As part of my role as Treasurer, it’s my job to provide a biannual report to the Board regarding the financial health of our community.
As many of you already know, our community charter document states that our community, Rhydin.org, belongs to everyone equally. The Board acts as financial and technical stewards. We make sure that everything is operating as needed, that we have the volunteer-staff we need, and that we have the funds we need to carry on.
In furtherance of our commitment to always be transparent with our members, we thought this was a good opportunity to share our bi-annual report with you and to assess how we’re doing.
Introduction
The last six months has been a tumultuous and difficult time in the world. It has been uplifting to see our community come together and continue to grow, share, and have fun.
By the Numbers
Since March 2020:
Over 334 new profiles registered on Rhydin.org
Nearly 350 new Discord members joined
87 new Discord accounts registered on Rhydin.org
30% increase in roleplay activity
Special Events and Site Improvements
There have been many site improvements and community events over the last six months:
- Return of Cadentia Bazaar, Seaside Beach, and the Solarium seasonal settings
- Reorganization of the Discord channels to better capture the geography of Rhydin
- Extension of regulation dueling hours
- Addition of the #green-room channel
- Addition of the #practice-duels channel
- Rebrand of the Annex to the Arcade
- Introduction of the spring Biergartens and Faerie Glades
- Introduction of the Lucky Rabbit Lotto
- First ever Desert Sky Festival
- Hunter’s Guild South Cadentia and Seaside Beach Expeditions
- Monthly Event Roundups from Tippletoe
- Introduction of the updated Duel of Fists rules and opal icons
- Introduction of the revamped Duel of Swords rules
- Revamp of the Outback dueling venue setting
- Four new DoM dueling achievements added
- Twilight Isle Dream of Spring Event
- Duel of Swords Madness Tournament
- Diamond Quest 101 and the conclusion of the search for opal shards
- The flight of the Gaelkittens
- The Pale Moon Faire on Twilight Isle
- Introduction of the first ever DoF All Ranks Tournament
- Introduction of Fistmelda’s Tusk, DoF special title
- The Twilight Isle 25 Years of Magic
- Children’s Day Festival 2020
- The Blackest Night live multi-room and forum event
- Fashion Week 2020
- Beltane Celebration 2020
- Tranquility Talent Show
- Spring Flooding event
- Cinco de Mayo Taco Tuesday on Twilight Isle
- The Carp Banner Festival
- Rhydin Pride Week
- Greensmith Restorations Grand Opening
- Seaside Beach Party hosted by Canaan
- Sylista’s Birthday Celebration
- Demolition Derby
- Midsummer Megacast Tournament
- Kabuki Street Tanabata Festival
- Grand Opening of Seaside Beach Boardwalk
- Matadero Carniceria 5 Year Anniversary Celebration
- Old Market Recovery Assistance Program
- Tranquility Ballroom Stompetition
- The ongoing events from the Shanachie Theater
- and so many more!
What’s New
Staff Updates
Since our last report, we have had quite a few exciting staff changes:
After several years of leadership, Na-rae stepped down as Head Coordinator of Duel of Swords but continues serving as Assistant Coordinator with the Duel of Magic, a role they’ve held since July 2016.
Duel of Swords welcomed an entirely new staff including Conner Reid as Head Coordinator, Tippletoe as Assistant Coordinator, and Cajsa Storm as Standings Keeper and Historian. Gloria Blaze recently stepped down from her role as Historian.
Hope Naharis has moved over to join the Duel of Fists team as an Assistant Coordinator. And while he remains on the team (also as Assistant Coordinator), Kheldar has handed over his long-time role of Standings Keeper to new team member Jaycy Ashleana!
Finally, Ebon Ilnaren has joined the staff as Roleplay Assistant Coordinator.
Advertising
Making the best of free opportunities, our advertising program has consistently promoted our site through Discord server aggregators and RP-related FB groups. Our FB presence continues to be one of our most successful advertising outlets.
Since March 2020, we have continued to see a steady traffic of new users visiting our website. Our click-through-rate has increased 154% across all search terms, while ‘rhydin’ continues to be our most popular term representing 56% of acquired users!
Throughout 2020, we’re going to continue our advertising push, including exploring new free advertisement opportunities on reddit and around the web. As always, we’re open to any suggestions you might have about helping new friends find our community!
What’s Next
Sports Updates
Duel of Swords has introduced its first ever Round Robin Cup, a short-run team tournament scheduled to begin this month which you can read about here.
The celebration of 25 Years of the Duel of Magic is starting to come to a close so don’t miss the exciting remaining events, including the upcoming Trivia Tuesday - Magic Edition on October 6! Check out the full list of events here.
The Outback is now welcoming guest caterers to create menus-of-the-month! Find out all the details here.
Last, if you’re interested in joining the premiere Duel of Fists team event, keep your eyes on the boards for the upcoming announcement for the upcoming Iron Fists League team tournament.
From Our Roleplay Team
Coming up next month will be the return of Fistmelda’s favorite festival: Orktoberfest! In addition, look out for an upcoming discussion about updating the maps of the realm. As always, we’re going to want to hear from you!
If anyone is interested in joining our hosting or calling team, please contact Ebon Ilnaren’s player.
The Financials
As I reported last time, our server is secure until October 2021. At the time of our last report, our account balance was $55. We have received no new donations since our last report.
In July 2020 we renewed the domain of ringsofhonor.org at a cost of $24.90. Before the end of this month, we must also renew the domain of rhydin.org at a cost of $24.90. We will be left with a balance of $5.20.
Over the next year we’ll begin preparing for renewal of our server which is our community’s most significant expense. We’ll be exploring our options with respect to whether we stay with our current hosting company, A2, or whether we decide to migrate to a new company.
Hosting services are essential to what makes our community special. Not only does our service host our website and forums, our server hosts the Nexus Guide bot that provides all of the unique features we rely on in Discord, like dueling, ?rp on/off, ?profile, ?weather, etc.
The cost of three years of hosting service between 2018 and 2021 was $201.12. This was a relatively inexpensive introductory rate, paid for primarily through staff donations.
As we begin preparing for renewal, we will be assessing our options, balancing the costs and benefits of staying with our current provider versus moving to a new provider. Part of that assessment will require us to have some sense of a budget. At the moment, our budget is $5.20, which, as you can imagine, will not be sufficient to keep our community going for the next three years.
From the very start, this has been a community endeavor. That includes taking financial responsibility for each other. While our upcoming financial needs might seem high, we can secure a lower price for the next three years if we pay in advance. If we all contribute what we can, we can accomplish this the same way we have accomplished everything else on this site: together as a community.
Here is a link to our community PayPal account. You can also make donations directly to rhydinfund at gmail.
We know this is a difficult time for many people. If you are able to contribute, you are paying it forward for anyone who might not be able to and helping to make sure that we can all keep having fun together for the next three years. Hit that link and help out if you can!
Conclusion
Our community is run by an all-volunteer team of staff members who work hard and give their time to keep our site running both behind the screens and in front of it. But all this would be nothing without you.
If you have any suggestions, questions, or concerns, please feel free to send them our way by posting in the Community Townhall. You can see all the best ways to reach us with your ideas in this handy post here.