Bernice has some quite valid points. I don't know all the answers but I can try!

Would he be expected to refund if this was the only money forthcoming???

No, mainly because I hope its not the only money forthcoming! We need to keep on and on until the amount is raised for a new server.

Secondly.....are people giving Fencer the money they have pledged already??

I have no idea. Theres still a link for the 'get a better server' on the 'temporarily out of service' page you sometimes see when BK is down. Some people choose to upgrade a friend, and donate that way. Linda has ideas about collecting the money for her tournament - once she has enough people. Other people hold tournaments with a membership as a prize. And I guess some would just send in what they can. Its all donating.

I have read where "So and So" will donate $40 if the sun dont set etc....
ok....assume it hasnt set....has the $40 been paid...we have to look at this realistically(sp)

I guess that would be between the person pledging the money and Fencer.

This isnt a hypothetical situation...for Fencer it is real, for the rest of us it is playing with people who in most cases will never meet and will never have any contact with apart from the internet

Its real enough to me. I may never get to meet half of you, but I feel I know you as well (maybe better in some cases) than I know people I mix with daily. I can't see you or touch you, but you are just as much my friends as anyone in my 'real' life. Some may think that is sad, I like to think of it as an online community. My home inside my home. I would be disappointed if I couldn't get online to 'speak' to you all each day. It wouldn't seem the same at any other site. BrainKing is special. I feel it every time I log on, and it never changes no matter what is happening on the surface. Fencer has built a site like no other, and I for one will work my socks off to keep it online.