registration is wide open, as of a few minutes ago. they have to answer five silly questions and then are immediately able to post. please keep your eyes open for weirdness- most the joins are bots, but some of them aren't and will be able to answer those questions. the last time i did this we were ran over with russian and chinese - a straight up invasion- and every time since it's resulted in a lot of registers y'all never see because registering required admin approval. a matter of fact, when i just threw the switch there were 18 ruskies immediately, and that's from the last time i had it open- they registered that fast between me clearing the logs and turning registration off.
insofar as membership/donation- i'd certainly prefer to stick with donations. a bunch came in and i thank you guys for that. it covered the quarter and a little more. some of you donated a lot more than i would have expected and that helps cover for those who contribute but don't have the budget for this... i get it. i've been dropping close to $4k a year since the place started.
@847badgerfan has been there,
@ATexasVol has made monthly contributions, and that's pretty much that.
i'm literally waiting for paint to dry on a sign i'm making, so i have a minute or two, here... i'll share this:
I went, at one time, with both google adsense and amazon associates. i even set yahoo up when they were doing advertising. i once made $20 off amazon for this over several months and that was it. they claimed there were no 'clicks'- but i can see the clicks on my end, and there were many. it's my word against theirs and they're going to win every time. i even did a dirty and purchased for the company i was working for after using the link... that one purchase should have been a couple hundred dollars affiliate reward, but.... not a penny. then, something interesting happened: at the onset of covid i received messages from google and amazon.. they threatened to demonetize any affiliate who had content contrary to CDC/WHO guidance, and not only moving forward but retro to any funds they may or may not owe you (they pay a quarter behind)... the language was the same- as in precisely the same... the only difference was the letterhead. this was my first solid evidence there was something bigger than a virus going on... on each of their sites there was more granular information and again it matched letter for letter- even with 'user contributed content' it would black list the site with them... well guess what? eff them! .... not that they were paying the bills, anyway.
now the cost of the site- it's a dedicated server. it's not a weak one. just a month or two ago we endured an onslaught of traffic which was no doubt trying to create a DDoS attack and take over the server... they failed... it was likely a group of teenagers somewhere playing games, but i'd have liked to have been a fly on the wall when they opened up worker after worker and failed to take down the site. (that isn't a challenge for anyone reading this with any idea's!) ... the site survived, whereas if it was on a shared server or managed server it would have been taken down simply as a precaution.
the site has a couple bugs, as you guys likely see it- such as blinking when going from one page to another showing the site is down, briefly. that is by design. for one it buggers off those who ought not be digging around here, and for second- during that brief stumble something else is going on.. the server is comparing records of your IP bounced off your cookies- to make a cursory check you are who you say you are. that, and other things i've done (such as shutting down FB feeds) are to keep your data safe. folks could learn a lot about you simply by reading your profile and posts... there are controls i have absolute control over i wouldn't have on a shared or managed server....
now there is also this- and this is something that may interest some here, or it may not. there is already one member taking advantage of this... i don't care if they do because there is ample resources- and that is 'hosting a website'... if any member here needs hosting, i can provide it on this very server and not impede any function on this site. so long as this server is managed by me, it'll be available.
there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes above and beyond the costs- but i ain't complaining about that... it's what me and badge signed on for... it's just the costs add up, and it's been years... if there were suitable advertisers that actually do what they say they will then this would be a moot point... anyone got any ideas about that or want to point me in the right direction?
