Forum donations please!

overscan (PaulMM)

overscan (PaulMM)

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After running two servers in parallel during the migration increased the monthly cost, we are now running low on forum donation funds. We also have to cover Xenforo license renewals and possibly some custom development work of a paid addon to give the "all messages in topic" type functionality.

I'll be posting a button on the forum once I figure out how. For now please used this link.

As well as donations, if you are looking for a great Virtual Private Server (VPS) provider to host your website, I recommend Digital Ocean highly. If anyone wants to give them a whirl, you can use my referral link for a $100 trial credit, and if you continue with their services, that will give me a $25 credit towards the Secret Projects Forum hosting costs.
 
Note - if you donated already recently, don't feel obligated to do so again.
 
Thanks to the 2 people who've donated so far. Would people like a special "Donator" badge or prefer to remain anonymous?
 
You've picked an auspicious day to ask as I've been paid.
I'll see what I can do , but funds are extremely tight.
 
I've donated what I can, but sorry, being on EI (poggy) it wasn't much.
 
damn, something at work is blocking the donation page.. expect something when I get home.
 
Paul, do you mind sharing how much it costs to run the site? Just pushed some money your way, but I'm curious how much you need and how often.
 
TomS said:
Paul, do you mind sharing how much it costs to run the site? Just pushed some money your way, but I'm curious how much you need and how often.
Click to expand...
The new VPS hosting on Digital Ocean is presently $23/month but it seems I’ll have to pay NZ GST on it soon and I might need to increase the size of the VPS if it becomes necessary. The main recent drain on funds was running the old hosting in parallel while the migration dragged on for months. There are some other recurring costs like domains, DNS hosting, Xenforo licensing but it’s been a couple of years since I asked for donations. I do all server maintenance tasks myself as that’s my day job which saves on hosting costs.

My old server also runs WhatIfModelers forum which I need to move before I can cancel that server cost. Planning to do that tonight.
 
Wow, just checked Paypal. I haven't done the full costings but it looks like we've got enough donations to last about two years assuming we don't need to upgrade VPS size. Thanks to everyone who has donated!

I will find out the likely cost of developing a custom forum add-on to show all messages.
 
I'll try to slip a little in there over the weekend too.
 
overscan said:
TomS said:
Paul, do you mind sharing how much it costs to run the site? Just pushed some money your way, but I'm curious how much you need and how often.
Click to expand...
The new VPS hosting on Digital Ocean is presently $23/month but it seems I’ll have to pay NZ GST on it soon and I might need to increase the size of the VPS if it becomes necessary. The main recent drain on funds was running the old hosting in parallel while the migration dragged on for months. There are some other recurring costs like domains, DNS hosting, Xenforo licensing but it’s been a couple of years since I asked for donations. I do all server maintenance tasks myself as that’s my day job which saves on hosting costs.

My old server also runs WhatIfModelers forum which I need to move before I can cancel that server cost. Planning to do that tonight.
Click to expand...

Excellent. Just wanted to make sure you weren't out of pocket too much.
 
A few $ per month well spent, keep up the good work. :)
 
TomS said:
overscan said:
TomS said:
Paul, do you mind sharing how much it costs to run the site? Just pushed some money your way, but I'm curious how much you need and how often.
Click to expand...
The new VPS hosting on Digital Ocean is presently $23/month but it seems I’ll have to pay NZ GST on it soon and I might need to increase the size of the VPS if it becomes necessary. The main recent drain on funds was running the old hosting in parallel while the migration dragged on for months. There are some other recurring costs like domains, DNS hosting, Xenforo licensing but it’s been a couple of years since I asked for donations. I do all server maintenance tasks myself as that’s my day job which saves on hosting costs.

My old server also runs WhatIfModelers forum which I need to move before I can cancel that server cost. Planning to do that tonight.
Click to expand...

Excellent. Just wanted to make sure you weren't out of pocket too much.
Click to expand...

No, we've done a good job of covering costs in the 13 years since the forum was born, I've not put in much of my money. Of course, it does cost my time - and if I billed the forum at my market rate for my time, that would eat up a fair chunk of money :)
 
I used the nice new donate button to throw a bit in to the kitty.
 
The easiest thing to do is setup autopay for a couple of dollars... you'll never miss it and funding will never be a problem again :)

~~~funding.. damn fingers ;)
 
Last edited:
+1 donated

Not sure of your tax laws but in the US if your site is a non-profit you can deduct all your time at your full market rate so perhaps it's worth looking into. You'd have plenty of folks willing to participate as 'Board Members'.

Thanks for all your efforts.
 
Never mind, the link in the first post worked when I tried it a second time.
 
I've just dropped a few bucks into the kitty to cover both this site and Whatifmodelers. Thanks for all your work!
 
Thanks for all you do Paul, I too hit the bucket with a few bucks.

bill
 
Sorry for the delayed donation ... hope it now arrived!

Best;
Deino
 

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