There are many ways to accept anonymous donations these days, so it’s hard not to see the lack of that option as a deliberate choice by @canbol -though the exact reason remains unclear. It’s easy to speculate that it may be about maintaining control over the documents. -Holding them hostage.
If that’s the case, it’s unfortunate, because it risks undermining the very purpose of the project. People will naturally seek alternatives. In my view, none match what hifiengine offers, but at the end of the day, the documents will still be downloaded.
My account was banned a couple of years ago from "inactivity", and after a few unsuccessful attempts to contact anyone from the site, I eventually gave up and started relying on Google instead. So far, there hasn’t been anything I needed that I wasn’t able to find elsewhere.
The only real way forward for hifiengine is through transparency and genuine engagement with the community that helped build the library in the first place. There’s a strong willingness among users to help preserve the site, but that requires openness and a collaborative mindset -not vague statements about it “just being a hobby” or suggestions that donations aren’t possible when, realistically, they are.
If that’s not feasible, then maybe it’s time to hand the project over to someone who has the resources and motivation to keep it alive.
Or, maybe the plan is to keep playing hard to get and hold the manuals hostage -in that case we should start a GoFundMe for a hostage negotiator?
If that’s the case, it’s unfortunate, because it risks undermining the very purpose of the project. People will naturally seek alternatives. In my view, none match what hifiengine offers, but at the end of the day, the documents will still be downloaded.
My account was banned a couple of years ago from "inactivity", and after a few unsuccessful attempts to contact anyone from the site, I eventually gave up and started relying on Google instead. So far, there hasn’t been anything I needed that I wasn’t able to find elsewhere.
The only real way forward for hifiengine is through transparency and genuine engagement with the community that helped build the library in the first place. There’s a strong willingness among users to help preserve the site, but that requires openness and a collaborative mindset -not vague statements about it “just being a hobby” or suggestions that donations aren’t possible when, realistically, they are.
If that’s not feasible, then maybe it’s time to hand the project over to someone who has the resources and motivation to keep it alive.
Or, maybe the plan is to keep playing hard to get and hold the manuals hostage -in that case we should start a GoFundMe for a hostage negotiator?
All the MODS with all these resources and industry connections around the globe located here, on this site. Hmm...
DIY AUDIO . COM should let go of HiFi Engine and move forward with greater aspirations and more collective input.
You people sound like a bunch of strung out junkies.
Go to rehab and fix yourselves.
With the collective effort and spirit of THIS forum, in a few years you will hold an international library far greater, if you really want it...
DIY AUDIO . COM should let go of HiFi Engine and move forward with greater aspirations and more collective input.
You people sound like a bunch of strung out junkies.
Go to rehab and fix yourselves.
With the collective effort and spirit of THIS forum, in a few years you will hold an international library far greater, if you really want it...
All the Mod's as you put it give their time freely to maintain and run diyAudio.com and the site has no connection to HiFiEngine, a site which is seen as a valuable resource for many on here in maintaining and repairing equipment. There is nothing for diyAudio to let go of.
I'm a member of a forum to do with the late great Siegfried Linkwitz's loudspeaker designs https://oplug-support.org/ . Early this week the site started producing popup adverts, to significant protest from full members.
The list owner promptly removed them, but explained that there was a fall off of subscriptions recently. A bunch of people, me included, coughed up some money. The site has a link for subscriptions that points to Paypal.
Also https://www.head-case.org/ , of which I'm also a forum member, has a voluntary annual whip round to keep the servers running and the list maintained. Again Paypal.
These sites are in the US, so the payment by default is in US dollars (I'm in the UK).
So whatever Canbol's misgivings are regarding Paypal, other free service sites keep going with voluntary contributions, sent from international contributors using Paypal.
The list owner promptly removed them, but explained that there was a fall off of subscriptions recently. A bunch of people, me included, coughed up some money. The site has a link for subscriptions that points to Paypal.
Also https://www.head-case.org/ , of which I'm also a forum member, has a voluntary annual whip round to keep the servers running and the list maintained. Again Paypal.
These sites are in the US, so the payment by default is in US dollars (I'm in the UK).
So whatever Canbol's misgivings are regarding Paypal, other free service sites keep going with voluntary contributions, sent from international contributors using Paypal.
Hi,
Have you considered doing what the carver site does, they put a watermark on the pages. That might discourage many people from stealing and selling the files or placing them on other sites ?
I have attached a sample page, you can see that the source of the file was the carver site.
Attachments
That probably isn't feasible in this case. Carver owns their own source documents, whereas files uploaded to HFE/VE are from multiple public sources. IF the owner of HFE had purchased the manuals, that would be a different story.
That doesn’t sound right to me, Carver is long gone and there is no law I am aware of that stops you from putting a watermark on a document that is in the public domain
Also the watermark is the name of the site not the business
There would be At least no constraint on the watermark “downloaded from hifiengine.com”
Also the watermark is the name of the site not the business
There would be At least no constraint on the watermark “downloaded from hifiengine.com”
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I guess I mistakenly thought that theCarversite was somehow related to the actual Carver Corporation, even if the business is no longer active. But yes, something like "downloaded from..." would work, though I can't imagine it would be easy to do with the number of files on the site. The watermark would have to be added to at least the title page, instead of the currently "added" HFE page to the beginning of each document, which has obviously been removed when skimmed to other sites.
If you know one, please tell me and I'll take a look. I doubt it would cover the black hole in our finances, but it could help alongside some cost cutting.
I thought I already answered that question? I've been paying out $200-300 a month to cover shortfalls. I can't afford to keep doing that forever, so we are having a temporary break while I look at cheaper servers with fixed bandwidth (or unlimited bandwidth but a slow connection). I spent most of today looking at cheaper hosts (like Hetzner, OVH and lots of smaller ones) and trawling through T&C and hosting reviews.
It's what they call cutting your coat according to your cloth.
That explains the animosity, but accounts aren't banned for inactivity, they are removed due to inactivity (which is entirely different to being banned).
I wrote a script to remove inactive accounts as a lot of visitors would register, download a manual and then never return. Some accounts had been inactive for 15 years, and there was no reason to keep their personal information in the database (and data retention regulations are clear that you shouldn't). The cut off point I landed on was never having posted content, and not having logged in for 3 years. I think around 700K accounts went across both sites.
When we started doing it, it was possible to re-register, and many did. I'm sorry that registrations are closed now, but again, I've explained why, and I'm still looking for a workable solution.
Ideally, I'd like to get rid of registrations completely, but traffic management, anti-scraping and load would be a major headache. It's where most of my research has been going though. Other sites manage it, so I'm sure it's possible to keep the site free.
I haven't added a cover sheet for over a decade. Now it's nothing, or a tiny hifiengine tag in the corner of the page. Even that upsets some people.
@vinylkid58 that's temperary, but I think it's not the first period subscription has been locked. I was removed many years ago, and I think I've tried re-registering a couple of times since. That was VE I think.
Cheers!
Cheers!
@canbol
My suggestion (as one who doesn't know anything about website hosting, etc) would be to pursure the voluntary donations route and/or subscriptions, while also pursuing your cost cutting measures. Perhaps subscribers get more downloads/week than the completely free downloads. Perhaps have totally free limited to 1/week/day with a monthly/yearly limit? This COULD curtail the scrapers maybe. Someone who can't afford to subscribe would still have access to crucial manuals for repairs (and is in the spirit of wanting to keep the site free). While those who are either techs or avid hobbyists would have greater access. Actual numbers of downloads are obviously just suggestions, you have the ultimate say in it.
Kind of like gaining access to Barter Town and the rest of the subscriber's section on AudioKarma only the subscription or donation unlocks more frequent or more total downloads.
My suggestion (as one who doesn't know anything about website hosting, etc) would be to pursure the voluntary donations route and/or subscriptions, while also pursuing your cost cutting measures. Perhaps subscribers get more downloads/week than the completely free downloads. Perhaps have totally free limited to 1/week/day with a monthly/yearly limit? This COULD curtail the scrapers maybe. Someone who can't afford to subscribe would still have access to crucial manuals for repairs (and is in the spirit of wanting to keep the site free). While those who are either techs or avid hobbyists would have greater access. Actual numbers of downloads are obviously just suggestions, you have the ultimate say in it.
Kind of like gaining access to Barter Town and the rest of the subscriber's section on AudioKarma only the subscription or donation unlocks more frequent or more total downloads.
You could when the accounts were being removed, just not now. When registrations closed I stopped removing inactive accounts.
I do get it, some diyaudio users are angry that their accounts were removed (albeit due to inactivity) and now can't re-register. I'm not happy about it either, and I've wasted countless hours trying to fix it.
If anyone can name a payment service that allows donations and doesn't make me hand over my personal details to every sender, I'll consider it as part of the solution.
I actually think cost cutting may sort the money issues for now. Subscriptions would fix the registration issue, but if it's possible, I'd rather scrap registrations and membership.
If you know a payment service that allows donations without being a charity, and without me handing over my personal details to all and sundry, tell me who it is and I'll take a look. A lot of people have suggested this route, but I need some pointers as I can't find one.
"without me handing over my personal details to all and sundry"
"I need some pointers as I can't find one."
"If you know a payment service that allows donations without being a charity"
Don't ask me.... I'm just the user. I just click the button and send the money.
Ask the people running the sites, obviously there are many that use donations and they seem to be doing fine.
So, instead of finding things on your own, why don't you just ask... DIYAudio
Then there's the "buy me a coffee"... https://buymeacoffee.com/
As far as personal details... well, of course you can not remain anonymous to accept money. If you don't want to, then set up a corporation or something like that.
Look, even yours truly, to use Paypal, I set up a stand alone checking account in a bank and I also use a specific credit card. And that's just to pay... In this Age, you can not have total privacy. You need to accept that and manage it.
Again, don't ask me the details of how to implement donations, etc... the folks running DIYAudio seem to be doing OK.
"I need some pointers as I can't find one."
"If you know a payment service that allows donations without being a charity"
Don't ask me.... I'm just the user. I just click the button and send the money.
Ask the people running the sites, obviously there are many that use donations and they seem to be doing fine.
So, instead of finding things on your own, why don't you just ask... DIYAudio
Then there's the "buy me a coffee"... https://buymeacoffee.com/
As far as personal details... well, of course you can not remain anonymous to accept money. If you don't want to, then set up a corporation or something like that.
Look, even yours truly, to use Paypal, I set up a stand alone checking account in a bank and I also use a specific credit card. And that's just to pay... In this Age, you can not have total privacy. You need to accept that and manage it.
Again, don't ask me the details of how to implement donations, etc... the folks running DIYAudio seem to be doing OK.
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If your bank uses Zelle, that might be an option. Set up an account with your bank, that you only use for HFE/VE donations. Use the email account you have set up for the "Contact Us" section of the HFE/VE. Then when someone sends money via Zelle to that email address, they are sending it directly to the account that is linked to the email. Link a Paypal account to it if so desired for wider acceptance.
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