The BaitShop Homepage
Forum Home Forum Home > BSB First Stop > BSB Announcements, Suggestions, Site Assistance and Tech Issues
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - We have set up a "DONATE" Button
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

This site is completely supported by donations; there are no corporate sponsors. We would be honoured if you would consider a small donation, to be used exclusively for forum expenses.



Thank you, from the BaitShop Boyz!

We have set up a "DONATE" Button

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12
Author
Message Reverse Sort Order
Irish Bird Dog View Drop Down
.416 Rigby
.416 Rigby
Avatar
Too many

Joined: 01 March 2009
Location: Midwest
Status: Offline
Points: 5511
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Irish Bird Dog Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 August 2017 at 23:48
Thanks Tex for the history lesson on the BSB situation. I hope our donations will help keep BSB up and running. However, us BSBers need to be informed of when and how much needs to be covered each time payments are due to the host server folks. That way we can keep on helping cover those expenses. 

Irish Bird Dog

NRA Life/Endowment

2nd Amendment Supporter
Back to Top
d4570 View Drop Down
.416 Rigby
.416 Rigby
Avatar

Joined: 27 January 2004
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 9403
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote d4570 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 August 2017 at 09:50
LOLBig smile
Good one !
Remember: Four boxes keep us free ,the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, AND the cartridge box
Back to Top
TexasShooter View Drop Down
Administrator
Administrator
Avatar

Joined: 10 June 2003
Location: Texas
Status: Offline
Points: 321
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TexasShooter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 August 2017 at 09:02
Thanks for covering the initial transfer and the first month, Ron.

A little technical background on the BSB:

Several years ago, circa 2005, Ron had a friend hosting the BSB from his house, but unreliable Internet and computer issues caused an unstable environment. I got the forum database and other files from Ron and was able to re-launch it on a scavenged pc/server out of my house. There was an improvement in availability of the forum, but it still wasn't an ideal situation as I lived out in the country and got marginal-at-best Internet from a phone company that had just started their Internet offering.

I was able to move the server up to my office and host from there, which solved the Internet performance issues. A couple of years later, with the help of a friend at work, we were able to move the BSB from the old server to a virtual computer with high performance disks. This allowed us to add disk space and any processing power or memory that we needed as the forum grew. However, I couldn't afford to upgrade the operating system or database software that ran under the forum software due to cost. It would have cost a couple thousand dollars or so. And so, the forum was stuck on a very old version of the software for a long time. The upside of the situation is that, barring a couple of times where I accidentally paid the domain renewal late or the virtual server crashed because of running out of space or whatever, the forum was running on some of the best equipment money can buy. We had fault tolerance, high grade firewalls, amazing Internet, frequent backups - stuff that costs a lot of money we got to use for free.

When security and rules surrounding the kinds of things we could have on our network tightened considerably over the past couple of years, Ron and I had discussed that the day would be coming when the forum would need to be moved again. Then, a few weeks ago, the friend that had been helping keep the forum alive left to work for another company. Almost comically, within an hour of his departure, the age of the operating system and db server software finally caught up with us. A critical vulnerability was revealed in a sweeping security scan, and it became too risky to keep it on the network any longer. So, at that point, it became a pretty easy decision between trying to buy new equipment and find someone's house to place the server in, or moving to the Webwiz hosting services.

Now, we don't have to worry about supplying the underlying equipment and software, Internet connection, backups, antivirus and security software, or the responsibility of upgrading the database and forum software frequently, etc. We pay a very reasonable hosting fee and these things are handled for us.

Anyway, I know that was a wall of boring info to take in, but I just wanted to give some insight on how and why we got from A to B, and why B is a good place for us to "B" (sorry, couldn't resist).

Take care,
Rusty


Edited by TexasShooter - 23 August 2017 at 10:52
"For want of a nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, and for want of a horse the man was lost."
Back to Top
lizard View Drop Down
.30/06 SpringField
.30/06 SpringField


Joined: 17 February 2016
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 301
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lizard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 August 2017 at 20:42

Button works.

Thanks for all of your work Ron.Smile

Trigger Control is knowing when not to pull it.
Back to Top
RobertMT View Drop Down
.416 Rigby
.416 Rigby
Avatar

Joined: 12 March 2008
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 4413
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RobertMT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 August 2017 at 18:09
Button seems to work
Want to stop Drunk Drivers, from Killing Sober Drivers? Ban Sober Drivers from Driving. That's how Gun Control Works.

NRA Benefactor Life, GOA Patriot, SAF   

Back to Top
TasunkaWitko View Drop Down
Administrator
Administrator
Avatar
aka The Gipper

Joined: 10 June 2003
Location: Chinook Montana
Status: Offline
Points: 14749
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 August 2017 at 12:16
Hey, everyone -
 
With this new server and infinitely better features, the forum is no longer free for us to operate. From here on out, we WILL rely on donations in order to keep the forum going.
 
We have set up a "donate" button at the top of the forum page. The button goes through PayPal, which is secure and quite easy to use with a PayPal account, or with a credit card. If anyone would prefer to mail a check, you can contact me privately; the only issue with that is that it does cost me 3.00$ to cash the check, so that will be 3.00$ less that will be added to the fund.
 
No one is obligated to donate anything, but it would certainly be appreciated. The fact is that we cannot afford to pay the server costs ourselves, so we will need these donations. I paid for the transfer to the new server, and am currently paying for the server hosting, but I don't know how long I will be able to.
 
ALL DONATIONS WILL BE USED EXCLUSIVELY FOR FORUM EXPENSES, AND NOTHING ELSE.
 
We are also looking into some effective, non-intrusive ways that we can get the forum to pay for itself without pop-ups, annoying banners or corporate sponsors, which would create a whole nest of entanglements. We do not want to be beholden to anyone, because that would quash a completely free and unfettered exchange of ideas.
 
Thank you -
 
Ron and Rusty
 
 


Edited by TasunkaWitko - 22 August 2017 at 17:09
TasunkaWitko - Chinook, Montana

Helfen, Wehren, Heilen
Die Wahrheit wird euch frei machen
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 11.10
Copyright ©2001-2017 Web Wiz Ltd.

This page was generated in 0.094 seconds.