Considering Heather's age and apparent retirement, she may be at a point where she simply wants to move on. Crowdfunding to solve any operational upgrade expenses is fine, but I have a suspicion what she may really need is a successor.
100% agreement there! I always wondered whether Playmodb could be transformed into some sort of wiki where trusted contributors could update the site.
Honestly, why this site exists separately from hers is a mystery to me. They would make a good marriage, and give the community better weight with corporate PM.
That would seem to make sense, but perhaps the cost and effort of hosting and moderating a combined site would be a challenge. Playmodb actually predates Playmofriends by about a year, I think, and those of us who've been around that long remember that Playmofriends was created because another fan site, Playmoboard, spiraled downward and eventually collapsed completely.
There have been many ups and downs over the years within the playmobil community, even some here in this very friendly space, so I understand why Heather might want to have complete control over Playmodb, especially at the beginning. Some folks have supplied Playmodb with photos and information and some monetary contributions over the years and Heather has always been scrupulous in giving credit to the source of the data shared on Playmodb. But maintaining Playmodb must be a huge responsibility and I hope something can be done to preserve it for the future.