LOOK & THINK

[k4tmc]

Yes, I can contribute more, but would like to know some of the statistics...

What is the average current contribution?
How many current supporters versus users?
How much extra is needed from current contributors?
How much extra is needed if all users contributed?

Henry
(standing by with PayPal account...)

[Moncha]

Looks like I'm going to have to chime in

First, thank you Tone for instigating this. True, I don't want to ask for more money.. When I started this project, the site was fairly simple, the "Family" was around 150 people, I had (still have) a great job that paid decently and Ms Moncha was owner of her family business and was making great cha ching. I just wanted to make a place that we could control rather than being a minor part of someone else's forum without the ability to simply back up our own data base.

In the last five and one half years, we have made great improvements (with a bunch forthcoming), the family has grown to over 2700 members, we have almost 7500 photos in the data base, we have over 10,000 threads and almost 100,000 posts. and We've given out tons of prizes.

When we started all those years ago I was able to absorb the cost of the server as it was way less than $1000 per year to keep up. The members at that time didn't get much, save for a place to post messages. With the growth and popularity of the site, I felt compelled to add features to make the place a true "one stop shop". With that, I began the "donation" program to see if the some burden of the additional cost could be defrayed. It HAS helped immensely

The unfortunate part is, we still are on the same server, albeit a safe server (for those that remember the "great hack attack"). Even with that, the fees for the server (Yes, it's a leased, dedicated server), network, maintenance (for stuff I can't do) and licenses are still there and have increased over the years. Like I said, the donation program has helped but, not enough, the site has always operated in the red. Even after adding several small client sites to the equation.

I'm gonna now bore you all with the "poor me story". Although I'm still gainfully employed, the wife doesn't have the great paying job she used to have and my personal expenses due to taking care of my ailing father and mother are making it tough to add into the pot. I am, and always will be dedicated to the promise of keeping this site available for the masses, but.......

As you have noticed, we have been experiencing some outages. A lot of this is due to server load. The answer to this problem is to upgrade the server and the network it's connected to. As you guessed, this costs money. For those that are interested, here's a light summary:

We have a membership of approximately 2700 folks. Albeit, some of those are somewhat inactive. Of those 2700 members, as of today, 96 are on the contributing members list. This is slightly skewed as in the last 2 days there has been a surge in new contributions, so to be more accurate, I subtracted the last 2 days which leaves us at 84. Just a hair over 3% of listed members are making donations.

Last year, it cost a total of $2500 to run the server for this site (I subtracted the percentages for the sites I host)

so, $2500 (Broken down to $208.33 per month)
-$1680 (84 x $20.00 = $140.00 per month)
------
$820 ($68.33 per month out of pocket AS IS in current configuration)

To upgrade the server to a modern server it will cost about $80.00 to $90.00 a month additional to the current fees. So, It has been put on the back burner for me as I just couldn't afford the additional output.
Along with that, I would need an additional $800.00 to $1000.00 for setup, license and transfer fees.. REALLY not going to happen for me.

To break that down, it would be approximately $300.00 a month and that translates to just 14 members out of 2700 donating $20.00 a month (Excluding the initial setup fees). That's just 168 folks being kind per year!

It would still be a leased server, but a very good configuration over the old configuration.

Old system= 2.4Ghz P4
60GB hard drive
512MB RAM
750GB transfer
10 Mbps Uplink
FTP offsite back up (My House)

New system= 3.0Ghz P4
250GB x2 RAID 1
2048MB RAM
1500GB Transfer
100 Mbps Uplink
FTP offsite Back up (My House)

Along with the new server, there will be lots of benefits to the members such as increased speed and storage.

I hope this helps in answering some questions. Like I said, I was not going to ask the community for help as I don't want folks feeling obligated but, since the cat is out of the bag... Please see what you can do to help this community move forward and stay strong!

Thank you for those that have and keep supporting this site and for those that are going to help out, thank you in advance!!!

[CrnCnn]

Looks like I'm going to have to chime in

First, thank you Tone for instigating this.

?????????????????

Did I miss something?

ldub???

[CrnCnn]

I get paid next week, I think I can come up with some extra scratch. I Visit this site Everyday and with all the knowledge and groovey people, it is definatley worth it. Do we just go to the donation part again? What is the best way for you Moncha(Scott?)?

[Anita]

Scott,

The amount of money I have saved by being part of this site = thousands

The quality of friends I have made here = priceless

I will be sending you $$$ to make this happen.

[cyronman]

?????????????????

Did I miss something?

Yes.
I did too the first time around.

On the HOME page, look directly under the calendar.
(VX.info Server Upgrade DONATIONS Needed....)

This should answer your other question too.

[Moncha]

I'm sorry, Ldub did bring this bring this more to the forefront. Ultimately, Tone started it. But I want to thank you all!

[johnnyapollo]

Scott,

I looked at the Donations page and it's not apparent how to send a donation of more than $20 - I'd like to increase the amount and it can't be done on PayPal either. Can you post the PayPal payment email address you're using? I'll get some $$ off to you today.

-- John

[Ldub]

Scott,

I looked at the Donations page and it's not apparent how to send a donation of more than $20 - I'd like to increase the amount and it can't be done on PayPal either. Can you post the PayPal payment email address you're using? I'll get some $$ off to you today.

-- John

Look at the paragraph below the paypal logo...or hit the "donate" button more than once on seperate visits.

[nfpgasmask]

I just kicked in a donation. I hope we can all get it worked out!

Thanks for the great site and all your work Moncha.

Bart

[Ldub]

I'm sorry, Ldub did bring this bring this more to the forefront. Ultimately, Tone started it. But I want to thank you all!

No "sorry" needed Boss Man...I just don't want to see this site disappear.
I've said it before...I find it astounding that fewer than 100 members can scrape together twenty dollars a year to support a site that has the potential to save them THOUSANDS of dollars in stealership repairs...I guess I was raised different or something.

I know that not all of the membership is active, & I guess I can understand it if you haven't visited the site in years, but on the other side of the coin, there are those that are inactive & still feel this place is worth a little extra scratch...I dunno, I'll never understand human nature.

TWENTY BUCKS A YEAR ???...that's four less Starbucks foo-foo latte coffee beverages...a year...that's one less every three months...

Allright...I'll get down off my soap box now...

[Kenny]

No "sorry" needed Boss Man...I just don't want to see this site disappear.
I've said it before...I find it astounding that fewer than 100 members can scrape together twenty dollars a year to support a site that has the potential to save them THOUSANDS of dollars in stealership repairs...I guess I was raised different or something.

I know that not all of the membership is active, & I guess I can understand it if you haven't visited the site in years, but on the other side of the coin, there are those that are inactive & still feel this place is worth a little extra scratch...I dunno, I'll never understand human nature.

TWENTY BUCKS A YEAR ???...that's four less Starbucks foo-foo latte coffee beverages...a year...that's one less every three months...

Allright...I'll get down off my soap box now...

Here, here.
If you can afford an internet connection, you can spare $20 a year.
There is absolutely no excuse not to donate if you visit and don't leave empty handed. I mean who doesn't tip excellent service after a nice dinner?

If it wasn't for this site, I wouldn't have a VX.