Recouping Temporary Site Costs

[dano]

Oh man. This is awful!

I really wish I could help. I would transfur funds, but you have to be 18 right?
(*note* I have CIBC online banking if that makes a diffrence...)

As for my input, perhapes you could close all forums except Canadian army or Off topic or something of that nature.

 

[Lexi]

As soon as I get my interac card and allowance that my mom and dad owe me from the past 2 years I swear to the gods I‘m going to buy a whole closet worth of T-Shirts and wear them out on the town.

And here‘s another idea. Instead of having a small logo on the left breast, how about a large logo, like my avatar image with "Army.ca" across it instead? Just an idea...

 

[Pieman]

Hi Mike,

Another possible solution to this problems may be to ‘simply‘ have a distributed server. Many versions of forum software out there allow you do have your server act as the ‘mother‘ server, and other computers can act as secondary servers and take a load of the network traffic.

Some free forum software that does is can be found at:

www.invisionboard.com
www.phpbb.com

I have not done this before, but I don‘t think it is too difficult to set up.

I would be willing to donate my linux platform as a secondary server, if there are a few other computer geeks out there on the forum willing to do the same, the amount of traffic on each network would be minimal.

It is not a easy solution, but I think it could work and would cost nothing.

 

[girlfiredup]

Another suggestion would be for some of the artists on here to come up with a logo of some sort. I‘m sure this forum has a lot of hidden talent. Personally, I prefer a small logo as opposed to something in your face. Just a suggestion.

 

[Pieman]

Silly me, there is an easier solution.

Don‘t know if you are aware of this, there are companies that will host your forum for about $5-10 a month that will allow for over 2G of network traffic. This one may be of bennifit:

http://phpbb-host.org/

This sight will host your forum for free, but don‘t know if they will let you use the army.ca address without paying.

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

Thanks guys, that‘s all good info. We generate about 2-3Gb of traffic a day here, so it‘s a challenge to find a host that can handle it without breaking the bank.

Still, there may be some merit in the "secondary server" option, I‘ll check it out.

As a side note, while UBB (the forum software here) is commercial, we get it for free because this site is on the beta team. Means a bit more work to run through their test plans (and the odd hiccup for you guys) but cuts the cost, which is good.


Thanks to everyone for your support.

 

[dano]

Is it possible to use a computer as a server?
Like a dedicated server, or whatnot.

 

[ErorZ]

Originally posted by rifle_team_captain_13:
[qb] You‘d know what would be kinda cool? If you made the shirts Olive green just like the issued combat T‘s, then us fellows in the militia and cadets can wear them under our combats [/qb]

This is a great idea, I would go for a few of those, keeping the current style and logo.

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

I have to take this opportunity to thank everyone. The support I have recieved in shirt sales, donations and good old fashioned notes of encouragement has been overwhelming. I certainly appreciate every bit of it.

A few of the regulars here have been generous to the point of embarassing me, but we are now well equipped to handle the extra traffic load until the new hardware is in place.

So at this point, please hold off on the donations. We‘ll watch and shoot to see how the traffic and billing works out, but I think we‘re in good hands now.

For those that want to still buy a shirt, feel free. I still need to sell 9 more to break even on that venture...


Thanks again

 

[corporal-cam]

I haven‘t been here long but this site is really cool. And I‘m kinda in between jobs right now so I can‘t buy any t shirts, but I‘m there in spirit with my empty wallet As soon as I get some money I‘m gonna buy a T shirt and wear it on my next cadet ex, expessially if they‘re od.

 

[Devlin]

Mike:

Paypal payment has been made. Look forward to getting the shirt, my unit is doing a Professional Development weekend (War Museum, DEW Engineering, perhaps a beer or three as well) in Ottawa at the end of this month. If any Army.ca members are around PM me and maybe we can all meet up for a pint.

Hope all is going well with the sites recovery.

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

Thanks, your shirt will go out in the mail this weekned and you should have it by mid next week. Keep us posted on your timings, I may be able to make it out for a glass of beer.

As an update, I‘m in the process of obtaining a new connection which can handle more traffic for less money, so within a week or two we should be switched over.


Cheers

 

[Jmacca]

Mike - I sent ya 18$ paypal for a shirt. Thanks and good luck

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

Thanks!

 

[bossi]

Hmmm ... maybe you could do some free-lance consulting for another website (and thus get somebody else to underwrite/defray the costs of Army.ca)

I just visited Frank magazine, and their forum is slower than molassssssssssses ... but it‘s remarkably similar to here ... hmmm ... I sense an alliance ... ?

Frank magazine

 

[Mike Bobbitt]

I have actually done the odd bit of freelance work and it helps keep Army.ca afloat... For example the forums at www.ducims.com and (ironically) the virtual exhibition for www.politicalgraphics.org to name a couple.

I use "passive" advertising though - that is, I‘ve never approached anyone, I let them come to me. Probably not the most effective way to run things, but it keeps it low key.


Cheers

 

[btk_joker]

All I have is a St. Willibrord Credit Union bank card... The thing says I can use one but only if it has a visa or mastercard logo? well mine doesnt but Im not sure if I can use it to pay or not... help?

J. Lightfoot

 

[Michael OLeary]

T-shirt received, thanks Mike.

 

[btk_joker]

nevermind, I just used a cheque and mailed it, I hope I did it right...

J. Lightfoot

 

[ErorZ]

Received my shirt today too... pretty fast shipping there Mike

Nice shirt !!