I think of my "Friends" support in the same fashion I think of the money I give to my local public radio station. /nt

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Subject: I think of my "Friends" support in the same fashion I think of the money I give to my local public radio station. /nt
Posted by Anna on November 30, 2001 at 10:59 PM:

In Reply to: Response to Commentary on Friends of George program (long) posted by Hank on November 30, 2001 at 5:58 PM:

:
: Shiva is correct.. It does cost several hundreds of dollars (close to $1K) every month to keep the sites running (WG and WW). That does not include the up-front investment in hardware and software (thousands), nor my time and effort required every day to keep it running with very, very, little down time. As a matter of fact, I'll be upgrading the hardware next week with two larger hard drives which will require the first real down-time in almost a year. These items all cost real money, and without the "Friends" program, the site would not be able to exist.

: There are lots of other costs as well - the "George store" shopping cart software is not free. The spell-checker on the forums is free, but takes time to keep up with software updates, configuration, etc. I've also paid for support for the database program that runs WG/WW. Also, keep in mind that "Friends" do not see any banner ads, and I lose that ad income from the heaviest users of the site - which is NOT an insignificant amount. For the merchandise, I have to pay alot of money upfront for inventory that mostly sits on the shelf until someone buys it. And when I send orders out that weigh more than 1 pound, I have to wait in line at the post office to send it, due to tighter security policies. This week I spent almost an hour in line to send two packages. While I can't put a dollar price on my time waiting in line, I do not charge people for it, either. But time I spend on Where's George? is time I don't spend on other projects that do pay.

: So, the bottom line is, please don't assume that Where's George? is here to stay - please don't take for granted what I do to keep the site up and running - it is real work, everyday. Since I am the only one here, I am "on call" 24/7 to handle any problems that may arise, just to keep the site up as much as possible. You would not believe the hate mail I receive when the site is down for more than 5 minutes, or the nightly processing takes a little longer and runs past 5AM. How many of you would interrupt a dinner out, or a movie, to run home to fix some unexpected problem? Or how about when some loser makes a bunch of in-appropriate posts on the forums? Are they up for long? No. I do whatever I can to keep the site a fun, clean, and enjoyable place to be. If I didn't do all this, the site would deteriorate, and all long-time, dedicated users would leave, and I/we would have nothing left. Did you know that sometimes it takes hours to track down and delete fake hits on accounts that people create? Some people have built networks of 10 or more people and have hits flowing between them. I have to first detect all the parts of the network, delete all the hits, disable their accounts, etc. All this happens in the background, every day. Not to mention, deleting bad forum posts, offensive user notes, and other fake hits. And that's just on the parts of the site you can see. There is an entire administrative side (back end) that nobody can see, and which takes time to keep optimized and running smoothly, so larger problems are avoided before the fact. There's analyzing the web logs, to make sure that there are no rouge computers or users attempting to hack into the system. I also have to make sure that the entire site is usable across dozens of different browsers and operating systems. And when I get a chance, I add new features or improve existing ones. The list goes on and on.

: The *only thing* I ask for in return is for the more dedicated users to help support the site. Yes, $72 per year my sound like a lot at first, but it's only 20 cents A DAY! Ask yourself "How much time do I spend on the site each day?". If your answer is only 15 minutes, at that rate, it's less than 80 cents per hour! Pretty cheap entertainment, if you ask me. Your average movie costs you $6 per hour. All I'm asking for is $6 per month. Regardless of what extra features the Friends program provides, just think about it as "how much enjoyment do I derive from the site", and is it worth 20 cents a day?

: Many, many, many thanks to those who have contributed to date. Without your help, WG may not have survived this long.

: -Hank

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: : : : Shiva is correct.. It does cost several hundreds of dollars (close to $1K) every month to keep the sites running (WG and WW). That does not include the up-front investment in hardware and software (thousands), nor my time and effort required every day to keep it running with very, very, little down time. As a matter of fact, I'll be upgrading the hardware next week with two larger hard drives which will require the first real down-time in almost a year. These items all cost real money, and without the "Friends" program, the site would not be able to exist. : : There are lots of other costs as well - the "George store" shopping cart software is not free. The spell-checker on the forums is free, but takes time to keep up with software updates, configuration, etc. I've also paid for support for the database program that runs WG/WW. Also, keep in mind that "Friends" do not see any banner ads, and I lose that ad income from the heaviest users of the site - which is NOT an insignificant amount. For the merchandise, I have to pay alot of money upfront for inventory that mostly sits on the shelf until someone buys it. And when I send orders out that weigh more than 1 pound, I have to wait in line at the post office to send it, due to tighter security policies. This week I spent almost an hour in line to send two packages. While I can't put a dollar price on my time waiting in line, I do not charge people for it, either. But time I spend on Where's George? is time I don't spend on other projects that do pay. : : So, the bottom line is, please don't assume that Where's George? is here to stay - please don't take for granted what I do to keep the site up and running - it is real work, everyday. Since I am the only one here, I am "on call" 24/7 to handle any problems that may arise, just to keep the site up as much as possible. You would not believe the hate mail I receive when the site is down for more than 5 minutes, or the nightly processing takes a little longer and runs past 5AM. How many of you would interrupt a dinner out, or a movie, to run home to fix some unexpected problem? Or how about when some loser makes a bunch of in-appropriate posts on the forums? Are they up for long? No. I do whatever I can to keep the site a fun, clean, and enjoyable place to be. If I didn't do all this, the site would deteriorate, and all long-time, dedicated users would leave, and I/we would have nothing left. Did you know that sometimes it takes hours to track down and delete fake hits on accounts that people create? Some people have built networks of 10 or more people and have hits flowing between them. I have to first detect all the parts of the network, delete all the hits, disable their accounts, etc. All this happens in the background, every day. Not to mention, deleting bad forum posts, offensive user notes, and other fake hits. And that's just on the parts of the site you can see. There is an entire administrative side (back end) that nobody can see, and which takes time to keep optimized and running smoothly, so larger problems are avoided before the fact. There's analyzing the web logs, to make sure that there are no rouge computers or users attempting to hack into the system. I also have to make sure that the entire site is usable across dozens of different browsers and operating systems. And when I get a chance, I add new features or improve existing ones. The list goes on and on. : : The *only thing* I ask for in return is for the more dedicated users to help support the site. Yes, $72 per year my sound like a lot at first, but it's only 20 cents A DAY! Ask yourself "How much time do I spend on the site each day?". If your answer is only 15 minutes, at that rate, it's less than 80 cents per hour! Pretty cheap entertainment, if you ask me. Your average movie costs you $6 per hour. All I'm asking for is $6 per month. Regardless of what extra features the Friends program provides, just think about it as "how much enjoyment do I derive from the site", and is it worth 20 cents a day? : : Many, many, many thanks to those who have contributed to date. Without your help, WG may not have survived this long. : : -Hank

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