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Old 31-07-11, 02:16
Hanno Spoelstra's Avatar
Hanno Spoelstra Hanno Spoelstra is offline
MLU Administrator
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 14,400
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Carriere View Post
.... we need money to run the site but no one will inform the membership of the true cost of running MLU.
Bob et al,

There is nothing secret about it, but the fact is that the true cost of running MLU is not known - yet. Up to now we have been depending on free help from a lot of people, some not even MLU members. Plus we have not factored in all the cost to be able to calculate the true cost of running MLU.

When Geoff passed away, Brian Gough and I secured a couple of mapleleafup.xyz domain names to make sure we had a URL to move to. Cost? I could look it up for you, but it is small change to me.

Later I worked with Shawn to move the MLU database and forum software to a virtual private server. Shawn has the experience and talents to carry out this work, and this being his Dad's legacy he set up a server for which he only charges MLU $30 a month. He is one of our volunteers as he did not charge for his time spent on migrating MLU from .org to .net. Plus he continues spending time every now and then on backups and maintenance.

I am not sure if this cost will increase because we use more server space or bandwidth in the (near) future or if we need to hire specialists to solve problems Shawn might not be able to solve. Indeed the forum runs trouble free and stable right now, but who knows what the future might bring. Remember one of those hack attacks we had in the past?

We will have to add to this any costs we will have to make for new vBulletin software licences (we are still using Geoff's licence) and software upgrades.

Also, I would like to establish an association as Geoff and I had discussed many times. This will enable us to put the MLU assets into the association's name. If we do this we will not lose a URL or other assets currently in someone's personal name after he decides to quit or passes away.

And there will be other cost drivers I have not thought of right now. But currently I spend most of the time I have available for MLU on vetting the new members. I wish I could make more time to indulge in the discussions on this forum like a used to do. Plus figure out and set in motion the things mentioned above.

After only five months of operating mapleleafup.net I can conclude it is currently run using a minimal cash flow - no-one runs a cheaper forum right now. Based on this current cash flow, I can assure you MLU is funded until at least the end of this year thanks to the generous donations of quite a few members. I will do everything that is needed to secure the future of MLU in the long run, but count on it to cost us more, both in time and money.

Hope this helps to answer some of your questions - I’m off to bed now if you don’t mind

Best regards,
Hanno
MLU Administrator
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