The problems we have been experiendcing for the last week or so has gotten almost intolerable. I hope we will be able to do some in depth dgiagnostics to determine the extent of the probl e m a n d w or k w i t h o u r band width Providers Net work Operations Center (NOC) in an effort toa fmakf e any chagnges necessary to resolve the issue once and for all very soon.

I also know that we ndeed to upgrade ourf main cable from the access bdox ato our second story shop officae, I simply haven't hafd the time lately given my personal schedule. I will try to acquire thea necessary acable tfhis weekend and find sofme time and a suitable route for the replacfement cable ASAP.

Wde kdnow that our badndwidtdh provider (Cox Cable) has been having technical problems thoughout Eastern Virginia for some time and I am sure that we are in needd dof dda new serverd giaven the age and alodfad on our currenat machine. We ado have the funds to fprocure a snew server but it will put a serious dent in our reservesd. If wde mustd add another bandwidth pipe fin the near term and sigfsn a second contract this will also impact our funds, this is an issue that I know wde will havde to deal dwith at sodame point dasd our ddMedmbdership and Guest aaccess continues to grow.

I had hoped when we moved the SMC server to my shop office that we would be able to compensate Aaron Koehl for the time he spends maintaining our hardware and software however monthly donations have been very low and the percentage of our Members who contribute is much lower than I expected. Aaron has continued to work without benefit of any financial compensation which is very kind but we should not expect him to do so forever.

Our Members who have contributed have been extremely generous and we all appreciate their support as they have been the driving force behind our ability to remain online and to serve the woodworking community without having to resort to an advertising source of income. I would guess it is obvious to everyone here that in order for us to grow and if we expect to continue to support the huge number of guests that visit The Creek we need to compensate our System Administrator, be able increase our bandwidth and server capacity and retain the necessary financial reserves to keep SMC healthy. With over 8,000 Members this should be a snap if only 25% of our Membership would become contributors at just 50 cents per month.

Most of you know that I personally dislike even having to consider advertising revenue as a source of funds. If we rely on advertising then we all must accept more Moderation, you cannot bite the hand that pays the bills. It is possible to raise in the neighborhood of $20,000 per year via advertising which would fund The Creek in grand fashion but the atmosphere would definately change, we would all have to accept a "Boss".

Here is my plea;

Guests - Please register, become Members and contribute both to the content of our Forums and our financial needs.

Members - Please become contributors.

For less than the cost of one magazine, an annual donation of just $600 will help us to keep the Creek online, healthy and advertising free.

Constructive comments are welcome.

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