Een wrote: ↑02 April 2020, 08:00
Rolling Wonder wrote: ↑02 April 2020, 02:42
Can you put the link to the sponsorship page in more places? I can only find it by coming to this forum thread.
Maybe you never explored the footer?
There is also the "other possibilities to help this website link" on the premium page.
I'm glad you have this incentive as part of the site. I'm a bit of a noob here so please pardon me if I am stepping anywhere I shouldn't...
First, on visibility and functionality:
What 'footer' are you referring to? After reading that, I looked around (again, as you will see) at the bottom of several pages but didn't see anything obvious. If you are referring to the 'Contribute to BGA' link in the menus at the bottom, I know
now that it can indirectly bring you to the sponsorship page, but for someone just looking for how to get a referral code or link, that is far from obvious. You might think of the disparity like this: If I'm looking to help
you, I want to contribute. If I'm looking to help
me, I want a [referral] reward.
A couple days ago I wondered if BGA has referral rewards. I looked around and didn't find anything (I'm discussing its visibility, not whether the information is where you say it is), then gave up and searched the forums like Rolling Wonder did, which led me to this post. In my case, even that only worked because of DoctorPelusa's reply using the word 'referral'. If that didn't happen, I'm not sure how I would have found out about 'sponsorship'! I agree that it wouldn't hurt to make it more known that the site offers this.
Also, considering the complaints here from late 2019 and the more recent questions about friends who made accounts before/without using a referral link, you might want to include information on the sponsorship page to let people know that the link will work for previously created accounts and specify for how long after account creation that it will work. A couple replies here refer to having "a few days" or "some days" but that is quite vague. And needing to be already connected (which I assume means logged in?) while using the link is, again, not obvious so that should be in the instructions as well.
Second, on language:
Is the use of 'sponsorship' for this a British English thing? I checked some British definitions and didn't see anything. At least for American English, I would
never use 'sponsorship' this way. 'Referral' is the main way of saying it. 'Sponsor' refers (sorry, no pun intended) to someone responsible (note the etymological connection) in some way for an activity, usually by providing funding. So if I was paying for someone else's membership, I would be their sponsor - especially if my name was attached to their activity. The only times I think of 'sponsor' being used outside of that have to do with non-financial responsibility or stewardship in the context of Alcoholics Anonymous (and related Anonymous groups), presenting a baby for baptism, or politicians leading proposed legislation. If someone using a referral code makes the 'sponsor' responsible for what they do here, that would very much change its usage!
I guess that's my unrequested 2 cents on the matter! Thanks for reading.