Server upkeep donations

[Martijn Meerts]

Ever since the most recent server move, the cost of running the forum have increased. As some of you know, we've done donation requests in the past, but a large part of the cost has been paid by the admin team. Also, a lot of you have made it know that you'd happily donate a few dollars to help with the cost, and that is of course much appreciated.

 

Currently, we're looking at about 35-40 USD per month, that is including the webserver, database server, domain name, bandwidth usage and software licensing.

 

Obviously, that's quite a bit of money for a couple of people to pay monthly (you can almost get a loco for that money ;)), so I've put some time into setting up a new Paypal account and creating a donate button. So, if you feel like it, feel free to send us some money by using the following button:

 

 

 

 

There is no minimum (or maximum for that matter), and we'll of course not be locking any content behind donations. We'll also be open with regards to how much we get from donations, and if we get more in donations than what it costs to keep the servers running, we're likely going to do something along the lines of organising a fun little project party and provide some fun prizes.

 

Thanks in advance! 😉

 

 

 

(Also, let me know if the button is working for you, and if it's not some weird language. I know Paypal can be really weird with their language enforcing ...)

[splifdfx]

I'm pretty surprised by the cost (50USD/month).
That's a bit less of what I pay for a year for a small virtual hosting.

Does the forum suck up that much ressources ?
I'm also curious about that software licensing.

 

Well, donated just a bit ; sorry, money's short this year.

[Martijn Meerts]

It sucks up enough resources to not be doable on a cheap virtual host at least. It's running on 2 servers right now, a web server, and a dedicated database server. Especially the database was a bit of a bottleneck before, considering the amount of data IPBoard stores. We also have things like easy automated backups and etc. I could go for cheaper options, but I'd rather have a forum that's faster. When it was slow before we did the server move, there was a lot less activity on the forum in general.

 

As for the licensing, IPBoard is a paid forum system. With the add-ons we're using it's 10USD per month.

 

As for the donations, any and all donations are very much appreciated, regardless of the amount donated.

[billk]

The button works. Don't know the criteria for gauging the weirdness of the language.  "PayPal verwerkt op veilige wijze donaties voor donations@jnsforum.org. U kunt uw betaling binnen enkele klikken voltooien." Hmmm, possibly offensive???

[beakaboy]

small donation made. Thanks Martijn and others for all your efforts

[Martijn Meerts]

The button works. Don't know the criteria for gauging the weirdness of the language.  "PayPal verwerkt op veilige wijze donaties voor donations@jnsforum.org. U kunt uw betaling binnen enkele klikken voltooien." Hmmm, possibly offensive???

 

Not offensive, unless you think Dutch is an offensive language ;)

 

There aren't many settings I can change, and since I'm in the Netherlands, it's a Dutch Paypal account.. Still, a bit weird it's displaying in Dutch for other people.

 

 

 

Edit: I updated the button. It should be in English now, and hopefully it still works.

Edited March 11, 2016 by Martijn Meerts

[railsquid]

 

PayPal does not currently support Donation Payments from buyers in JP. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

:(

[serotta1972]

Great job Martijn and the rest of the JNS crew!  Glad I can contribute.

[katoftw]

:(

Dont worry.  I put an extra 5 in for you.  You owe me a beer next time I'm in town.

[railsquid]

Blame the Japanese government... was enough hassle just to sign up to be able to receive funds. Though I have no problems making normal overseas purchases.

[ToniBabelony]

Darnit. I wanted to contribute a few cents (maybe a bit more than that) as well! Maybe change the donation to a monthly payment subscription, though that might affect the rates again...

[JR 500系]

Thanks for the hard work! Have dropped a little monthly token sum ~ Cheers!

[IST]

I have just sent a few USD.

Thanks for keeping up the site!

[Martijn Meerts]

Seems the donation button doesn't work for everyone for whatever reasons. If you feel like donating but can't use the button, the Paypal account for the donations is donations@jnsforum.org . Should be no issues sending a little something directly rather than through a button.

 

 

Also, many thanks to everyone for the donations (and willingness to donate even if it's not possible ;))

Edited March 12, 2016 by Martijn Meerts

[Ken Ford]

Done!

[Sascha]

Small donation monthly. Thanks for all the work.

[POMU]

Donation sent.  Thanks Martijn and all the Admin Staff for all you do.

POMU

[ozman2009]

Small donation from me. Many thanks to all involved.

[marknewton]

The button works for me, and the page came up in English - donation made successfully! :)

 

Thank you Martijn, and all the admin/mod staff, for your time and effort in keeping the forum going.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[bikkuri bahn]

Small donation sent. Thanks for providing the PayPal account address.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Thanks to Martijn and all involved for this site.

 

Jon

[railsquid]

 

I am in compliance with Japanese laws and regulations, including sanctions against payments to North Korea and Iran pursuant to the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act to complete the transaction.

 

So as long as none of you recipients are in cahoots with the above named countries, a small donation is on its way.

[tossedman]

Donation sent. Thanks for providing a great site.

 

Todd

[cteno4]

So as long as none of you recipients are in cahoots with the above named countries, a small donation is on its way.

Well we did kick kim-Jong and ayatollah Khamenei off the admin team, does that count? They were a hoot, but tough to work with. We had to keep bringing Rodman in to keep kim-Jong from shooting moderators.

 

Jeff

[kvp]

The button comes up blank in mobile view but worked fine in normal mode. I think that with small donations, we may need around 50 people. Please keep us updated.