TexasCHLforum moving to dedicated server

[Charles L. Cotton]

The TexasCHLforum has outgrown shared hosting and will have to move to a managed dedicated server or VPS. For quite some time now, the site has far exceeded the allowed CPU minutes per day, but the web host has been great and only yesterday notified me that I had to either reduce services (absolutely not!) or move to a dedicated server or VPS.

The move will take place over the next few weeks and the new installation will be fully tested before we make the move. They want me to have everything done in the next 4 to 5 weeks and that not too demanding. (The timing sucks, but that's not their fault.)

The costs associated with either a managed dedicated server or VPS are not even in the same league as shared hosting. I want TexasCHLforum to remain non-commercial and I will not accept any advertising, so a supporter donation system will be set up soon. It will be voluntary and there will be two levels. Forum supporters will have a "supporter badge" in their signature line, but they can choose not to display it if they wish. The supporter badge will not count as part of any current or future signature line size or content limitations. To keep from negatively impacting people reading the Forum on mobile devices, the supporter badge will not be large.

I want to be candid about the market section. While supporter donations will be entirely voluntary, consideration is being given to making the market sections and training class sections available only to Forum supporters. It only seems fair that people wanting to make money on the Forum help to support it's continued existence. If this policy is ultimately adopted, the rules for posting in the market sections will not change; i.e. the current limitations will continue to apply. The market sections will remain a place for occasional posting by Members.

I will update our Members on the move as new information comes available.

Chas.

[mojo84]

Sounds like a good news/bad news deal. Good news that the site is getting the attention and participation that it is and bad that it's exceeded its current host and needs to be moved. I think the good out weighs the bad.

Your proposed/planned solutions sound reasonable to me. I'll support the cause.

[Waco1959]

I'be been on a couple of photo related boards that used this system and it seemed to work well. I'm not currently a member if the boards but that is due to acchange in interests.

Several of the boards also had either voluntary or required donation of 2-3% of the selling price to the board. I sold a number of items and never found this to be onerous.

[hpcatx]

Congratulations, Chas! While I know the transfer is an inconvenience for you and the admins, the necessity speaks volumes for the quality of the community, the work you do, and value this forum provides. I am confident the membership ranks will pitch in and become paid supporters; being advertising free is a nice aspect of the forum's current format.

[Piney]

Fair enough to me on all counts-- those choosing to have enhanced services can pay the certianly reasonable fee. IMO, all the services are enhanced and worth a bit of $$ after all these years


Perhaps in place of a badge, to stay compatable with mobile devices as mentioned, change the color of the member's name.

[apostate]

Did someone say CHL badge?

[pbwalker]

Have you given any consideration to Amazon or Rackspace Cloud Hosting? Not sure what your config looks like, but these could be viable options if the server is expensive. I'm still all for the donation piece though. I couldn't pay enough for all the information I've learned here.

[gigag04]

Supporter only forums, and donation requirement for marketplace postings?

I'm in either way.

[UTMacGuy]

If you run into problems or have questions, be sure to post them - I'm sure we have plenty of tech folks (me included) that can help with the migration to a new server even if it's via donations.

[psijac]

I'd pay for tapatalk or forum runner support or even. Some websites have released their own android forum apps and charged for it. And people can buy it as a sign of support.

Of course I would also donate for the move in general

[Topbuilder]

I'm in. Can't wait to tell my wife to file it under "Tax deductable, continuing education"
She's a former "State" Tax accountant... I'm sure that will get shut down in a hurry!

[Shoot_First]

Chas.,

Any update on this? We are departing later this month for a 3 month visit to Vietnam so I would like to contribute before I leave if that is possible.

Thanks,

Dave

[Teamless]

I had missed this original post in November, but I have gotten so much info out of this forum, that I would certainly be willing to donate, just tell me where to send the check!

[Charles L. Cotton]

Chas.,

Any update on this? We are departing later this month for a 3 month visit to Vietnam so I would like to contribute before I leave if that is possible.

Thanks,

Dave

Thanks Dave. I've been swamped and just haven't had time to deal with it. Hopefully my current web host won't get too upset with me talking longer than I planned.

Thanks for asking,
Chas.

[Charles L. Cotton]

The TexasCHLforum will be moving to a different web host in the next few days. I had hoped to get through the legislative session without having to deal with this issue, but my current host is really pushing to get it done.

I'll let everyone know when a date is set, but I expect it to be around the first of February. Hopefully, the Forum will only be down a few hours, if that. The transition should go smoothly but I obviously want to test the new installation before going live.

Chas.