[URGENT] NAC Hosting Issues - We need YOUR Feedback!

[Arynis]

lol, Shadowfang isn't German though. You're mixing him up with a certain someone else, perhaps? <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/NAC_Smiley_Pack_Default/tongue1.gif" alt="" title="" /><!-- s -->

2 months isn't too much time unfortunately. We'll try to explore our options further during this time.

[Takibi]

What do you think of the suggestions so far? Are you leaning any 1 way?

[Arynis]

First of all, Umi has moved all the downloads to the following site:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://w11.zetaboards.com/GX_ST/index/">http://w11.zetaboards.com/GX_ST/index/</a><!-- m -->

Announcements are found here:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://generationnextsubs.wordpress.com/">http://generationnextsubs.wordpress.com/</a><!-- m -->

So keep tabs on these sites for now, guys.

As for the suggestions, I appreciate everyone's posts and comments. My replies in no particular order:

- Free hosting wouldn't be an option I'm sure, not without causing slowdowns on downtimes. So most definitely no.
- Umi moved the downloads to the site mentioned above as a backup.
- I'm not sure about Premium Membership. To be frank, I'm not sure what could be offered/what would people prefer for a paid membership off the top of my head, at least beyond a special title/nickname color.
- I don't think the non profit organization description would help us bypass C&Ds.

Shadowfang would prefer to go in the direction of donations, I'm not sure about ads, but donations will be a given. And since we're going that route, and transparency should be maintained for this matter, our current hosting cost is about 60 euros per month. We're going to look into if this cost can be reduced one way or another, but sadly I can't make promises. What matters is that we will need donations regardless of the finalized cost.

[Orochinagi]

60 Euros per month is really a lot, considering that this site only has a forum. <!-- s:O_o: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/NAC_Smiley_Pack_Default/blink.gif" alt=":O_o:" title="WTF?" /><!-- s:O_o: --> I'm not sure if there would be much difference after deleting the DL subforum, to be honest. It'd be a different story if the files were stored in the site itself but that's not the case.

Anyways, don't go into this expecting to get the server costs paid for with just donations.
Most likely the first months will go quite smoothly, but you'd still need some kind of contigency plan, like ad services or be willing to cover part of the costs with money from your own pockets.
I personally don't mind the former, just no pop-ups. However, as someone mentioned before, it'd be most ideal to use only 1 of either donations or ads.

Premium Memberships might not be the solution. There aren't many features that could be used as "benefits", unless you make significant changes in things like Avatar size, Sig size, Inbox capacity, leaving only the "enhanced" features to those who donate in a constant basis. <!-- s:? --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/NAC_Smiley_Pack_Default/confused1.gif" alt=":?" title="Confused" /><!-- s:? -->
Traffic and bandwidth are issues too, but maybe you can give some "space" to those premium users for blogs or things like that, using the domain of NAC.
You can always give them a special thanks and that's all, though. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/NAC_Smiley_Pack_Default/awe.gif" alt="" title="Awesome" /><!-- s -->



OR... you can start a NAC Ice Bucket Challenge-sort-of-thing to raise money, and problem solved. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/NAC_Smiley_Pack_Default/cm.gif" alt="" title="Cookie Monster" /><!-- s -->

[a-hole]

Ugh....I would LOVE to donate for a site where most of my friends are....but money continues to get kiiiiinda tight around here atm.

How much toes 60 Euros translate to U.S. dollars?

lol, Shadowfang isn't German though. You're mixing him up with a certain someone else, perhaps? <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/NAC_Smiley_Pack_Default/tongue1.gif" alt="" title="" /><!-- s -->

2 months isn't too much time unfortunately. We'll try to explore our options further during this time.

Whoops, my bad. Noooo, I wasn't confusin' him w/ He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named; I was just wrong on where he's from (I know it's SOMEWHERE in Europe).

[Linka]

Doing a quick exchange online, it's $77.75 to host the site. Which is definitely a pretty penny altogether. I guess it only goes to show how popular the forum has gotten and how many fans there are, huh?

[NeoArkadia]

Why do I have a stinking suspicion web-crawlers might relevant here.

[銀河王]

What about adwords

[Takibi]

First of all, Umi has moved all the downloads to the following site:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://w11.zetaboards.com/GX_ST/index/">http://w11.zetaboards.com/GX_ST/index/</a><!-- m -->

Announcements are found here:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://generationnextsubs.wordpress.com/">http://generationnextsubs.wordpress.com/</a><!-- m -->

Nice to see the downloads backed up on a forum. This is what I meant when I said doing the free hosting for the downloads. Looks like every thing's the same as here, so the problem seems to be solved.

There's nothing at that announcement site tho, is it supposed to be like that?

- I don't think the non profit organization description would help us bypass C&Ds.

There should be no worry about that since the downloads are gone...... right??

Shadowfang would prefer to go in the direction of donations, I'm not sure about ads, but donations will be a given. And since we're going that route, and transparency should be maintained for this matter, our current hosting cost is about 60 euros per month. We're going to look into if this cost can be reduced one way or another, but sadly I can't make promises. What matters is that we will need donations regardless of the finalized cost.

Donations sound best.

Premium Memberships might not be the solution. There aren't many features that could be used as "benefits", unless you make significant changes in things like Avatar size, Sig size, Inbox capacity, leaving only the "enhanced" features to those who donate in a constant basis. <!-- s:? --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/NAC_Smiley_Pack_Default/confused1.gif" alt=":?" title="Confused" /><!-- s:? -->
Traffic and bandwidth are issues too, but maybe you can give some "space" to those premium users for blogs or things like that, using the domain of NAC.

Maybe there's not much that can be done as benefits, but those are better than nothing, right? And some people might be very happy with having a donator badge or special title or something like that, which is done on other forums. Not sure about giving space to premium users tho. If NAC is already so big then giving even more space for other people sounds like a bad idea, unless NAC can make a profit selling space. But that would mean charging more then other hosts, and why would people go for that? Unless they simply wanted to host with NAC out of the goodness of their hearts, which is cool. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/NAC_Smiley_Pack_Default/smile.gif" alt="" title="Happy" /><!-- s -->

[闇の女王ヤミ]

I just still have some misgivings about my mega links on the new site being total in public, unprotected. I mean, I pay for the account... <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/NAC_Smiley_Pack_Default/sad.gif" alt="" title="Sad" /><!-- s --> and I actually use it as a bit of a cloud drive. It would be awkward, if it gets suspended. I think, I have to talk this over with Umi again.

[twotaileddemon]

If you do open up donations, let me know and I'll donate something next week.

[a-hole]

Doing a quick exchange online, it's $77.75 to host the site. Which is definitely a pretty penny altogether. I guess it only goes to show how popular the forum has gotten and how many fans there are, huh?

Huh....that's actually LESS than I expected. Regardless, still pretty friggin' high to be payin' out-of-pocket.

[~Mana~]

To be honest, that price is moderate for web hosting, though it seems extremely high for what I would expect NAC's usage to be. I pay about $12 a month for a server for my Forum wth GoDaddy, and that works wonders (albeit not as big as NAC, but even so). I'm going to assume that price includes a lot of extras that the Forum doesn't touch, but is there as a safety net, like SSL, unlimited bandwidth etc.

A question then; if the Forum isn't actually making full use of the hosting's features, wouldn't it be better to look for slightly downgraded but cheaper alternative hosting?

I understand that the Forum is currently properly funded until October (If I recall correctly), though I'm quite happy to do the funding for the rest of the year, or however long is needed, if needs be.