2008 Fund Drive

[Mike Williams]

My 2008 check is in the (snail) mail.

Mike

[Eddie Watkins]

I sent thru PayPal. Just checking to see if it has been received.

[Jim Becker]

Eddie...look under your name... ...and thanks for your support!

[Billy Chambless]

The suggested donation is six dollars per year.
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Wow, that's cheap -- about the price of one issue of "Fine Tool Ads".

[Rick Gibson]

Just sent mine via paypal.

[Keith Outten]

Anyone who donates today through 4pm will be eligible for tonight's FreeStuff Drawing. Jackie and I will make every effort to update everyone's account before the drawing is done...including those who have sent me emails and Private Messages with additional information concerning their transactions.

Our schedule will be a bit tight tonight as its Jackie's birthday and a family dinner is planned so the drawing may be a bit late this evening.

Thanks again to everyone who has donated this year and good luck in the FreeStuff Drawings

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[Keith Outten]

There are only four more days left in our Fund Drive this year. Currently the numbers are a bit dismal to say the least, we still have less than 8% of our Active Members donating this year at this point. We are still receiving a few donations every day but the number is offset by the volume of new people registering. New Members are rarely donating so our overall percentage of the Community donating is actually going down and I expect will soon be below 7% once again.

I will be posting some numbers on December 1st to let everyone know where we are and what everyone can expect this year in the way of changes, good and bad. Our astronomical growth rate over the last twelve months continues today with an average of 1,500 new Members registering every month. We cannot sustain this kind of growth for many more months without adding resources and we can't add bandwidth or additional server capacity without funds. We have received some excellent advice from this Community concerning our options and will be implementing some of these changes in the near future.

There is a major revision of our vBulletin software coming in the next few weeks. Many of the features that everyone here has been asking about will be included in the new software, however it will be impossible for us to provide them for our entire Community without the necessary funds to cover the additional costs. For instance there is a new Picture Gallery feature and personal Blogs that could be made available here but these may have to be restricted to Contributors only. I regret that we will have to make some of the changes necessary for us to continue but we can't continue to provide the same access to everyone in a Community that is growing this fast with decreasing financial support from our Active Members, much less provide for new services that are bound to increase our need for bandwidth and server capacity.

There will be a new Private Forum added soon for our Contributors that I hope will be used to provide a wide area kind of feedback system between our Staff and those of you who have provided financial support. We are interested in your advice and suggestions concerning the coming year and decisions we must make in the future. We will make every effort to maintain the atmosphere here as close as possible as it has always been in the past and hope the new Forum will provide the platform to enhance communication on a broader scale than is possible via Private Messaging.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has made a donation this month for their continued support. Your donations will provide the opportunity for us to keep The Creek flowing for another year and I assure you that the changes that we will have to make here will not affect your access in any way and new services will be made available to you as soon as possible.

Thanks Again,
Keith

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[John Schreiber]

Keith et al,

Unless there is a big response in the next few days to make it worth while for you to continue this as more than a labor of love, I withdraw my objection to advertising. If you decide to go that way, I would greatly prefer something like "Google Ads" so there are no "Corporate Sponsors" who could influence Sawmill Creek's content.

Thank you for your work.

[David Fried]

It only took me three years but I am finally in a position to ante up!

[Keith Outten]

Thanks John,

Contributors won't ever see any advertising here unless it is their preference. I have not considered allowing corporate sponsors here as I feel the impact may be detrimental to our Community. I am looking for some kind of balance so we can continue to support the woodworking community in general and still provide an atmosphere here that most have come to enjoy. At the same time we must provide for our growth and at a minimum be able to preserve the access speed that makes visiting enjoyable.

If there is a way to do all of this and keep the majority happy we will make every effort to do so.

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[John Marshall]

Thanks for the awesome job on these boards. I dont post as much as some people, but the knowledge I have gained by perusing this on my lunch hours has prompted me to finally donate to the cause.

[Terre Hooks]

Keith,

Haven't the Blogs and Picture Gallery features been available for vBulletin for over a year?

[Mike Dauphinee]

Keith,

Haven't the Blogs and Picture Gallery features been available for vBulletin for over a year?

Blogs are a $50 add on. Minimal programming time and no more bandwidth than any other page/post. So come on ya Bloggers, pony up and donate, it only takes 9 of you to get us a blog.

Picture Gallery is a free release and is in the beta version just released. May be too soon to have that here.

HTH

[Terre Hooks]

Cool.

I was thinking about vGallery, which got bought about by a company and is now licensed app instead of a free mod.


Long Holiday weekend and all.

[Frank Guerin]

if I got the paypal thing to work. I have to get my young granddaughters to help me with this computer stuff sometimes.