Forum News

[DavidBarkey]

Hi all, first, I apologize for the site not working as it should. We're being plagued by some problems. I got a message from our service provider that we're close to 2 TB of traffic this month and that if we go over there will be a penalty. Haven't looked yet into what penalty means, but it's probably extra $. The other bad news is that I don't know what caused this and I'm actively trying to figure it out.

The other bad news is that I've upgraded the operating system which totally broke the site. Took me a while to bring it up to this state being able to post a message and browse the forum. Will keep an eye on it for now.

I don't understand how it could have that much traffic . This site like most lately have been on the quieter side of things .

[Eugen]

Our site has been under heavy load by bots from various countries. This morning the site was barely responsive. Do I banned Vietnam, India, Indonesia, China, Singapore, Japan, and Brazil for now. As far as I know we have no users from these countries.

In other news, our forum database has grown so large that the memory given to us by the service provider is too small. That's why you run into errors sometime. The solution would be to upgrade the service, but I barely can make the payments now ($13 CAD/month) let alone going to the upgrade which is significantly more. I don't know what we'll do.

[RoamingGnome]

@Eugen I really appreciate what you do in support of this forum...

I know there is only a handful of members that regularly interact with the forum - either through "likes" "comments" or starting new threads and I really, really like not having to sort through ads or other revenue generating content when I'm on here...

I would be willing to make a small contribution to help offset the expense of running the forum and wonder... would having a paid membership level help discourage the bots?

[Spike188]

I have connect with @Eugen and have also offered support financial.

[JSinMO]

I really appreciate you too @Eugen

I suppose the responsible thing to do is look at the options. Not saying I know what they all could be but some would be:

1) We all agree to chip in what we can to maintain the site.
@RoamingGnome brings up a good thought about a possible paid subscription.

2) The decision is made to allow advertisers on here to off set costs. While I know it’s not something any of us want, it is a viable way to keep going.

3) Perhaps we all exchange contact information and go our separate ways and let the site go. Things do change and this may just be another change that comes into our lives.

4) Is it possible to transfer the technical library to some sort of facebook group and we all convene there? I’m not on facebook, but I would be willing to get it to do something like that.

5) ????? What other options am I missing?

Gerry brings up another good point in that there only a few of us that regularly interact. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, it just is.

With everything @Eugen is trying to accomplish for himself and his family at this point I don’t know if I really feel like its fair for him to shoulder the weight of this site on his own.

Eugen you made this happen and opened the door for us to gather, and you are running it so if you have to make a decision just know no matter what it may be I support it.

[DavidBarkey]

How about a voluntary donation from the one that use it regularly . ??? I could drop $20 easily if a dozen of us did that one a year . would that help take it to the next level ? @Eugen

[Eugen]

I got some good news. Found a Canadian hosting site that costs about 150 USD per year and would give us 8 times more memory and qudruple the processing power. They have a lower cost one, at about $90 USD, which has enough memory and processing power but only gives a 120G disk, which we're going to fill up quickly. Maybe we should still opt for the cheaper option and hope we can stay with the lower disk space. I'll keep on looking for a cheaper hosting.

I am not going to ask you for money but any little donation would be appreciated, you all know I'm not employed at the moment.

The good news is that prices were a lot higher a year ago when I checked. Maybe I'll set up a PayPal button or whatever you folks think would be easiest.

As for the other options that Jeff mentioned, they are all on the table. I intend to come back to posting regularly, but if if you guys would think we should better move to Facebook or the old cci site, sad as I'd be, I will respect the decision.

[Spike188]

@Eugen as others have mentioned, there are others sites and groups we could join that would be cheaper (free). I like ccigt.com because it feels personal and safe. I will continue to support this group any way that is needed, Having Eugen's expertise as an IT professional is above my skill set. With out those skills we would flounder.

I have met many of you while traveling about, Thanks to this site. Good friends and good times.

Spike.

[Harry]

I also like this site more than others and would be willing to contribute an annual fee to use. Harry

[Harry]

I also like this site more than others and would be willing to contribute an annual fee to use. Harry