Upon entering the donation page for Tech Forums with Opera 8 I was given an "insecure connection" warning.
Opera 8 insecure connection.
I went to use Internet Explorer 6 to make a donation and was given a warning dialog about this page "contains both secure and non-secure items", "Do you want to display the non-secure items"?
Non-secure items, IE 6
After choosing no, the Tech Forums gif is not displayed and my connection is secure denoted by the lock at the lower right.
Not displaying non-secure items, IE 6
Now choosing to display non-secure items allows the Tech Forum gif to show and I no longer have a secure connection with IE 6 as denoted by the missing "lock" at the lower right.
Displaying "non-secure items", IE 6.
It is clear that the Tech Forums gif is the security culprit as it is not hosted on a secure server. Now this is one area of security where Microsoft has Opera beat. IE allows to not display "non secure items" thus allowing a secure connection while Opera 8 merely warns that the connection is "non secure".
I have not tested the donation page with another browser as IE and Opera are the only 2 on my PC. I would suggest removing the Tech Forums gif on the donation pages through the whole process as most people will not go through the steps I did to find the problem and resolution and it may hinder donations. If Opera was the only browser I used I would not donate via the web page given Opera's security warning.
I thought you might like a heads up on this and hopefully it may help some donations to come in.
Edit - I have posted this over at the Opera Forums as well in the "wish-list" forum as I would like Opera to have the same option IE has in regards to "non-secure items".
Opera 8 insecure connection.
I went to use Internet Explorer 6 to make a donation and was given a warning dialog about this page "contains both secure and non-secure items", "Do you want to display the non-secure items"?
Non-secure items, IE 6
After choosing no, the Tech Forums gif is not displayed and my connection is secure denoted by the lock at the lower right.
Not displaying non-secure items, IE 6
Now choosing to display non-secure items allows the Tech Forum gif to show and I no longer have a secure connection with IE 6 as denoted by the missing "lock" at the lower right.
Displaying "non-secure items", IE 6.
It is clear that the Tech Forums gif is the security culprit as it is not hosted on a secure server. Now this is one area of security where Microsoft has Opera beat. IE allows to not display "non secure items" thus allowing a secure connection while Opera 8 merely warns that the connection is "non secure".
I have not tested the donation page with another browser as IE and Opera are the only 2 on my PC. I would suggest removing the Tech Forums gif on the donation pages through the whole process as most people will not go through the steps I did to find the problem and resolution and it may hinder donations. If Opera was the only browser I used I would not donate via the web page given Opera's security warning.
I thought you might like a heads up on this and hopefully it may help some donations to come in.
Edit - I have posted this over at the Opera Forums as well in the "wish-list" forum as I would like Opera to have the same option IE has in regards to "non-secure items".