Hi!
The kind of content I publish on this blog can be very time-consuming to write. Writing a single article can easily take days or weeks of research. To take an extreme example, before I wrote my chair reviews, I read two books and dozens of scientific papers related to back health and ergonomics, countless Web pages and videos, corresponded with subject experts, did many different measurements and experiments, shot and edited a number of video clips, and filled dozens of pages with notes on each chair I tested. Most importantly, I spent probably over 100 hours thinking about the topic. (All of this effort is of course completely absurd from a business standpoint – any commercial publication would go bankrupt in a year if they put this much work into a single piece of content.)
In addition to writing, a significant amount of work is involved in simply keeping this blog running:
- The blog has to be updated for compatibility with new browsers and devices (phones, tablets).
- User comments have to be moderated and responded to.
- From time to time, the software this blog is running on (Web server, database, blog software, backups, monitoring, etc.) has to be updated, (re-)configured and tested.
- Finally, I’m the only system administrator this site has, so I have to be on standby in case the server goes down or there are performance problems. If that happens, I’m the one who has to drop everything and fix it ASAP.
All of this stuff adds up to a non-trivial amount of not-always-pleasant work, which is a problem because I have to make a living. That is why I decided to create a Patreon page. Patreon is a service which allows you to donate a small amount each month to support independent creators you like. My hope is that support from users like you will give me the peace of mind to keep maintaining Hope This Helps and publish more in-depth content.
So here’s the deal: if you like my blog and don’t want to see it disappear, you can support it by becoming a Patron at whatever support level you’re comfortable with. Only you know how much value you’re getting out of my content and how much you can afford. However much you can chip in, it’s more than I expect and I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you!
– Tomasz
If you’d rather not become a Patron, you can also help out by making a one-time donation.