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Regarding Donations to Apnea Board - SuperSleeper - 07-17-2020
Hi folks,
At times we get emails where folks don't understand the nature of how Apnea Board operates.
As an example, today I received the following email:
Quote:I think it's terrible that you demand donations for me to get my CPAP manual. These manuals we should get anyway when we pay for our CPAP machine. Why isn't it sent with the machine? The economy is terrible and I'm unemployed and have no money do donate, so I guess I'm out of luck? This is nothing but extortion!!
There often is confusion as to how Apnea Board operates, so allow me to state some facts:
1. Apnea Board operates purely because of the generosity of our members and those who utilize our website. The vast majority of funding to pay for this place comes from voluntary donations.
2. Apnea Board never "demands" a donation from anyone. We do not require a donation before sending out manuals or providing any other service. Everything on Apnea Board is provided free-of-charge to members and visitors, whether they donate or not. If folks value the help they've received or the manuals that are freely sent out, we (of course) greatly appreciate a small donation to help pay for our webserver and other costs associated with keeping this place online.
3. It is not Apnea Board that decided not to send the manufacturer's Clinician Setup Manual along with your CPAP machine. That decision was made by the Durable Medical Equipment company (DME) that shipped your CPAP machine to you. We suggest contacting them if you are upset, because Apnea Board is doing all we can to remedy this situation by freely distributing these manuals in a timely manner to those who simply ask for them via email (by following the directions on our CPAP Manuals Page).
4. Apnea Board uses the "Fair Use" portions of United States Copyright Laws as our legal justification for distributing the copyrighted CPAP Setup Manuals. We have been threatened with a lawsuit by a major CPAP manufacturer who "ordered us" to stop making their copyrighted CPAP Clinician Manuals available online. Because of this, we have to be very careful to walk a tightrope regarding how we distribute the manuals and make sure they are not distributed for purposes that don't fit within the strict guidelines for "Fair Use" distribution. It must be for your own personal, education use only in order to qualify for Fair Use - not for any other use, especially for anything that might be considered "commercial" use. Feel free to read about "Fair Use" HERE. This is one reason why we limit many types of commercial links within the content of the forum posts-- to retain our primary status as an "educational entity" which allows us to legally claim "Fair Use". We do have some ads within the forum that off-set a small portion of our costs, but we don't decide which ads are displayed, nor do we allow ads within the actual content of the forum itself (inside of individual posts). We do all this so that we can provide some relief as far as paying for this place in a way that does not jeopardize our standing as an educational entity (which would limit our ability to claim "Fair Use" when sending out copyrighted manuals).
5. It's your choice to donate or not. Of course, we always write back to tell folks like this that we will send out a manual to them regardless of whether they donate or not. Apnea Board truly understands that the economy is fragile and some folks are out of work right now. In fact, our donations are way, way down and we're struggling also with paying the bills to keep things going here too. But please don't see our requests for donations as some sort of "demand". We have been, and remain committed to helping as many people as possible, regardless of who does, or does not donate.
Thanks for listening.
