I have mixed feelings about this one, I’ve been on the wug for afew years and have seen and heard many complaints around this!!! My personal view, I have always seen “donations” in 2 forms: financial and physical assistance but many will not agree with physical part. Some guys are not by the means but can give a monthly R50 or help where and when needed, essentially paying off their contribution. I assume we are adults and would not need to police anyone when it comes to “pay back the money” or giving back to what you so nicely enjoy for virtually no cost. The reality is very Very few wuggers ( mostly sector clients ) just dont give a toss, they in it for the FREE stuff. Mplain has done this to some degree but we have always made finances public and available and all monies in our Club account have been used for the growth of our Network. Spending of these funds are always made public and voted on by the people who give a crap. Mplain Comms will soon Not exist anymore because the guys who do want the best for the network and area are faced with this kind of petty nonsense. 100 wuggers in Mplain; only 20 - 30 actually donate and run with installs and upgrades. Its frustrating having to deal with Money issues when EVERYONE benefits from it, lets not mention the time and hard work the same group of people put in over and over again. We cannot keep having the same arguments over and over again, the truth is if we dont get some money from the new guys who join and disappear , which will is in most cases reinvested into the network then we are not going anywhere. We’re just going to keep having these wasteful discussions. Alternatives Monthly fee which no one likes! but really what other options are there??? Any profiting from the WUG is wrong! That person should banned and his name should be made public! Public is key. If money matters are made public I do believe we will have less bitching.
final thoughts…
We will be having the same argument next year and the year after! Dead wuggers Must Fall. Hash tag that…Those of us who care need to be Tougher on those who dont care, we put in the efforts and finances and these loosers just nod and smile.
Life is too short to be pissed off by people who dont give a toss. Next time you have a sector client who hasnt donated or help you in afew months. Just ignore him! if he comes to your house tell him exactly why you are ignoring him. We are need to grow some Balls and have the difficult conversations!!!
We don’t see any scenario where a client would be able to connect if he doesn’t pay the connection fee
@Warlock072 it is sad that so many people don’t give a toss, reality is that we(wuggers) are mostly at fault here, we are connecting our work colleague, friends and family left right and center. Maybe future committees will feel different about the issue and will allow wuggers to ask R1500 a connection, who knows only time will tell.
Most of these arguments have merit but the question still remains: How to proceed further? In my opinion it’s really quite simple. The wug IS growing and in the time I’ve been on it I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly. I think that’s one of the primary reasons behind its creation. Like any living body it requires nurturing and constant attention otherwise things go sideways. For one; if the rule is “no connection fees are to be charged” then members should abide by the rule. On the point of “donations”: If wuggers agree to donate in the form of finance or assistance they should be made aware of the legal implications that go with a “promise to donate”. Making a “donation” does not require the return of the donation in future. A connection fee on the other hand has many many drawbacks.
Make “donations” compulsory simply by getting people to PROMISE to donate in the form of finance, equipment, technical or administrative assistance. Financial contributions can be as little as R100 or as much as R10000. A promise to donate is legally binding… Then again there are side effects to everything. I am not sure whether ctwug is registered as a non-profit community driven organisation though everything in the constitution points me to this as fact.
On the matter of buying a sector from your own pocket… If you could afford to purchase the sector for the benefit of others to begin with, then why charge. I would understand a request for donations if and when the sector packs up but not before except where a group of individuals have agreed beforehand. If you have someone on your sector that doesn’t contribute, or doesn’t even bother to give an explanation then throttle him or outright kick him off. If you purchased the hardware then it belongs to you and in my opinion you are pretty much entitled to do with your hardware as you see fit… allocate a time period for a response.
PS.: I have had this same argument regarding connection fees before I joined the wug. I went with ptp connections in the end. It costs more but its mine. Doing sectors should be considered a last resort simply because its a dead end connection with limited prospects of expansion.
This is currently a poll on TT
I don’t think going about this, in the way it is going is right.
I rate that all the areas need a committee. A ChairMan, Treasurer, Tech Officer and Social officer.
This committee of each area would then try to raise funds in means of donations and events to raise money.
The thing is to go after regular small donations and not once of big donations. It’s like having debt, as soon as it becomes to big…you shit your pants
As for new connections. People should introduce the fact that they are not doing this for themselves but for the growth of their community, being the area. And that they are offering their own time and resources which can be compensated for by a donation which would cover petrol and other minor expenses. I would say R100 should be the max but not the standard. Any compensation is better than nothing.
I would like to see my area grow and I would donate monthly if I could, which I can’t due to circumstances.
For instance. Each member donates R10/20 a month. Over a year they have donated R240 max excluding those who donate more. Say the area has 50 people. Total yearly amount, R12 000 (R1000/month)
That’s enough for any area for upgrades and replacing of broken equipment, or faulty.
Smaller areas obviously are going to have to raise more funds or donate more if needed.
