posted 07-14-2002 04:52 AM                  

We have been working on how to display what the goal for the server is and how much we have collected. These things don't just happen....... the 3 Krehel's have been collectively working and discussing this for a few weeks. Mike has done alot of research about what we really need to always move the site forward, never backward. WE WILL NOT loose our history or the search-ability on the site, it's too valuable!! Maybe the number of associates will slow down, but our need for documentation, information and comradery will only increase.

Who know's where we'll be in another year????????

Let's keep thinking.

posted 07-14-2002 06:56 AM                  

Tracking costs and expenditures is not quite so simple...

In addition to tracking donations, we need to track income from POA sales (Mike's hats, shirts, banners, CD's)... income from contests (like 1/2 and 1/2's - like many have suggested). We also need to track expenditures, such as server expenses, payments to charities, and support of POA events.

It's another issue altogether to know what the goal is. What is our goal? Do we want to permanently associate ourselves with a charity and donate extra funds to them? To which charities should we donate? In addition to equipment, we need manpower and an internet service provider, so waht are the costs? To know what the goal is we need to know what we want to spend.

Yet anbother issue is how to display the goal v. donations on the POA site. We don't want this to be a lot of additional work each week, so we would want to automate this based on outputs from the bookkeeping software.

Just tracking the $$$ is a job in itself... and we have to remember, that another goal is to let Mike actually be retired... There are tons of questions to answer. The ultimate question is what do we need to do to make the POA self-sufficient? This is not so easy. There is information and expertise to manage and to capture. We need to make the POA have a continuous cash flow that keeps it in the black.

Mike & Judy, offer still stands - when you want to turn me on to research an issue or to write software to implement something - I am very available. There are many reasons that I am anxious to work with you, but the main reason is for the experience. I teach myself lot's of computer technology and it always helps to have a driving force (a goal and many folks depending on me...)

later,
Damon.

posted 07-14-2002 07:44 AM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by JKrehel:
We have received 8 envelopes since Fridays mail. Thank you....... we'll update ya'll shortly. [/B]

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Juty Juty JUDY!
If that check bounces, Jack says he will scratch out another one that will probably clear.

XOXO
JWD and Chromer (Ken LaSaso)

posted 07-14-2002 01:17 PM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by JKrehel:
Who know's where we'll be in another year????????
I would say we will be light years ahead of where we are at now based on how far we have progressed the past two years. The list of names grows virtually everyday.

We have received 8 envelopes since Fridays mail. Thank you....... we'll update ya'll shortly. [/B]

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posted 07-14-2002 03:09 PM                  

Time for me to put up or shut up.

Mike, the check's in the mail.

You people rock (even you, Ed)!

Kevin

posted 07-15-2002 06:46 AM                  

fixumm

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posted 07-15-2002 07:09 AM                  

Here are some facts...

The POA website has grown by leaps and bounds over the past two years and takes up well over 1200 megabits of hard disk space on our current server (I know that this is minor compared to current hard disk prices, but hosting sites charge dearly for hard disk space). We also own and maintain a separate server here in Houston where the Scrapbooks, Event Calendar, and other various space consuming image files are stored. This server alone holds nearly 2000 megabits on its hard drives. By having this secondary server here in Houston, we have been able to avoid the additional fees for space on the main server, which is located in Atlanta, but the Discussion Forum grows in size daily!

At our current rate, our hard disk usage grows by about 1.5 megabits daily. Based on new registered members, this will only continue to expand. One alternative would be to delete old posts, however I know that we all rely on being able to use the search function to find old posts and pictures that may have been posted along with them.

Besides hard disk space, we exceed the maximum bandwidth (through-put) daily and this also increases as our community grows.

Our current server has less than 20 other accounts (websites) on it because the Discussion Forum is so processor intensive and if they were to put anyone else on it we would begin having problems with load times from the server. The two other servers that are co-located and owned by our hosting company contain nearly 1500 accounts each. All said, our host is actually losing money on our account.

I believe that the reliability of our hosting service has been extremely high for the past year! We have been paying $100.00 per month, which was a real deal! I'm not interested in changing hosts or going with a lesser quality server. The company that hosts us is financially solid and dependable and I don't want to change services nor do I fault them for complaining. We have been asked to do something about our bandwidth and hard disk usage or we will have to look for a new host, which again I'm reluctant to do because of the outstanding service record that they've provided us.

Here’s what we need to do...

Since we are literally hogging all of the resources of this server our hosting service has recommended that we purchase our own server and they will provide a slot for us in their rack space and continue to provide us with the great service that they have for the past year.

The costs??

$8000.00 for our own new Dell server with a 1-hour downtime replacement parts guarantee. Our new rate will be $450.00 per month. Totally, I need to come up with over $13,000 (based on the cost of the server, one years service and server installation) to make this change and go forward. Next year we would only need to raise the $450 per month since the server will already be paid for.

We will have 20 gigs of hard disk space on redundant drives, dual processors, daily backups, and complete support for the server that will be located and maintained at the same location in Atlanta. This should keep us going for years to come with all the hard disk space and bandwidth we need for future growth.

With additional funding, we could also afford to expand and grow the site by hiring additional personnel and help take some of the burden off of myself. Between monitoring the site and the daily/weekly maintenance, I spend nearly 30 to 40 hours a week. What started off as a hobby has grown to a full time job for me!

Any further suggestions on how we could take up collections would be greatly appreciated. I for one don't like the idea of membership and am in favor of voluntary contributions, possibly with a page that would rate the different levels of those contributing i.e.: Platinum for $200 + a year, Gold for $100 to $199 a year, Silver for $50 to $99 a year and so on. We could also have this status show up under the username in the Discussion Forum. We would put a complete balance sheet on the website with full disclosure of where the funds went. Any excess funds can be used for sponsoring events, event insurance or whatever else we as a group decide to use the money for.