Early last Monday, fans of the preeminent d20 website, EN World, got one hell of a scare. Russell Morrissey, the site’s administrator, posted a notice on the site explaining that due to hosting costs, EN World was $1,600 in debt, with another $400 being incurred each month. Despite the site’s attempts to become profitable, if the ISP wasn’t paid by the following day, EN World would have to be taken down for a while (an act that’s usually the harbinger of death for a website). Worried they’d lose their online community forever, the fans of EN World took action, organizing donation methods through d20 companies and other individuals. Still, with less than 24 hours to get the money together, the situation looked bleak.
As the deadline approached, multiple companies such as Expeditious Retreat Press and Goodman Games had either lent a hand by processing credit card donations or pledged some of their profits to EN World. The donations were counted up, and Morrissey (aka Morrus) posted the following:
We needed to raise $1,600 to get EN World out of a hole. At last count, the total raised was approximately $16,000 – ten times the amount needed.
Congrats are in order to a great community rallying to ensure its continued survival. Imagine if they’d had a week to gather donations. They could’ve painted “Save EN World” on the water tower, gotten the word out to the kids in detention hall…
That, my friends, is what the Internet is all about…;)
Actually, this is what a community is all about…
Sorry to hijack this thread, but Allan Sugarbaker should have known that Wizards of the Coast website have been featuring BULLET POINT Q&A web column by Charles Ryan for some time now. So the Skills & Feat article posted this early month is NOT the first installment.