"If FR dies, that’s that." - Jim Robinson [Jim's reply at post # 588]

Here are statements from Jim about the future of FreeRepublic.com for those who missed them. They are quite serious.

"Well, I can say that there are definitely two things that will never happen. 1) Banner ads. 2) Oracle [a completely new database system.] And a third is a total replacement [of the current damaged system.] Don’t have the financial wherewithal."

Hey, you want us to get an all new system with all new software and add a few more pricey techs, system programmers and database administrators to keep it all working 100% of the time 24/7/365? Well, start coughing up the big bucks.

It’s going to take tens of thousands of donations and many with at least three zeros each after the comma to accomplish the task. And that would be EVERY month like clock work to make the payroll. Once you take on a big load of expensive overhead, there’s no going back. As it is, we get a couple thousand donations per quarter averaging about $30 bucks each and there’s no guarantees we can cover this quarter’s expenses much less next quarter. We’re on a pay as we go system and we have zero employees.We just ask for enough to pay the bills.

Throwing more money at the problem won’t solve it. [This latest glitch] was a technical issue and we just had to keep troubleshooting until we found it. And no, we’re not going to invite a bunch of strangers in to get their hands on our secure systems. John has been programming since he was 14 and he’s pushing 40 now. He built these systems and he’s an expert in them.

And no, we are not going to throw out our software and rewrite it and no we’re not going to move on to some other database system. There are no guarantees that any other system can do a better job and not without hiring a staff to build and maintain it and that’s for sure. And we don’t have the financial wherewithal to do any of that anyway. Maybe if we had a couple million bucks at our disposal and a couple years to do it in we could build an iron-clad system. And maybe not.

All I can say is, if someone else can do it better and cheaper, then please step right on up and get ‘er done!! I’ll bow out and retire. Thankyouverymuch.

And no, we have no plans of taking FR commercial. I like it the way it is. Not sure I could handle getting rich.

Ditto what you said about SQL... There is commercial forum software using SQL that will handle FR’s load level. The problem is not configuring the software but importing the existing database.

For a forum I run (off road truck related) we were not able to import the legacy database into the new (Access vs. SQL for the new) and instead had to start off with a clean database when upgrading our technology. For a year or so, we maintained the legacy forum as read-only then had to drop it when the dual database became too expensive plus the obsolete software was ill supported and we couldn't fix it when it broke. While the loss of the legacy was initially an issue to our members, the issue faded as we moved forward.

You can always make a folder for great articles within your browser 'favorites', and bookmark them. That's what I do. As far as articles going 'missing', I don't know what you can do about that, except to copy the whole thing into a new document and save it to your computer.

omg, that's the whole point! By having the article here at FR it is automatically archived. Even if its only an excerpt it gives enough info for people to inquire if someone did indeed save the whole thing.

At any rate I like it the way things are.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH WONDERFUL, FABULOUS, AWESOME FREEPERS!!!

2011 Q1 Scoreboard — ranked by total receipts

Rank	Location	Receipts			Monthlies
Rank	Location	Total	#	Avg/Per	Total	#	Avg/Per
1	Texas	$3,050.00	70	$43.57	$913.00	64	$14.27
2	California	2,385.00	49	48.67	1,357.00	76	17.86
3	Arizona	1,674.99	18	93.06	430.00	18	23.89
4	Virginia	1,270.00	24	52.92	750.00	32	23.44
5	New York	1,175.00	14	83.93	362.50	23	15.76
6	Pennsylvania	850.00	24	35.42	410.00	22	18.64
7	Florida	745.00	27	27.59	525.00	33	15.91
8	Ohio	720.00	14	51.43	270.00	15	18.00
9	New Jersey	711.00	10	71.10	205.00	10	20.50
10	Colorado	685.00	14	48.93	250.00	16	15.62
11	Maryland	680.00	13	52.31	132.50	8	16.56
12	Tennessee	620.00	13	47.69	240.00	14	17.14
13	West Virginia	600.00	4	150.00	35.00	2	17.50
14	Georgia	580.00	13	44.62	310.00	18	17.22
15	Illinois	528.00	15	35.20	270.00	14	19.29
16	Arkansas	490.00	7	70.00	65.00	5	13.00
17	Alabama	470.00	12	39.17	150.00	11	13.64
18	Washington	465.00	14	33.21	438.00	24	18.25
19	Missouri	446.25	12	37.19	155.00	13	11.92
20	North Carolina	415.00	15	27.67	355.00	22	16.14
21	South Carolina	365.00	7	52.14	70.00	7	10.00
22	Alaska	350.00	2	175.00	50.00	2	25.00
23	Michigan	280.00	12	23.33	185.00	11	16.82
24	Oregon	275.00	8	34.38	175.00	9	19.44
25	Connecticut	266.00	5	53.20	90.00	7	12.86
26	New Mexico	220.00	3	73.33	50.00	3	16.67
27	Nevada	204.00	6	34.00	81.00	4	20.25
28	Idaho	200.00	7	28.57	215.00	9	23.89
29	Indiana	200.00	11	18.18	190.00	13	14.62
30	Mississippi	171.00	5	34.20	141.00	6	23.50
31	Massachusetts	150.00	7	21.43	183.00	10	18.30
32	Maine	150.00	2	75.00	80.00	3	26.67
33	Kentucky	140.00	4	35.00	40.00	3	13.33
34	Oklahoma	130.00	5	26.00	215.00	10	21.50
35	Louisiana	130.00	4	32.50	125.00	6	20.83
36	Wisconsin	110.00	3	36.67	120.00	9	13.33
37	Minnesota	105.00	4	26.25	170.00	12	14.17
38	Utah	100.00	3	33.33	135.00	8	16.88
39	Vermont	90.00	3	30.00	56.00	2	28.00
40	Nebraska	85.00	3	28.33	10.00	1	10.00
41	Montana	80.00	2	40.00	50.00	3	16.67
42	Iowa	75.00	2	37.50	20.00	1	20.00
43	Canada	70.00	2	35.00	10.00	1	10.00
44	Hawaii	70.00	2	35.00	115.00	6	19.17
45	Kansas	65.00	3	21.67	130.00	10	13.00
46	Germany	60.00	3	20.00
47	Rhode Island	55.00	2	27.50	50.00	2	25.00
48	Japan	50.00	1	50.00
49	Delaware	36.00	3	12.00	26.00	3	8.67
50	New Hampshire	33.50	1	33.50	98.50	5	19.70
51	South Dakota	30.00	2	15.00	55.00	4	13.75
52	El Salvador	30.00	1	30.00
53	Wyoming	20.00	1	20.00
54	Costa Rica	20.00	1	20.00
55	Australia	10.00	1	10.00	10.00	1	10.00
	District of Columbia				20.00	1	20.00
	Armed Forces - Europe				15.00	1	15.00
	Norway				10.00	1	10.00
	Congo				10.00	1	10.00
	North Dakota				10.00	1	10.00
Never Never Land		3,895.00	108	36.06	780.00	54	14.44
61 locations total		$26,880.74	621	$43.29	$11,413.50	670	$17.04

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