I can only guess at the many "man hours" that go into keeping this site active. I am also assuming that there are other actual "out of pocket" costs to maintain a website like this. Can anyone give us an idea of how much it actually costs per year? This might help me and others to determine an appropriate and affordable donation, and ensure that we cover the costs appropriately.
Thanks to all who keep it going--it is a great resource!!
Frank
Greetings -
To answer your question, it costs about $500 a year to maintain this site - that's just monetary cost. That's assuming nothing has really changed and the costs are more or less stable. For instance, last year Jelsoft changed their licensing procedure - and stopped 'leasing' licenses for our vBulletin software - and instead - for the first time in ten years - forced us to purchase them outright (at a higher cost) - so that bumped the cost up. But basically speaking, it's more or less around $500 a year...
Of course, that does not include time put into the site to maintain it (let alone overhaul it like last year - or the year before - whenever it was), run the software updates, toss out the spammers, hand-admit each new applicant after checking their IP to be assured they're not bots (between 5-10-14 a day) and occasionally have to step in to knock people's heads together then they start fussing with each other (I won't go into details on that one...). And - that's just me - that does not even begin to address what the moderators do - who are not paid but who 'keep an eye on things' - which is a lot all by itself.
Typically what has happened each year is that we see some new donors each year, we lose some each year, there are a couple who always donate (even though I tell them not to, as it's not fair) and there are a bunch who never donate at all (I don't try and figure out who they are - I really have more important stuff to do).
Anyhow - it's late and I've got a full schedule tomorrow - and need to get to sleep. Needless to say, your support of the site is very much appreciated - without it, the site would be forced to go to a paid subscription format - which, I would imagine - would probably kill it.
On the bright side, however - January 1st will be our 10th Anniversary....so, you know - I'm hopeful!
Thanks everyone,
//sse