Support

Support without pressure

Some projects ask for support by turning up the volume: popups, guilt, urgency, or scarcity. That approach doesn’t belong here. This is a practice-support space, built around calm attention and dignity.

So we want to be plain about it: support is optional. Always. If you never support financially, you are still welcome. You still belong. The relay still counts you.

When support exists, it should feel like a steady hand under the table so it doesn’t wobble—not a tax on presence, not a ticket to belong, and never “pay to be more spiritual.”

Why support matters

The quiet truth is that continuity costs money. Not because the project wants to “grow at any cost,” but because a reliable relay needs reliable infrastructure: hosting, bandwidth, storage, monitoring, security updates, backups, and time spent keeping the whole system stable and safe.

Support helps us choose the healthier path: no ads, no behavioural tracking for marketing, and product decisions guided by stewardship rather than pressure metrics.

It also gives us the freedom to keep the user experience calm—because we don’t have to manufacture “engagement” to pay the bills.

What support pays for

Support is used for practical operations that keep the relay trustworthy:

• Hosting and bandwidth — so the app remains responsive and available across time zones.
• Databases and storage — for continuity, totals, and respectful retention rules.
• Monitoring and health checks — so we spot problems early and recover calmly.
• Security maintenance — patches, dependency updates, and safe configuration.
• Admin tools — export/delete workflows, log purge tools, and integrity guardrails.
• Time for stewardship — careful work that keeps the system steady rather than chaotic.

If you’re curious about the “real-world economics” side, the transparency page Paying the rent explains it plainly.

What support does not mean

In some communities, money can become a subtle hierarchy. That is exactly what we want to avoid. Support does not mean:

• better spiritual “rank” or status
• more visibility in the community
• preferential treatment or special access to belonging
• pressure, guilt, or repeated prompts

The relay is a shared lane. The lane stays open for everyone.

How support is offered

If we offer supporter options, we do it with the same design principles we use everywhere else: calm by default, no dark patterns, and respect for consent.

That means:

• rare prompts (no nag loops)
• clear wording (no manipulation)
• easy cancel (no friction traps)
• no ads added later as a “gotcha”

We’re intentionally building a culture where a supporter decision can be made once, calmly, and then forgotten—so practice stays central.

For the practical “how to support” steps, see: Support.

Non-monetary support

Financial support is only one form of support—and it isn’t available to everyone. That’s okay. There are many other ways you can strengthen the relay without paying anything:

• Encouragement — welcome newcomers, keep the tone calm, and reduce pressure.
• Feedback — tell us what feels confusing, stressful, or fragile.
• Bug reports — small details help us keep integrity strong.
• Respectful sharing — invite the right people, not “everyone.” Quality beats quantity.
• Community ethics — helping the space stay kind and safe is real support.

In a relay, what matters most is continuity. If you help someone feel safe enough to return, you’ve strengthened the lane.

Support and privacy

Support should not require intrusive tracking. We don’t run surveillance advertising and we don’t want support to become a pretext for collecting more personal data than we need.

If support involves payment processing, the minimum necessary payment details are handled by the payment provider. We keep our own records limited to what’s needed for access control, receipts/confirmation, and basic support administration.

The boundaries are described plainly in Privacy & GDPR and Data Retention & Memory Ethics.

Support is not a growth engine

Some products treat “support” as a growth engine: maximise conversion, A/B test guilt phrasing, and push prompts until the numbers move. That’s not our model.

Stewardship First means the opposite: keep the experience calm, keep choices readable, and avoid the pressure mechanics that degrade trust. If we ever have to choose between short-term revenue and long-term trust, we choose trust.

Common questions

Do I have to support to use CFOD?

No. Support is optional. The core experience is designed to remain meaningful without payment.

Will I be prompted constantly?

No. If prompts exist, they are rare, respectful, and designed with cooldowns. If you ever experience nagging or guilt, treat it as a bug and tell us.

Does supporting change how I appear publicly?

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

What if I can’t support financially?

You can still support the relay through feedback, encouragement, community ethics, and respectful sharing. Those are real contributions.

Where can I see the cost reality?

The transparency page Paying the rent explains the practical costs of keeping the lane open.