Keep spreading the love! We are extending the valentine heart promotion.

[Skinner]

First, let me say that the admins are all thrilled and gratified by the amazing response so far to this week's fund drive. Donations have been coming in twice as fast as they did during our last fund drive -- which was our fastest fund drive to date.

No doubt, part of the reason for the enthusiastic response is the "Spread the Love" valentine heart promotion. As you may be aware, the valentine heart promotion was supposed to end at midnight tonight (Valentine's Day). But the response has been extremely positive, people seem to be having a lot of fun with it, and many people have asked us to extend it. With this in mind, we have decided to extend the promotion until the end of the fund drive.

I'm sure most of you have noticed by now that the goal for this fund drive is 1200 donations, which is higher than previous fund drives. Because of our recent server upgrade, our monthly web hosting expenses have more than doubled, and it was necessary for us to increase our goal. But even with the higher goal, we expect that we will likely finish this fund drive much more quickly than we have in the past. If we keep the valentine heart promotion in place, we suspect that we will reach our goal sometime tomorrow (Wednesday) or Thursday at the very latest.

Thank you so much to everyone who has participated. Keeping this website online is extremely costly, and we could not possibly do it without your help.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Skinner, EarlG, and Elad
DU Administrators

[im10ashus]

1. Sweet!

K&R!!!

[underpants]

2. Donate

or I'll shoot you in the face

Can we have a Grovelbot saying that PLEASE!?!?!?

[Mutley]

3. Do something like this with all of the fund drives.

It's fun. :D

[The Doctor.]

7. Same wave...

Maybe we could go so far a to have a 'customizeable' smiley?

Hey, we only want the world you know.

[Mutley]

19. Something like that.

It clearly encourages more donations.

[Rick Myers]

4. Happy V Day to you guys!!!

You all do great work, and you should know that we all appreciate it!!! Victory in 2006!!!

[Catherine Vincent]

5. How long will the hearts stay up?

[Skinner]

9. We're not sure.

I suspect that once we reach our goal for the fund drive, we'll keep the hearts up until the end of the day so everyone who donated can keep handing them out. Maybe a little longer -- I'm not sure.

[Lochloosa]

15. Why not just give them out till the end of Feb.

Some people are payed every two weeks or monthly. Give everyone a chance to spread the love.

MHO.

[Hissyspit]

16. Hey, Skinner, quit giving hearts to yourself!

You can't fool me. That's cheating! :P :evilgrin:

[TahitiNut]

18. Well, self-esteem is healthy.

:dunce:

[cassiepriam]

37. I love my heart, can't I keep it for awhile? Please..

[seabeyond]

6. rah rah.... luvs you guys. it was fun. n/t

[Kadie]

8. This has been a lot of fun!

Happy Valentine's Day!

[qanda]

10. I absolutely love this idea

So innovative and fun.

[wicket]

11. If we've already donated, and donate again...

...do we get more hearts to give out? Thanks :)

[Skinner]

17. Yes you do.

The more you donate, the more hearts you get to hand out. :D

[Catherine Vincent]

24. Wow! 18 hearts!

Are they actually secret admirers or posters trying to get on your good side? LOL!

[smartvoter]

29. He sent them to himself. :-) nt

[TahitiNut]

21. Even better, when you credit a donation (anonymously) to someone else ...

... THEY get to hand the hearts out! (Not that I ever do that, though ... it's a fun thought. They get "free love"!!) :silly:

[Angry Girl]

12. Thanks, DU Admin. And this is for you too:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=415448&mesg_id=415448

[ClayZ]

13. Happy Valentines Day!

[lonestarnot]

14. Happy Heart Day!

[WildEyedLiberal]

20. It is a very clever idea

I usually donate just once a year (poor college student), but this inspired me to give ten bucks because I saw a couple of good DUers without hearts, and I wanted to give them a little love. DU is a great website and I'm more than happy to support it.

[Dunvegan]

22. We love the hearts...next time, can we give flowers?

Thanks for the "Spread the Love" campaign...so much fun. Sheer genius!

[Dunvegan]

25. ...or perhaps pacemakers, in "honor" of the Veeper (j/k)

[Auntie Bush]

42. Red roses would be nice.

[applegrove]

23. Is a great idea. n/t

[Greybnk48]

26. Happy Valentine's Day to you too!!

This was a great idea and a lot of fun!

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

27. I'm so glad its been extended

I wanted to give more hearts but broke my budget. Can do more on Friday. Thank You Skinner, EarlG, and Elad!!

[yasmina27]

28. Thanks for extending

I get paid tomorrow :)

[cheezus]

30. Awesome. Another chance to see how much more popular everyone else is

Woo! I Feel Great!

Maybe someone will erase the name off their heart and give it to me out of pity. :)

[cheezus]

32. wow. Now I am Charlie Brown

or Ralph Wiggum.

[HeeBGBz]

33. I'm Eeyore

I got one but I'm sure it's a mistake.

edited to say if you're Ralph please don't pee on yourself.

[hfojvt]

47. I choo choo choose you

:evilgrin:

[Libby2]

31. I think this is an excellent idea.

Two very kind people made my day.

[liberalla]

34. I hope you fellas are seeing how this can be done at other times!

It's a great promotion, and fun for everyone involved (and profitable too!)

How about Shamrocks for St. Patrick's day?
Flags for July 4th?
Pumpkins for Halloween? etc.

At Christmas/Solstice/whatever your belief or practice is, people could choose the symbol they want to give to others. A candle, wreath, cross, dove (for peace), bells, etc.

This is such a great idea. Hope to see it more.

[carolinalady]

35. Love the hearts Skinner-I hope we can keep them for a while.

[cassiepriam]

38. Please don't take my heart away. (What a great song title)

[hfojvt]

48. "Where I used to have a heart

feels like a mile wide ditch
got a hole deep inside
the doctor just can't stitch
gone, without a trace
you left a hollow space
there's not a stone to mark
where I used to have a heart..."

Martina McBride

[cassiepriam]

50. I love this. Did McBride write it or just sing it?

[hfojvt]

52. Craig Bickhardt wrote it. n/t

[Lib4Life2006]

36. Great Idea

This is a great idea, but sadly, due to lack of finances I am not able to give right now. But once I get some bills in order, I would love to donate here.

Keep up the good work and keep up the good fight

[HeeBGBz]

39. Two Hearts!

I just noticed the message in my inbox. One for each heart.
The first one wasn't a fluke!

Thank you to the two who gave me some heart!

[Cha]

40. Good I like it!

It was an Excellent idea..you could do it for your next Drive even though it's not officially in the vicinity of Valentine's Day :)

[One Voice]

41. Thank You!

Great idea, it is fun, and thanks for all your hard work here!
:yourock: :hug:

[bliss_eternal]

43. Could we do this for Saint Patrick's Day, too...?

Give out little Shamrocks? I know it's only a month away, so I understand if this is too soon. Just a thought.

Thanks for the great idea, all the fun and of course the hearts! :hi:

Happy Valentine's Day, Guys! :loveya:

[MissWaverly]

44. I must say I liked the idea

but it would be nice to have a similar idea on March 17th with shamrocks, it would
be nice to spread the green around too.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

45. OK, I loved donating to others and now want to donate so others can

donate. (edited for clarity)

I think I have a handle on this...mmmmm, altruism; paraphrasing Homer (Simpson). MKJ

(substitute altruism for donuts)

[Roland99]

46. I want to thank my half dozen secret admirers!

:hug:



Or maybe it's one person that just REALLY REALLY likes me? :D :D



:hi:

[symbolman]

49. I think that it might be a nice gesture to make sure that

everyone has at least one heart - maybe the DU admin could be the secret admirers so no one feels like I did this morning - the loser kid in grade school :)

Great idea! Love it, now that I have some hearts..

You could use this for badges, patches, medals or even flowers, say if someone wanted to send flowers to Barbara Boxer and others jumped in, a good way to get people involved in boycotts, etc..

Shotguns might be appropriate :)

[cynatnite]

51. How long will we get to keep the hearts, Skinner?

This was a fabulous idea and a lot of fun. Thanks!