website. Cheers from Denmark :-)

    • He’s our shameless “Persona Non Grata”, bro ;)

      SS, you surely created a huge shitstorm for WG in last a couple years. ;)

  63. Frank,
    You know I’m behind you and FTR. I signed up to support this morning, and was glad to do it.
    Appy

  65. Well i wish i could Contribute too SS but as you might see from the name i am from Greece and my economic status is shit!!
    Shame cause you are doing an amazing job about wot and also the side content you put into this blog also i visit it many times the day cause i have learned many intristing stuff not only for WoT but also many other historical things
    if later i will be at a more better economic state i will help with the subscription too :)
    Keep up the good work though :)

  66. If I had any money, I’d gladly send a donation, but alas I don’t, as I’m unemployed…-_-

  69. the ranzar posts alone would be enough for me to donate; the fantastic content has made this probably my most read website. Even the cast of smart commentators and trolls are an entertaining (if motley) crew (crue)… Happy to support this and keep up the great work!

  70. I’m missing Woras and his Great European Random videos…

    It was way better than WG:s RNG videos, which include 90% RU players…

  71. SS, ya know, as long as your not doing crack with the influx of cash, could care less what you do with it. People do not realize what kind of work you have put into FTR. Just like missingturret, the ranzar vids, are worth the amount I tossed your way. Actually would be great if you were able to do this full time, and get paid likewise. It is a shame though that you and WG EU have such a bad relationship. Come work for WG NA instead. :P
    When it comes to a new computer though, build one, do not buy one, I saved myself a ton of cash by doing so. (medium settings $650, with new gtx 660, max for another $180. Its easy)

  72. Any possibility of having a/several mirror servers or distributed servers? So someone with their computers never shut down can help a little bit. Maybe…

  74. When I turn on my computer, the first thing to do is not play WoT, chech email, forum, but read FTR. I have 0 dollar since I got no job, but will pay SS when I earn my first salery. Not even gonna buy gold before paying SS.

  75. I would prefer to use paypal for any monthly costs. Is there a reason it’s not used with Patreon?

    • You can use PayPal via Patreon, too. Just go to payment page and you’ll see (scroll down).

  77. i will NOT make account on a “doubtful” site (i only trust paypal), however, i will donate directly 1 time payment for 1 year in a few days, i am appreciating your work and FTR :)
    bounding me to a “sub” is a no no…

    i want to bee free to donate when i want :D

  78. Why don’t you try to get some funds from merchandising? You could get a cool logo and sell t-shirts. Maybe sell books on tanks with a profit. (autographed…)
    There are plenty of options I guess.

  79. Pledged $2, may not seem like much but if everyone who reads the blog did so well, you could have a new PC AND a few beers on us. Whatever keeps you happy and keeps you posting is fine by me.

  80. first:
    as an ideea…put a link to “patreon” next do “donate” one ;) it might help and people that missed that post but interested to help you might find it more easily

    second:
    people must have the option to choose so they must have option to choose to help in a periodic subscription or in a one time subscription, they must have the option to help you or not, and till now you went in the right direction

    but at the same time you are a people too and you must have the option to stop this if you cant go ahead, and now i am reffering to people that crucified you cos you told them the truth about things you need to make FTR roll ahead
    this blog is time consumming and SS had to cut away a part from his time, it’s more easy to destroy than to create and at some point without support he will see that his blog is read by millions and he will receive in exchange rants, menacing comments etc…that is not fair, and if SS decides that he gets from us less than he is able to give us…then he might stop it…..and leave us with google translate of russin forums and with zero sites that concentrate articles about tank history

    it the same as with music – you dont like an artist you dont go to concerts and dont buy his music – but if you like it you dont just hear it on youtube and download it from torrents…you buy his music so he can have an income from what to live and be able to create more
    so if we can put together a little + a little + a little – this FTR thing can go on forever….or as long WOT will be around :D

    alex

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