How Can We Help GetDPI Stay Alive

[darr]

How can we help GetDPI stay alive?

Membership subscriptions are the obvious answer, but maybe it might take a little more. I do not think it is simply paying for hosting services, software, etc. The amount of time involved to keep any website clean in today’s arena is a lot, but even more so with a public forum.

We are a creative bunch of people, so let’s share our ideas and hopefully in time we will have a solution.

I will gladly pay a membership fee and contribute extra cash immediately if needed. I would also support different levels of membership that still supports advertisers, similar to what APUG/photrio does.

How about you?

 

[bensonga]

How can we help GetDPI stay alive?

I will gladly pay a membership fee and contribute extra cash immediately if needed. I would also support different levels of membership that still supports advertisers, similar to what APUG/photrio does.

How about you?

Count me in too Darr, both for a membership fee and extra cash now.

Gary

 

[anyone]

I will copy the post from the Fun with MF images thread:

I am aware of the cost structure for hosting a website (with a database connected), which is generally very reasonable. So if it's just about covering that, it won't be a very big issue I assume. If it's expected that the page contributes to something else (salaries, profit, ...), that's a different story. Since the content comes from all community members, I wouldn't be too much into contributing to the latter.

To sum up: I wouldn't be up for paying a regular membership fee (only if there is transparency why it's needed), but if there is something like a one-time donation for bridging this special situation, I might be up for that.

 

[glenerrolrd]

I would contribute as well .

Maybe a partnership with another forum ?

Jack and Bob have carried us for a long time ..my guess is we need someone that has the time and energy to keep it going .

 

[JoelM]

Count me in as this is the most helpful and civil photo site in existence.

Joel

 

[D&A]

Count me in too! I'm open to a myriad of suggestions and solutions in order to facilitate the possibility of keeping this site going. As Joel and others have expressed, Getdpi is and has been the most helpful and civil photo site.

Dave (D&A)

 

[jotloob]

GETDPI must stay alive . So please count me in as well .

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

How about using Patreon as a mode of subscriber support? At least as a bridge.

 

[glenerrolrd]

Running GetDpi is a thankless job ...lots of work for little payback . Those that could be successful ...would see it as a bottomless pit .

The difficult part is getting someone to replace Jack and Bobs role ..then convincing Jack and Bob to help with a transition .

You could start a GoFundIt account and get enough to offset the lost revenue until 2021 ..but that is not the problem that needs to be solved .

 

[bensonga]

I just sent a PM to Jack offering an immediate cash contribution to demonstrate my support for GetDPI. I think it would be good if others did the same. A groundswell of signifcant and tangible financial support now could give us time for a longer term solution, including finding people to provide the important load of personal support that Jack and Bob now carry, if they want to pass on that responsibility.

Gary

 

[MGrayson]

Does anyone have an idea of how much cash needs to be raised per month? I would love to help!

Matt

 

[darr]

Does anyone have an idea of how much cash needs to be raised per month? I would love to help!

Matt

Good question Matt.

I am hoping after most members voice their support, Jack and Bob can provide us an answer to your question and/or what they feel will be a solution.

 

[iiiNelson]

I wouldn’t mind contributing or having a membership tiered system provided it’s a “reasonable” cost. I do generally enjoy this forum and it’s been the one I’ve most consistently been apart of across the last 10+ years. I’d assume that PHP hosting can be done for a reasonable cost when you consider how many of the regulars would likely contribute but I also feel like putting content behind a required or restrictive “pay wall” might also kill the site due to there being other “free” community options.

In any case I hope the site does not shut down but if it does then I hope to see members in other communities as well.

 

[pegelli]

I very much would like the site to stay. I think going a "donation" route is more practical than a "payed membership" route. I will gladly donate a reasonable sum to keep the site going and collectively fill the gap that's left by the sponsors who had to pull out. So we need an idea how much in total we're talking about and if it's reasonable to expect to cover this amount by voluntary donations.

Question is do "we" only keep the forum or also the photo hosting utility. I think the latter generates some income but also uses a much larger chunk of server space and bandwidth (and therefore running cost) and there are other hosting sites available (payed and free) that users here can link their photo's from.

But maybe the first question to ask is if Jack and Bob (and Guy) are willing to stay on if the financial gap can be closed or if this crisis is just a trigger to execute a thought that existed in their minds for a longer time.

 

[Bob]

I think that Jack and I would be willing to hang on as moderators and occasional contributors.
Jack has his business to run. I am retired and now the president of a trap and skeet club, so we both have things to do.
First off it is NOT all about the money. What would please us greatly is if we found a few folks who could take over the technical portions of maintaining the site and administering it.

What does that mean?
Someone who has a reasonable working knowledge of PHP and SQL, a bit of html, and even more importantly vBulletin.
We host the site on a shared server and use cloudflare as a caching front-end and occasional filter for those times when we are the recipient of a denial of service attack which usually comes from china, although once has come from Ukraine.

We all have useful lives, and at one point I was pretty darn useful, but those days are running out bit by bit.

So if a few of you would like to band together and take it over, let's talk.
thanks
-bob

 

[bensonga]

As a soon to be retired volume accountant (not a REAL accountant, as my wife often says) for BP, I will have lots of free time, but I certainly don't have the knowledge or skills you mentioned Bob. So the best I can do is offer my whole hearted financial support.
I hope there are others here with the knowledge and time to take on these important technical support roles.

Gary

 

[alatreille]

I would be happy to help in any way possible here.

Whether it be monetary or in tasks i am skilled to help with.

This community is...well it's a community and we all give and take from it and would benefit from it staying in our lives.

 

[Shashin]

I would be happy to help. Like Gary, I don't have the technical skills, but I am willing to learn. I mean, how hard can it be...(famous last words?) Certainly, I think it is worth a conversation with Jack and Bob and others that are interested in keeping GetDPI going.

I do want to say, it has been a pleasure being here. Whatever the outcome, I am very grateful for what Jack, Bob, and Guy built and the community that formed around this site.

 

[darr]

I have experience with php, html, designing, building and maintaining Wordpress sites for over a decade. I was familiar with vBulletin’s backend many years ago so I know enough about it to say I do not know enough anymore. If the Front Page of this site was built on Wordpress, I can get it running and maintained which I believe has been down for sometime. I can be part of a team that works the backend.

 

[B L]

Uncle Bob and Uncle Jack,
Anyway to shoot email message to all registered members for atleast onetime contribution?
And we will make future plans then on.
Best wishes. Bashir