Author Topic: "findU needs your help!"  (Read 43088 times)

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Offline SLOweather

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"findU needs your help!"
« on: September 09, 2008, 02:03:57 PM »

Ocala is apparently having trouble accessing the forum and asked that I post about this. I think he had a great idea. The Subject: is at the top of every findU page. I've already sent Steve a $100 check to help out, and inquired about him accepting direct advertising as well.

Here's the text from the link.

findU needs your help!
findU has continued to grow in popularity, currently getting more than 1.6 million hits a day. That is about 50% growth over last year! Hosting servers of this size is quite a task, and while one server is hosted in a donated academic site, the other is in the process of moving between two commercial datacenters. The owner of the first comany is exiting the business, and the owner of the new site has agreed to give me a generous discount, but I still do need to pay for the site, and overnighting a 70 pound server between Florida and Pennsylvania is no minor expense.

Last year I collected donations for the hosting charge and for an upgrade of the hard drive system. When I investigated the upgrading process, I decided findU was better off for with a new server which would only cost $2000 more. The hardware is presently working great on both servers, and for the first time in a while I think the present hardware will hold demand for the next year. Sadly, Google revenue continues to drop, advertising is the first place companies scrimp in a recession.

findU will survive, I've already fronted most of the expenses, there is no threat of it going away this year. Whether you are able to give, or whether you choose to give, the service will remain free and open to all. I wish I did not need to beg, it very much goes against my grain. Times are tough for everyone, and I am very thankful that I am better off than most. I have donated thousands of hours of my time to APRS and findU, I'll continue to do that. findU is my baby, and I want to keep it available. I simply cannot jeopardize my financial future any longer, findU must pay its own way from this point forward. At a minimum I must raise the $850 annual hosting fee, whatever the FedEx charge for shipping amounts to, and make a dent in the $2000 debt on the new server. If I can't, this will be the last year.

If you are able to give, even a little, please consider doing so. If you are not able, please do not feel bad about it.

If you do wish to give, you can use this button, or PayPal to k4hg@tapr.org. If you prefer to mail a check, you may do so at

Steve Dimse
56200 Overseas Highway
Marathon, FL 33050

Thank you! Steve Dimse
« Last Edit: September 09, 2008, 02:08:07 PM by SLOweather »

Offline saratogaWX

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2008, 02:15:54 PM »
What a good idea, Chris!  I've sent some to Steve .. the work he does with findu is excellent and deserves our support!

Best regards,
Ken
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Offline George Richardson

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2008, 03:14:15 PM »
I've thought long and hard on this. About 2 minutes, and that included adding my 2 cents or a little more to the pot. I would bet that if someone would challenge the WD forum as to who could make the biggest dent in that outstanding 2K the whole thing would disappear in about 24 hours.

FWIW

George

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2008, 04:17:55 PM »
I've thought long and hard on this. About 2 minutes, and that included adding my 2 cents or a little more to the pot. I would bet that if someone would challenge the WD forum as to who could make the biggest dent in that outstanding 2K the whole thing would disappear in about 24 hours.

FWIW

George

The gauntlet's been  thrown... :)

Also on the NAWN forum...

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2008, 04:22:44 PM »
If anyone wants to contribute and have their contribution anonymously added to the total (assuming the challenge is accepted), PM or email me and I'll keep track.

George? ;)

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2008, 08:33:30 PM »
Current standings, as I know them from checking email and the threads...

As of 5 PM PDT 5:15 PM PDT Tuesday, 9 Sept 2008:

Wxforum $150         Weather-Watch $125

Chris

Offline kray1000

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2008, 10:40:42 PM »
Since I'm a member of both forums, if I wanted to contribute $40.01, do I get to decide how to allocate the money, and how do I decide who gets the extra penny?


Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2008, 10:44:41 PM »
Yup. All you gotta do is tell me. I split my $100 between the 2 because, at Ocala's and George's urging, I started this. :)

As far as the extra penny, why don't you flip it to make the decision? Heads, Wxforum, tails, WD. In either case, it goes to a good cause.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2008, 10:51:10 PM by SLOweather »

Offline kray1000

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2008, 10:58:54 PM »
OK, I just made a donation.  I've been sending data through FindU for four years, so $10 per year is the least that I can do.


Could you allocate the funds as follows?

weather-watch:  minus $100
wxforum:  plus $140.01

total: $40.01

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2008, 11:08:07 PM »
OK, I just made a donation.  I've been sending data through FindU for four years, so $10 per year is the least that I can do.


Could you allocate the funds as follows?

weather-watch:  minus $100
wxforum:  plus $140.01

total: $40.01

Wow, that's cold... You say you belong to both forums? Not for long, I'll wager... I'll have to make sure the WD people know why they fell behind...

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #10 on: September 10, 2008, 03:40:03 PM »
Update

12:30 PM PDT 10 Sept 2008

WxForum               Weather-Watch
$190.01         $175

Total   $365.01      

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #11 on: September 10, 2008, 06:16:21 PM »
Update 3:15 PDT Wednesday 10 Sept 2008

Weather-Watch pulls ahead!
How 'bout it WxForum? You gonna let them get away with that?

WxForum               Weather-Watch
$190.01         $200

Total   $390.01      
« Last Edit: September 10, 2008, 06:19:57 PM by SLOweather »

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #12 on: September 10, 2008, 09:18:04 PM »
Bumpdate... I missed the post from KenW at Weather-Watch at the last update. Sorry, Ken!

(I also misapplied the 3PM donation which I've corrected here. :( )

6:10 PM PDT Wednesday 10 Sept 2008

Weather-Watch is still out in front!

How 'bout it, WxForum? Can't someone pony up at least $9.99 to tie it up? Or, better, an even $10 to put WXF ahead by a penny?

WxForum         Weather-Display
$215.01         $225.00

Total   $440.01      

Online Garth Bock

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2008, 10:13:50 AM »
Sorry for being a newbie but I have not heard of FindU.com so could someone explain a bit about what it does and what benefits it has for my weather station or how my littl' ol' station could participate ? Thanks.

Garth
www.weatherbuzz.net

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2008, 11:39:09 AM »
Sorry for being a newbie but I have not heard of FindU.com so could someone explain a bit about what it does and what benefits it has for my weather station or how my littl' ol' station could participate ? Thanks.

Garth
www.weatherbuzz.net

You can start here: http://www.wxqa.com/

findU is the web interface for viewing CWOP/APRS weather data.

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #15 on: September 14, 2008, 09:29:35 PM »
Bumpdate:

Things are slowing down. I sure wish we could raise a little more to help Steve out. (hint hint...)

This last contribution was a first, a split, with part going to WxForum, and part to WD.

WxForum is now behind by $19.99. Can't somebody at least tie it up? The challenge did, after all, come from WxForum...

Current standings:

WxForum         Weather-Display
$225.01         $245.00

Total   $470.01      

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #16 on: September 14, 2008, 10:50:32 PM »
Woo hoo!! WxForum pulls ahead!

And, we have our first serial donator!

         
WxForum         Weather-Display
$325.01         $245.00

Total   $570.01      

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #17 on: September 15, 2008, 10:04:28 AM »
Update. An overnight donation from NZ...

That brings us to:

         
WxForum         Weather-Display
$325.01         $295.00

Total   $620.01      

WD closes the gap a bit, but WxForum still leads!

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #18 on: September 15, 2008, 01:43:49 PM »
Update:

Another notification of donation just received for WxForum...

         
WxForum         Weather-Display
$375.01         $295.00

Total   $670.01      

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #19 on: September 15, 2008, 04:43:14 PM »
At 1:42 PM PDT on 15 Sept 2008 (Harvest Moon), another donation credited to WD:
         
WxForum         Weather-Display
$375.01         $325.12

Total   $700.13      

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #20 on: September 15, 2008, 06:52:01 PM »
At 3:50 PM PDT on 15 Sept 2008 (Harvest Moon), another donation credited to WD.

WD is now ahead by 11 cents!

Any answer-back?


WxForum         Weather-Display
$375.01         $375.12

Total   $750.13      

Offline kray1000

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #21 on: September 15, 2008, 07:02:36 PM »
Any answer-back?

Is that close enough to ask for a recount?  :lol:

Offline saratogaWX

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #22 on: September 15, 2008, 07:38:25 PM »
I think that may be a NZ$->US$ thing :)

Keep on contributing :)

Best regards,
Ken
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Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #23 on: September 15, 2008, 09:55:58 PM »
Re: recount...

I'm keeping a spreadsheet of the donations I'm apprised of. Either the amount is PM or emailed to me, or I see it posted on one of 2 forums. A recount would have to be taken up with the Excel programmers at M$. ;)

From the beginning, I've treated info sent to me as confidential on the forums, but the spreadsheet has everyone's screen name so I can keep them straight. For the record, between the 2 forums, we have 19 donations.

The penny madness started with a donor here. :) The Kiwi donation was PMed to me in even USD ending in 0. The "odd" WD donation was from our second serial donor, from the US, and ends in .12 .

FWIW, we also had one split donation besides mine, with part going to each forum, and one substantial donation with an intention to make a continuing monthly contribution.

Just a reminder/disclaimer... I'm not findU, just a user who donated to the cause and volunteered (with the input of Ocala originally, and then George R) to help drum up some more support. I don't benefit from this. Because of that, I don't directly see the PayPal. If you don't post/PM/email me your donation, I don't know you made it, and can't add it to the tally.

My take is that, if you want to make it public, post it. I'll find it and add it to the spreadsheet. If you'd rather remain anonymous, send me the details and I'll just add it to the total.

And (with apologies to Frank Bartles and Ed Jaymes),

"Thank yew for your support..."


Chris

 

Offline SLOweather

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Re: "findU needs your help!"
« Reply #24 on: September 15, 2008, 10:20:55 PM »
7:15 PM PDT 15 Sept 2008

Another $50 for WxForum, and we break a collective $800!

WxForum         Weather-Display
$425.01         $375.12

Total   $800.13      

 

anything