2004 Contributions - It Begins!

ScottW

ScottW

Founder
Staff member
Sometime in FEB I am planning the BIG share-a-thon event, in which we will shut things down to non-contributors to help raise funds for this years financial needs.

However, last year some of you said... "Why didn't you see if we could raise the funds before that day came?" Well, here is your chance, as a community to prove me wrong. I'd love to be proved wrong. ::angel::

Our goal is to raise $3600 for 2004. If we raise 100% of it by the time we schedule our real share-a-thon, FANTASTIC. If not, then it will proceed as normal.

Donate Today
 
First tell us exactly what we're buying: a new RAID array? A new server? Your broadband bill? If we're going to give you money, we should know exactly what you're using it for.

Also, what if you raise 90% of what you need by the time it's scheduled? Would that be enough to keep the board open as long as the money keeps coming? What about 80%?
 
I would think 10% of that amount just goes to keeping track of Arden's posts. :) Just so long as none of it goes to paying Guido the loan shark off for bets made on the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl. :D
 
i'm guessing about 1/4 to 1/3 of that should about cover arden's bandwidth usage. notice i said 'about'.
 
From the donation page:
a normal payment transfer through Paypal even without a Paypal account
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Could you point out how I would go about doing that? I have absolutely no experience with on-line payments and such. I do not have a credit card, I do not want a paypal account, but I would like to contribute.
Should I simply `submit' what I intend to donate?
 
Yea, I'm also interested in donating...but I don't have a credit card or anything like that. Should I just use my friends PayPal account to donate?
 
You should be able to. Just use your logon name as the giver and contribution for it. I just contributed (though screen says $0) still via credit card. And yea, a thank you prompt from this site this time.
 
Well, I guess what I am trying to say is that you don't need a pre-existing PayPal account to pay with a Credit Card.

If you can't pay by Credit Card AND you don't have a Paypal account, then use the Check/Money Order option - or use a friends Paypal account as suggested.
 
Arden said:
First tell us exactly what we're buying: a new RAID array? A new server? Your broadband bill? If we're going to give you money, we should know exactly what you're using it for.

Also, what if you raise 90% of what you need by the time it's scheduled? Would that be enough to keep the board open as long as the money keeps coming? What about 80%?
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Ah! So that is the reason why our bandwidth usage has went through the roof. :) Arden! :)

Okay... anyhow... it goes toward our costs of bandwidth.
 
ScottW said:
Okay... anyhow... it goes toward our costs of bandwidth.
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Wouldn't it be cheaper to set up your own data center? You should be able to get a good connection for $2400 a year. Plus a few upgrades, UPS battery and hard drive replacements, shouldn't get above $3600 ;)
 
ksv said:
Wouldn't it be cheaper to set up your own data center? You should be able to get a good connection for $2400 a year. Plus a few upgrades, UPS battery and hard drive replacements, shouldn't get above $3600 ;)
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Define good connection.
 
ScottW said:
Define good connection.
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That would depend on the location, of course, especially since you're a victim of American market "liberalism" :p
You should try to contact different ISPs and see if you can get a better deal. Defining the site as non-profit certainly helps. Direct sponsorship agreements with ISPs and hardware vendors are usually better than ads for money.
 
ksv said:
That would depend on the location, of course, especially since you're a victim of American market "liberalism" :p
You should try to contact different ISPs and see if you can get a better deal. Defining the site as non-profit certainly helps. Direct sponsorship agreements with ISPs and hardware vendors are usually better than ads for money.
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Great, why don't you get right on that. :) T1's (without internet) are around $200-$250 per month, with Internet around $750-950/month. Of course, we really need more than that available to us. But, just to offer some numbers for ya. Trust me, I have done my research. What we have today is about the best I could fine for our needs.
 
ScottW said:
Great, why don't you get right on that. :) T1's (without internet) are around $200-$250 per month, with Internet around $750-950/month. Of course, we really need more than that available to us. But, just to offer some numbers for ya. Trust me, I have done my research. What we have today is about the best I could fine for our needs.
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No SDSL or VDSL? I can't believe internet access is actually better in this snowed-down place :p
 
ksv said:
No SDSL or VDSL? I can't believe internet access is actually better in this snowed-down place :p
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SDSL is available for $369.00/month (1.5mb). Of course, you get a bad snow storm or thunderstorm and that could go out very easily. Not something I'd trust running a web server off of.
 
ScottW said:
SDSL is available for $369.00/month (1.5mb). Of course, you get a bad snow storm or thunderstorm and that could go out very easily. Not something I'd trust running a web server off of.
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Don't forget added cost of the equipment you'd need if you weren't co-located. :)

In addition to paying for the montly bandwidth of 1.5Mbs peak for a DSL line (you could have a peak much larger then that at a colo) you'd have the following extra charges:

* Power (cost of power, plus cost of having a UPS/etc)
* Cooling
* Router (including maintance time to keep it up to date)
* Switch
* DNS servers (you want more then one)


Not to mention the extra space you'd need to take up, plus the increased noise you'd have to deal with. This doesn't go into reliablity at all, you have to deal with local ISP's reliablity, you're home's power reliablity, etc. A colo has many many customers, and has redundant connections, high capacity, backup power, proper cooling, etc. Also you can much easier handle DOS attacks if your server is colo'd, it's really easy to flood a webserver on a 1.5Mbps DSL till it's basically off the network, much harder to do so on a machine on a 100bt network at a site with 4 DS3 lines to the internet.

Like everything in this world, you get what you pay for. If you want cheap, you'll get a cheap unreliable site.

Brian
 
Exactly. I am a savvy person when it comes to cost and pricing things out, and I honestly feel I have about the best deal going on the Net, when you compare out the quality of the bandwidth, and umpteen other factors involved. It would be hard to beat.

There are of course features I go without, because well... trying to keep things as cheap as possible w/o sacraficing on quality.

Scott
 
edX said:
i'm guessing about 1/4 to 1/3 of that should about cover arden's bandwidth usage. notice i said 'about'.
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Har de har. You guys are a riot. :p ;)

I don't have a credit card either, but I still donated with my Visa check card. If you have an ATM or debit card it counts as a credit card at many places, including Paypal. The only difference is that transfer of funds is instant.
 
Arden said:
Har de har. You guys are a riot. :p ;)

I don't have a credit card either, but I still donated with my Visa check card. If you have an ATM or debit card it counts as a credit card at many places, including Paypal. The only difference is that transfer of funds is instant.
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Really? I wonder if my Bank has one of those. ;)
 
scott, we all know by now, that arden's forte is giving out painfully obvious information ;)

i'll be donating when i catch up on finances most likely... (actually had to use over draft last month, damned trip to san diego ;))
 
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