4 replies to this topic

[Crawfish]

I don't know if everybody noticed but I know a few did. We have been having some issues with the forum. As of right now, if you try to upload a picture you will not be able to. This is the main issue we have. What has happen is the forum has reached its maximum memory storage. If we continued down the road with no changes we would end up not even being able to post on a thread. The main culprit if the gallery. Pictures take up a lot of space. So what can we do? One thing is add more memory storage space! Yes we can, but that cost money, and eventually with adding more pictures to the gallery we would fill up that space in about a year. Then we would need more space. Can you see where I am going with this?

Nick and I have been talking and this is what we have come up with. Nick has upgraded the forum to the next level. That means we add more memory storage space with some other benefits. But we would like to suggest an option that we think will cure the problem. What we have come up with is keep the gallery, BUT ask the membership just to upload the pictures you will use in a post or thread only. There are numerous websites on the internet where you can store all your pictures. Then if you want everybody to see a picture or several pictures all you have to do is create a link in your post to the pictures in your other website. You could even link pictures you need in a post or thread from the outside source, that would even save the forum more space. What I"m planning on doing is creating me a picture file somewhere else on the internet and transfer most of my pictures to that site. If you plan on taking this route please remember, and I say please remember, if you have used any of your pictures on this forum in a post or thread to leave them, because if you move those pictures it will create a broken link in that post or thread. If for some reason you do move some pictures and not realizing they are linked, do not fret. Just let me know and I can fix the problem. I will also be looking for broken links in the beginning until we can get everything worked out.

So, let us hear what you think about this plan by posting on this thread. We want all of you to help us on this. If you have better ideas or ways to work this out, that is what we are looking for. An answer that everyone likes.

The upgrade of the forum includes several other benefits. We are upgrading the software for the forum, adding a Chat room, upgrading the Gallery software, and a few more. I do believe everyone will like the upgrade once it is complete. It will take two or three days for Invision to upgrade our forum and them a few days for me to check it out and start the upgrade you will be looking at.

All of this in not free. There is an increase in the yearly cost for this upgrade. The forum right now is costing us around $170 a year. The new upgrade will increase that cost to $250 a year. How does everyone feel about this increase. If we all agree then we will need to donate a little more each year to keep the forum up and running. If only 30 people donated, it would only cost each person $8.33 for a year. I spend more than that on bacon I take on a week long camping trip. So lets hear from all of you on what you think about this.

Thanks so much for what you have done for the forum in the past.


Leon Cordle (Crawfish)
Admin

[Mrs CampingNut]

Can some of the trivia pics and scenic bologna that I've uploaded be removed? That should give us a lil space.

I'm all for 'passing the hat' at the rallies to pay for the forumn as well. A few $$ from everyone goes a long way. If everyone gave just $5 or $10 each, we should have plenty with a 25 family rally.


C-

[campingnut]

thats not funny, stay away from my bacon..

i like the upgrades.
thanks for all the hard work.
now ill have to see what ill give up ????
lamar

[jim]

Crawfish, on 30 March 2011 - 08:43 PM, said:

So, let us hear what you think about this plan by posting on this thread. We want all of you to help us on this. If you have better ideas or ways to work this out, that is what we are looking for. An answer that everyone likes.

My suggestion is to look for a new host.
You can buy the IP board software and the IP gallery for $204.00 for a 6 month license. Renewals are then $35 dollars for 6 months.
Once you have the license in hand, then you can go to any host you want.
An example is Godaddy.com wants $9.99 a month for unlimited space if you sign for a year and $8.99 if you sign for 2 years.

This solution would cost you more up front, but save you lots of money in the long run and totally eliminate any storage space issues.
Buy buying a license from Invision, you would still get upgrades and tech support from them.

My math says the first year would cost you $358.88 and then each year after that would only be $189.00 and that's with unlimited storage space!
....or you could convert over to one of the other forum packages out there that's free.

[Crawfish]

Thanks for the info Jim. We will be looking into something like this for sure.


Leon