Paying the Rent

Why we talk about money

Money can feel like the wrong topic in a practice-support space. But avoiding it doesn’t make it disappear—only less honest. If the project costs are invisible, the funding model becomes invisible too, and invisible incentives are where trust erodes.

So we say it plainly: CFOD costs money to run. “Paying the rent” is our shorthand for the unglamorous reality of keeping a steady relay online—hosting, uptime, security, monitoring, storage, and maintenance.

We publish this page to keep the relationship clean: no guilt, no fog, no surprise monetisation. Just an honest explanation.

What “paying the rent” means

In software, “rent” isn’t one bill—it’s a bundle of ongoing commitments that keep a service stable and safe. Whilst costs vary by project size and complexity, here are the typical components of keeping a service like this running. Moreover, what resources (a person or an IT department) are available to keep improving the service steadily over time. Even if the app looks simple, the infrastructure behind it has moving parts:

• Infrastructure — that stays awake across timezones.
• Real-Time Database — that reads/writes instantly so handovers work smoothly, never dropping the baton in a relay race
• Account Security — Secure account + profile storage, not data leaks
• Hosting — servers and runtime to serve pages, APIs, and background processes.
• Accessibility — Not everyone has great eyes, the effort to apply WCAG standards to the site takes effort.
• Bandwidth — data transfer for pages, images, and API traffic.
• Storage — databases, backups, and archives that preserve continuity responsibly.
• Monitoring — health checks and alerting so problems are found early.
• Security upkeep — patching dependencies and hardening configuration.
• Maintenance time — the careful work of stewardship: stability, integrity, and calm rollouts.

Planned

• System Integrity — In a practice-support project, “uptime” is not a bragging metric — it’s a form of care.
• Incident response — When something goes wrong, the job is not to look impressive. The job is to restore safety and clarity.

When we say “rent,” we mean the baseline needed to keep the lane open and dependable—not a growth budget, not a marketing machine, and not a “scale at all costs” plan.

Why we don’t use ads to pay the rent

Ads look like a simple answer: “just put adverts in and the bills get paid.”
The problem is that ads don’t just add revenue—they add a second customer and a new set of incentives.

Advertising systems tend to reward more tracking, more prompts, more emotional spikes, and more time-on-screen. That incentive drift is real, even when the people building the product start with good intentions.

This project is built around calm attention, trust, and continuity. So we choose a funding approach that doesn’t require turning people into inventory. If you want the deeper version, read: Why we don’t use ads.

Stewardship-first economics

Stewardship First means the project stays aligned with its purpose: protect the lane, protect trust, and keep the experience calm. That also shapes the economics:

• Keep the core meaningful without payment.
• Offer support calmly (optional, rare prompts, no guilt loops).
• Be transparent about what support funds.
• Reduce risk by minimising tracking, scripts, and third-party dependencies.

A calm product needs calm incentives. The funding model is part of the design.

What support funds

When people choose to support, they’re helping fund stability—not status. Support is used for the practical work of keeping CFOD trustworthy:

• Uptime and reliability — stable hosting and performance.
• Integrity tooling — health checks, monitoring, and calm recovery.
• Responsible data handling — export/delete workflows and retention rules.
• Security maintenance — patches, updates, and configuration hardening.
• Stewardship time — careful improvements without chaos.

Practical support details live here: Support. (If you can’t support financially, that’s completely okay—there are other ways to help, and we list them on that page too.)

Where we are right now

At launch, there’s no monetization. We’re learning how people naturally do handovers and build continuity.
If, later, the community wants a simple way to keep the lights on, we’ll add an optional Supporter mode — quietly and respectfully.

What we will not do

Clear “no” lines protect trust. Paying the rent will never be a reason to compromise the core values. Here are boundaries we commit to:

• No surveillance advertising and no selling attention.
• No dark patterns that guilt, nag, or pressure people into paying.
• No pay-to-belong mechanics or spiritual hierarchy.
• No hidden tracking disguised as “support optimisation.”

The lane stays open. Support must remain optional and calm.

If costs change

Costs can change over time—hosting pricing, traffic levels, database load, security needs. If anything shifts significantly, we will handle it the same way we handle integrity and privacy: plainly, publicly, without drama.

That might mean optimising the system, reducing unnecessary storage, simplifying features, or adjusting optional support messaging. What it will not mean is quietly adding ads or quietly expanding tracking.

In a stewardship-first project, the response to cost pressure is calm engineering, not incentive compromise.

How you can help without paying

Money is only one form of support. If you find value in this relay, please share it with others who might too. The more people who know about it, the more likely it is to thrive. If you can’t support financially (or don’t want to), you can still help the relay stay steady:

• Give feedback — what feels confusing, noisy, or stressful?
• Report bugs — small details improve stability.
• Help the tone — community ethics are part of system health.
• Share thoughtfully — invite the right people, not “everyone.”

If you’d like to see the guardrails that keep things calm, read: Community ethics and System Integrity.

FAQ

Is this a donation request page?

Not exactly. It’s a transparency page. We explain costs so the relationship stays honest and readable.

I pay into the project because I want to help keep it reliable and calm. But there’s no obligation to pay. I equally, pay into the Kosen-Rufu fund in my country because I want to support the broader mission of world-wide peace that is the focus of the SGI. This is an Independent Project, not paid for in any way by the SGI. Its causes that I make, that helps my karma, and I do not expect anything in return. For example, you dont 'Shakubuku (折伏)' for money, you do it out of compassion for others.

Does support unlock special status?

It shouldn’t. Support must not create hierarchy. Public presence is controlled by privacy settings, not payment.

Why not just run ads and keep it free?

Because ads change incentives. We want a calm, trustable practice-support space, not an attention business. See: Why we don’t use ads.

Where can I see the integrity/uptime approach?

See: System Integrity & Uptime.