Posted on 09/10/2004 9:36:23 AM PDT by Bob J
I believe we do need a special fundraising effort. If any are interested, perhaps you'll chime in to John and Jim.
One way to do this it to try to beat Jim's fundraising goal by at least 30%. I plan to dig deeper into the budget during the upcoming Frepathon (should start around October 1).
While monthly donations help (and we should continue to work hard to increase the number of monthly donors), we need to make sure that all FReepers and regular lurkers understand that ALL donations are important and greatly appreciated.
As kayak said in a previous FReepathon:
"While large donations are great, often it is the small ones that are sacrificial and inspiring. Every penny that is donated is greatly appreciated and helps to pay the bills."
MUCH AGREE.
I wonder, perhaps it would be good to have the regular FREEPATHON running balance, total
AND
a . . . what . . . a NEW EQUIPMENT line item account running balance, total and tell FREEPERS to designate how much to assign to each.
OR, perhaps we should just say, that we need X for normal operations and X for NEW EQUIPMENT, UNFORSEEN EMERGENCIES buffer
AND
that we'll 'tithe' X% of every donation toward the latter--which would also mean--as we'd note--that the regular operating expenses balance would add up more slowly.
I realize John is saying such can be managed at the moment. And, I acknoweledge that his judgment is far better than mine on such matters. Perhaps it's my paranoia. Perhaps it's a reliable sense that we are going to need it relatively soon. I don't know. I leave it to wiser minds than mine to sort it out.
I just know that FR AND THE Republic ARE VITALLY IMPORTANT TO ALL OF US AND EVEN TO THOSE IDIOTS on the other side of several fences. And I'm convinced that
WE NEED TO BE VERY PROACTIVE AND VERY AHEAD OF ANY TREND CURVES TO DO THE MOST WE CAN FOR BOTH FR AND THE REPUBLIC . . . AND, PERHAPS AT SOME POINT, TO SURVIVE.
MUCH APPRECIATE YOUR LABORS for FREEREPUBLIC AND THE REPUBLIC.
Blessings to you and yours,
LUB,
I'm not sureif FR needs new/faster equipment. The site will always bog when it spikes and most websites design their system not for the infrequent spikes but to handle the traffic the other 98% of the time.
I'm sure Jim and John have seen this suggestion.
UNDERSTAND. I think.
Thanks much for your kind reply and all you do for FR.
What I'm saying is you don't buy bandwidth for the one time every month when your needs spike to high levels. You end up paying for that level of service the other 98% of the time. It's not a good fiscal move and better to just ride out the peak hours.
BTW - I don't think this is primarily a hardware problem, but more a bandwidth issue.
I understand that.
I'm just skeptical that this will end up being a temporary spike.
I think things are going to get very, very heavy between now and the election and beyond.
I may be able to squeeze more juice out of the hardware we have now, we'll see how that goes. I plan to add one or two more web servers before November, for comfort's sake.
It sounds like John has a good plan in place - he will be adding two servers.
If we happen to raise extra money during the next FReepathon (which we always do - we raise an extra 5 to 10 percent every FReepathon), that would give John some extra funds to purchase hardware if necessary.
I'm sure Jim and John will discuss this and then Jim will set the FReepathon goal based on projected needs, including any additional hardware that John feels would improve performance.
See ya at the FReepathon!! :o)
THANKS TONS!
I GREATLY APPRECIATE YOUR ELABORATION AND CLARIFICATION.
Also . . . THANKS BIG for your tireless labors for FR!
Just made one-time donations of $50.00 and matched it with a $50.00 donation to swiftvets for truth. If you can't afford to donate at least give a BTT.
YEA! THANKS BIG!
BTTT
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