In Reply to: Response to Commentary on Friends of George program (long) posted by Hank on November 30, 2001 at 5:58 PM:
I can't add anything to what Hank says - he's said it all pretty well, I think - but I'd like to comment on, and perhaps reinforce, some of his points.
: 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.
Yes, I'm only too well aware of that, and also of the fact that if we ever do reach a point where it might be difficult to keep WG going, there will be nothing that I, individually, can do about it. That's why I plan to be careful about keeping my Friends subscription up-to-date, and why I patronize the George Store as much as I can.
It's also why I *really* appreciate people like Gene from Poughkeepsie and Spoodie N., who are willing to volunteer to make concrete and practical contributions.
: 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.
And "whatever he can" amounts to quite a lot, wouldn't you say? This *is* a clean and enjoyable place to be (would we be here otherwise?), and keeping it so is a massive job.
As the mathematicians tend to say, it's a highly nontrivial undertaking.
: 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.
Yes, these are the things we can see. But I sometimes wonder if we pay as much attention to them as we should. Can you imagine what a terrible mess the database would become if Hank did *not* do these things? Shudder! It almost doesn't bear thinking about. Many thanks, Hank!
: And when I get a chance, I add new features or improve existing ones.
Right! And these new features, and improvements to existing features, have done wonders for this site. They have taken what was already a great website and turned it into... Well, I'm beginning to run out of superlatives. Many thanks, once again!
: The *only thing* I ask for in return is for the more dedicated users to help support the site.
I know that $6 per month is more money to some people than to others, and (as Shiva says) no one wants to break anyone's budget. But if you can even remotely afford it, please do consider becoming a Friend of George.
CM