[rebel-builders] Christmas, the spirit of giving, and let's do our part.
Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2012 5:07 pm
Thanks Tim,
I've been asked the question of what is an appropriate contribution several
times in the past, and that's a tough question to answer. If I was to
establish a subscription rate, I would probably start at $5 a year, I feel
this would cover the monthly expenses plus enough to keep the hardware from
getting to antiquated. But the problem here is while 300 people all paying
$5 would cover things nicely, last year only 7 people made a donation.
2008 - 3 donations (so far)
2007 - 7 donations
2006 - 21 donations
2005 - 18 donations
2004 - 28 donations
I certainly didn't start this list with any intentions of making money on
it, and I can assure you I never have. Most of the hardware used for the
list server has come available when I upgrade my personal desktop system. A
few individual pieces have been purchased specifically for the list server.
It's certainly not cutting edge, but I feel it runs the system adequately.
I used to run all my different services on the same machine, but my last
major upgrade involved splitting the load over 4 different servers. The
builders list is now on a dedicated system, and all the web sites I host are
on another system that is a dedicated web server. This has improved the
over all performance considerably.
That said, I feel a conservative estimate of what it costs to run the list
is around $750 a year, assuming I do not need to purchase any new hardware.
Over the last 4 years I've averaged $473.25 in donations, or a bit over 60%
of costs. I usually have used the donations received to improve the system,
not to cover recurring costs.
Long answer to your question... I would say that the average donation has
been about $25. Most are actually around $20, with a few larger ones thrown
in to bring the average up.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Hickey" <tjhickey@iowatelecom.net>
To: <rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 12:12 PM
Subject: Re: [rebel-builders] Christmas, the spirit of giving, and let's do
our part.
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I've been asked the question of what is an appropriate contribution several
times in the past, and that's a tough question to answer. If I was to
establish a subscription rate, I would probably start at $5 a year, I feel
this would cover the monthly expenses plus enough to keep the hardware from
getting to antiquated. But the problem here is while 300 people all paying
$5 would cover things nicely, last year only 7 people made a donation.
2008 - 3 donations (so far)
2007 - 7 donations
2006 - 21 donations
2005 - 18 donations
2004 - 28 donations
I certainly didn't start this list with any intentions of making money on
it, and I can assure you I never have. Most of the hardware used for the
list server has come available when I upgrade my personal desktop system. A
few individual pieces have been purchased specifically for the list server.
It's certainly not cutting edge, but I feel it runs the system adequately.
I used to run all my different services on the same machine, but my last
major upgrade involved splitting the load over 4 different servers. The
builders list is now on a dedicated system, and all the web sites I host are
on another system that is a dedicated web server. This has improved the
over all performance considerably.
That said, I feel a conservative estimate of what it costs to run the list
is around $750 a year, assuming I do not need to purchase any new hardware.
Over the last 4 years I've averaged $473.25 in donations, or a bit over 60%
of costs. I usually have used the donations received to improve the system,
not to cover recurring costs.
Long answer to your question... I would say that the average donation has
been about $25. Most are actually around $20, with a few larger ones thrown
in to bring the average up.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Hickey" <tjhickey@iowatelecom.net>
To: <rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 12:12 PM
Subject: Re: [rebel-builders] Christmas, the spirit of giving, and let's do
our part.
Well, this leads nicely into an appropriate subject for our entire group.
We all know that running a service like this builders internet exchange
takes time and money. You may have noticed that this subject does not come
up very often, but this time of the year is appropriate to address the
issue.
In the past many of us have given a donation to Mike to fund the
maintenance
and operation of this list. It is, as we all know, a great resource. How
much is it worth to each of us? That is a hard question to answer. I do
know
that the information that flows back and forth is very, very useful.
So Maybe Mike can help us here. He knows what it takes to make this list
operate, and he knows how many people subscribe and use this builder's
exchange.
So, Mike, without getting into too many details, can you tell us what
would
be an appropriate donation to keep this thing going?
If that is a concern to you, please give us a clue as to what we should
contribute. (translation, I, like most, want to keep this list going, but
at
the same time I have little interest in making you rich and famous :-)
(joke)
So if you can, give us a guide line. Is the best amount from each of us
$20.00, $30.00, $40.00, etc?
With the economy the way it is, and with this being the Christmas season,
money is no doubt tight for all of us. But if we all help, as best we can
and with what is appropriate, life will be good.
By the way, Mike did not put me up to this. Actually, I don't even know
the
guy.
Now, where did I put that deburring tool?
Oh, yes, as side note, the house is done, and I am back at working on the
Rebel. I am finding that it is hard to start.
Book says build the rudder first. (we have the flaperons done).
Bob P says build the fin first so that you will know what dimension you
need to make the rudder fit to the fin.
And now my friend Charlie Eubanks says maybe one should build the horz
stabs
first so that you can fit the fin to them.
I guess I need to built the whole thing all at once.
Tim Hickey
R808
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