On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 12:51:39 -0500, Adam Chlipala <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Now, a few months into that, we have about $4000 worth of those > charges. I sent a request to hcoop-announce recently asking for people > to throw in more money to help cover these costs in the mean time. With > the volume of people who seemed to respond to that, it's clear that only > payments of several hundred dollars per person could make a difference, > and that didn't happen. I've ended up essentially paying all Peer 1 > costs from my personal funds each month. > > So, what should we do? I don't have any idea how soon we'll be ready to > switch to the new servers. Essentially no one responded to my call to > "lend" HCoop money in the interim. > > Should we call this the point where we bundle the charges so far into > one sum that we split among willing members ASAP, and from here on bill > monthly charges to everyone as they arrive? > > Or, can more of you add several hundred dollars each to your HCoop > balances? Unfortunately, I do not have the resources available to throw that much more into my account, but I have taken a moment to put more money as I am able into my account. One thing that I find problematic is just how long it is taking to make all the changes. Of course, I don't understand all of what is involved, and I would offer to help if there was anything I could do. I personally would not mind having some money taken out of my account to help pay for some of the costs, but I think that these servers really need to get up and useable (I know, that's nothing you all do not already agree with). Would it perhaps make sense to charge people as soon as they have been migrated over? To me the most appropriate thing is to have the people only pay if they have been migrated, but as you say, you've been putting a lot of money in to make these servers remain available. I am offering to help as I am able, and I think others should do so as well. At the same time, I think this is a good time to implement an expansion part of the costs here. I believe it would be a good idea to be constantly expanding or preparing to expand, but to only do so when sufficient funds have been acrued. To this end, if we began, immediately, to take the current hosting costs, plus 10% and charge members for that, this would not all be harmful to the members, and when this is combined with the assistance of other people, such as myself or the multiple hundred dollar accounts that are paying more, the costs could be offset some while we are still migrating over all users. Then, leave the 10% Expansion Fee in place after we have migrated. This money can then be stored up and used for expanding services when the time comes around. This way, HCoop Members are not just paying for the costs of the group, but they are also paying to ensure that the service continues to be around. 10% is NOT a big increase per member in costs, but it is enough that it could help to provide for expansion costs in the future. So, in effect, I am saying that now is the time to start charging members for expanding, and using the expansion money obtained to pay the owed money if you will, for this latest expansion. Of course, this probably won't solve the entire balance of the hosting costs, but it may help, and if migration is completed sooner than later, it might be enough? -- Aaron Hsu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.aaronhsu.com | XMPP/Gtalk: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (703) 597-7656 | "No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." - Edmund Burke _______________________________________________ HCoop-Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://hcoop.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hcoop-discuss
