Counter552 Posted May 1, 2020 Report Posted May 1, 2020 The membership required to race online in the UKDirt leagues runs from 1st March to 28th February each year. The General Admin team agreed to make membership FREE in March 2019 with the primary objectives of getting the fun factor back into the leagues and getting more drivers racing in them. We are very pleased that the numbers of people able to enjoy the online racing has increased significantly, even before the additional surge from all of us being detained at home in the current challenging times. In addition, many more people are also finding out about UKDirt through the F1 and F2 real life drivers live broadcasting of the alternative virtual BSCDA F1 and LoveF2s series, both using UKDirt servers and back up. In order to provide the best experience we upgraded to a new higher specification dedicated race server in 2019 which we believe is one of the best race servers available for UK rFactor and Wreckfest online league racing. Considerable work has also gone in to making the forum and website as cost effective as possible whilst continuing to keep them up to date with the ever changing security requirements. This all comes at a considerable cost and UKDirt can only continue to run in its current state in the medium to long term with some form of income to cover these costs. We recently conducted a survey which showed the vast majority who responded would be prepared to pay something to help keep UKDirt going using a dedicated server. We are hesitant to re-introduce fixed fees in these challenging times and want to keep access to the online racing experience with UKDirt as open as possible. Since holding the survey and making passing references to the need for "donations", as at end April we have received 8 donations, sincere thank you to these members. To encourage more people to support UKDirt, we are introducing a member recognition scheme, which will initially start with a status "icon" on the forum and possibly exclusive discord lounges as follows: Gold Member for a donation of greater than £15 Silver Member for a donation between £10 and £15 Bronze Member for a donation of between £5 and £10 These badges will be reviewed each membership year and we are looking for ways of rewarding the different levels of membership if there is sufficient "buy-in" to the flexible way we are trying to cover the costs. In order to meet costs, we would need approximately 100 members in the Silver category. Please think about the enjoyment you get from racing in the league(s) and donate what you think is reasonable for your circumstances. Obviously if this is successful we will be able to continue for many more years, if not, we will need to consider re-introducing "fixed" membership fees which may result in reduced numbers racing. Please look for the various links to donate and by clicking the "Click Here To Donate To UKDirt" link on the UKDirt website and and follow the instructions, not forgetting to add your UKDirt/Forum user name to make sure we assign your badge. This is only open to those who are not on a current UKDirt Life Time Ban. Everyone else is welcome to join.
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