HRO Closing its doors on Oct 31st

[Ian Barley]

Keith & Jackie
I am very sorry to hear that HRO has had to take this difficult decision. I really hope that you both find the new opportunities that you deserve and achieve from them the success that you want.

SMC is the most important place on the web for me. I suspect that I am not alone. I believe that the costs you have talked about are ludicrously small in comparison to the benefits that I recieve. I know that you are doing what you can to keep the servers going. When you say $5 per member does that mean 5000 * 5 = $25000 is the annual running cost? or are you thinking of a smaller number of active members. What I am trying to get at is that this site is worth $100/year to me easily. If the cost is 25K then there probably aren't 250 people who also think that. I would ask that before we lose this resource, if it comes down to a straight matter of $X will keep it going for a year then let us all know what $X is and see if we can raise it.

[Bill Antonacchio]

Hi Keith and Jackie,

Let me add my voice to the chorus who offer your our sincere best wishes with your future endeavors. I am in a similar position as I attempt to transition from network consultant to application programmer. We all need to be ready to change our lives as need arises.

Good luck with the laser signage business!

As to SMC, that is why when I signed up as a member here after lurking for a few weeks I automatically made a donation to the Creek. I knew someone (YOU) was paying the rent and I felt with such a wonderful site as this it was my obligation to help defray the cost of all those great postings that had been uploaded for me to download and enjoy. Each one of those transactions (upload and download of a post) costs money and has to be paid for by someone. Donating $12.00 (I figured $1.00 a month and would continue to contribute that yearly) was a fair way to pay my way. This should be considered either by yourselves and/or whomever will get to decide the fate of SMC.

If enought members were to contribute at this level then a special "assessment" could be made if there were a need to update equipment (hardware or software) in the future that didn't fit the budget. I know we just had a multi-thousand dollar special assessment following the two hurricanes last year that did damage to our Home Owners Assocation assests, it is something you have to live with.

Maybe a joint project that many could contribute to could raise monies for future needs once the membership subscriptions were covering the normal operating expenses. A joint project could entail design, plan creation, material source contribution, layout of project, parts dimensioning, joinery, assemble testing, glueup, finishing, marketing, sales coordination. Each section of the country (and our overseas members too) of the major concentration of members could have their own project or a coordinated project could even be handled through the forum. We certainly have enough manpower and expertise to pull off one or two projects a year that could be sold through some medium (gallery, existing custom shop, SMC forum, or other internet method [baying?]) to generate some funds and be a very interesting way to bring the creekers even closer together.

Regards,
Bill Antonacchio

[Tony Falotico]

Keith & Jackie, First and foremost Thank You, Thank You, Thank You for providing this forum, it has been a home away from home for me, a wonderful place to come to after an aggravating day at the office. My heart aches at the thought of losing SMC.

With that said, If there is any way I can encouraged you to continue on a subscription basis and NOT GO COMMERCIAL, please consider it. I do believe we have enough base membership that will carry SMC though membership fees which will allow full access to the site. As for new members, leave it open as a READ ONLY site for non members. Once folks see what SMC has to offer, They can decide to jump in or not. Also, I truly believe memberships with fees will enhance our community by keeping the 'dead beats' and those with phony real names out. And if you realize a small profit out of, so much the better.

My $0.02 worth, whatever you decide my best to you and your new sign venture.

[Tom Hamilton]

Keith:

Transitions are always difficult. Especially when you have created something from nothing and added value along the way.

You have created a viable business and a valuable asset. Fortunately, in a free enterprise system, the market will respond according by pricing that asset.

Dennis Peacock, as usual, offered insightful counsel. $24 per year or $36 per year, it really doesn't matter, but there is value in SMC that can be converted to cash.

Where is the "shopping cart" and "checkout" link to sign up for a year's subscription?

Congratulations on a successful venture; blessings on the next phase of your life and thanks for making SMC such a useful resource.

TJH

[John Bailey]

Keith and Jackie,

I wish you all the best in the future. I have no doubt that you will be succesful. The "Creek" is too good to have been run by luck. Whatever talent, brains and work was needed to start and implement this site, you have it, and you've got plenty.

By now you've probably seen my post concerning raising some funds. It's my belief this site will continue to prosper only if those that developed it continue to have input. I would encourage you to stay involved somehow. I felt the need to try to do something about the finances. I've raised a lot of money over the years as a high school principal, and I've found that sometimes it's best to just explain the situation in simple terms and let people respond. It almost always works if the need is there because folks appriciate a place like SMC.

Whatever you decide, best wishes and good luck. (Although luck usually involves talent and hard work, and thus, the luck is rarely needed.)

John

[John Renzetti]

Keith and Jackie, You've done a great job here and I really appreciate everything you have both done to put SMC where it is today.
All the best with your woodworking business.
take care,
John

[John Shuk]

I have to echo what everyone else has said. I'm sorry you've come to this. I don't worry about your future success too much because you seem resourceful and motivated. I am sad to see you lose what you have worked so hard for though.
John

[Richard Wolf]

wow

Richard

[George Matthews]

This news is disturbing indeed...

Even though I have only been a member less than a year, I feel like I've have many years of benefits, and would not wish to see SMC dry up.

I do appreciate the 'real world' issues, such as expenses. I ran my own business for many years and have also made the difficult decision to close.

To keep SMC going you need a hosting site and associated server admin fees. It's not unreasonable to add some additional revenue for your services!

Why not setup a quarterly request for donations, similar to the PBS protocol. As donations flow in, we would know how close we were to the goal of keeping SMC going.

Donations could be suggested.

$55 Reader
$45 Occasional Contributor ( less than 100 posts )
$35 Contributor ( more than 1000 posts )
$0 Moderator

Contributions should be made public?

You have already contributed more than any reasonable reader should expect, and I do hope that you can find a way to extend SMC's life and also make a reasoable living.

[Jim O'Dell]

Keith, I'm with everyone else. I'm on board to help support SMC financially if that is the way you and Jackie decide to take this. I know you have weighed multiple possibilities, probably over the last 6 months or so, hoping and working that it would not come to this. It seems to have happened very quickly to most of us, but my bet is that you have been dealing with the possibilities for a while now.
We all know that SMC is your 'baby', and I will say now that you should do nothing that is not in your best interest. Knowing full well that you want what is best for SMC, I want only what is best for you and Jackie. My heart goes out to you at this time. Know that we will be here to support you and your decision, whatever it may be. Jim

[Jim Fancher]

Jim, do you maintain your own servers and infrastructure? Based on our back-channel discussion over the past month, it's best that the current SMC server be maintained--transferring it to someone else's servers complicates things. Also, check the bandwidth and pages served statistics that Keith has regularly posted in the "Support Forum"...it could have impact on both cost to host and other applications/sites you are already maintaining.

Transferring a site that uses VB and a MYSQL database isn't technically challenging. I own over 50 websites. The one most similar to SMC is http://www.OdyClub.com that uses the same forum software, but has an actual website built around it. It also has 20,000+ members.

As I've PM'ed Keith, capacity and bandwidth are not a problem. I'd be able to keep SMC free for the members just as OdyClub.com has been free for 5 years.

This is a chance to keep SMC "in the family".

[Jim Becker]

Thanks. Jim. It was a question I had to ask. The Ody' site looks great!

[Jim Fancher]

Thanks. Jim. It was a question I had to ask. The Ody' site looks great!

Thanks Jim! The site is getting stale and is being redesigned. Yeah, my "real life" never really comes up in conversation here.

[Jim Becker]

TYeah, my "real life" never really comes up in conversation here.

You mean woodworking isn't your real life and the day-job just a dream?

[Ted Calver]

How's about one of youse smart computer guys creating a sticky Subscription Sign-up thread or one of those things where you can vote for various options i.e. subscribe yes, no, for $1-5, $6-10, $10-20, or more, annually, etc. so we can get an idea of how serious people are in supporting SMC. IMHO I frankly don't care if some folks ride for free, if a core of steady donors can keep the doors open for everybody.