You may have noticed a new banner in the lower left-hand corner of our home page (actually, it appears on all of our index pages). MD is using a service provided by the famous Amazon.com site (originally a book seller, but now a massive, general online retailer). The “Amazon Honor System” is a way for sites, such as MD, to collect mandatory dues or voluntary donations from readers. At this point, MD is only enrolled in the voluntary donation aspect of the Amazon Honor System.
As you may know, it is difficult for sites such as MD to generate sufficient revenue through paid banner advertising. The Internet has gone through many growing pains, and one result is the disenchantment of many advertisers with banner advertising, in general. MotorcycleDaily.com wants to remain available to all motorcycle enthusiasts, without requiring mandatory dues from readers. Nevertheless, MD needs the support of loyal readers to remain online. Please consider your payment similar to any magazine subscription — paying for the (hopefully) interesting and entertaining content MD provides. Payment is fast and easy. Just click Pay Now and the deal is done in no time. Your credit card is secure and your privacy is protected at Amazon.com.
MD has no information about its readers, other than knowing who some of you are through your e-mail. We do not keep detailed readership information or sell mailing lists. MD has no interest in any sort of intrusion into the privacy of its readers, and Amazon.com has a very strict privacy policy, which you can read by going to MD’s Pay Page (use the link). If your name appears in the linked Amazon.com Pay Page for MD, it is because Amazon.com has previously done business with you. The banner link is generated directly by Amazon.com, and your identity is not known to MD. You can even disable this personal greeting by using the link and reading about this aspect on our Pay Page.
MD will run this notice for ten days (Monday, August 20, 2001 through Wednesday, August 29, 2001) immediately below each day’s feature/article, in order to bring attention to this new program. MD has the option of becoming a paid, subscription service — exchanging its copyrighted material for money. As stated above, we would rather not go this route, but we do need to supplement our income. We are not asking for a “donation” in the truest sense of the word — we are certainly not a charity. We do not want to be perceived as one.
We are not going to beg or lay a guilt trip on our readers. If you want to continue reading MD without contributing, that is fine. At this point, a contribution is purely voluntary on your part, and based on your own assessment of the value of what you are receiving from MD.
Thank you for reading MD, and thank you for taking the time to read this notice. Again, it will be re-printed for ten days, so ignore it if you have already read it.
Best Regards, Dirck J. Edge Editor, MotorcycleDaily.com
