Mark,
To open, I appreciate the list(s), and I understand the efforts required of
a list administrator. On the side, I manage about 2500 list members on a
list my company runs for free, and we deal with bounced and undeliverable
messages all the time. You get a little more than 5 times the traffic, so
one assumes it's likewise 5 times as much work.
That said, I'm not sure what you've identified is your only option. I
would suggest considering:
1) To retain full control, consider doing an agreement with a local ISP.
They can host your server in a room next to a T1 drop, and you can run all
the listservs you want (since it's your server) and just pay a rental fee
for the space and connection. It may be a few thousand a year, but it
won't require over a hundred thousand (most of which I presume is for you
and your time dealing with undeliverables).
2) Bag the server altogether, or just do a ftp if that's all you need
(which is cheap through an ISP, or I can donate the FTP depending on how
much you're using). For the lists, migrate them to lists.best.com, which
lets you create listservs FOR FREE, and presumably their servers deal with
the bounced messages as well, meaning no time commitment at all on your
part. This would basically be a cost-free solution.
The latter would be a cheap and easy solution. Email me and let me know
what you use with FTP and I'll see if we can donate that portion.
Unfortunately because of how our server is structured I can't make the same
offer for the lists, but since you can run lists for free through best.com
without the administrative overhead, I think that may be the best solution
to the problem, short of running telethons.
- Tab
At 08:47 PM 10/17/99 -0600, Mark J Bradakis wrote:
>
>Last week, many of the folks here in the U.S. of A observed what we call
>Columbus Day. It comemmerates the voyage of Christopher Columbus and his
>"discovery" of the New World. Columbus took off for unknown territory in
>search of new trade routes, thinking he'd find one thing, and found another.
>And it is getting to the point where I may do a similar thing with Team.Net,
>taking off in an unknown direction, without knowing how it will turn out.
>
>The current situation is that the 80 or so Team.Net lists [1], their roughly
>14,000 subscribers, the www.team.net web pages, the ftp.team.net FTP archives
>are all handled by an old computer tucked off in the corner of the machine
room
>here in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Utah. And
doing
>the care and feeding of that server is me, just one person.
>
>*** What I would like to do:
>
> - Replace the server with at least one new box. Perhaps split off the web
> and ftp from the mailer machine, so having one service blow up the server
> doesn't topple the others.
>
> Why? The current hardware is sort of still working. You got this
message,
> didn't you? One of the disks that was donated during my last plea is
making
> WAY too much noise, and will likely kiss the turf in the very near future.
> This stuff doesn't last forever. I've actually shuffled stuff around,
if the
> disk does fail soon, there should be minimal loss of service.
>
>
> - Divorce the Team.Net box from the University. Rather than keeping it
> hanging off some U of U wire, get sufficient bandwidth at home or the shop
> or somewhere to support the traffic loads for the foreseeable future.
>
> Why? Basically, to keep some sort of equipment replacement fund on hand,
> I'd like to find some way of generating a modest bit of income from all
this
> work. And while it would be nice if all of the 14,000 subscribers
mentioned
> above would send me, say, 7.95 every year to cover each of their list
> subscriptions, that is unlikely to happen. So I'm thinking of commercial
> sponsorships, perhaps some advertising, maybe a classified cars and parts
> service for a modest fee, whatever. But doing anything like that using
> University resources is not the way to go.
>
>*** What it will take:
>
> - Money. Basically enough funding to purchase the required hardware, to
cover
> the installation fees of a network line of some sort set up somewhere, and
> enough to cover several months of the ongoing line charges and such, while
> I ponder various income schemes. Looking for those new trade routes,
so to
> speak.
>
> - Time. I'll provide this.
>
>
>*** What I request of you:
>
> - Contribute money. You *knew* this was coming, didn't you? Send a check,
> made payable to Fat Chance Garage, to this address:
>
> Fat Chance Garage
> PO Box 58333
> Salt Lake City, Utah 84158
>
>Simple, eh? Now, the few times over the last decade or so I've done this,
>I've gotten many offers from folks willing to throw in some unused, surplus
>hardware of various types. For example, the failing disk I mention above.
>In truth, I'd rather go out and purchase new stuff, which comes with a
warranty
>and someone I can pepper with complaints if need be. I think that is the
best
>route in the long run.
>
>Also, for those many list folks who are not in the US of A, don't worry about
>it. Usually, a check from out of the country costs me more in service
charges,
>currency conversion and hassle than it is worth. If a batch of folks
based in,
>say, England or Australia or Canada or Germany or wherever got together
and sent
>in one large bank check payable in US Dollars, that would be different!
>
>If you've recently contributed, or don't feel like you are getting anything
>out of these lists[2], or are just plain old broke, don't worry about it.
I'll
>continue to provide what I can; payment for services rendered is on a
strictly
>voluntary basis. Which in some cases is likely a shame, as I bet there are
>many on these lists who make use of them for personal financial gain in one
>form or another, and are quite willing to continue doing so with no regard
for
>the efforts I provide enabling them to do so. The flip side of that, though,
>is that there are folks with commercial interests directly related to the
>areas of list interests who always come through with contributions when I
ask.
>Cool.
>
>So, let's see what we can do to improve the services I provide. If I gather
>in a few hundred dollars, you probably won't notice anything different. A
few
>thousand, and there could be some screamin' new hardware behind it all. And
>if a hundred thousand or so (Less than $8 per subscription!) I'd quit my day
>job and actually be able to work full time as the Team.Net guy, and you might
>get a decent level of customer service out of me, instead of the current
>situation of more than likely no reply at all. Hmmm, would that be my dream,
>or a nightmare?
>
>
>So, if you can assist, great, there's a few thousand others around the world
>besides me who would appreciate it. If not, I hope that I can still provide
>you with something useful in your life through the Team.Net services.
>
>Thanks,
>mjb.
>
>
>1: To see what the lists are, send a plain text message to:
>
> majordomo@autox.team.net
>
> Put nothing in the body of the message but the command
>
> lists
>
>
>
>2: To unsubscribe from a list, first make sure you know the name of the
list.
> See 1 above. Then, send a plain text email to
>
> majordomo@autox.team.net
>
> Put nothing in the body of the message but the command
>
> unsubscribe <name_of_the_list_as_majordomo_knows_it>
>
>
> If the program can figure out who you are, you will be unsubscribed. IF
> not, the request will be forwarded to me, so that I can handle it,
hopefully
> in a less than infinite amount of time.
>
>
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