• We have to do a little server maintenance that will take the forums off line for an about 2-3 hours. Right now we are planning for Sunday night 9:00 PM May 25

Deadline Is Getting Close

The server is set to run scared if it goes beyond a load of 5.

vBulletin can read the overall load of the server on certain *NIX setups (including Linux).

This allows vBulletin to determine the load on the server and processor, and to turn away further users if the load becomes too high.

If you do not want to use this option, set it to 0.
A typical level would be 5.00 for a reasonable warning level.
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I do not see a way that can be changed by user group.
 
We're up to 60% now. Maybe I touched a few raw nerves. :) Everything I said is relevant. No regrets. No prisoners. :biggrin-new:
 
Lane Street said:
Has anyone considered an e-mail blast to the entire members list?
I would bet that a lot of the members joined simply for access to the library and don't regularly visit the forums. Some might be happy to give a little.
cheers,
Lane
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I think that's an outstanding idea. Instead of a membership drive thread that they can ignore on the forums, send all of the 17,000+ lurkers an e-mail specifically asking for their help. If just a fraction of that population give in to their pangs of guilt and make donations of $10-$20 we'll be in great shape.
 
I will contribute. Not much but I'll do what I can. I dont know why I was roaming on many forums sonmany years but here. This is the best and most friendly flightsim website.
 
Longue vie à SOH!

In this (lousy) screenshoot, 3 outstanding creations I found right here:

The famous Douglas C-47 by Manfred Jahn & Team, Aer Lingus repaint by Flyinggoldfish, and Tandragee airfield by Dimus

930598c47aerlingustandragee.jpg
 
Donation sent!

Haven't had much time to spend at the outhouse recently, but I always enjoy a flying visit :costumed-smiley-071

Owen.
 
fsafranek said:
Would that include not having to see the threads from developers (the ones started by developers or their "staff") that go on and on using this place to advertise long before the product is released? Obviously I'm kidding but it would be interesting if anyone benefitting from the exposure here was required to pay for that exposure based on number of views and/or posts to the thread.

What I would really like to be able to turn off are not ads but the "Server is busy. Please come back later" messages. If the server can only handle so many registered users and guests at a time and gets near that limit then it should see who I am, know that I am a donor, and drop someone who isn't. I know that sounds selfish but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced this. And it always seems to happen when I just read something and want to add some helpful/useful information. When it does that I say "screw it" and toss the link or information I was going to share and go somewhere else.

By the way, I do donate every time there is a drive whether it is for bandwidth, laptops, etc.
:ernaehrung004:
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As I see it there's communal back-scratching with devs posting imminent release info, etc. so it's more 'news' than 'advertising' [I know...thin line]...;)

Re the 'server busy' message...I get that [have done so 3 or 4 times] ...and that'd be something to present as a 'bonus/incentive' for subscribing/donating [NOT getting the message, I mean] ...;)
 
Just to explain "the server is busy", this happens when administration is running a security check first thing in the morning. Also happens when server updates are being done. There is a reboot process that must be done which will bring up this message. The is no member priority involved. This is one of the reasons we want to get into a new server and new os. The current os is version centos 5 and the new os will be centos 7. All this is part of what our donations got to. If we are successful with the donation drive and the new server comes on line, things should be better after February 15th. Hope this helps.
 
Milviz looks tempting but think would rather spend my money here at this present time. Least then would be able to hear of such bargains as and when they arose. Chinook sounds tempting though (and I don't like helicopters)! :)
Martin
 
I found these numbers in the FS2004 thread "The clock is ticking..."

"Although we have nearly 18,000 members "only" 4,264 are active members. From the 4,264 members 331 members made a contribution, which is less than 8% of all active members."

Right now at 70% of goal we have just $3,900 to go. If only the 331 who contributed were to contribute another $12 the goal would be met.

As it comes down to the wire you might consider soliciting those who contributed with an email for the balance due. If I got an email asking for another $12 I wouldn't be offended at all and would contribute more in a heartbeat.

I'm a pensioner but I'm heading out now to make another donation as its the 1st of the month! :encouragement:

I'm really new here, but SOH is the best flight sim forum I have ever participated in!
 
Kodiak said:
I found these numbers in the FS2004 thread "The clock is ticking..."

"Although we have nearly 18,000 members "only" 4,264 are active members. From the 4,264 members 331 members made a contribution, which is less than 8% of all active members."

Right now at 70% of goal we have just $3,900 to go. If only the 331 who contributed were to contribute another $12 the goal would be met.

As it comes down to the wire you might consider soliciting those who contributed with an email for the balance due. If I got an email asking for another $12 I wouldn't be offended at all and would contribute more in a heartbeat.

I'm a pensioner but I'm heading out now to make another donation as its the 1st of the month! :encouragement:

I'm really new here, but SOH is the best flight sim forum I have ever participated in!
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Looking it it from a different angle if only 3,900, out of the 3,933 active members who have not so far contributed , made a donation of 1USD, we would also reach the target.

best

nio
 
nio said:
Looking it it from a different angle if only 3,900, out of the 3,933 active members who have not so far contributed , made a donation of 1USD, we would also reach the target.

best

nio
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I was about to post the exact same thing...;)

When I joined and later began to upload 'stuff' to SOH - in other words their bandwidth was paying for/hosting my skin files it was only polite [proper] to contribute to the cost.
Nothing in this world is 'free' ....even those of us who remember the days of 'free love' know it was all a con....sounded 'groovy' but was B.S. all the same.

Whilst there are people who will always be willing to contribute there will be many more who aspire to the 'free ride'. It's the same with every/any site/community.
The only solution is imposing membership fees for content access...;)

I have 4 auto-load 'home pages'. 3 are for my Administering for Stardock's sites [work] and the 4th is here... [play].
The only similarity [other than skinning] is the User majority do not 'pay' ...;)
 
Fully agree with Jafo, please restrict access to the libraries to paying members only. That will also save a lot of bandwidth usage.
 
Reply...

hschuit said:
Fully agree with Jafo, please restrict access to the libraries to paying members only. That will also save a lot of bandwidth usage.
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I understand this sentiment, but if you ever look at the readme files for a lot of the uploads, they prohibit uploading to a site which restricts download access to paying members only. As the librarian, that means that approximately 30-40% of all files would have to be removed. This would devastate many sims, especially CFS2.
 
Libraries for paying members only?

Mmmm, methinks that could/should be aimed to the payware sites, & maybe not to public sites such as these, where, somtimes, there are guys who join just to be amongst like minded people & also those who cannot afford or have no interest even the cheapest payware product, or even woud like to donate, but for various reasons, cannot. Also, those who support the freeware devs.

Yes, I do appreciate that this is costing money, & I'm sure that those that can, will & are contributing, but please do no make this an 'elitist' hobby, where those that cannot donate/contribute, are blocked. Sometimes, these guys do contribute by their informative or helpful postings.

Just my thoughts.
 
Copyright limitations on uploads to SOH may be an issue with the notion of 'paying to download/contribute' but the only real issue arises if/when the site is into the black [makes a profit] and is thus 'commercial'.
If it were balanced to be non-profit....only covering expenses for its existence then that wouldn't legally be an issue.
OK....
How about access/download SPEED being the incentive to subscribe. The site is still 'free' [or can be] but those who can afford to subscribe/donate/pay get the XB-70 server whilst those who cannot/won't get the Se-5 one...;)
 
Reply...

Jafo and others,

There is a big difference between "voluntary" and "mandatory." Think of it as tithing in a church. You're not barred from the doors if you don't or can't contribute, but after looking around and enjoying the resources of the facility and the relationships you build there, you want to give something back.

We kind of run on the same idea at SOH.
 
Rami said:
Jafo and others,

There is a big difference between "voluntary" and "mandatory." Think of it as tithing in a church. You're not barred from the doors if you don't or can't contribute, but after looking around and enjoying the resources of the facility and the relationships you build there, you want to give something back.

We kind of run on the same idea at SOH.
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Which is all good...except for the '8%'. Is it that 92% 'enjoy the resources' but simply have deep pockets and short arms? ...;)
 
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