[deadwolfbones]

Thread reminded me to donate. Thanks, blende8.

[monochrome]

Excuse me?
"piss the owner off and screw it for the rest of us"?

I am shocked about the responses I get.
This is really strange.

Perhaps I should have asked the question per private mail.
But I thought more people are interested in it.

This is not the friendly Pentax community I always thought it is.
I have no "agenda".
I am just wondering.
I have never heard about a forum that costs $850 per month.
Perhaps there is a reason for it.
Recently a forum collected money for a lawsuit.
It worked. Great thing.

Ok, I leave it at that.
Probably I have touched a sore spot.
Nevertheless, not nice.

Having read Adam's response (above this) and agreeing that I'm not sure I understand what you DON't understand about what this Forum costs, perhaps this will give youo some persoective, taken from the bottom of Forums page:

"Our forum has 827,287 posts in 78,179 threads by 18,753 members. Our 57 Social Groups have 1,586 messages in 188 discussions."

Now I think of this as a community, not something I pay for and consume. But let's be real - $850 per month is $0.045 per month per member - that's four and one half pennies, per month, per member.

I don't care what Adam does with my money. I have nothing against asking what the money is for - although it seems fairly obvious to me that the sheer scale of PentaxForums.com costs more the E45 a year.

What I do I care about is those who use this website for free when $1 a year each would cover the entire cost and then some.

[figmental1978]

Chill out everyone, he has a right to know where his money is going if he chooses to donate. Yes Adam does an amazing job here and everyone appreciates it because it is the best pentax related forum on the web. But if someone asked me for a specific amount of money, I'd like to know exactly what for too. And to the people getting aggressive at this guy for asking a question, I doubt Adam will make you a site supporter for being loyal...unless you already are

[JohnBee]

Chill out everyone, he has a right to know where his money is going if he chooses to donate. Yes Adam does an amazing job here and everyone appreciates it because it is the best pentax related forum on the web. But if someone asked me for a specific amount of money, I'd like to know exactly what for too. And to the people getting aggressive at this guy for asking a question, I doubt Adam will make you a site supporter for being loyal...unless you already are

This is a touchy subject and I really don't want to get involved, however, I have to side with the original poster on a few key points here.

1. if the site is financed and run by members, then it's reasonable for said members to know where the money is going(that's okay)

2. there is nothing wrong with asking such things and people shouldn't be attacked or insulted for doing so, especially if they are doing so in a respectful way(come on people ).

3. there's nothing wrong with someone(site administrator/owner) asking or receiving proceeds in doing so.

I for one believe the system works!
The trick here(I believe) is in being upfront about it so that everyone understands.

[Adam]

This is a touchy subject and I really don't want to get involved, however, I have to side with the original poster on a few key points here.

1. if the site is financed and run by members, then it's reasonable for said members to know where the money is going(that's okay)

2. there is nothing wrong with asking such things and people shouldn't be attacked or insulted for doing so, especially if they are doing so in a respectful way(come on people ).

3. there's nothing wrong with someone(site administrator/owner) asking or receiving proceeds in doing so.

I for one believe the system works!
The trick here(I believe) is in being upfront about it so that everyone understands.

See post #15.

[JohnBee]

See post #15.

Well you see, that would be getting into the part I'd rather not get involved in
I didn't doubt you would address the questions, however, my post was aimed at the personal attacks that follow the inquiry.

[keyser]

This is a tricky one, I've been on both sides of this, both as a user and as an administrator. I can tell you that $600 is about right for a powerful dedicated server with excessive bandwidth use.

The forums that I administered can't be named here but we have around 30000 users and are therefore very large.

A forum like this does not use very much processing power, which is what kills my site. This forum does have a massive amount more bandwidth and storage usage though, and that can get pricy. Factor in off-site storage for backups and you're probably closer to seeing why the server costs $600 pcm.

I speak from experience when I say that Adam probably had to pay for the site out of his own pocket for quite a while. People just don't donate to young sites, the first few months on a forum, when you're pretty much the only person there is a killer!

So, I can happily side with Adam here.

What I don't understand is why you pillory a person asking to know where his money is going? Would you donate to charity without finding out how much actually gets through the beaurocrasy to help the cause?

[SteveM]

Well you see, that would be getting into the part I'd rather not get involved in
I didn't doubt you would address the questions, however, my post was aimed at the personal attacks that follow the inquiry.

There was nothing wrong with the initial question. A number of members tried to answer his question but he ignored their comments and points. He kept implying something was wrong and stated he was annoyed that it was $850. It would have been helpful for him to acknowledge the comments from the members (that sound like they all work in IT). It is fine to ask but it was he was implying that elicited a response.

[jpzk]

Running such a large website/forum takes a lot of human and monetary resources, period!
Often, as it may be the case here, one or a few person(s) in particular has(have) nearly all of the responsibilities to make sure it runs efficiently.
Kudos to those involved! They deserve fair treatment, call it whatever you want.
Maybe those who are complaining about costs (donations) should visit some other sites which are full of bugs, often times being just plain annoyingly a pain to use.
And, on top of that, this is a wonderful website for Pentaxians and we should all appreciate it and help to keep it that way.

Cheers to all.

JP

Chill out everyone, he has a right to know where his money is going if he chooses to donate.

Actually, as this is a private forum he has no right whatsoever to know where his money is going. He has a right to ask the question of course, and he has had answers. It's up to him whether the answers and what he gets out of the forum are worth a donation. Adam has only ever requested donations, not demanded them.

From my own standpoint, I am happy to donate to what I consider a valuable resource and I am also happy to volunteer my time as a moderator for the same reason. The question for me has never been what is the money used for but is it worth it to me?

[Adam]

This is a tricky one, I've been on both sides of this, both as a user and as an administrator. I can tell you that $600 is about right for a powerful dedicated server with excessive bandwidth use.

The forums that I administered can't be named here but we have around 30000 users and are therefore very large.

A forum like this does not use very much processing power, which is what kills my site. This forum does have a massive amount more bandwidth and storage usage though, and that can get pricy. Factor in off-site storage for backups and you're probably closer to seeing why the server costs $600 pcm.

I speak from experience when I say that Adam probably had to pay for the site out of his own pocket for quite a while. People just don't donate to young sites, the first few months on a forum, when you're pretty much the only person there is a killer!

So, I can happily side with Adam here.

What I don't understand is why you pillory a person asking to know where his money is going? Would you donate to charity without finding out how much actually gets through the beaurocrasy to help the cause?

In fact, yes, I do take weekly local backups to a NAS that I paid for myself- in addition to FTP backup. It all adds up...sometimes I use more money on the site than was donated for a given month.

[figmental1978]

I don't think anyone has complained about the prices, it's a donation so there's nothing to be annoyed about. The OP thought that the sum quoted seemed excessive and wanted to know where that money goes and users (admin included) answered defensively without any real answers. Personally, I don't care where the money goes but to be shot down for questioning Admin seems childish.

[figmental1978]

Actually, as this is a private forum he has no right whatsoever to know where his money is going. He has a right to ask the question of course, and he has had answers. It's up to him whether the answers and what he gets out of the forum are worth a donation. Adam has only ever requested donations, not demanded them.

You blindly hand over money to people without knowing where it goes? If you do that fine but it's not with the OP. If Adam chooses to divulge any info to the OP, good for him, if not and he doesn't like it then he can go elsewhere.

My beef with this thread is that site supports and admin get so worked up about users questioning the almighty Adam. If Adam doesn't want to give details about where the money goes then man up and say so but I thought he wouldn't need his henchman to do it for him.

You blindly hand over money to people without knowing where it goes?

Aren't all donations like that? As I said in my previous post, it's whether I think it's worth it and I obviously do.

Adam's a real person by the way, not a god (they are imaginary) so I don't know what your beef is with him, it's not his fault if people come to his defence.

[ChrisPlatt]

Aw c'mon, everyone knows the Internet is free. Just like software!

Chris