Swampdog
Active Member
Actually I thought is was over. Sorry Mike.
Put the Donate button back up and I will continue to donate.
T-minus twelve days
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
Actually I thought is was over. Sorry Mike.
Put the Donate button back up and I will continue to donate.
one finger john
Active Member
Will you accept personal checks?
choppedtop
Well-Known Member
Sorry Mike, I was under assumption that it was a done deal. Guess I must have read twelve days and counting wrong. Feel free to delete my earlier post. When someone yells WOLF, I run. If this site stays upright, I will continue with my same donations.
Lee
Lee
Mike
Well-Known Member
Honestly, I don't know if we are, or not. I thought I could get things around a C-note a month, but it's looking more like $130 - $135, which is only cutting expenses by half. If people are down for that, then we'll see if it works. If people aren't interested, we go our separate ways.
Swampdog, sorry to snap like I did. Indycars has already wound me up, once with that external site, and he's just trying to do it again.
Mike
Well-Known Member
Only if someone covers these bad, personal checks I already have from members of this site. No, I will accept an electronic check from your bank's bill payment system, I will accept a cashier's check, or I will accept a money order. Please, hear me when I say it is nothing personal against anyone, but I've already been stung, far too many times on the personal check deal. I made an arrangement with the bank - I don't take personal checks, and they don't operate forums.
Seriously, I have over $200 worth of bad checks, laying here on my desk. If someone sends me a check for $10, I have to manually enter that donation. Then I have to drive to the bank, whose business hours are directly counter to my own schedule, to deposit the check. Then I have to transfer funds from my account to PayPal, so I can cover the bills when they arrive. If the check bounces, my bank auto-charges me $10 for a re-deposit, so I am out the entire amount of the alleged donation. Plus, I get to come back in here, remove the manually-entered donation, then move funds back from PayPal to my account, and I think you can see how it ends up being more trouble than it is worth.
Mike
Well-Known Member
When I have some firm numbers to work with, we'll move the discussion to that point. As mentioned, I thought I could get the monthly expense down into the $100 price range, but I was being overly optimistic. As it now stands, I pressing hard against $130 - $135.
And let's not kid ourselves. If I could get it down to $40, there would still be months we would come up short. So I am looking to pare down every last nickel and dime I can.
mountainman
Member
Mike,
I enter a guilty plea to not donating as much as I should. A lot of times, I intend to donate and then let it slide. If we can get this worked out, I intend to put my donation in my regular bill payment schedule each month.
Just like most good things in this life, you don't appreciate them until you are about to lose them.
I enter a guilty plea to not donating as much as I should. A lot of times, I intend to donate and then let it slide. If we can get this worked out, I intend to put my donation in my regular bill payment schedule each month.
Just like most good things in this life, you don't appreciate them until you are about to lose them.
old round fart
Well-Known Member
My insurance and gym takes the money every month automatically. Is that an option for you? I mean do they have to have something special to do that? I'm as guilty as a lot of folks for not donating and I'm on this site many times a day. If we can keep this site I WILL do better. John
fordsbyjay
Active Member
I am not sure of this site because I am already a member but I know when I am searching the www for some answers or ideas MOST forums require you to join to read the post that google found or at a minimum they don't show the pictures unless you join. IMO all those unnecessary members are the web sites fault. I know I have had to join many forums just to read a post or see some pictures only to never return again.
Another guilty one here. For whatever reason this feeble mind just tuned out all that stuff on the right side most of the time. I will absolutely try to do better. If you can do the auto-deduction thing John mentioned, I'd definitely talk to the minister of finance (wife) about signing up.
In the past, you did get my attention when you broadcasted a "Hey, we're running $$$ short" message. I don't know how others have responded to that kind of thing, but maybe it would help if a message like that was a regular at the beginning of the 3rd week of the month.
Also, again I can not speak for others, I'd be more that willing to make donations when I can to a "Make up for past shortages fund". Now that you have my attention, I'd have no problem trying to make up for my past inattentiveness...others may feel the same.
I apologize for my cluelessness.
In the past, you did get my attention when you broadcasted a "Hey, we're running $$$ short" message. I don't know how others have responded to that kind of thing, but maybe it would help if a message like that was a regular at the beginning of the 3rd week of the month.
Also, again I can not speak for others, I'd be more that willing to make donations when I can to a "Make up for past shortages fund". Now that you have my attention, I'd have no problem trying to make up for my past inattentiveness...others may feel the same.
I apologize for my cluelessness.
old round fart
Well-Known Member
hey! the answer to a prayer! I would be embarrassed to admit I can't afford $5.00 a month. If Mike continues, I will do that! John
Mike
Well-Known Member
Which is unusual, because Google will severely penalize a site admin for treating their bots as anything other than unregistered guests. Yes, in years gone by, there were some black-hat SEO schemes which would allow a site owner to manipulate the bots, but Google caught on, very quickly. A Google bot hits this site as an unregistered guest, so if it can 'see' content, that is the same content as any unregistered guest can see.
Throughout the years, I've considered this, but I generally back away from it. I feel as if I am meant to be wearing sack-cloth and ashes, rattling my tin coffee cup, crying out, "Alms? Alms for the poor?"
The sidebar donation module appears at the top of the stack, once you are logged in. If that progress slider doesn't get your attention, what good is it for me to be rattling my cup?
I am not trying to be mean-spirited here, it's just that I don't have a quick solution to sugar coat these words. What I am trying to say is that at the end of the day, we're all big boys and girls, and none of us would expect to go see a movie at no charge. Or play a round of golf at no charge. Or watch a premium channel on TV at no charge. Or even look at our e-mail at no charge. So, from where I sit, I cannot see how this site should be any different. I abhor the fact, but money makes the world go round. I know that sounds pretty stern, but I am not trying to be heard-hearted, I promise. Actually, if I was hard-hearted, we wouldn't be here. I would have ignored the messages, asking me to find a way to keep us afloat.
John, please do not feel embarrassed. If someone tells me they cannot afford a few bucks for a donation, I can take them at their word. Believe me, I've been there, and it wasn't all that long ago. That is why we are not a subscription site. But when I see the same names donating, every month, and the same names not donating, every month, I start to think that perhaps some of our content is going to be restricted for just our supporting members.
I've a good friend with our hosting company. We're testing some configurations, so if you see this site closed down for a few minutes, don't press any panic buttons. I need to grab a database backup, so we can use it in a sandbox. We're trying to hammer out some details, so we can get a quote figured. One option we are looking at is maybe me making a bit of a sideways move, by moving some of my other sites into a different machine, and running this one on that same machine. In effect, I would be hosting this site. But the downside to that one is that if I get hosed on donations, that would jeopardize the well-being of the other sites. It's funny, because all of my other sites take care of themselves, financially. But with this site, populated with people who clearly have more disposable income than the average individual, it is always a game of chance.
Just bear with me, a while longer. I appreciate all the offers that are coming in, particularly from a couple of our forum sponsors. But I now know we have some options available, which will let us keep things alive, so now, it is just a matter of deciding which option works best, all the way around.
Mike
Well-Known Member
Damn, it is going to be tight, but it looks like we're into the $115 price range. From here, it is going to feel like I will be able to reach out and touch all four walls. We are giving up almost all of our room for expansion. But we'll make do, by hook or by crook.
Is that acceptable? And before you answer, please understand that answering in the affirmative means we will successfully be able to meet that quota, each and every month. Without fail. Not just this month, and next month. But every month. Because if I fall short here, that will leave me scrambling, to keep my other sites alive and kicking.
Is that acceptable? And before you answer, please understand that answering in the affirmative means we will successfully be able to meet that quota, each and every month. Without fail. Not just this month, and next month. But every month. Because if I fall short here, that will leave me scrambling, to keep my other sites alive and kicking.
benT
Active Member
Mike- I like this site as much or more than the others, but if this is just delaying the inevitable, you might as well call it now. There is more to play than your finances; this site also takes up a lot of your "free" time that I'm sure you rather devote to other passions. I don't want to be negative, but if your posts this last year have any truth in them, this site has caused you much frustration and anguish- maybe you need the break. I say that with only your best interest in mind, not ours.
I think this is a great site, but if it goes away, we'll all find some other place to reside, albeit probably not run as smooth.
Your neighbor to the south,
BenT
I think this is a great site, but if it goes away, we'll all find some other place to reside, albeit probably not run as smooth.
Your neighbor to the south,
BenT
Mike
Well-Known Member
Ben, on the face of it, that is actually some solid advice. Behind the scenes, however, people are asking for me to find a way to keep the place alive. So, I am trying to find a way to allow that to happen. As it now stands, by moving a handful of my other sites to a new machine, I can then consolidate this site with those, which will help keep operating expenses at a much lower rate. The move will place my other sites on a much larger machine, but by shutting this one down, and moving this site over to the new box, I eliminate a lot of expense. And if that works for everyone else, then I'm already in for the penny, so I might as well stay in for the pound. I'm already here, so let's do this thing. At least as long as everyone wants to play along.
choppinczech
Well-Known Member
I'm in. And I promise to set up a regular monthly donation.
I really like this site and check in many times a day.
I really like this site and check in many times a day.
choppedtop
Well-Known Member
That is good news Mike. Count on me for sharing my SSI with the site.
Lee
Lee
benT
Active Member
Mike- if your in that's great. I've been a proponent many times to strip this place down to the bare bones to keep it simple, more cost effective, and most of all, less time consuming on your part. I realize it's tempting to add on the latest whiz-bang extra, but face it, most of us just want to converse about building overly-complicated suspensions and tuning our dominator-topped tunnel rams for our street-driven death traps- we don't need photo hosting, messaging, and other niceties. If folks can't learn to host photos externally, then they can find another home. We won't miss them.
But seriously, do what's best for Mike, not for the rest of us.
Climbing off my soapbox now...
BenT
But seriously, do what's best for Mike, not for the rest of us.
Climbing off my soapbox now...
BenT
