Sorry about the break in service yesterday

Brendan Burgess

Founder
Messages
54,788
Sorry about the break in service yesterday.

I was off-line all most of the day and when I checked it out at 3.46 pm, I was able to post, so I thought that it had fixed itself.

We rely on volunteers to troubleshoot these problems and everyone was busy with their day job and could not devote time to it.

We are not sure of the cause yet, but we are investigating it.

Brendan
 
Hi Brendan,

I can understand why Askaboutmoney relied on volunteers when it was a tiny site. But is this still the appropriate model? Given the size of it and the fact that so many people rely on it and suffer withdrawal symptoms, would it be worth considering some form of model whereby you can pay professionals to provide technical support? It shouldn’t cost too much and could well be covered by an increased push for donations.

Personally, I would favour establishing an annual budget, which is published on the donations page, alongside a bar-chart displaying "We have reached X% of our annual budget". I find these can encourage support. I wouldn't imagine that the annual budget would be huge as the technical support person would presumably be on a retainer rather than a full-time job.
 
Hi Liam

Thanks for the suggestion.

From time to time, people suggest Google ads or other sponsorship, but we won't be going down that line.

I might look into paying for professional support and development, but we would have a long way to go donations wise.

I am not great at barcharts but here are the figures for 2009. 2008 would have been very similar.

Hosting cost: €1,900
vBulletin license: €100

Running costs: €2,000 per annum

Donations to date in 2009: €157

I am sure that the hosting cost could be reduced, but we have had different hosts in the past and they broke my non-techncial heart. Hosting 365 sorted out the problem last night - we pay them some sort of Gold service agreement which includes some vBulletin support.

Brendan
 
Brendan said:
Donations to date in 2009: €157
Click to expand...

You need to make your donations button/request more visible to encourage people to donate, where it is at the moment is too low down the page, the first time I ever saw it was when I logged in from a mobile phone and it shot me down to the end of the page for some reason - I had never noticed it in the browser window before.

There is another site I use where they ask for donations and they use a 'scrolling banner' with red coloured text in a small box at the top of the page (its not intrusive but its very visible)- so that each year begins with 'Please consider donating to running costs of site' or something like that. They dont leave the scrolling banner up very long, but they do leave the donation button up high and visible.
 
Brendan,
I only noticed the donation button too the other day. It should definitely be more visable. I am more than happy donating to keep the site going as I think it's brilliant. I suffered major withdrawal yesterday.
A donation on way to you today!
 
Same here, I find the site so useful, withdrawal symptoms were ba-ad yesterday. Donation en route, keep up the good work!
 
so-crates said:
Poor Liam, were you shivering at the keyboard there?
Click to expand...

Don't have a keyboard any more, after the eighteenth time I hit it with my head yesterday. I suppose I should also apologise to the postman for punching him in the face yesterday before he even said anything, then slamming the door.
 
Sure. Make the cheque payable to Brendan Burgess
and send it to 7 FArney Park, Sandymount Dublin 4

I don't have a bank account with the name askaboutmoney.com so I would not be able to lodge a cheque to it.

brendan
 
Modest donation just made also. A small price to pay for the quality of advice, help, debate, banter, craic, entertainment, venting, good friendships made and the chance to extol the virtues of our most worthy Southern Republic!!!

Well done all!!!!
 
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