Letter from Arthur C. Clarke and Dan Werthimer

Author	Message
Andre Heise Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 9 Apr 00 Posts: 4 Credit: 151,575 RAC: 0	Message 263131 - Posted: 17 Mar 2006, 1:46:14 UTC Last modified: 17 Mar 2006, 1:48:36 UTC @CR Truly poor argument!! The problem is: "It is a very big shame for the project its missing out on so much money out there ..." If SETI@home don't need donations from outside USA, they should remove the donate-button on their non en-us webpages! And should not send emails to people outside USA! Better: They should only use en-us computers for SETI@home and the non en-us webpages too. ;-) ID: 263131 ·

MJKelleher Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 1 Jul 99 Posts: 2048 Credit: 1,575,401 RAC: 0	Message 263158 - Posted: 17 Mar 2006, 2:35:46 UTC - in response to Message 263152. Why are your mail rates so high? I can send a 2 ounce letter to Germany for $1.70 US. http://ircalc.usps.gov/intl_speed.asp?CID=10137&MailType=envelope&Pounds=0&Ounces=2 Not trying to be disrespectful, I'm just curios exactly how much it costs to send a letter from Germany to the USA. I'd venture to say that it's not the postal rates but the bank charges to send funds internationally. On one end of the transaction or the other, a small donation would be eaten up by the foreign exchange fees. MJ ID: 263158 ·

KSMarksPsych Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 9 Sep 99 Posts: 411 Credit: 3,847 RAC: 0	Message 263271 - Posted: 17 Mar 2006, 7:38:21 UTC - in response to Message 263181. I'd venture to say that it's not the postal rates but the bank charges to send funds internationally. On one end of the transaction or the other, a small donation would be eaten up by the foreign exchange fees. MJ Foreign exchange fees can't be avoided, can they? Most credit cards have a one to three percent charge for foreign purchases. PayPal charges extra for foreign currency exchanges. [Edit] What I'm trying to say, it's not Berkeley's fault that people in other countries have to pay foreign exchange fees. You are very right that it isn't Berkeley's fault. However if I were to send 10 dollars (US) it would cost me 30000 won to do so. That is about 30 dollars. I will hold off on a donation until I'm back in the states. Kathryn Kathryn :o) The BOINC FAQ Service The Unofficial BOINC Wiki The Trac System More BOINC information than you can shake a stick of RAM at. ID: 263271 ·

Prognatus Send message Joined: 6 Jul 99 Posts: 1600 Credit: 391,546 RAC: 0	Message 263292 - Posted: 17 Mar 2006, 8:42:37 UTC - in response to Message 263271. Last modified: 17 Mar 2006, 8:44:45 UTC Foreign exchange fees can't be avoided, can they? Most credit cards have a one to three percent charge for foreign purchases. PayPal charges extra for foreign currency exchanges. However if I were to send 10 dollars (US) it would cost me 30000 won to do so. That is about 30 dollars. My bank charges me no currency conversion fees and no transaction fees on my VISA card. Even no fees when taking out money from VISA terminals abroad. But yes, it's otherwise very expensive to send money transfers from Norway too. ID: 263292 ·

UBT - Halifax--lad Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 13 Dec 00 Posts: 433 Credit: 13,900 RAC: 0	Message 263293 - Posted: 17 Mar 2006, 8:49:20 UTC - in response to Message 263292. Foreign exchange fees can't be avoided, can they? Most credit cards have a one to three percent charge for foreign purchases. PayPal charges extra for foreign currency exchanges. However if I were to send 10 dollars (US) it would cost me 30000 won to do so. That is about 30 dollars. My bank charges me no currency conversion fees and no transaction fees on my VISA card. Even no fees when taking out money from VISA terminals abroad. But yes, it's otherwise very expensive to send money transfers from Norway too. I would send a cheque but its pointless really, by the time I have it converted to dollars it will cost me more than what I would send Join us in Chat (see the forum) Click the Sig Join UBT ID: 263293 ·

Byron Leigh Hatch @ team Carl Sagan Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 5 Jul 99 Posts: 4548 Credit: 35,667,570 RAC: 4	Message 263406 - Posted: 17 Mar 2006, 13:04:38 UTC Last modified: 17 Mar 2006, 13:22:34 UTC Hello every one No money = no staff/equipment. No staff/equipment = no SETI@home. - Matt Lebofsky Forum moderator Project developer Project scientist copied from - here - Matt Lebofsky wrote the following: SETI@home Classic has no funding at this point. Hasn't had it for years now. Costs about $500,000/year at a minimum to run the thing. SETI@home as we know it now is coasting on fumes until (hopefully) more funding somehow appears. BOINC has funding. Therefore, putting SETI@home on BOINC has given it at least some life in the past two years, and is really the only chance for any kind of future. the above was copied from: here a little bit of good news: Look here Please donate what ever you can afford: here ID: 263406 ·

Scary Capitalist Send message Joined: 21 May 01 Posts: 7404 Credit: 97,085 RAC: 0	Message 264864 - Posted: 19 Mar 2006, 10:41:52 UTC Try using Western Union or Thomas Cook? These services are available from most countries, bypass your bank, and charge minimal one time fees the last I checked. Founder of BOINC team Objectivists. Oh the humanity! Rational people crunching data! I did NOT authorize this belly writing! ID: 264864 ·

Fuzzy Hollynoodles Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 9659 Credit: 251,998 RAC: 0	Message 265061 - Posted: 19 Mar 2006, 16:33:52 UTC - in response to Message 264864. Try using Western Union or Thomas Cook? These services are available from most countries, bypass your bank, and charge minimal one time fees the last I checked. Thank you for the information, Robert. I pay a very small fee on my Mastercard, because I pay in US $, which is not my currency, and else I usually pay a little above one US$, when I make payments through PayPal, but all in all it's not much considering how much I use those services. But I don't think non-US citizens can use those services you mention. But thanks anyway. :-) "I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me ID: 265061 ·

Scary Capitalist Send message Joined: 21 May 01 Posts: 7404 Credit: 97,085 RAC: 0	Message 265192 - Posted: 19 Mar 2006, 19:44:33 UTC - in response to Message 265061. Last modified: 19 Mar 2006, 19:46:15 UTC Try using Western Union or Thomas Cook? These services are available from most countries, bypass your bank, and charge minimal one time fees the last I checked. Thank you for the information, Robert. I pay a very small fee on my Mastercard, because I pay in US $, which is not my currency, and else I usually pay a little above one US$, when I make payments through PayPal, but all in all it's not much considering how much I use those services. But I don't think non-US citizens can use those services you mention. But thanks anyway. :-) Yes, non us citizens often use this method of transaction. I am not sure what country you reside in, but yes!!!! I have lived overseas and used Western Union/Thomas Cook in the past. The fee is nominal and quite reasonable. I know there is a minimum fee. It all depends on the amount you are sending. Sending 25$ would not be wise this way as I believe the minimal fee is about half of that....It's worth looking into though. I'm betting their rates can be googled. [edit-sp and clarification] Founder of BOINC team Objectivists. Oh the humanity! Rational people crunching data! I did NOT authorize this belly writing! ID: 265192 ·

kev1701e Send message Joined: 28 Dec 99 Posts: 138 Credit: 10,216,553 RAC: 0	Message 265417 - Posted: 20 Mar 2006, 4:14:51 UTC - in response to Message 263068. I have to make a criticism relating to this topic of funding, they ask for donations but they don't open it up to everybody. Not everyone has a card that is accepted by SETI, surely open a paypal account and let the money flood in, more users are able to pay by paypal as it is flexible, there may be a charge for using it but surely the small charge out weighs the amount of money that could flood in with Paypal I bet Matt wishes he could get back the months he spent trying to wrangle the ability for us to accept Paypal. The biggest issue is that the Univeristy won't let us open a bank account. We approached other non-profit organizations in an attempt to get them to accept donations on our behalf through an account of theirs. We even went so far as to develop the code to interface to paypal. Unfortunately the organizations that initially agreed to help us out with this withdrew (at the last minute). We considered using a personal account, but the tax implications were frightening. About our only option would be to start a non-profit foundation to accept donations on our behalf. It would take years to get the IRS 503(c) designation. So we're stuck with what the University offers. PayPal users should be able to donate directly - PayPal has a Virtual Debit MasterCard service: PayPal Debit Card Debit Bar INFO kev kev X2 4400+,4200+ @2.75GHz, XP1800+ @1.65GHz, P4 @1.6GHz ID: 265417 ·

Fuzzy Hollynoodles Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 9659 Credit: 251,998 RAC: 0	Message 265562 - Posted: 20 Mar 2006, 11:24:20 UTC - in response to Message 265417. I bet Matt wishes he could get back the months he spent trying to wrangle the ability for us to accept Paypal. The biggest issue is that the Univeristy won't let us open a bank account. We approached other non-profit organizations in an attempt to get them to accept donations on our behalf through an account of theirs. We even went so far as to develop the code to interface to paypal. Unfortunately the organizations that initially agreed to help us out with this withdrew (at the last minute). We considered using a personal account, but the tax implications were frightening. About our only option would be to start a non-profit foundation to accept donations on our behalf. It would take years to get the IRS 503(c) designation. So we're stuck with what the University offers. PayPal users should be able to donate directly - PayPal has a Virtual Debit MasterCard service: PayPal Debit Card Debit Bar INFO kev Please see this post: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=26991#263556 Thank you for your time. "I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me ID: 265562 ·

rsisto Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 30 Jul 03 Posts: 135 Credit: 729,936 RAC: 0	Message 265625 - Posted: 20 Mar 2006, 13:57:15 UTC - in response to Message 263131. @CR Truly poor argument!! The problem is: "It is a very big shame for the project its missing out on so much money out there ..." If SETI@home don't need donations from outside USA, they should remove the donate-button on their non en-us webpages! And should not send emails to people outside USA! Better: They should only use en-us computers for SETI@home and the non en-us webpages too. ;-) I was able to donate using a Visa card issued in Uruguay, so there should not be any problem for non USA people to donate. At least for those who have a credit card. I was only charged a 3% fee for abroad charges. So for example in the $10 I donated, that was $0,30. ID: 265625 ·

Scary Capitalist Send message Joined: 21 May 01 Posts: 7404 Credit: 97,085 RAC: 0	Message 265643 - Posted: 20 Mar 2006, 15:28:13 UTC I read somewhere that the minimum donation for credit card was$25, Founder of BOINC team Objectivists. Oh the humanity! Rational people crunching data! I did NOT authorize this belly writing! ID: 265643 ·

kev1701e Send message Joined: 28 Dec 99 Posts: 138 Credit: 10,216,553 RAC: 0	Message 265650 - Posted: 20 Mar 2006, 15:54:19 UTC - in response to Message 265562. I bet Matt wishes he could get back the months he spent trying to wrangle the ability for us to accept Paypal. The biggest issue is that the Univeristy won't let us open a bank account. We approached other non-profit organizations in an attempt to get them to accept donations on our behalf through an account of theirs. We even went so far as to develop the code to interface to paypal. Unfortunately the organizations that initially agreed to help us out with this withdrew (at the last minute). We considered using a personal account, but the tax implications were frightening. About our only option would be to start a non-profit foundation to accept donations on our behalf. It would take years to get the IRS 503(c) designation. So we're stuck with what the University offers. PayPal users should be able to donate directly - PayPal has a Virtual Debit MasterCard service: PayPal Debit Card Debit Bar INFO kev Please see this post: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=26991#263556 Thank you for your time. Fuzzy - it's a Virtual Debit MasterCard. SETI@Home/Berkeley accepts MasterCard. Sooo, PayPal users can donate using the MasterCard... kev kev X2 4400+,4200+ @2.75GHz, XP1800+ @1.65GHz, P4 @1.6GHz ID: 265650 ·

Fuzzy Hollynoodles Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 9659 Credit: 251,998 RAC: 0	Message 265659 - Posted: 20 Mar 2006, 16:11:34 UTC - in response to Message 265650. Fuzzy - it's a Virtual Debit MasterCard. SETI@Home/Berkeley accepts MasterCard. Sooo, PayPal users can donate using the MasterCard... kev Kev, I'm sorry, I don't know how the virtual Mastercard in PayPal works. I have a Mastercard connected to my PayPal, so for the donations, I've made for Seti, I just used my Mastercard. But please elaborate on how it works. I'm sure many people would be interested. "I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me ID: 265659 ·

David@home Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 16 Jan 03 Posts: 755 Credit: 5,040,916 RAC: 28	Message 265810 - Posted: 20 Mar 2006, 20:40:45 UTC Received my email :-), but Outlook 2003 treated it as junk and placed it in the junk email folder :-(. I assume this is due to the anti-phishing stuff in Outllok 2003. Also the email was empty and the html and pictures arrived as attachments. Worth a note as maybe many others using Outlook 2003 will simply ignore and miss this email. ID: 265810 ·

UBT - Halifax--lad Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 13 Dec 00 Posts: 433 Credit: 13,900 RAC: 0	Message 265822 - Posted: 20 Mar 2006, 20:52:42 UTC - in response to Message 265417. PayPal users should be able to donate directly - PayPal has a Virtual Debit MasterCard service: PayPal Debit Card Debit Bar INFO kev what you fail to say is that service is for the US only Join us in Chat (see the forum) Click the Sig Join UBT ID: 265822 ·

UBT - Halifax--lad Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 13 Dec 00 Posts: 433 Credit: 13,900 RAC: 0	Message 265887 - Posted: 20 Mar 2006, 22:50:41 UTC Well it is helpful when posting to make it clear which country is been spoke about Join us in Chat (see the forum) Click the Sig Join UBT ID: 265887 ·

kinhull Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 3 Oct 03 Posts: 1029 Credit: 636,475 RAC: 0	Message 265900 - Posted: 20 Mar 2006, 23:02:53 UTC From Am I qualified for the PayPal Debit Bar? The PayPal Debit Bar is available to users who: * Have a Domestic PayPal account * Are Verified (have added and confirmed a bank account) * Have added a credit card whose monthly statement is sent to a physical street address (not a P.O. Box) * Have a positive balance in their PayPal account * Have a PayPal account in good standing (as determined by the Account Review Department) Does anybody know if Domestic as mentioned above refers to the US only, or the users own country? "Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering."-Arthur C Clarke Join TeamACC Sometimes I think we are alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we are not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. ID: 265900 ·

UBT - Halifax--lad Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 13 Dec 00 Posts: 433 Credit: 13,900 RAC: 0	Message 265903 - Posted: 20 Mar 2006, 23:06:27 UTC as it has come from the US site it is for the US only, the UK site certainly does not offer that service, haven't looked at any other countries yet Join us in Chat (see the forum) Click the Sig Join UBT ID: 265903 ·

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