Sayaka

Hello everyone I have been on this board for over 20 years and I am posting on behalf of @Hawker Sal, the board owner, with her full knowledge and permission. Those who have been around here more than a few years will have noticed that Sal has been conspicuous by her absence over the last two years. It has been mentioned from time to time that Sal is "unwell". You might have perceived that Sal was actually incredibly unwell when Phil Martin came back to Neighbours TWICE and Sal has not been online to discuss either of these appearances, after waiting patiently for almost two decades. Sal's life is not in danger, nevertheless, she is currently unable to oversee the board in the way that she has in the past. Indeed, the recent security updates were not done by Sal herself, but by an experienced Invision freelancer that Sal has paid to do it for her. In the social media age, we have become used to having "free" social media platforms (paid for by the selling of our data and advertising). An "old-school" forum such as this however, is not free. Sal pays the hosting costs, the costs of the Invision software and the costs of bandwidth (every time we click a thread on board, bandwidth is needed to deliver the page). It all adds up to hundreds of pounds a year. A few of the longer-term members have assisted Sal financially over the years with these bills, but it's fair to say that Sal has paid the lion's share out of her own money (alongside mortgage and bills etc) for over two decades. Now that Sal is unwell, she is not able to work as much as she used to and therefore the board is experiencing some financial pressure. Sal has always strived to keep the board advert-free and in this day and age with so much competition for the advertising pot it is unlikely that it would cover costs here anyway. Therefore, we need to turn to you, the community of the board, for help. We know times are tough for everyone. We know the cost of living has increased unexpectedly. We simply ask that if you enjoy the board and are able, if you would contribute a small amount to the running costs of this board and the summaries archive. If you are not able, we completely understand and there is no judgment. My role in this is to gather donations and pass them to Sal who will use every penny towards running costs. I've offered to do this because Sal simply isn't well enough to organise it herself. We are going to use the Ko-fi platform - some of you may know it already: it is used extensively by online content creators with the "Buy me a coffee" metaphor. I've set the minimum donation at £1 - of course you can donate as much as you like/are able. You may make a one-off donation or a monthly donation - it is entirely your call. All donations of any amount will be gratefully received by Sal. There is hope for Sal's condition: she is showing slow improvement, but it is an extremely slow process that is going to take years rather than months. Thank you all for reading this, and our donation page for Ko-fi is here. https://ko-fi.com/neighboursfans