For well over a year, we have had internal discussions on how to improve the recognition that users who have donated to CowboysZone receive. Our goal was to give better recognition to the most recent users who donated while at the same time showing appreciation to those who have donated in years past. We are very excited to announce we have finally created a new system for Zone Supporters that will do exactly that.
In the new system, users who have donated from January 1st of the current NFL season (ex: 2009) through the Super Bowl of the current NFL season (ex: February 2010) will have the CowboysZone Supporter image displayed below their name/avatar. After the Super Bowl, the CZ Supporter system will be rotated and only the users who have donated since January 1st in that year (ex: 2010) will retain their CZ Supporter image. However, every year a user has donated will always be displayed below their name/avatar regardless of whether or not the user is a current CZ Supporter.
On a personal note, I want to let everyone know that donations are always appreciated but not required. I put this site online many years ago so that Cowboys fans would have a family friendly place to support, discuss, debate and complain (when necessary ) about their favorite football team. Over the years I have upgraded the site and the servers to support its constant growth in popularity and activity. I have always avoided placing annoying advertising and sponsorships on the site because I wanted to keep the site clean and fast.
While I have always been happy to cover the operational costs of running CowboysZone, I do appreciate the donations that users make each year. I am glad that the new CZ Supporter system will acknowledge the users who donate, both past and present, so that other users can see who is helping to make CowboysZone the best Cowboys forum site on the internet!
Note: To support the new system, every user must be updated manually so it will take some time to complete this process.
-Reality