Server costs & responsability

[Ralle]

We have recently been discussing the site's future in the chatroom. Wolverabid Steelb_l_ade and I have spoken about the server costs and who to pay for it. Right now we (mostly I) are paying 145 $ a month to keep this site up. I am also spending 2-5 hours a day on programming new stuff for the site. Even though I do this much to the site, I also have to pay for it. Much more than I can ever afford.
Steelb_l_ade said that we do so much for the site but are not getting anything back. Everyone here are using this sites resources but not contributing with what we need to keep the site up.
I think that I should not pay for this server. Well mostly not. You guys should at least pay 90 % of the server price since you are the ones using it. If you all group together and pay the bill it won't cost you much. Think about it. 145$/10 = 14,5 $ a month per user. If you are 20 people it's only 7,25$. It doesn't cost much if we group together and do this!
I have ordered a new server for the site. It only costs 82$ a month so hopefully, we can finance it.
So I am looking for at least 10 people who can donate every month to keep this bill paid.
82$ / 10 people = 8,2$ a month

Everyone who is donating every month will receive the "PayPal Donor" rank and we will try to give you even more possabilities.
Your money ARENT put in a black hole. Every penny is used on this server and its previous bills. Below I have started a list of people willing to contribute to this site every month with a part of the bill.
Check the list here: http://hiveworkshop.com/resources_new/pages/donation
More than 10 people is also good. Cause we have many previous bills that aren't paid.

Ralle

 

[Wolverabid]

Site Support

You can count on *some of us* to help you, Chieftain: expect another PayPal deposit around the fifteenth of the month.

[08-01-49] Ralle: I am cool if I keep the site free.. You are cool if you help keep the site free..

 

[The_wand_mirror]

I cant pay anything,im just a 15 year old xD

 

[Xarwin]

Know that I will donate you soon via the bank.
Finaly a way to help u.

 

[1)ark_NiTe]

I'm willing. I can do it, Ralle. The length of time I will do this is dependent on the successfulness of my map, and for how much longer I play WC3. But as long as I play, I will come here and as long as I come here I will help pay, if it is needed.

 

[Ralle]

I will add you to the list
submit the first payment as soon as you can

 

[Ralle]

Know that I will donate you soon via the bank.
Finaly a way to help u.

you will do it every month?

 

[1)ark_NiTe]

I will add you to the list
submit the first payment as soon as you can

Is there any other way to do this aside from PayPal? I've had friends get their credit card/ debit cards hacked through PayPal. Like, could I mail you $8.20 every month?

 

[RED BARON]

Ralle, just add me to the list, but give a wink when a new month is up else I might not notice. But I think I payid for this month

How much we got so far?

 

[brad.dude03]

I cant pay anything,im just a 15 year old xD

That's ZERO excuse, buddy, i'm 15 too, and I'm donating. Age has nothing to do with your ability to donate.

Dark Nite, Paypal is quite safe, and getting your credit card info hacked is EXTREMELY unlikely, 99% of the time, people willingly give out their information because they are fooled into thinking they are at the right place. This is called phishing. Phishing accounts for almost all of the paypal nightmares you hear about, someone gets an email supposedly from paypal saying something about urgent action needed for their account, next thing they know, they're taken to a site that looks exactly like paypal, but instead of www.paypal.com, you have an ip address, because some n00b is hosting a lookalike on his server, trying to trick you into giving him/her your info, and then stealing it so that it will cost you a bunch of problems. All you have to do is be careful. It's not that hard.

 

[Xarwin]

you will do it every month?

I'm promising nothing, but I'll try to keep money away to submit it every month.

 

[brad.dude03]

Same with me, I should be able to get you the money every month, but I can't promise anything :\

 

[1)ark_NiTe]

I will be donating soon then, I just tried with my credit card but apparently my mom has already registered my number to a PayPal account (and I don't know her password), so I need to wait until I can get a hold of her.

 

[Herio-san]

90% of the people on here wont pay for the website. If they did wc3sear.ch may still be alive...
There is an alternative though, creating "mirror" sites for the hive resources at free hosting sites would allow you to make the entire site for free. Of course, it wouldnt be a website, it would be a "webworld".
Free sites:
freewebs.com
bravehost.com
invisionfree

Just use these sites to hold resources for the hive. Then you can get megabytes of space for free

Additionally, why are you renting serverspace? You would be better off just buying a server in the long-run. (that is if you're wanting to do this the "legal" way) Although most of them are around $700.

 

[Melshisedek1]

More donors the les it cost!

I will donate 8$ this month to give you guys some time to find a solution, but I do not wan't it to become a habit. Unless everyone joins in.

Too much work has been involved to see it all disappear.






Melshisedek

 

[Xlightscreen]

btw since Steelb_l_ade is complaining shoulden't of he donated by now?

and this my opinion on the matter sorry if its a bit crude or offensive

Starting a site for warcraft 3 modding= Respectable

Asking for donatons to help run the site=Respectable(just making sure people don't get the idea I'm against donations

Blaming the users for the site cost= none respectable

Obvisly I respect you Ralle but if you going to start a website you should be able to pay for it as well. Now I understand that you running into hard times espicly since I'm a collage student as well sitting there looking under my couch for a dollar to buy something to eat at collage lol. But you got to look at the statitics here more then half of this site are to young to own a credit card and anybody else that does have one like me is just to broke to use it. 3 dollars for me is a matter of if I eat the next day or not lol.

I personly would hold know grudge against you if you just shut down this site and activated it in the future when you could afford to pay for this. Sorry if this offends you like I said its just my personal opinion and what it going to help any if I just tell everybody privatly about it?

 

[Cavman]

I have problems simularto what The_wand_mirror stated, but I'll go into a little more detail...

I have no bank account, paypal, credit card, and little tono money most of the time. I also have no idea who to run these things.

BUT if I did, I would pay when ever I could. I swear it.

 

[brad.dude03]

Like I said about the_wand_mirror, don't you have parents? Unless your parents are uneducated about the facts and paranoid, they would let you donate using their credit card, so that you could pay them back with cash.... And to Xlightscreen, this wasen't originally how things were. Ralle was more then capable of paying the bills back when we had the old sitegrounds setup, but it was this damned merge that screwed us over. The quest for more bandwidth led us into renting a server, and this server is quite costly. The google ads happened to give out on us, so now we're stuck without a source of funding, and Ralle has to spend out of his own pocket to keep things going.... and he can't do that for long, and he shouldn't have to anyway.

 

[Xlightscreen]

duely noted brad.dude also acutly alot of parents just don't let there kids use there credit card otherwise we would have more WoW addicts.

But truthfuly I would go with Hero-sain decision on mirroring recources

 

[1)ark_NiTe]

I donated $8.20, Ralle. I did not make a comment, but you will be receiving it nonetheless. Hope for the PayPal member status!

 

[Samuraid]

Additionally, why are you renting serverspace? You would be better off just buying a server in the long-run. (that is if you're wanting to do this the "legal" way) Although most of them are around $700.

Ralle could purchase a server for the Hive, but that wouldn't take care of all the costs. Once you buy a server, you still have to pay a lot of money each month for the power and bandwidth (the bandwidth is especially expensive) and you also have to pay for replacement parts and labor if anything in the server breaks. It sounds odd, but it's actually less expensive to rent the server, in this case.

 

[Ralle]

Is there any other way to do this aside from PayPal? I've had friends get their credit card/ debit cards hacked through PayPal. Like, could I mail you $8.20 every month?

Thank you for your donation. I am sure your credit card won't be hacked since I am the only one knowing who donates. So if you keep hidden and not saying your paypal account etc.. nothing can harm you.

Ralle, just add me to the list, but give a wink when a new month is up else I might not notice. But I think I payid for this month
How much we got so far?

I will add you to the list. Look at the top10 of donors to see

I'm promising nothing, but I'll try to keep money away to submit it every month.

Thank you

90% of the people on here wont pay for the website. If they did wc3sear.ch may still be alive...
There is an alternative though, creating "mirror" sites for the hive resources at free hosting sites would allow you to make the entire site for free. Of course, it wouldnt be a website, it would be a "webworld".
Free sites:
freewebs.com
bravehost.com
invisionfree

Just use these sites to hold resources for the hive. Then you can get megabytes of space for free

Additionally, why are you renting serverspace? You would be better off just buying a server in the long-run. (that is if you're wanting to do this the "legal" way) Although most of them are around $700.

Samuraid is right..
Having the hive on free servers wouldn't do it.. We still need lots of CPU.

 

[Xarwin]

I will donate my money on this friday.
Because it is via the bank u will receive it in 3-5 days.

 

[Kixer]

Ok... I realy would like to contribute but i just cant... I live in South Africa, i hav no internet, credit card, paypal ect... I go on the internet on my schools pcs and right now im writing this message on my phone! If i could contribute i would! But for me its not a posibility... Sorry cant help you...

 

[UnLimiTeD]

Well, its just right, it was already the kiss of death to wc3sear.ch that nobody did donate..

I donated 5€ via Paypal before reading this Topic^^ i really don't know whats that in $$, and atleast i can't effort paying 8,20$ per month.
If there would be some more, i could, but never over 7$, and thats already really much for me, i have to get along with 20€ per month, and as I'm PC-Game addicted (well, maybe I'm just bored and depressed) i buy a new PC-Game every Month and it would be hard to get that additional money together without getting extra cash at birthday, X-Mas and so on.

But the main problem is im playing warcraft3 unregularly and im working on my map only every second month (since NOV 2004) so I really don't visit this site often. I have to say, its the first time since early Jan.

So... sorry

Edit: Well 5€ are more than 6 $, but the site only got 5$... but I lost 5€^^

 

[Ralle]

Well, its just right, it was already the kiss of death to wc3sear.ch that nobody did donate..

I donated 5€ via Paypal before reading this Topic^^ i really don't know whats that in $$, and atleast i can't effort paying 8,20$ per month.
If there would be some more, i could, but never over 7$, and thats already really much for me, i have to get along with 20€ per month, and as I'm PC-Game addicted (well, maybe I'm just bored and depressed) i buy a new PC-Game every Month and it would be hard to get that additional money together without getting extra cash at birthday, X-Mas and so on.

But the main problem is im playing warcraft3 unregularly and im working on my map only every second month (since NOV 2004) so I really don't visit this site often. I have to say, its the first time since early Jan.

So... sorry

Thank you for your donation man it is appreciated. I understand your situation

 

[Herio-san]

Well like i said. I cant donate. (no job + out of state girlfriend = $0, i seriously have a quarter, a nickle and 2 dimes and a few pennies to my name right now) But if the site ever becomes too much of a burden to upkeep. I would help you convert it through mirrors so that part of it can survive.

 

[Cavman]

brad.dude, you pretty much hit the nail on the head in describing my parents. Well, at least the one that holds the credit cards. She (my stepmother) is a crazy b*tch, and has this whole thing where she tries as hard as she can to get me off the computer. I forget to turn on my alarm clock and it's "the devil machine's" fault. I swear...

Maybe if I talk reasonably with my dad, I can get some money here.

 

[brad.dude03]

Alas, there will always be some psycho parents out there, and knowing friends that have them, I understand your situation entirely. Best of luck persuading your dad, dude.

 

[Kimbo]

When my daddy had a credit card he lost 2k from theft/thieves on the net :3

 

[FMGSSOUL]

brad.dude, you pretty much hit the nail on the head in describing my parents. Well, at least the one that holds the credit cards. She (my stepmother) is a crazy b*tch, and has this whole thing where she tries as hard as she can to get me off the computer. I forget to turn on my alarm clock and it's "the devil machine's" fault. I swear...

Maybe if I talk reasonably with my dad, I can get some money here.

Ha, dude your stepmom sounds like my father. I've been sitting on the comp everyday for the past 10 years (Yea I know I don't have a life...YET) and hes tried everything to keep me off. Disabling system files, hiding the mouse, pulling the cords out enough so theres no power input, etc Bugging your parents for money is alright, though some of them don't understanding the bond gamers share. Just keep in mind, they have bills to pay so if he turns ya down, just accept it and look for a job. Maybe some locals are hiring for someone that will throw soda cans at a hobo all day...$45 an hour? lol

 

[Jacek]

do you have local backups of the resources, just in case this site goes byebye?

 

[Xarwin]

I hate my parents... They don't want that I donate every month... bleh...
I will try do to it in the secret... Once when I'm 18 its... FREEDOM!

 

[1)ark_NiTe]

I'm 18. And it is freedom

 

[brad.dude03]

Lol, freedom for you! Sounds like we have some very sucky parents out there :\

 

[Ham Ham]

I cant donate because I am just have 16 and no job.
I receive R$10,00 per month for my mother to eat something at the schol and such. but this is just +- US$4,00. This money cant help the Hive so much, but is necessary to me.
My parents refuses to donates R$5.00 to children with cancer. Why they will help the hive or guys then I never seen before?


Ralle, why you dont deletes sucky resources and uses a more cheap server?

 

[brad.dude03]

The "more cheap" [it's really said as cheaper ] server was the one that kept giving us a 503 error, so Ralle has been scared out of using shared hosting... that's the problem. Shared hosting, sure it's cheaper, you seem to get all these tons of resources, but you're sharing that server with other people, so all of their traffic, their resources and their site, is all on the same server as yours. With what we have, a dedicated server, it is much more expensive, but we have an entire server to ourselves, for our traffic, and for our site.

 

[Xlightscreen]

lets get back on topic people. As much as you guys all hate your parents becuase they don't give you everything you wan't.... now lets see here there is about 2 ways that I can think of to reduce server cost but its up to ralle to experment and implement them this includes

1.mirror hosting(trust me its not like we have 100 people downloading the same model at the same time...)

2.Special deal (hosting compainies will listen to your suggestions and work with you unless there Assholes like the one my friend has at his site)

 

[ss6Lord_Of_Cow]

Help=Contribution

I might be able to help if I get someone helping me. Not sure if I can afford it though But if someone answers my questions, like how to make a skin or model or map, I could greatly contribute! Or I could just make a make and unprotect it so you guys can edit it, as long as all rights reserved. One problem though I don't know how to actually edit the resources I have into the map, and end up making it. ♂♂
I need a lot of help because I'm relativly new to mapmaking websites. - Thanks

 

[Kimbo]

Go to the related forum sections and don't post like a 5yr old.

 

[Earth-Fury]

If you have a dedicated server and aren't using up a significant portion of the resources, you could always consider offering a paid hosting service. bit of a pain to set up, but if you got enogh free space and unused bandwidth, could easily negate a nice chunk of hosting costs. I would suggest aim it at the WC3 audiance, but how many maps / projects will pay for a spot to esentally host a forum and the map? (may be worth checking out)

Sorry if this has been suggested before, just trying to help. (im flat broke with 0 income, you bloodsuckers! kidding, of course. I sometimes find pennys.)

Droped by wc3sear.ch, and in my absence from WC3, seems allot has happend in the maps n mods community.

 

[Ralle]

you are right.. I ZypherXII (one of my IRL friends) is paying 10$ a month for a little hosting spot

 

[brad.dude03]

Well we used to be paying 5.99 for hosting, but that sure changed didn't it? What if..... we find another website, that is actually a decent size website, not just some free crap, to mirror our resources or whatever for us? I've been looking at webspace packages for a long time, and if I get a 400 GB shared hosting plan for freaking peanuts a month, I would gladly share as much of the resources as the Hive needed, plus it'd make for good traffic to my site

 

[Xarwin]

I'm trying to save money each time I'm going out which goes to The Hive Workshop. GoGo secret payments .

 

[Jacek]

please burn all resources database on DVDs or something so we don't just lose it because of site problem...

 

[Ralle]

we will never lose anything

 

[Ham Ham]

The Hive arent going to end like wc3sear.ch, right?

 

[Ralle]

never.. I promise.. But the less money, the less quality..

 

[Ham Ham]

less money, the less quality..

lol! Instant Effect!
I was with problems to log in today, and the chat is very buggy on my pc.

 

[Samuraid]

Ralle was working on configuring the new server at that time, so a few error messages arose during the process.

Other than a few missing images, everything seems to be working now.