Dear readers of Calcio e
Altri Elementi ("Football and Other Elements"), since March 19th
2014 I decided to dedicate part of my time in this blog to share with you some
of the statistics-economic-journalistic skills I’ve gained over the years,
studying topics related to football and some other sports often treated lightly
by the majority of those involved.
To be honest: this blog
would never have been born if I were simultaneously working in a full-time job.
Therefore it can be considered a "product of the crisis". The reason
is easy to understand. Many of the articles that you have read here take time
to be processed and unfortunately (or fortunately for those who like to read
what I write) I have a lot of time lately. Please don’t misunderstand me, I'm
not complaining. How could I? I'm really enjoying writing this blog... I'm just
trying to explain what moved me to do what I'm doing in the last few months,
which is simply the same thing that everyone should do in difficult times: to
look for the strength to change point of view in the middle of hard times and do
your best to create new opportunities where they seem not to be.
"Everybody knows that
something is impossible to achieve, until someone who does not know it comes
along and does it" (cit.).
If what you read in this
blog is interesting for you and you feel that the work behind it deserves to be
rewarded, if you retain that in this blog you often find more curious and
useful information than what you probably find in other media for a fee, or if
this writer is nice to you and you have an impulse to give a tangible sign of
gratitude for the project that is working on, now you can do it.
In fact, I activated a
donation service via PayPal in which
can partake anyone who has a PayPal account or in the absence of the account,
any owner of a simple credit card. More details on this can be found at the end
of this article. First of all, I want to provide some more information about
the reasons that led me to this step.
Perhaps you might be
wondering why I decided to ask you for a contribution just now. The answer is
simple. I’m mindful that if there’s a crisis for me probably lots of you are in
the same situation and until the number of readers had a few dozen, it didn’t
seem that good to try this way. Now, thanks to your regular visits to this blog
day after day and week after week, the readers number is already grown to
hundreds and more than once has been exceeded a thousand views in a single day.
These are still small numbers in the wide Internet world, but those are starting
to be significant that, for better or worse, in this site is created something
good for someone.
Is this the beginning of a
journey that will bring the blog to be a paid service in some way? No, it is
not and it is NOT in my best interest that the blog will become a paid service.
I chose another route. A road that, in these days, perhaps anyone with a little
common sense would decide to take, hoping to get something in return: trying to
make this experience on voluntary contributions from readers, without proposing
any extra contents in favor of those who so kindly would like to help me in
this path compared to what is offered to those who continue to read the blog
but don’t find appropriate to support it financially. In a few words: if you
want to continue to visit daily "Football and Other Elements" totally
free you can continue to do so, as always.
I know that, in the "I work,
I earn, I pay, then I pretend" Age, I propose a change of mentality that
is not immediate to understand and accept, but I know I'm not the first one
doing this way and I know that if you put yourself in my shoes for one second,
no matter what you decide to do, you can not see this “wacky” project with a
hint of sympathy: the basic concept is that I'm not here to ask you to donate
money "in exchange for something", but I share with you my work for
free just by asking you to contribute after reading it, if you appreciate it
and if you feel that’s the right thing to do.
In my dreams, I would like
this blog to become for some or many of you one of the many things for which
gladly spend a few euros per month without even thinking about it too: sports
newspapers, cups of coffee, various app... if you find something good in this
blog that inspires you to donate a part, even minimum, of your monthly expenses also in
favor of "The Mad” of “Football and Other Elements" not to "buy
the ability to read the articles", but simply because you feel inside that
"he deserves it”, don’t hesitate to do it: I will be really grateful!
Obviously, if any of you
have higher availability and wants to give more money to those who could spend
on newspapers or coffee is absolutely entitled to do so: don’t worry, I won’t
feel offended!
TECHNICAL DETAILS
I think I explained quite
clearly why I’m doing this, it remains to give you some simple technical
details.
Anyone wishing to donate, can
simply click on the donation button that you will find at the end of this
article, in all future articles or in the blog’s homepage. You have to indicate
on the screen that appears, in addition to the amount of the donation, if you
want to do it via your PayPal account or by credit card and follow the
instructions to fill in the required fields. The PayPal service, as you can
easily verify on the Internet, is one of the world's most famous and safe
services and therefore it guarantees the total confidentiality in the use of
data in the transaction.
For each donation, Paypal
keeps a portion (if donated by Italy Euro 0,35 plus 3,4% of the amount, if
donated from abroad a little more depending on the country from which you
donate) and deposit the rest on my Paypal account.
For more information, as
always, you can email me at: marcods78@hotmail.com
Thanks again to all those
who wish to make a single or an “every month” donation allowing me to keep and
growing this blog, thus giving me the opportunity to have the time to implement
it in the best way.
Marco
To make a donation click on "donazione":
