After the purge of talent at 1up, many of those long time writers and podcasters were unfortunately let go.  Many have moved on to greener pastures, but some have formed new blogs and have undertaken independent podcasting.  Some of these settled onto new websites and based on the generosity of their fans, have made quite a living for themselves.

Some, such as the podcasters with RebelFM, don’t think they’ve collected enough, and have gone to new lengths to increase their E-panhandling. Check it out, after the jump.

Former 1up writer and podcast host Anthony Gallegos explains,

“We’ve received a ton of donations, just using this little button on the right hand side of our website. We really appreciate our fans.  After the first week, we got so much money, I bought a Siberian Tiger.  I named her Layla.”

After receiving thousands of dollars in donations, the RebelFM crew were able to buy pretty much every piece of podcasting equipment money can buy. “I don’t know what this thing does, but if you talk into it and press this button here, you can hear yourself! Plus, it’s gold plated.  It’s amazing!” said podcast host Phillip Kollar.

Over the last few weeks however, that money has begun to run out and they’re pissed. Sensing a need to change their ways, they’ve come up with a solution:

A bigger “Donate” button.

Website webmaster, Arthur Gies explains,

“We think that the downturn in donations lately has everything to do with our fans inability to find the donation button, so we’ve decided to feature a more prominent, full featured Donation mechanism on the front page of our website.”

This was how the original website looked:

A mockup of the new front page with the expanded “Donation” mechanism appears below.

Co-founder Gallegos explains, ” It’s not that we don’t love our audience and really appreciate what they do for us, but I’ve got an exotic pet collection to take care of and Sumatran Orangutan food isn’t cheap, so please help us!”

The main content will now be featured on the second page of the site, but after considering that, Webmaster Gies quiped, “My Bently payment is due, I think we’re gonna need another donation button on the second page too…“

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