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ARTelevision · 10-07-2004, 03:44 PM

maleficent, yes, considered and rejected for the reason that we desire to create a community and not a commercial site.

Here's my personal take on some of the issues involved in doing things the way we do here:

From the beginning of our association with TFP, we have been impressed with the belief system, conviction, and manner of operation of this site and its owner. I have always felt a kindred spirit in Halx.

My knowledge of the details of operation are professional - as I'm a Director of Internet Development by day and have run and continue to run not-for-profit art sites, etc.

The costs that Hal bears personally far outweigh any amount of donations TFP has ever received. This is how it is when one runs a site like this - note its non-commercial nature compared to nearly everything else out there.

Now to specifics.

The server load it takes to process a thread containing only text and just a few links is far less than a thread in which 50+ links have to be translated into image tags every single time the page is loaded.

We are currently shopping for another server because our server load is excessive now. The cost of a beefy and bulletproof server will far outweigh the donations we will receive. I can’t really foresee a time when TFP will not always be paid for mainly by Hal bankrolling most of it. The donations help defray some of that.

We really want this site to be free - so we periodically open the TB to rookies in the hopes that they will pay their fair share - they never do.

Also, we have been growing in membership since day one. There are threshold levels of bandwidth and server usage that are periodically crossed.

These considerations time the donation requests. We have to start a new initiative every time - not asking for money constantly (which we don't want to do) causes the periodic need. We go along, Hal pays the bills and gets a small number of donations. When it gets way too far out of line - it's time for a new initiative to raise money.

That's about it.
It is the way that committed non-commercial sites I am involved with operate - especially those with progressive visions of social and cultural evolution.

I vouch for Halx and TFP to an extent I would for very few other operations.

10-07-2004, 03:44 PM	#37 (permalink)
ARTelevision I change Location: USA	maleficent, yes, considered and rejected for the reason that we desire to create a community and not a commercial site. Here's my personal take on some of the issues involved in doing things the way we do here: From the beginning of our association with TFP, we have been impressed with the belief system, conviction, and manner of operation of this site and its owner. I have always felt a kindred spirit in Halx. My knowledge of the details of operation are professional - as I'm a Director of Internet Development by day and have run and continue to run not-for-profit art sites, etc. The costs that Hal bears personally far outweigh any amount of donations TFP has ever received. This is how it is when one runs a site like this - note its non-commercial nature compared to nearly everything else out there. Now to specifics. The server load it takes to process a thread containing only text and just a few links is far less than a thread in which 50+ links have to be translated into image tags every single time the page is loaded. We are currently shopping for another server because our server load is excessive now. The cost of a beefy and bulletproof server will far outweigh the donations we will receive. I can’t really foresee a time when TFP will not always be paid for mainly by Hal bankrolling most of it. The donations help defray some of that. We really want this site to be free - so we periodically open the TB to rookies in the hopes that they will pay their fair share - they never do. Also, we have been growing in membership since day one. There are threshold levels of bandwidth and server usage that are periodically crossed. These considerations time the donation requests. We have to start a new initiative every time - not asking for money constantly (which we don't want to do) causes the periodic need. We go along, Hal pays the bills and gets a small number of donations. When it gets way too far out of line - it's time for a new initiative to raise money. That's about it. It is the way that committed non-commercial sites I am involved with operate - especially those with progressive visions of social and cultural evolution. I vouch for Halx and TFP to an extent I would for very few other operations. __________________ create evolution Last edited by ARTelevision; 10-07-2004 at 05:21 PM..