Important Message To All Members

Tiedgen

Tiedgen

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
It has been brought to my attention that my 3 year free trial of 1and1 host is coming to an end in the next 2 or 3 weeks. I love this board as much as you guys and I had(have) even greater plans for a planettrail70 website too (which has been developing slowly because of college).
Being back at school this semester has left me almost no time to get the board and website update, although I try to get on a couple times a week and make sure everything is flowing properly and people aren't getting rowdy.. :p This forum has grown so much since it was first introduced and we are now at about 1000 members. Thats incredible. I like to think of everyone here as a great big community or almost a family. I have been on many webboards and most aren't nearly as friendly and helpful as this one has been.

To make a long story short (and sorry for my rambling) If i dont renew hosting with 1and1 this board will cease to exist, and since its on a mySQL database, it cant be hosted with any free servers (plus it wouldnt be nearly as fast even if it could be hosted).
Host 1and1 offers packages ranging from $3.99 to $19.99 a month, but the problem is that we need a mySQL database in order to run this board, so I would need the Professional, Business, or Developer Linux package. The Developer package is $9.99 a month. This doesnt sound like much, but for a college student this is a lot! :eek: I will try to scrap together some money to keep this site up, but unfortunately I won't have enough for the whole package.

So it comes down to this, I either pay for an upgrade or this site goes under. I would like some feedback from you guys/gals, since it is you that ultimately runs this forum and keeps it going.
If anyone would be willing to donate or contribute to upgrading the server, please let me know, or click on the donate link at the top of the page. But I want to make it clear that I am in no way forcing anyone to donate, and please don't feel obligated. Hopefully things will work out for the better, and in a couple weeks we will still have this forum up and running like nothing happened..

Thanks for everything! This webboard has become so much more then just a forum, and I would love to keep it going that way. :rolleyes:

-Ben Tiedgen
Forum Admin And Owner
 
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Tiedgen

Tiedgen

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
clubford00 said:
Ben is this 9.95 per month to run the whole show or is that for each of us to get on? Dean
Click to expand...

No Dean, all those prices listed were per month to run the whole server, which would be between $120 and $240 for the year.

And Thank You very much for the donation 50Connection!
 
makotosun

makotosun

Member
Donation sent here too. Ben - if it looks like you are going to have issues raising enough money for this, I am planning on purchasing a package through 1&1 and potentially would be interested in hosting the webboard.

If you would be interested in some sort of co-management, let's discuss off the board. This site needs to keep running, as it has way too much valuable information to go down.
 
C

chris_s

Member
I run a small webhost reselling biz, what are your traffic numbers like? If it's reasonable, I could definitely host for a while

btw, I have one of those free 1&1 accounts too, trust me, it's not worth $10/month compared to a real host
 
Tiedgen

Tiedgen

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Thank You!

I want to thank everyone who has donated. Since I posted this last evening, this webboard has already raised $100! That is incredible and I can't explain how excited I am to keep this site running. With the help of the donations and help from Dan, we should be able to upgrade to a Developer package by early next week! I will keep everyone posted on the progress of the new server.. STAY TUNED! :)

Thank You again!
-Ben
 
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6

69ST

Well-Known Member
$240/year isn't bad for keeping the site going... pennies per member. We're all capable of doing the math, so I won't. The point being that it makes sense to try the voluntary donation route first. There's more than one way to keep the place going, might as well start out with the least disruptive.
 
Keith

Keith

New Member
Donation Sent

Ben,

Thanks for taking the time to manage this website. This is one of the best I have seen and the membership should get some time of award for "highest quality of people".

I hope my few dollars will keep it going for a long time.

Keith
Pittsburgh, PA

1969 CT70 KO - rattlecan blue
ITS papers on their way
 
makotosun

makotosun

Member
Ben - just a thought. You said we have 1000 members? Given that number of focused buyers, and all the free advertising we give the 1/2 dozen reputable CT70 Vendors, I would think that they would be most interested in some banner advertising on the site. DR ATV, Trailbikes, Honda Nuts, etc. I would guess if there are 1000 members, then there are even more who just read the board.

I would give them all a jingle. Check out what PlanetMinis.com does on their site. They have some specific rules on what vendors can do or not do in their own posts, so that the forum doesn't become purely a marketing tool.

Plus it would allow new members and visitors an easy source to find out where to get parts they need. Asking each member to paypal you even $5 as an annual membership (Quite a bit less than I sent you voluntarily!) would even help you on your tuition! :D And certainly reasonable for the work you do on the site.

If the board is ever in danger of going down, please make sure you let us know so we can either pitch in, or find one of the members to take it over.

Gary
 
DoubleR Dan

DoubleR Dan

Member
Adverting on here would be a great idea - i saw that TBparts signed up the other day.

I can show you some tips on how to go about that if you like.

Also how to set up a "contributor" tag for each person that donates.

Paypal being sent tonight - from one site to another.

I want to make sure my smilies dont leave. lol I have some more if you want them.
 
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