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Help out with the bushfire relief & get 4 free web dev books

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:02 pm
by Chris Corbyn
SitePoint are running a 5 for 1 offer on their web development range of books. For $29.95 you get any 5 of our books in PDF format. ALL PROCEEDS ARE GOING TO THE BUSHFIRE RELIEF APPEAL.

http://5for1.aws.sitepoint.com/

I'm sure most people all around the world are aware of the devastation and massive loss of life that is going on right here in Victoria, Australia right now. I live in Melbourne and I work for SitePoint, also based right here in Melbourne. The bushfires are raging just outside of the city and many of us here have been affected by the disaster, ranging from lost loved ones to lost homes and livestock. The foreseeable future is going to be extremely difficult and we here at SitePoint wanted to do our part to help with the bushfire aid appeal.

What we've done is to spend all day yesterday here in the office doing what would usually take us a week to achieve. We are offering any 5 of our books in PDF format for the price of just one. That's quite an impressive offer, and the best part is EVERY SINGLE CENT from the sale is going directly towards helping the victims of this disaster. In other words, SitePoint is not making a single cent from this but we are doing a massive amount to help those affected.

These books are all related to web development so this does directly apply to this community.

The URL: http://5for1.aws.sitepoint.com/

So far 181 people have been confirmed dead and this number is expected to rise to around 300. Around 5,000 people are now homeless and many farmers no longer have a way to make a living.

We set out to run this sale for 3 days, aiming for $50,000 USD in sales going directly to the appeal. What we've seen has been astonishing. We hit our target amount of $50K in just over 16 hours and we're currently at around $62K with over 48 hours still to go. We did this by using Twitter to send out the link, whereby hordes of tweeters have retweeted our link so heavily that we went straight to the number one spot for the most retweeted account and the most retweeted URL. Anything you can do to get the word out there would be massively appreciated.

More info on our thoughts regarding the extraordinary response from the public: http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Free-Art ... fires.html

If you have a twitter account, a blog or any other far-reaching social media network the added media attention will not go unnoticed.

If you want to get your hands on some bargain web development books, throw your $30 towards the victims of this tragedy. Thanks all :)

Re: Help out with the bushfire relief and get a bargain!

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:17 pm
by John Cartwright
You guys truly have set a great example for the rest of us. God bless.

Just ordered my books, was hoping for some more advanced material, but that is beside the point.

The Principles Of Project Management
Run Your Own Web Server Using Linux & Apache
The Ultimate CSS Reference
Deliver First Class Web Sites: 101 Essential Checklists
Simply Rails 2

Good luck with your efforts, and I will be sure to pass the word on.

Re: Help out with the bushfire relief and get a bargain!

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:23 pm
by Chris Corbyn
Thanks very much :)

We're still amazed at the twitter response in under 24 hours:

http://retweetist.com/users
http://retweetist.com/urls

Incredible. So many great people out there willing to help!

Re: Help out with the bushfire relief & get 4 free web dev books

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 4:19 am
by matthijs
Great initiative. Have ordered some books (almost feel guilty getting so much in return).

Hope you guys bring in a lot of help for the bushfire relief. From what I've seen on the news it's a horrible situation

Re: Help out with the bushfire relief & get 4 free web dev books

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:50 am
by Chris Corbyn
Legend :)

On a similar note, Coles supermarket, probably the biggest supermarket in Victoria (and possibly Australia) are helping out immensely. On Friday (the 13th ironically) they have said that they will be giving all of their profits to the bushfire appeal. That is one heck of a donation and good on them! They run at 0% profit for one day so the bushfire appeal get all that money. All people have to do is buy their groceries :)

We're personally currently approaching $75K USD. Thanks to all who have taken up the offer.

Re: Help out with the bushfire relief & get 4 free web dev books

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:21 am
by Paul Arnold
Just purchased. Excellent idea.

Re: Help out with the bushfire relief & get 4 free web dev books

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 4:03 pm
by Chris Corbyn
Awesome, thanks Paul :)

> $110K raised so far!