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[Reverie]

Three years ago I posted an entry where I said I would post our financial affairs on line by some specified date. I can't remember the exact date but I believe the year was 2009. Well, better late than never.

Under the new structure we are implementing this week the monthly cost of operation is $20 for storage and hosting. This also includes maintenance but does not include ownership and renewal of the url, SECampers.com. I pay for a package in the renewal that includes ownership of some similar urls (to prevent them from being hijacked and used by competitors) and a small maintenance fee. I pay these fees once every two years to Go Daddy and it comes to about $70 a year. Everything else to date has been incidental. I paid for some design stuff in the beginning (most of which I never used) and that's about it. In the past I paid $20 a year for maintenance on the Gallery and $20 a year for maintenance on the main software. With the new pricing structure those two costs are rolled into the monthly fee so all I have going forward is:

Invision Power Service

$20 a Month or $240 a year

Go Daddy

$70 dollars a year

That actually works out to $310 a year, total. With a little luck I think we can continue to accommodate our present rate of growth without overwhelming our data plan for a few years. We just have to be somewhat conservative (as Leon has pointed out) when we store images. Go ahead and store them, just be mindful of their size and if you aren't using them and they are not linked to a posting, consider their value and determine if they could be removed.

We are in absolutely no danger of going out of business. In fact our upgrade is a statement of faith on the part of the Administration and Moderators that this is a worthwhile endeavor and it will continue and we hope grow. While our contributions have never quite made expenses, they have been darn close and close enough to keep Mrs. Reverie from saying anything. I appreciate everyone pitching in and keeping this the kind of place we are proud of. I was pointing out our standards to another website owner just yesterday and I told him that the secret to our success was in treating each other with the kind of respect we would accord Aunt Bee if her blessed soul was still with us. I'll let you know if the finances become burdensome but as long as you throw a few dollars in the pot or send in the occasional contribution, we will keep chugging along.

The money has actually been the easy part. It is the administration of the back end, primarily done by Leon and the work of the Moderators, Lemar, Billy, and Bob that keep this train rolling. Most of all, it is you that makes this all work. All the money and work would be useless if this place was useless for you. Thank you so much for making us a part of your life and continuing to keep the conversations lively.

Now, let's go camping!

Nick