Signatures and donors/sponsors interface

If you’re a Linux Mint donor or a Linux Mint sponsor, you can now change your details and follow your contributions thanks to a brand new interface.

The interface also shows you exactly how you appear on our website:

And we now also generate a cool new image, which you can use as a forum user-bar, as an email signature, or even as a Web badge. Be proud of the help you’re giving us and show people you’re part of the reason Linux Mint is what is today.

Whether you’re a Linux Mint Donor:

Or a Linux Mint Sponsor:

Donations and sponsorships are extremely important to us. Every month, we receive the financial support of hundreds of people and it was about time we gave a little something back.

I hope you’ll enjoy this new interface and these new signatures, and I look forward to receiving your feedback.

If you’re a Linux Mint donor or sponsor, you access this new interface using the credentials you received by emails.

If you need a new access code, you can visit the following address: http://www.linuxmint.com/dashboard

Last but not least, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all the people who help us by other means. Financial support and associated income is what pays the bills and guarantees we can work on Linux Mint instead of looking for a job, but there are many people out there who help us in various ways. They make our job easier, our community and desktop better and they allow us to focus on what really matters. If you’re promoting Linux Mint, helping with the developement, welcoming and helping other users, creating artwork…. etc… if you feel in any way responsible and helpful within our community, we’d like to thank you as well.

I’m sure you can think of more signatures than we could ever design so here’s an image that can be used as a template:

Feel free to design your own signatures, to add text and additional artwork to them, to place them wherever you want and to make them link to the sites of your choice. Whether it’s on your website linking to us, or on our forums linking to you, be proud of your contribution within our community and encourage others to be as active.

A big thank you to everyone involved.

22 comments

  1. linux mint saved my broke computer works with no 3d and has minimum glitches thanks linux mint no one else could while i wait for a new one

  2. Great Idea! I’ve already put a customized image on my email signature and will add it to my website…….this is much more effective advertising than putting a Mint sticker on your laptop!

  3. I plan on trying to make more donations as My meager account allows.. and the customization idea is great!

  4. Thank you for Linux Mint team for making your releases polished and working great! I may not be able to help but donating alot of money but I do give aloyt of my time helping my friends and family using Linux Mint to know and do more with a smooth working Linux Mint machine. Clem, you are the man and you have a killer team of people working with you and I am happy to use Linux Mint and pass it on for others to enjoy 🙂

  5. A problem with showing the number of donations on the image is that it could lead to many small amount donations. Like ten $1 donations instead of one $10, and then then much of it will be eaten by paypal fees.

    It would be better to show the amount instead, because that is what matters to LM.

  6. Linux mint is doing well in linux community. There is a strong requirement of strong & safe os witch can compete with microsoft’s Monopoly on the os arina .Any os wether linux or window
    the first priority should be security and a reasonable & affordable cost.

  7. Lovely and all, but where the h are the plans or news for mint 12?? Ubuntu 11.10 is about to come out and we don’t have the slightest snippet of information!

  8. Agree with theartist…..
    AGREE COMPLETELY WITH THEARTIST…..

    Where are the news for Mint 12 ?
    Ubuntu 11.10 is just around the corder, and we don’t have the slightest snippet of information.

    That alone would raise all donations, for crissake….

    1. @All: We’ve got great news for Mint 12, especially in regards to which desktop it’s going to run. I didn’t want to talk about it until we knew for sure. Expect some announcements to come really soon.

      @Polarbear: Very good point. Thanks for the feedback, I removed the number of months and the number of donations from the signatures. Few people are aware of how Paypal fees work… on a $10 donation we get $9.36, but if we receive 10 distinct $1 donations we only get $6.6. Paypal takes both a percentage and a nominal fee, so on small transactions their margin is huge (33% for $1, 18.5% for $2, 9.4% for $5…etc). We could show the amount instead of the number of donations in the signature, but I’m not sure it would be very elegant.

  9. @Clem: I think I’ve asked this before but could we not donate directly using a bank transfer, thus avoiding PayPal fees. I’ve sponsored for some time now and it’s a shame some of the money ends up in someone elses pockets.

    On the signature bars I think it’s a very good idea. Raises the profile of donorship or sponsorship without being intrusive. It also shows that many people are not here for the free ride but are willing, where able, to contribute in financial as well as in other ways.

    Mint is an absolutely great OS and what’s more it’s been developed by a relatively small number of people. Whilst I don’t think it should ever lose that it would be great for all if another developer or two could be employed full time.

    1. @Fandangio: When somebody cannot use Paypal we can accept the donation by cheque or bank transfer, but this requires more time and attention. It’s not worth it for, say, a $1 donation… and on important amounts the Paypal fees are more reasonable (on a $100 donation it’s about 3%). I don’t think it’s a problem as such. People give what they can and it’s not our role to tell them to give more. Past $5 the fees are reasonable. Under that treshold, even if a lot goes to Paypal, we’re still getting something and that’s what matters most. In the end of the month, we rely on big donations, but every little helps as well and whatever the fees, whatever the amount, it’s not just the money, we’re delighted to get that support. We could try and get more out of it but that would defeat the purpose. The reason so many people give us money is for us to focus on the distribution itself… if we start processing cheques ourselves, selling our own CDs..etc etc… soon or later we lose our main focus and the reason people help us in the first place.

  10. Hey Clem,

    Aren’t you in the EU? I can transfer money into a EU bank account for free if I just have the details. I’m afraid that won’t work for donors outside of the EU. Do you have your account info available somewhere? I would give you some money for sure.

  11. This reminds me that I forgot to make a donation for LM9 that I am running at home, and LM11 that I am running at work. Sorry!
    For the web badge, I think it would be neat to optionally have my nick (instead of my name) on it.

  12. Clem, or Mint Team,

    I just read these posts AFTER I made a donation. So PayPal and Bank transfers take a percentage. What about a direct charge on a credit card?

    Which is the best way to donate to make sure Mint gets the most money?

    Thanks, you are all doing a great job. I just got a new laptop with an ATI video card and Broadcom ethernet/wireless adapter. Several distros worked but Mint did the best job of detecting the ethernet and was the only distro that detected the Broadcom wireless and the need for the fglrx drive for the ATI video.

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