Charitable status

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Just about anyone CAN afford a tiny amount.
But yeah, it ain't going to happen, in a lot of
cases. I've been meaning to donate to one of
my alma maters, but am pretty certain I'll never
get around to it. Likewise, even if some openness
in bookeeping were revealed here, I'm not sure
how many would really respond.

But, I know damned well that there's no way that
I would, without.

Is this still the current server?
http://www.wrongplanet.net/article347.html

The thread link I provided showed a number of aspies had little faith in organised charities. Its the reason why Alex will have to
run WP as a business because aspies understand the concept of business not charity. Waitress are paid a sub minium wage in
alot of the US and the 15% tip your expected to pay makes up
the difference. Thats how I view Alex donation request. I doubt
the money he makes pays for his stress related health problems from running this site. Though alot of aspies might be sorry
tippers to.



I think the current server is a dual-core processor.

Did you really need to use the word charities? I know it's a cultural thing, it isn't viewed the same every where. But damn, I've seen enough small flame wars start over that word. It's like an automatic link to other things, which may or may not be valid in what you're attempting to get a feel for. Perhaps a poll in a more populated part of the site? Then of course a poll of sorts is already happening. The link is up to donate already.

That is semantics you could call it a not-for profit business. There is no need for Mccarthian paranoia it has little to do with anything. You can make choices in terms of how to run a site like this. I have no problems with it turning over some profit that just provides a little more liquidity and flexibility. What I wouldn't want to support is the death of the community.

It is semantics. The words donation and support are being used now. Sometimes semantics are important. I have seen the word charity result in long heated threads here. Charity is not in the above link covering hosting costs. Concern, not paranoia, for I too don't want to see the death of the community. WP is a service, nothing more, nothing less. It's the people that make it the community. I think all the commenter's and intentions in this thread have been very honorable and some good thoughts put out.

I digress and I will keep my mouth shut. I've covered my thoughts on it. My apologies.

that's an older server. we now have a faster intel dual core.

I have not been here for long, I recently remember the third birthday, and reaching 10,000 members.

Since then membership is up 32%. Members are out nmbered by visitors by three to one. That all takes bandwidth.

What was a great idea now needs some body. A server upgrade did help, but two would carry the load, maybe to 20,000, which might be the first of the year.

Anything that big should be mirrored, so three more servers. Bandwidth is bought as the most you will use, peak load.

It can all be farmed out, their server, bandwidth, and it costs. Besides, they do not let outsiders play on the inside, so you pay again.

$280 a month is a fraction of a T-!, which runs about $2000 a month, and if I was breaking it up, I would have to charge $4000. So the next price break up is a T-1.

Ads are measured two ways, the number of people online at any time, here about 500, and the number of clicks, pay per click. Do not get any ideas, there is a computer watching, and clicks that do not turn into sales leads are soon spotted, and the ads leave.

A doubling in the next year seems likely. 25,000 members, 1000 on line, which is still a small group. Hosting costs will double, demand on the servers will double, but the ad income will still be small.

It will be a tough year and a half to 50,000, another server upgrade, those things get old fast, and a T-1.
Hardware investment will be $10,000, monthly $2500, and that does not include a place to put it, and people.

Ads might improve with more people online. The naked girl in the park with a blanket could not score a date around here. Even the Zwinkies are keeping their clothes on. We might need tax help, Centrum is on the mark for the diets I have heard around here. We are not a great demographic, not even for soap, toothpaste, and sports.

Just to keep up with the curve, $20,000 in hardware over the next few years, and a monthly cost of $5000.
Bringing in $1 per head on 50,000 members per year gets close to making the nut.

As a business consultant I have to say, this is not a business, it is a hobby that got out of hand.

All I have heard about the ads were complaints. How to block them, the flashing ones were the worst, and it costs to not have ads.

It is not charity to support the group you are a member of, it is not a non-profit by intent, but $280 a month and a new dual core server comes from somewhere, and that is $12.50 a day coming from somewhere.

It is not a lot of overhead for a private club of 13266. It is a lot to put on Alex alone. Numbers lie, and mostly there are 125 hardcore WPers on line.

I never joined anything, in less than a day I joined WP. It holds great value for me, I used to be the strangest person I knew. I see the ideal life as a fair and equal exchange intered into freely by both parties. I got value here, I am willing to return it. We all pay in life, and cash is so clean.

The value centers here are great, rare, and hard to market. Many have said, I have been to many sites on the web, I never got such a welcome. I have watched parents become liberated from their nightmares, and gain joy. I was alone, a stranger in a strange land, till I found WP, and quickly became an ordinary aspie.

If just the hardcore, and you know who you are, those who find more here than anywhere else, who have found a home and community, a first for me in sixty years, if you would come up with the grand sum of $0.10 a day, $3 a month, we can give Alex the freedom he gave us.

This place will double, because it works. Only Alex can plan for that growth.

A complaint, some jojo is posting claiming to be a big time doctor, wants everyone to tell all, like email, real name, social security, mother,s maiden name, and a check gets bank account number, medical records, and is offering $20 for being part of a study. Claims to be hooked up with Attwood, the Mayo Clinic and God. So Tony tell me nothing about this, I see a jojo trespassing on Don Alex's turf. This jojo shows no respect. Maybe he is a doctor, he is rude, treats people like scum, and he is putting the con on them. Such a worldwide study would be funded $50,000,000, and he does not even offer to wet the Don's beak.

I would gladly show him that a lack of respect spreads. If it would please the Don. Just a little gift, a few servers, some token support, such a study would run for years, and this jojo has no friends.

With the number of online users I've seen (500-1000), you won't need four servers. 2, at most 3, should be plenty.


If it's at a professional hosting company, you usually pay by the GB. $300/mo can get ~1TB/mo quota, on a 100Mbit connection.


Again, using a paid hosting service, that's not how it works. You rent out a machine, it comes with electricity & a bandwidth quota. You pay for bandwidth overages by the MB/GB.



That really depends on the ads. Google ads are CPC, but the advertisers don't choose what goes where (Google does, automatically). IIRC, the amount you're paid varies depending on the ad, too. Direct advertising (ie. by contract between WP and an advertiser) can be on pretty much any terms, and payment per impression isn't uncommon.

I was thinking the slow interpreted PHP language being a cpu hog is the bottleneck not bandwidth.

It depends on the version and whether there's an opcode cache in place. PHP's pretty quick on the whole. Normally, I've found DB usage is more of an issue than PHP.

As I stated before, I think it would be just as worthwhile donating time helping Alex optimise the site (and delay or avoid server costs), assuming he's willing. Alex?

TheMachine1, I think it is very sad that waitresses and other service people are so lowly paid in the US. It is ridiculous as that kind of job is one of the hardest and most demanding ones around.

But many visitors from other places do not realise they are paid so badly and that the tips are meant to make their pay up to something reasonable. I would not like to tip for rude service because I would think it wasn't worth it but I would be all for the staff being properly paid instead of being on starvation wages.

That's why I dislike the idea that our Industrial Relations so called reforms are likely to lead to the same thing here. Our working conditions that the unions fought for for over 100 years are already going down the plug hole.

Anyway, back to the topic, I do have empathy and if Alex would like me to make a donation directly to him to help this site run, I would be happy to do it. But I've just about been cured of sending donations to charities because then they keep on ringing and wanting more donations, suggesting to me that much of the money is going on admin rather than to the people who really need it.

So now, I donate more to doorknocking collectors and avoid sending away donations because they seem to sell our names to other people and then we get annoyed by other phone callers wanting donations and for me to buy lottery tickets.

I don't know how much it would help to weed out posts that are now outdated and irrelevant but if it is bandwidth, that is another matter altogether. The emergence of other sites such as Asperger's online, Zomg, and so on might ease the burden a bit but then a fair few people are members of several forums. Aspies for Freedom is also growing quite big now.