I wanted to say a few words, because some users reached out to me privately to mention that it was a lot of money that was needed (the $1400) and that there are other alternatives out there that are free and don’t require any contributions and some other things that I want to address here. Brevity is my intent, but by no means the final product, so apologies if I meander here and there a bit.
Back when we were still hosted by aLD, our server costs were about $330+ a month, plus additional costs as needed whenever the server was overrun. That number is from Richard when I asked him what specs I should look out for when setting up the new site. That averages about $4000+ a year. If you’ve been here since the beginning, you know that we started out very modestly, on our lovely little HostGator. That server cost me about $300 every year, but it obviously was not enough. We had downtime after downtime and the forum had more time NOT working than actually working. This was never more evident than during high traffic Voice episodes. I then set up our initial fundraiser to take us a little higher in the server, and that was another disaster.
I went shopping after that, and came across our current host, who has served us well in terms of speed, up time, and customer service on my end. On the down side, it was a bit more expensive. I set up our first GoFundMe then, which was successful, and in which 36 of you participated to raise $1125. As you can tell from this go around, the difference between that amount and the full amount we are paying (about $300+) came out from my own pocket. I did it because I wanted to, because I’ve invested my time and patience and money into this, but at no point because I expected something in return. Call me nuts, but I like our little shitty community that can.
This time around, I solicited for the full amount, because I can’t shoulder the server costs every year, and because I figure that we’re either all in or we’re not, but it’s entirely your choice, the user, to decide if we stick around or go away.
I know there are other alternatives out there. I know there are Facebook groups, and Instagram accounts and even other forums. Those might all be free. They might get funds from ads, which we do not have. They are “the alternative”, and that’s obviously your choice too: to participate here or to do so there.
This is, however, our reality. Once a year, we’ll do one of these, and if I can find a better server for cheaper then we will switch to that. Until then, however, we’ll do one of these every year, and if you guys are willing and able, xRED will stick around for a long time.
Even back in the aLD days, I was always told that I took this place “too seriously”. And maybe that’s so, specially now that I’m owner and dictator (/Dirrty), but for better or worse, come rain or drought, this is our place on the web, full of weirdos and funny people and stans and trolls and those who care and those who do not, and those who want to help and those who couldn’t care less. It’s OURS.
& that’s what you have funded.
Thank you again for your help.
