It's not about community, it's about money and how close the issue is to you.
As I told you on GFY and Vick mentioned above, people aren't making the money they used to. The majority of webmasters are clearing a few hundred bucks a month, I know at least 5 off the top of my head that have not made a sale in a YEAR.
So now they're told to donate - but two problems: 1) they don't have the money to donate, and 2) there's 2 places to donate, which should they donate to? (I am not asking for a response on this, just presenting the COMMON webmaster's point of view.)
As for how close the issue is to you... There are far more affiliates in this game than there are site owners and program owners. Those affiliates won't be threatened by Acacia, their sponsors will - so they don't see it as their fight. If one of their sponsors goes down, they'll simply change sponsors.
Many site owners and program owners won't do anything until the packet arrives at their door. It's like donating to the Cancer Fund... everyone likes to talk nice about how they wish cancer were eradicated, but no one gets involved in the fight until their wife or mom dies of cancer. Sad but true.
The "bullying" or "shaming" tactic used to get people to donate simply won't work. Bullying puts people on the defensive, and if you think anyone is going to be shamed into anything in this industry well, I've got a bridge in the desert to sell you. This is already one of the most shameful businesses a person can be involved in, so it takes quite a lot more than "hey you haven't donated yet" to get your fellow pornographers to perk up their ears.
Being part of Zmaster and On The Ropes I can only imagine what you've seen for yourself and certainly what you've heard from Lee Noga. But honestly what I am seeing from you is an "out of touch with how things are now" mindset. Back in '98 etc. there were a large group of webmasters, all of them were making good money, and they needed each other if for nothing more than comraderie.
Nowadays there are hundreds of thousands of webmasters, with over 125 different webmaster resources to visit. The majority are *not* making significant money. None of them "needs" any of the others, as there are full tutorials and free everything from content to hosting to fucking pre-built galleries and free sites available for them. They don't even HAVE TO WORK OR BUILD ANYTHING... why the hell should they care a bit about this business?? They've got NOTHING invested in it - not even the time it takes to build a custom full-page ad!! The industry has gone from being full of pioneers to being full of lazy lemmings who sit on their whiny asses and demand to be given everything for their precious 30 hits per WEEK of traffic. And the idiot sponsors are catering to these people, because 200 webmasters with 30 hits a week is 600 hits more than they'd have otherwise, and getting traffic is a dog-eat-dog world these days.
You keep on and keep on asking the question "why aren't more people getting involved" - there's your answer.
I think your efforts would be better spent in asking for donations of signature spots to promote the effort than trying to shame folks into donating - more people can afford that, at least. And focus the real effort on reaching the small site owners rather than the beer-money webmasters who have little investment and even less profit.
I'm sorry if this comes across harsh, but I am just tired of seeing you walking around with those rose-colored glasses on and seemingly no concept of what it's really like out here these days, repeating the same question over and over without catching on to reality.
