Animation Source Forums

Well there's no secret : 20$ is for a shared server, but dedicated servers are much more costy. I was talking about a dedicated one, because, well BS is more or less already on a "small" dedicated server. Shared servers can be enough for the site of course, at least for now it sure would. But it could be a little more costy than 20$ considering the things that the site requires.
(big database, at least 2 Gb of space, many connections at the same times on the database (around 10), big bandwith (100Gb a month), GD library support for pictures, URL rewriting...)
So in that case, it would be useless to go for another host, if it's for getting the same kind of offer, if not worse, for exactly the same price.

Ok, but I'm not looking for a server right now. I was only telling the reasons why I would need money.
The topic was : which revenue method would be the best, for you?
I think I will try both in fact, if it's possible. But as for ads, I will display them discretly, at the bottom of the page for example, where most people won't even notice it. (Google adsense pay with clicks but also the displays, so maybe it would be enough)
Well at least I'll try and see.

The site would still be free there would just be text ads near the bottom of each page. It would be similar to what http://sheezyart.com has done.

Donations are donations, you don't need to pay anything if you don't want to.
As for adverts, well if I decide to put some, I would try to blend them with the site as much as possible, but don't worry, it won't look like a casino site
In fact it's pretty rare to see a site without any ads, nowadays...But most add them so that you don't really notice them.

I've already added the buttons for the Paypal donations. It is at the bottom of the page on the site.
It works already, the only thing I have to do (and the most difficult) is to know how to place it now!

I think donations is a good idea, I saw your donations link and as soon as I get some money in my account (saturday) I'll make a donation to the site.

Thanks, if you do it tell me if it's long, if there are confusing things in the form etc, because I can't test it
I will also probably display how much has been sent in total on the page

I've donated money with PayPal before, and yes, it does take a long time to fill everything out. It needs your first and last name, credit card number (for obvious reasons), your address (city, state zip code, home address), and then your home telephone number. Not sure if that exactly classifies as confusing...but it's a bit personal.

But they ask this only when you want to create a Paypal account, not everytime you pay (or you donate)?

Once you've created your paypal account it does'nt ask for your credit card number again but it does ask for your username and password then it should 'remember' your details, I've used paypal loads of times mainly for stuff on e-bay but it is a great way to do stuff like this.