One big problem is that if you go to the Edison Birthplace website at tomedison.org to contribute, you'll be out of luck. If you are using a Mac with the default Safari browser, or an iPhone, or an iPad, you'll find you cannot donate. After you type in a dollar amount, then click on the blue Checkout button, you get an error message. I have found 4 workarounds for this problem, but I'm kind of a computer whiz. It's still a huge problem to be trying to collect $100,000 with a faulty webpage.
I just send a message on tomedison.org to the "Contact" person explaining the problem, for which they'll probably need to contact Square, who are likely the company that supplied the webpage coding that's being used. This seems odd, because Square has been a huge supporter of Apple, the iPad, and Apple Pay for many years.
I also told the Contact that I would make a substantial contribution, but wanted to see if they could first fix the problem that locks out all Apple devices.
Robert Wheeler at tomedison.org got back to me. He's going to investigate and possibly contact Square. He said it did work with his Mac when he first set it up. I've tried it from 3 different Macs, my iPhone, and my iPad, and none of them worked. If The Talking Machine Forum was a computer hobbyist website instead of a phono website, you would all be fascinated. Have any of you tried to contribute from an Apple device?
Strange, I just used my iPad to make another contribution and it worked just fine. Maybe they fixed it overnite. In any event, thanks for the heads-up.
Raphael
Raphael, you are correct. I got an email from Samuel Pullen with the Edison Birthplace early this morning. He confirmed the problem of non-functioning Square payments. Sam told me that rather than try to fix the faulty Square webpage coding at the tomedison.org site, he instead bypassed it. Now if you click on the Donate button, you are redirected straight to the Square payment website. As you noted, today it works great.
Thanks, Rich. The fact that it worked a few days ago, then failed yesterday kind of matches the fact that Robert Wheeler from the Edison Birthplace said it worked with his Mac when it was first set up. But then Sam Pullen confirmed that it was not working this morning. So he fixed it.
Anyway, hopefully lots of contributions will start pouring in.
I spoke to a very prominent member of the phonograph community today, and he advised me that in the near future he will be making a substantial contribution. It would be wonderful if others would just give a little, even if it means forgoing a cup of coffee or a beer or two. There are thousands of collectors, and so far only a handful have stepped up to the plate. C'mon guys, it's time to give back in memory of somebody who gave so much to us.
Don was a great friend and mentor to me. When I was a new collector he was my go to person to answer questions and provide missing parts. He was always very patient and encouraging. He was also a great ambassador for the hobby. I love the idea of the education center in his honor. I will be making a donation in the near future directly to the organization, not through the website. I encourage everyone to consider making a contribution as well.
Gregg Cline
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