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Thread: Blank Page Issue Is Intolerable - Let's Talk

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Hayes, Virginia
    Posts
    14,760

    Blank Page Issue Is Intolerable - Let's Talk

    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.

    .

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    South Texas
    Posts
    148
    Ok, I'm in. Please keep up the good work.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    London, Ont., Canada
    Posts
    2,200
    Keith... what are the reasons that the server is being kept in someone's office, rather than having space in a managed facility. (big UPS's, Big network pipes, lots of redundancy, etc)

    Is it stricty cost, or convenience also? How much bandwidth do we consume?

  4. #4
    i`ll chip in again if necessarry, but if advertising is accepted i`m outta here! somebody pipe up if ya`ll want a dollar a month instead of .50, or even 2 bucks.....but please keep the adds out..02 tod
    TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN; I ACCEPT FULL LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY POSTS ON THIS FORUM, ALL POSTS ARE MADE IN GOOD FAITH CONTAINING FACTUAL INFORMATION AS I KNOW IT.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    South Lyon, MI
    Posts
    129
    Keith
    I have enjoyed the site for some time, it's time I kicked in. Don't like paypal so will get a check off today.
    Mike Sheppard

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Hayes, Virginia
    Posts
    14,760

    SMC Server Location

    Quote Originally Posted by Art Mulder
    Keith... what are the reasons that the server is being kept in someone's office, rather than having space in a managed facility. (big UPS's, Big network pipes, lots of redundancy, etc)

    Is it stricty cost, or convenience also? How much bandwidth do we consume?
    Art,

    When our Internet business closed it's doors last October we had looked into finding another comapny to take over The Creek because I couldn't afford to pay the bills out of pocket. My sign business may be able to assume the costs as a sole sponsor sometime in the future but right now that is impossible. At the very last moment when we were planning the final days of Hampton Roads Online the Members of SawMill Creek decided that they wanted to keep the Creek as it is and I offered to move it to my shop office based on a massive response from our loyal Members. The option to move our server to another professional host seemed impossible since we didn't have a secure financial base, remember we accept donations and are not a subscription based service.

    I was hesitant to sign a contract with the cable company given our situation, I agreed to based on the overwhelming support we received. What people don't know is that in order for me to continue to run SawMill Creek which was owned by Hampton Roads Online I had to personally assume all of Hampton Roads Online's debt before closing the doors. Otherwise the sale of SMC would have more than covered our closing costs and financial obligations.

    So I assumed all of HRO's debt and transfered it to my sign business. I pay the bill every month to the bank from my business profits, and I am glad to do so in order to keep SMC alive. I think you can see that assuming additional contractural obligations and moving SMC to a professional service was more than I could do at the time and the most conservative approach was to move our server to my shop office to keep our bills (and contracts) as low as possible.

    Currently we are maintaining a reasonable response time on our cable connection, in the future we will definately have to move to a fiber optic line when the service becomes available . We just hope that it will happen before we need to add another cable pipe and have to sign another one year contract for an additional line.

    The debt I have assumed is already way beyond the call of duty for someone of my financial means and I cannot provide the funds to pay Aaron Koehl for his services. Aaron has never asked for a penny but I honestly feel he deserves to be compensated for his efforts. Another benefit of having a paid Administrator is that it would take a big load off of my shoulders having someone else to be responsible for The Creek and allow me to spend more hours getting my sign business to the point of being able to supoprt my family. Right now I have a day-job but I am a temporary employee with no benefits and the end is very near as the project I am working on is almost complete.

    It was absolutely insane for me to assume tens of thousands of dollars in debt to keep an online Forum that produces no revenue but Jackie and I decided that we wanted to try to keep the Creek if we could. Starting SawMill Creek was never about money or a business venture.

    So there you have it, all the facts and the reason I am asking everyone for just a few pennies a year to help out.

    For the record our bandwidth bills have already been paid through the end of the year and we are not in any financial trouble. We can also afford to build a new server from our existing funds so there is not any sense of urgency or fear of SMC closing...We are healthy thanks to those of you who have contributed donations since last October. The object of this message is to simply ask more of our Members to donate so we can compensate our System Administrator, a task that is now beyond what is reasonably expected of a volunteer.

    .

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    Money on the way. And praying to the FIOS gods that the fiber gets to you sooner, rather than later. (And that my own fiber gets lit soon, too...)
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Hayes, Virginia
    Posts
    14,760
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker
    Money on the way. And praying to the FIOS gods that the fiber gets to you sooner, rather than later. (And that my own fiber gets lit soon, too...)
    Jim,

    The phrase "Let there be light" takes on a whole new meaning these days

    GRIN...

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,675
    Quote Originally Posted by Keith Outten
    The phrase "Let there be light" takes on a whole new meaning these days
    Yup...and the 2-5mb of bandwidth UP is what makes it the cat's meow for the server application...at very low cost. (In this case, it would be a shop cat, of course...) The 10-20mb down at the end user is less important from a practical standpoint since most Internet resources can't keep up with that, anyway.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Carlyle IL
    Posts
    2,183
    Keith, Jackie and Aaron;

    Thanks for all you do! I was planning on contributing this October. I suspect many others had/hve the same plan.

    However, with that said, I will happily do it now.

    Thanks Joe

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    10,304
    The problem for me with unorganized contributions is this... I'm happy to send money to support this site, but I don't have any idea when SMC needs money, or how much I should send. Can anybody think of some way to answer those questions?

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Seagoville, Texas
    Posts
    7
    we would all have to accept a "Boss" Keith I think all of the "creekers" already have the three bosses we prefer on this forum . Red flag is up on the mail box. Hope it helps out a little.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Lewisville, NC
    Posts
    1,359

    Paypal is activiated

    I am more than happy to help for what I get from this site!!

    Jim

  14. #14
    Is it possible to set up an automatic monthly donation via PayPal or a credit card? Perhaps that information and the steps you take to pay by PayPal could also be put on the donations page.

    Just my thoughts after taking a quick look at that page. I'll make a donation after I see your reply.

    I personally would rather make a 5 dollar monthly donation than a yearly fifty dollar donation. I know it doesn't make financial sense, but it gives a better feeling for some people, especially at first.

    Larry
    Every morning I seize the day - but I lose my grip when I grab my coffee. <*//><

  15. #15
    Count me in, I just sent a little something through paypal

    Bob

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