[rogers3]

Just curious Sly- how much does it take to keep a site going?
I noted that LUConn thought that 15-20 would donate; I doubt if I would be looked at as a likely contributor. I'm betting that there are a lot of members that don't post a tremendous amount but are still willing to contribute... at least I hope that is true.

[rogers3]

After fiddling around finding my PayPal info (I hadn't used it in a year or two!), I sent a little money FF's way. Now can we ever be apprised of the current financial condition of the site? I guess that is the businessperson in me asking- and wanting to make sure that we don't end up like Circuit City.

[ToTheLeft]

I agree... a little transparency would be much appreciated.

I am more than willing to donate, but only once I see the financial situation and what the need vs. have is.

[SuperJon]

You'll see it tonight. Scorcho can't post during business hours. He told me he'd update on how much we have vs how much more we need when he got home.

[Sly Fox]

The amount required is not huge but it is not pocket change. Those who have already stepped up and donated should consider our gratitude a given. I'll let Scorchy address the details later.

[El Scorcho]

Alrighty, here's the skinny on the costs for FlameFans and why we pay what we pay.

Background: FlameFans was originally hosted on a cheap shared webhost. The cost every month was minimal (between $5 and $10, if I recall) but the stability and resources available were both pretty bad. When we were a low-traffic site, that wasn't too bad but eventually it got pretty annoying that the site was down more than it was up. At one point the crappy webhost even held our domain hostage for a few months, forcing us to register flamefans.info and redirect from there. At some point we decided we needed a real host.

FlameFans was then moved to a server that we rent for a monthly fee. It shares the server with a few other sites that have a minimal impact on resources, but FlameFans is the primary site for the server. FlameFans is pretty minimal in terms of storage and other hardware resources (which means we don't need a very powerful server, fortunately) but thanks to all of our traffic (which is always going up) the site uses a lot of bandwidth. FlameFans has, on average, been using about 65% of the bandwidth alloted to the server every month and as some of you noticed yesterday morning, we actually exceeded that quota this month.

Since FlameFans only averages about 65% of the bandwidth alloted to the server, we're only asking that 65% of the cost of rental be covered. The other sites hosted on the server pitch in the rest. Prior to now, we have been covering the 65% used by FlameFans out of our own pockets. The rental cost is $60 per month. So, 65% of that would be $39 per month. That means it costs about $1.28 per day to run FlameFans.

As of right now we've received enough donations to cover the next 113 days of operating FlameFans. I think to have done that in under 24 hours is fantastic. I'd love to see the rest of the year covered and then perhaps we can re-visit this next year if need be. I'll leave that up to you folks.

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far!

[LUconn]

Alright cool. That helps a lot in determining what to give.

I agree... a little transparency would be much appreciated.

I am more than willing to donate, but only once I see the financial situation and what the need vs. have is.

Would you like them to release a 10k? They're not gonna run off with your donation and buy fur coats for their wives.

[Hold My Own]

I would first like to say I'm sorry guys, it's quite obvious this all happened after my on air interview Raleigh and talking about Flamefans.com and even having the host saying Flamefans.com....again, I'm sorry but our growth is good so see my work is work of a martyr

[Hold My Own]

And I think Scorchy is already sneaking money from us....he has a computer that can talk! NASA has got to be the only people who have stuff like this...and like his computer say's...dont be scared, this is the future

[El Scorcho]

And I think Scorchy is already sneaking money from us....he has a computer that can talk! NASA has got to be the only people who have stuff like this...and like his computer say's...dont be scared, this is the future

Pfft. I haven't purchased a computer in seven years.

[Hold My Own]

Prob b/c you can build them from paper clips and matches....you cant fool me

[JMUDukes]

Prob b/c you can build them from paper clips and matches....you cant fool me

did he transform into MacGyver?

[ToTheLeft]

Alright cool. That helps a lot in determining what to give.

I agree... a little transparency would be much appreciated.

I am more than willing to donate, but only once I see the financial situation and what the need vs. have is.

Would you like them to release a 10k? They're not gonna run off with your donation and buy fur coats for their wives.

Just covering all my bases. Not to mention, it helps in determining how much to give.

[Hold My Own]

No, MacGyver is based on a true story known as El Scorcho

[givemethemic]

I would first like to say I'm sorry guys, it's quite obvious this all happened after my on air interview Raleigh and talking about Flamefans.com and even having the host saying Flamefans.com....again, I'm sorry but our growth is good so see my work is work of a martyr

hahaha.. Yes, my host David Glenn is getting a nice chunk for his endorsement... But there will be an interview with Seth Curry on Monday's show so I am sure traffic will go up. DG is the same guy for all you ACC fans that owns this web-site www.acccsports.com hands down the best conference web-site around...

[jcmanson]

I would first like to say I'm sorry guys, it's quite obvious this all happened after my on air interview Raleigh and talking about Flamefans.com and even having the host saying Flamefans.com....again, I'm sorry but our growth is good so see my work is work of a martyr

hahaha.. Yes, my host David Glenn is getting a nice chunk for his endorsement... But there will be an interview with Seth Curry on Monday's show so I am sure traffic will go up. DG is the same guy for all you ACC fans that owns this web-site www.acccsports.com hands down the best conference web-site around...

What time on Monday?

[Fumblerooskies]

I would first like to say I'm sorry guys, it's quite obvious this all happened after my on air interview Raleigh and talking about Flamefans.com and even having the host saying Flamefans.com....again, I'm sorry but our growth is good so see my work is work of a martyr

hahaha.. Yes, my host David Glenn is getting a nice chunk for his endorsement... But there will be an interview with Seth Curry on Monday's show so I am sure traffic will go up. DG is the same guy for all you ACC fans that owns this web-site www.acccsports.com hands down the best conference web-site around...

gmtm is alive and well...
...as noted by the extra "c" in the above referenced web site (www.acccsports.com.)

[givemethemic]

haha.. you found it... the web-site is www.accsports.com

[Cider Jim]

Related question for Scorcho/Sly--I just got an email from my alma mater, Tenn. Temple, and they are saying this about the cost of their alumni web page:

Currently, the cost is more than $5,500.00 a year.

So, of course, they are asking the alumni to kick in some money to fund it. However, if the Flame Fans message board only costs $60 a month to operate, do the Tenn. Temple numbers sound horribly inflated? Here's a link to their board: http://alumni.tntemple.edu

[Sly Fox]

They are apparently paying a service to operate it for them. We are not.

[El Scorcho]

Just a quick update:

As of right now you folks have picked up the tab for 144 days of FlameFans.

Again, a big thank you to everyone who has donated so far.

[Hold My Own]

Related question for Scorcho/Sly--I just got an email from my alma mater, Tenn. Temple, and they are saying this about the cost of their alumni web page:

Currently, the cost is more than $5,500.00 a year.

So, of course, they are asking the alumni to kick in some money to fund it. However, if the Flame Fans message board only costs $60 a month to operate, do the Tenn. Temple numbers sound horribly inflated? Here's a link to their board: http://alumni.tntemple.edu

I'm not trying to be rude or anything like that...but if they are having a tough time paying for their website...things maybe worse then I thought there...I mean, there have to be some students on campus that are well versed enough to save them quite a bit of money...or something

[PAmedic]

Excellent job, guys. I stickied it so no one overlooks it.

[El Scorcho]

Just a quick update:

As of right now you folks have picked up the tab for 144 days of FlameFans.

Again, a big thank you to everyone who has donated so far.

We seem to have stalled here and it's six days later. 138 days.

Thanks again to everyone who donated.

[Fumblerooskies]

Thanks so much for the reminder, Scorcho.