Greetings to all our loyal visitors. I deeply thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continuous support over the past 12 years (since 2003).
Blizzplanet has strived for years with [your] support even if you had not realized it. In 2008, I registered Blizzplanet to be a JINX affiliate. What that means is that every time you purchased a T-Shirt from JINX
after clicking a link in any of our news about current new T-Shirts, as an affiliate, we got a % commission of that sale. So thank you.
That said, from 2008 to around 2014, Blizzplanet was mainly funded by all your purchases at JINX (whenever you clicked a link from Blizzplanet).
Partially, a smaller portion of the funding came from any Amazon
We lost about 2/3 of the revenue after we lost our original Twitter account (17,000 followers) and Facebook account (over 12,000 followers) in 2013. I know you guys are still out there, so please take the time to re-follow us on our current Twitter and Facebook.
In 2015, JINX announced to all affiliate program members they were closing their affiliate program, and from that moment forward Ebay
Enterprise Affiliate Network would take care of the JINX
affiliate program. A couple weeks ago, Ebay
announced it is selling away their affiliate program to a third-party.
What I did notice right away after Ebay took control of the affiliate program was that the revenue was even cut far more (coughs, vvvvvvery strange). I mean, for the past 6 years I knew what the revenue was and it was constant. Ever since Ebay
Enterprise took over it is now a constant (almost nothing). The numbers don’t lie comparing 5 years versus that 1 year Ebay
Enterprise took over.
Bottomline is that we need your support in a different way as we no longer rely on JINX to get your support. A staff member suggested opening a Patreon. I have posted about it a few times in Twitter, but we haven’t had anyone heed the call to support us on that platform.
Through Patreon, we could get your straight support without a third-party mediator (affiliate programs).
Your Support through 2008 -2014
All these years, you have seen interviews, and event coverage at Blizzplanet. The coverage is entirely Blizzplanet’s and yours.
See, through your purchasing T-shirts at JINX after clicking a link in our website (with a cookie containing our affiliate ID), the revenue (which used to be around $80-120 a month) would pile up over time.
Whenever there was a gaming event where Blizzard Entertainment had a special announcement, I would contact our correspondents: @dperschonok (Naka), @Handclaw, @markloftus9677, @blizz_lugia and others to step forward to record the events on video.
From your continuous support, I paid them to cover some of their expenses, so that it didn’t come all from their own pocket.
Even with losing 2/3 of our revenue in 2013, and going through JINX‘s affiliate program changing hands to Ebay
Enterprise (further lowering the revenue) — I have managed to cover some of our correspondent’s expenses. Sometimes they say no, but I feel they have the right to get some of the expenses covered.
I rarely if ever use any of the revenue on a personal level. Unless you haven’t heard, I am legally disabled. Currently, I use a motorized wheelchair (sometimes a rollator) to move around my neighborhood.
I moved to an apartment back in March, but before that I was 5 years in a shelter for the homelesss. However, the Blizzplanet’s revenue was for event coverage to help our correspondents. Our staff members.
It’s a bit embarrassing to comment very-personal information, but this is so that you understand the things that happen behind-the-scenes in continuing this fansite ongoing and functional these past years.
Recently, we reached our 30th game convention event coverage since 2009 – going where Blizzard goes to make an announcement. Our staff has gone to GamesCom, BlizzCon, SDCC, NYCC, Toy Fair, E3, PAX Prime, PAX East, and WyrdCon. Blizzard has also invited us to their campus for Press Invitational hands-on gameplay.
This awesome event coverage has all been possible thanks to your support, and only because of your support.
We wish to continue providing you that content, but I am telling you … the numbers are dwindling down, and we need the same support you have given us through JINX and Amazon
Recently, I sent funds to @dperschonok and @Handclaw to get a microphone for our upcoming event interviews. Handclaw will be at GamesCom through August 5-9 to interview Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft and any other game-announcement Blizzard developer.
We heard your feedback about last year’s GamesCom interviews which had no microphone to filter out the background noise. This year we are prepared. However, the microphone cost around $70 each.
We recently had SDCC, but @dperschonok couldn’t attend. So I hired someone who didn’t do a great job, but I still paid him for the panel coverage. Turned out to be a disabled military veteran.
I also pay for all the transcripts you have seen in the past year using the Blizzplanet funds.
The yearly hosting costs about $120 a year. It was paid back in May, so we are good until next year.
However, our funds are down to only $64.74 right now. Running dry. At this point, Handclaw is going to GamesCom out of his pocket (which is something I wish he didn’t have to cover by his lone-some). I covered most of his expenses, if not all, last year.
We have Lugia (Benjamin) our star editor traveling from France to BlizzCon (out of his pocket).
At least 6 staff members are going to BlizzCon: Alicia Marie, Lauralania, Montoya, TheRedShirtGuy, dperschonok, and Lugia. I’m uncertain if Anthony Armenio is attending (I know he has been searching for a BlizzCon ticket).
I really wish none of them had to cover BlizzCon or upcoming events out of their pocket. It may have been possible if JINX had kept their old affiliate program standing, but as of 2015 — revenue has been cut dramatically not because of you stopping the purchase of T-Shirts, but because of JINX
‘s bad choice of changing the affiliate network to Ebay
Enterprise.
So please, I humbly ask you to support us directly through Patreon or GoFundMe.
We wish to continue bringing you awesome coverage. When you aren’t able to go to GamesCom or SDCC, we are your eyes. We share the Blizzard panels with you, and the questions in our video interviews come from the fans (gathered from our social network or from ScrollsofLore).
Blizzplanet is a fansite supported by you. There is no corporations backing our funding. Our staff members are not employees. We are fans like you, and for you.
Please, fund us directly. Pledge $1 a month or any amount through Patreon. Or a one-time donative through GoFundMe. That will help us a lot to travel to gaming events to record Blizzard panels and interviews for you. Take a look at our past 30 event coverages.
Best regards,
Tom | Medievaldragon
