What happened: 2016 edition.

[jeejeedr]

It seems very pointless spending a lot of money on storage keeping an archive of largely outdated and useless material.

According to the first post, messages are roughly 30GB and attachments about the same. To take a margin into consideration, double that: 120Gb. This is not a that much...
Also, what is relevant data or useless (only the latest info or stuff from years ago) is something that will differ for each and everyone. For me I look for current data about diodes and so one, but also for old stuff like the PM20 laser console.

[lasersbee]

If server space is expensive is it really necessary to even keep an Archive?

It seems very pointless spending a lot of money on storage keeping an archive of largely outdated and useless material.

We haven't seen any real world numbers yet. Stored Data and knowledge are what drives humans to
do better. Unless the costs are really prohibitive I'd keep the data and knowledge. Hell I still have all
my old Electronics Magazines and Data Sheet books stored in the shop taking up space but I wouldn't
get rid of them even if I can get the same data quicker in the internet.


Jerry

[flecom]

???? That's a very very large forum, much much larger than PL in both size and user base.

it's larger than PL sure but it's still not a "big board"

Threads: 137,022, Posts: 2,174,258, Members: 70,858

on civforum vs the forum I am a mod on

Threads: 1,152,895, Posts: 16,283,954, Members: 200,829

and that's not even close to some of the biggest boards

problem with vB is it's murder on your backend... and god help you if you are running MySQL with it... really should be on MariaDB or something faster

[daderaide]

I'm really surprised no one has mentioned more about crowd funding. If there is an inherant problem with the vB subscriber system, why not just use something like go-fund-me or any other of the dozen or more funding sites out there. I would jump at the chance to put in $10 or $15 but I can't have another monthly bill. This is a method that thousands of groups and companies use all of the time. Especially for projects like this. Figure out exactly what your upgrade plan is, even shop for the specific equipment you're going to need, and add up all of the costs. In today's time of internet funding this is a no brainer. This is how hundreds of burning man projects get funded every single year. I've even seen churches and school teams use it for field trip fund raising. Pretty soon every girl scout will have her own crowdfunding page. I'm sure the folks at PL can embrace the current times and benefit from the money that it would bring in.

[kecked]

I find the board of value and a community I would otherwise NEVER have found or accessed. I am very ready to support it. If you don't feel the same go away from this thread.

So it sounds like it would be just a few grand to make this work and set the board up financially for a few years.

20 people 100.00 each plus larger set of continuous support guessing 500 a year? one or two larger donors. All done.

Wonder if there is a grant out there to support the art?

[mixedgas]

Spec, How do I send you 200$ earmarked for VB5? Donations are set up for Monthlys, not one time...

All I ask is that you consider adding the line "Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist " above "I.E.I.L.D" in my ID...

Steve

[Bradfo69]

I find the board of value and a community I would otherwise NEVER have found or accessed. I am very ready to support it.

Agreed. Some of my closest friendships have arisen as a result of this board and naturally I'm fine for kicking in for the hardware/software upgrades in addition to the monthly subscription I do anyway.

[absolom7691]

The tiering thing is complicated as I already have this place setup so that default registered users get a couple thousand PM's and no artificial limitations. Most boards I've seen have this value set to something offensive like 10 to incentivize donations. I suppose this happens when one doesn't setup a board from the get go to wrench money out of people.

I can understand that and I respect how much you love the community however, there is a very large difference between trying to make a healthy profit and just keeping the lights on. I notice you have gone to great lengths to keep ads off the forum for everyone including non-subs. Jon has suggested a few times about the limitations to links in the signature based on sub/non-sub. I strongly support that idea as it is not a limitation to normal forum functions such as inbox etc. I mean really, if someone comes into your "store" to sell something, why shouldn't you get some monetary acknowledgement considering you own the place? Again, not for profit but to keep the place running.

[White-Light]

OK I found out something about the site I linked to earlier. It is Vbulletin but it's completely been customised by their own software engineers to modernise the appearance, the way it works with mobile devices and to increase it's compatibility with management software behind the scenes. So its a long way from the standard software. I guess that's the power of being part of a massive company.

[TechJunkie]

Sir Spec.

I salute you for more reasons I can list, especially for letting me shoot my mouth off. J/K. Seriously thank you. I think the forum is perfect. I'll kick in what I can, when I can, as long as I can. You've created a source of intellect, generosity, and brotherhood money could never buy. Keep up the awesome work you do.

Than you again.

Mark