Hi all,

It's been a little over a month since we began this fundraiser round. At this point, we are 60% of the way to our goal. This still leaves us with $400 to raise before we hit our goal. Please remember that all donations go to run this server. (Neither the moderators nor I have any salary for the work we put in.) If we don't raise funds, then we won't be able to pay our hosting fees and PCQandA will need to shut down.

I understand if you can't donate much, but even small donations help. Help us hit our goal and keep PCQandA running!

I think a lot of us have been lamenting the lack of donations. I also think that your fund-raising posts can easily go unnoticed and ignored---people quickly get used to the presence of top-anchored posts and automatically look below for stuff of possible interest.

I think what is needed at this time is, upon a user's arrival at PCQandA, a mandatory "in-your-face" page that spells out the need for support. This page could spell out the ongoing financial demands of running the site and, perhaps, include a "doomsday clock".

An important consideration is how to do this in a way that will not be a put-off to new folks who, for example, Google "computer help" and hit on PCQandA for the first time.

.
Onward & Upward !
Sid

WINDOWS 10
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB
Intel i5 3750K CPU
8g Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM
Corsair Neutron 250g SSD

I've been thinking about that. Maybe a little box that appears between posts. So you're reading a thread and there's a box between a few posts asking you to donate. Of course, I'd need time to code that function in. (I wouldn't be able to do that for the next couple of weeks with Passover coming up.)

If you do that, then consider a way that those of us who have contributed could block the box - at least until the next fundraiser.

Jim.

Just a thought:
Did you say that the server is a dedicated one?
If so, do we really need a dedicated one? I would have thought the site isn't that heavily used now and a shared server could suffice?
$150 per month seems a lot for this.
There are hosting providers that allow unlimited space etc. such as Just Host for a lot less than $150 per month.
I know it would be a lot of work changing hosts but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Actually, shared hosting wouldn't be good for our site. I was on a shared hosting environment and got kicked off for hosting sites with a lot less traffic than PCQandA. I've heard of other people with the same experience as well. Shared hosting providers pack thousands of people on to each server with the expectation that none of them will use many resources. If some of them do, then those users are pushed to dedicated server plans.

If worse comes to worse, we might be able to move to a virtual private server. This might, at best, halve our hosting costs, but it would also mean that the resulting server wouldn't be as powerful. (Which might translate into slowdowns.)

OK, I understand.

Well, Jason, how about an in-your-face SORRY,THIS SITE IS CLOSED.. Just like our predecessor, PC911, the lights go out ... forever.

.
Onward & Upward !
Sid

WINDOWS 10
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro MB
Intel i5 3750K CPU
8g Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM
Corsair Neutron 250g SSD

That is not far from becoming a reality Sid. There is no point in maintaining this site if a broader segment of our membership refuses to help support it.

I can tell you that we will run until the money runs out at that point we have no option other than to shut down, and this time it will be for good.

Jason has been working hard on adapting a new forum script to our needs. As you probably know, DC Scripts is no longer in active development. We have to move on and migrate the forum to a modern script while preserving our archives and features. this will require hundreds of hours of work, especially for Jason and some of the moderators, but there is no point in bothering if our membership does not care enough to keep us in existence.

We are responsible for paying any bills we receive, so we will not take a chance on exposing ourselves to uncertain financial liability.

If PCQandA must die it will be quietly, suddenly, and permanently. The last time I put together the people needed to replace PC911 with what became PCQandA. I am now frankly too old, too tired, and too poor health to do it again.

So now the ball is in your court, all of you who have supported us, and those who never stepped up or cared enough in the past. We know how many visit this site even if they never post. It has been a long run, nearly 20 years since we came together in the old WinMag forum to help people master that new fangled Windows 95. Maybe we have just outlived our usefulness.

Shelly

Before we are forced to close down surely it would be worth going for the non-dedicated option (or virtual private server, whatever that is!) with the same company which should be a lot cheaper than the dedicated option and may not require much work, if any.
The amount of traffic on the forum doesn't seem that much to me in comparison with other forums I use.
Even if it's a bit slower, I for one could live with that if it means we keep going.

I'm looking at VPS options as well and that does look like a promising method of reducing our costs. One problem might be the old forum script. Since it is so old, it might not run properly on the newest versions of PHP. I'd hate to hobble a new server because of this forum script's shortcomings. My ideal plan would be to first get a new, more modern forum script up and running and then switch to a VPS. (The old forum script's database would move over and part of my new forum project is moving old user accounts and old posts to the new forum script. In fact, this is going to be the most difficult portion as there are no import routines for DCForum.)

I just put in another $20 by pay pal. Keep this place up, Please. Les

LLH

I just saw this post today, 4/26.
Made me think that maybe I am not the only one who would benefit from a gentle email reminder at the beginning of a fundraiser.
You have all of our addresses.
Could make a difference in the totals.

Edit: Payment is in via PayPal.
Anybody have an opinion on my above suggestion?

McGee

Currently there are "13933 registered members". Probably about 13,600 are inactive. Those that are active most likely don't need to be reminded though semi-active members might benefit from a nudge.

I wouldn't want to have to manually type an email list of almost 14,000 addresses. Maybe just send an email to those who have contributed in the past. Anyone who hasn't previously contributed is unlikely to contribute now.

Jim.

Jason,
Sent what I could via PayPal. It would be a horrible thing if PC Q&A had to be pronounced. It is and always has been an outstanding help site. Spread the word and open ya wallets folks, before it's too late to do so.
Tom

McGee

I believe Jason has written in the past that it isn't necessary to wait until an official fundraiser is announced to contribute. Money he receives between fundraisers will go directly to funding the forum - just be sure to indicate the purpose and your forum identity and email address so he can send a "thank you" note acknowledging receipt of the contribution.

Jim.

That's true. Donations are accepted year round. The main reason we do fundraisers is to help encourage people to donate so we can hit a specific goal.

Whoops! - Sorry been away, forgot all about it! Paypal payment on its way to you.
Best wishes,
Richard.