Agreed, lets keep this considerate! The thing is we all are pushing for the same thing, we want to see better football on the park and ultimately European adventures etc. whether we are buying STs (single or multiple for families), buying tons of merchandise, travelling to away games, we are all striving for the same thing. I cannot make away games, that possibly gives me more justification to give towards HSL. Maybe it doesn't, maybe I have other reasons, maybe I don't have any concrete reasons but feel compelled/inspired by the idea. People overseas may think their subscription to Hibs TV is all they are willing to spend on Hibs, that's fine.
It is personal choices here, what gets me is the voracity at which we look to get one over on other fans or to prove our worth as fans. I still cannot fathom why fans would come on this thread to say why they cannot afford to give to HSL, we needn't know these personal details and how much you've spent, almost to the penny. HSL is asking for those who can give, they have been clear on that statement since the very beginning. Give if you can, I think we can already see the affect the donations have had on our club, the standard of player is much higher than in recent times (we had a better squad in the Championship than the 4 years leading up to our relegation for Christ's sake!).
We are not blessed like English clubs so I also do not understand the multi-million pound business perspective, football clubs in Scotland outside of Celtic are reliant massively on their fans, there is no £40million pound parachute payment should you get relegated, there isn't a £100million pound TV fee for each of the top league teams. That isn't there, if we don't buy STs, go to the games, get the merchandise, give to HSL etc. then Hibs will find a level that suits that income (less income from fans = less expenditure on everything [including players!]). What concerns me is fans that could comfortably give to HSL but don't, that isn't because they should (again that is their choice) but as is evident on these forums and at the matches, we, as fans, can be the first to berate the standard of play and the players - it'd be annoying if you could make a small difference, chose not to and then complained wildly at the games as the standard of product diminishes! Almost a double whammy as these fans will also damage the match day experience for everyone else!
I hope HSL reaches the stage where we have a chance to elect someone on to the Hibs board, that would secure our club to an extent. As it currently stands, as far as I know, we would collectively (and individually) have zero say should the club be sold etc. The club doesn't exist without the fans but as we've seen clubs can change drastically without fan input/direction, we've also seen new ownership drive clubs to the brink of extinction.
We really need to be a bit more positive as a fan base (that goes for me too), we always seem to default back to negatives and get in to "uber" fan one-upmanship BS. Give money to HSL if you want to and can afford to, never been any different. If you can't, don't feel the need to justify it, it's life - I had a poster when I was a kid that described what happens regularly in life, it put it rather eloquently with a four letter word.