T-minus twelve days

[Mike]

And counting.

For several months, I've been trying to come up with a means to either kick this forum up to the next level, or a simple, and painless exit strategy.

And you, the membership, have given me that strategy. Finally, I am getting somewhere.

When the calendar rolled over to the month of June, the May donations fell $155 short of our $270 quota. And to be quite honest with everyone, the $270 quota is falling the best part of $40 short of paying the monthly bills around here. So, in 12 days, when the hosting company sends me the bill for our server, I have two options. Go into my pocket for a buck-ninety-five (which ain't gonna happen, boys and girls), or tell the hosting company they will have to settle for just 36% of the total bill.

I really don't anticipate getting much rhythm on that option.

Frankly, I am seeing this as a good thing. I'm tired, and it is clear that you are, as well. This place has been real, and this place has been fun. But at the end of the day, it really hasn't been real fun, and it is just one more money-grubbing monster that none of us need. No sense flogging a dead horse, let's just cut our losses and get on with Life.

@Swampdog , I see you made a donation, earlier today. I will get that refunded to you, in just a few minutes. For all the forum sponsors who have already made payments for June advertising (you fellows know who you are), I will be issuing you refunds, as well. The server is paid up through the twelfth of the month, but I don't know that I even want to handle maintenance for that many days days. If the site stays here until the server goes down, I will leave the sponsor ads in place. But seriously, don't expect this place to be here much longer. Like I said, I'm tired.

We've had one helluva run, here, and a very small cadre of you have steadfastly made that happen. Without you, we would have been gone a long time ago. Thanks to each and every one of you, for making this place happen. @RPM, you deserve a gold star, for all of the financial support you have given this place. Which doesn't mention the personal support you have given me. No way I can ever show you gratitude, my friend.

 

[Swampdog]

Sucks! To many people today want a free ride after all (sic) the internet is free isn't it.

 

[choppedtop]

To bad, I hate to see it go. Not even a T-Bucket owner myself, this is/was my favorite forum. Lots of good information here, and maybe some not so good, but that is what sifters are for. As many members as there are, I would have thought 10 bucks a month from each, would surely have more than made expenses. I really doubt that it could, or would pay for the time that Mike spends making this possible. Thank you Mike, for a great forum. I will miss it.
Lee

 

[Swampdog]

Mike,

What is up? Today you sent an alert and refunded my Donation. Now I get a pop-up request. Did you reconsider?

Would it be doable to put a $10 or so dues to use (see) the forum. I would think there are At least 30 people that would be willing. It would cut the traffic down but we could use the archived threads.

All this web site stuff is way over my head,

Good Luck what ever you do. Get off the night shift and the whole world will seem a brighter place.

 

[Mike]

I would think there are At least 30 people that would be willing.

Sadly, there were never 30 people willing, so I don't see that as changing at this late date. If people couldn't afford a sawbuck to fully participate, I don't see anyone spending that same amount, just to be able to read only.

 

[jcunning]

Having just sold my bucket I am doubly saddened with this development. This site has been enlightening and entertaining for the last 7 years. Having met a number of you at various gatherings.

Mike, I appreciate your dedication to trying to make the site work. Sorry to see it coming to an end.

Thanks for all the memories.

 

[iajjpop]

Reading almost daily for 11 years ,and enjoyed very much. Learned A lot here about's ''T'' s . Thank You Mike for doing so much thru the years.

 

[one finger john]

This is the first site I really felt comfortable posting in. I guess I'll have to take up residence at the Mosin nagant forum. If anyone sees "one finger john" it will be me.
It has been a good run. Wonder where Oino will go?
So where will everyone go?
Will the site where Mike's nemesis (some nautical reference) suddenly see it's ranks swell?

Can we still communicate @ this site till the end?

Other thoughts will occur. Would like to state them.

First thought. SCREAMING METAL !!! If you would, let us know what your other screen names are and where to find them.
Man of mystery. Will we every really know.

John

 

[one finger john]

Damn, didn't make it to 1000 posts.

 

[Telman2]

I'm sorry to see the forum close, I'm in my 70's and this is the one forum I was really comfortable on. I built my bucket back in 67 and I've enjoyed it for 47 years now, I don't post a lot but enjoy reading about other peoples builds.

I'd also like to say that I really appreciate the computer tips and help I received here.

 

[choppedtop]

Perhaps we could give Spirits forum some action. It used to be a good forum until the spammers pretty much took over. I still check it daily, and it has been clean of spam. A couple of years ago, it had quite a few posters with their builds going on. Not as much going on there like there has been here, but it was fine.
I will certainly miss this place, and the folks here. Hope we can connect again somewhere. my name at the buckethead forum is 3quarter32. Hope you will give it some thought. I would not advertise another forum here if it wasn't for this one leaving.
Lee

 

[butch27]

Thanks Mike for everything. Being on Social Security I have not been able to donate as much as I wished. Took 20 years to do my bucket, but always FUN.

 

[Indycars]

I've been a member of Grumpy's Performance Garage for many years now and it's a
very friendly place with very little conflict. Just good old fashion performance and
fabrication discussions.

The owners has agreed to add a section just for our TBuckets called.....
TBuckets and Custom Kit Cars
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?forums/tbuckets-and-custom-kit-cars.109/

Below is a link to all the forums with a Introduce Yourself at the very top .....
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php

It uses the very same forum software and therefore you won't have to learn anything
new to post a question or photos. Please give it a try and see what you think. I will be
there with the same avatar and screen name Indycars.

 

[ChrisK]

Thanks for the great site. My short time here has been a pleasant experience. Best of luck to everybody.

 

[ellis8500]

Thank you all for the great advice and build information. Would have been a lot harder to complete my build without your help. Thanks for the link IndyCars; I'll check it out along with the Spirit site which I do check on occasion. And most, thank you Mike for running such a great site. You and your wisdom about worldly manners will be missed.

 

[Swampdog]

You may want to give this site a shot:

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php

 

[Mike]

I admire those of you who are already promoting other sites, before we've even drawn our last breath. Shows your true colors, actually.

Christ on a slice of toast, I've never received so many private messages in my life. I hear what all of you are saying. But allow me to respond here, rather than writing each one of you, individually. I am not delighted to see this community come to an end, either. But if each one of you who posts to this site cannot afford to flip a fiver, or a sawbuck at the site each month, how can you reasonably expect me to cover the shortages? I get it, more than most of you can imagine. Money is tight. I went the better part of a couple years without work, aye? I lost my home, as a result. But every month, I faithfully used the donations to this site, to cover the expenses for this site. Last year, I filed bankruptcy, to get out from under all the wreckage the home foreclosure had left behind. And like a bloody idiot, I did not file for that protection until one debtor had attached my wages, and a second has lined up behind the first. I was eating wish sandwiches, for a couple months. And no, that is not a joke, I simply did not have two nickels. But, did this forum go away, during that time? Nope, I kept this place open for business, which gave all of you a place to play. So please, don't bother telling me you cannot afford to donate anything, I already knew that much. But don't poor-mouth me, either, because I kept your forum afloat, when I didn't have money to buy groceries.

I have a possible working solution for everyone, however it would still require community funding. I have looked into cutting away all the dead weight on this forum, first by eliminating all the zero-posting members, then removing some posts that we do not need, then removing permissions for members to upload attachments. I think (note: I said 'think', not 'know') I can get things downsized enough to move us back into a smaller hosting option, which would save us some money.

Be forewarned, the site is not going to be as responsive as it is now, things will slow down, noticeably. And you are going to give up some functions to get us thinned down. But I think (there's that word again) I can get things small enough that I might be able to reduce our server expenses by as much as one-third.

Let me be very clear in saying that I am still not going to pay for the server out of my own pocket, even if I can pull off this bit of magic, it would still require the community to keep the bills paid. But if I can reduce that expense, getting down into the $100/month price-range, would that make it an easier pill to swallow for everyone?

Would this be an option this community could get behind? More importantly, is this something the community could stay behind? I cannot afford to run Web sites out of my own pocket? If you cannot afford to put anything in to it, either, then we're finished. But hear me, and hear me well - do not blow blue-sky smoke up my ass. Do not assure me we can fund this site, if you are not going to be part of that solution, because this is as good a time as any to just walk away.

What say you?

 

[Neshkoro]

Like someone said earlier, if it becomes a pay-to-play site, I believe there are enough members that will pony up what it needs to make it stay alive. As you said Mike, we can certainly each pitch in $5.00 every month if it will keep things going.
I, for one, don't post much but, I am here reading most every day.

Bill

 

[Mike]

Well, I have made some moves and I am pretty sure this is doable.

Our member count is suddenly down from 3,755 to 2,087. 1,668 (44%) of our total membership were collectively responsible for a grand total of zero posts. Seriously, if you've no intention of ever posting, there's no need in registering, as there is nothing to be gained. All it does is add dead weight to our database.

I've also trimmed over 1,300 posts off our total post count, by deleting ancient threads in the Classifieds section.

My next move would be to remove permissions for people to upload attachments (photos) to the site. You would still be able to post images stored on other sites, with the inline IMG BBCode, but that would be it. Uploaded attachments are currently eating up over 20GB of disk space, so preventing that from growing would be a big step for us. Yes, it means you are going to have to learn how to use a built-in forum function, and yes, it means you are going to have to store your images on an external photo album site, but that is part of the price we are going to have to pay, in order to downsize.

Neshkoro, I well and truly appreciate your support, but it is going to take a lot more people pulling on that same oar. I'm not going to lock everyone into pay-to-play. Either people appreciate the site and support it, or they don't. I'll not force anyone into anything they cannot, or will not, do of their own free will. Seriously, if every member who logs into this site on a regular basis would simply kick in a fiver each month, I would be dancing a jig. If everyone who logs into this site would simply kick in a fiver, I would be able to afford to keep the site on this server, plus I could afford door prizes for posting contests, etc. (See what such a small amount could do?) I could make all of this work if everyone who logs in would just donate $2/month. Well, other than the fact that PayPal would eat me alive on processing fees.

When everyone who logs into this site donates less than 50¢ a month, we cannot afford to move forward.

People do not understand that just one less stop, per month, at those golden arches, or one less stop at that fancy coffee joint, would allow them to make a donation, that would make a real difference for this place. And you know, it's really not that hard to break the cycle on the fast food joints. I can give you the date for the last time I ate at McDonald's. It's been over 2 years. 2 March 2013. I had just been released from the emergency room, and was hungry as a bear, so my boy stopped at their drive-thru. That's it, I've not been back there since. That kind of crap food is just not part of my meager budget. I've not eaten at any fast-food place, since then, either. I cannot afford it, and that is the end of the story.

But I do understand, some people gotta have that morning and afternoon Starbucks fix. And I'm OK with that, we all have our priorities. Me, I use the stew out of my Mr. Coffee, and I carry a thermos bottle to work, because I need caffeine as much as the next guy. But paying $3, $4, and $5 a cup is out of the picture.

 

[Johnny]

So, we are still alive? Payday is Thursday. Payment to site will be coming Thursday