What is "support", and why do people on the internet keep asking for it?

Any "live site" that you can see on the internet has the recurring expenses of domain and hosting. "Domain" is, like a rental charge on the dot com name. The term "owns" a domain name is somewhat innacurate; it is more like an indefinate lease that could be sold or traded. That is how it worked at times when you may have heard about people hoarding domain names and selling them to companies; That is a digression however. Point being: every site and kind of site needs money to keep going. "Hosting" is whatever physical hardware holds and transmits the data of the site. Either the server is "on site" and the site owner has to pay their internet provider for extra bandwidth as well as added electrical utility to keep a very large computer running indefinately along with any repair or maintenance, or a "hosting fee" for their site data to be "in the cloud". Either way, not free.

In a perfect world, the ownership could go out of pocket for operating expenses and never worry about paying contributors for their efforts, and we could focus on being fully creative rather than only vaguely such. On top of all this, monetization has become a benchmark of perception of being wothwhile and successful in artistic and expressive efforts. It is "support" both financially AND spiritually.

It isn't like knowing how to ""code" something" is some mysterious magic that draws money from the ether. A lot of websites and "content" nowadays suck because they are tailoring themselves to fit the requirements of funding models rather than information or entertainment intent. At Vaguely Creative we are fighting to find ways to suck on our own merits rather than advertiser expectations.

We have been exploring ways that we can keep making eclectic content sustainable, and not resort to hard commerce or SEO focus. Even if you don't have spare money to donate, there are options to directly support without even going out of pocket.

Donate

This option makes you part of the Vaguely Creative Family. Even small donations are extremely appreciated and do not go unnoticed. We've set up Paypal donations for one time tips, and Patreon offical membership into the Vaguely Creative Family of loyal supporters.

Watch Embedded videos without ad block

Believe me, I know. This is a BIG ask, and we are not going to pretend it isn't. Ads on websites have gone straight out of control, and disabling ad block is inviting chaos; especially so if/when the site asks you to do so. Particularly annoying are those pop up boxes when sites beg you to watch their intrusive ads.

Given you already know this, why on Earth would you turn off ad block for us? First: We don't have an ad service that auto populates the page with banner and side container ads. The layout is the SAME with ad block on or off, it won't make any ads happen,... with ONLY one exception: there are commercials in the embedded videos. We get a fraction of a cent for every "pre roll" / "post roll" commercial that gets injected into the videos. Ad block stops these commercials from playing.

If you really want to help out, but absolutely cannot spare any money towards donations or our affiliate offers, you can make the effort of watching the embedded videos on the site with the adblock temporarily disabled, or whitelist the video page. We don't think of this as something you should be doing or have to do. We see it on the same level as donating; it is simply donating with your time and effort and is equally appreciated.

For those dedicated to this approach to support, we have made a dedicated "warehouse" page that archives every embedded video site wide out of context. Videos titled "playlist" will play a long series of videos in a row, so you could let a playlist or a long video play and walk away from the computer and go about your business, or if on phone, just leave it in your pocket with the volume turned down. Yes, this sounds crazy, but the current market for funding internet content is crazy.

Buy products from our affiliate links

When you click on an affiliate link from our site, we gain a small commission on any sale that may happen. It doesn't get added into normal purchase cost. It is a referral fee that is part of their normal advertising budget. How these affiliate programs work vary some depending on the affiliate. Some affiliate policies require things we won't do, or just can't do because we aren't a commerce niche or SEO focus site. We have to work with whatever affiliates we can scout that run "square" deals where we are assured our finders fee with no technicalities or hassle, and that the affiliate company is safe for you to buy from. This goes in to why our selection of brand offers is limited at any given time, but we will keep searching for ways you can help by buying through our affiliate offers. You can see a list of our current affiliations and their links by using the link here.