We are back online! Server fundraiser comments.

What is your bandwidth usage per day/per month if you can say?
-Scott

 

I was kind of thinking the same thing. My cost with Arvixe which gave me unlimited bandwidth, storage, and free unlimited email was only like $25 a month.

I do have another idea, if you do decide to do the short story contest where there is an entry for money, can you make the word limit lower? I know I'm a bit gun shy to even enter the one here when there are people writing 3,000 word short stories. I would imagine I'm not alone in that boat.

 

Times 12 months = $300, not that much different from the $350.

 

$350 per month.

 

I second this. I suggested lowering the limit for the current contest, but only a few people supported it. Lowering the limit would have gotten more entries I think.

Perhaps charging a small fee to enter may not be a bad idea, either. A lot of magazines/contests do this now to help cover costs.

 

If that was on the fundraiser page I missed it. I thought the fee was annual.

OK, I found this:

That's bad. I can't donate $25/month plus the annual subscription I already paid. I hope the sci-fi story contest top 5 get posted before the site implodes. I'll miss you guys.

 

I was thinking about this today. What if we created a duplicate forum on a free forum site? Just create all the same forums, member levels, passwords for the erotica forums, requirements for the workshop, etc... It would be like an 'Emergency WF.org' kind of like a FEMA trailer. That way if all else fails, we could still have a forum to meet and we know it would be up because it would have no financial requirements.

 

Double post

 

I think Daniel said he already owns a few other sites, but the problem is, they are probably on the same server and wouldn't do any good.

 

Right, which is why I said a free site. 100% uptime.

Here's a quick example.

http://writingforums.boards.net/

I could honestly make a forum that looks and acts exactly like this one. You know, like a backup plan.

 

Writingforumsbackup.com

 

No need, I'm sure Daniel has a contingency plan, in the event it ever came to that.

 

I wasn't aware of this predicament, sounds bad :/ I'll contribute as soon as I get the PayPal account thingy working. I haven't a credit card (can't trust myself with one yet), so have to work around that.

 

Pre-pay credit cards can be good if you find one that has a low loading charge and low monthly fee.

 

I don't think we have those over here. My bank offers a reasonably low-fee credit card for students, but I can't trust myself with it right now. I know, sounds silly, but being as financially challenged as I am with plenty of monthly payments already, staying out of any possible debt traps until I've graduated and have a steady job is important to me.

It will take a couple of days until I can use PayPal for transfers, though, so as to subscribe, which I've been meaning to do for a while now. It's handy, while my bank is not, and transfers tend to be a hassle. Grr. But I want writingforums to stay online, dammit.

We need a contingency plan, though. More advertisers or supporters. The idea about indie publishers contributing sounded interesting.

 

Yeah somehow I was able to get a credit card my first year in college. I was pretty good with it and they kept raising my credit limit. By the time I was 21 I had a credit score around 720, which totally flipped out my cousin who was a mortgage broker. A couple of years later after taking an expensive trip to Europe and a failed business, my score went into the crapper. Now I think it is close to 600.

 

What's a credit score?

I received my first credit card about half a year ago (at the age of 17). The only thing I've used it for so far are computer-related stuff (like games, programs and WF) and I don't keep any money on it unless I'm going to buy anything and then I only move just as much as I need. That way I can't just randomly buy stuff around me since that would lead to me overdrawing my account.

 

You really don't know what a credit score is? It's very import now a days because employers look at you credit score and some won't hire you if you have a bad one. If you go in the military if you have a bad credit score they will deny you certain access levels for fear that you would take a bribe. Good credit scores get you better interest rates on cars, houses, and other items that can save you a ton of money over the length of the loan. Some people will even look at a person's credit score before deciding to have a serious relationship with someone. I don't know how it works in Sweden, but in the U.S. you can get one free credit score per year, and I usually use the same site.

 

If a woman wanted to see my credit score before getting into a relationship, she needn't worry about it as I'd make the decision for her.

'Watch the door doesn't hit you on the arse on the way out.'

 

Read a little about it and when I got the Swedish translation it all became clear. Here in Sweden you don't have a score like that, instead you are marked as credible until you do something bad (like not paying your debts). When you do something you shouldn't the banks add an annotation in their registers. This can (and most likely will) lead to problems when looking to buy houses, take loans, etc.

 

Managed to find some extra cash lying around, so now I'm a supporter - at long last! Sorry for the delay in paying up, everyone.

 

It's the same over here, and it takes a lot to lose your "credibility." Unlike in the US, at least what I've understood, you won't have creditors or repos on your ass all that fast. Then there's the credit limit, which with the student credit card would be 1000 EUR, but the monthly fees can get really annoying.

Yay for @Thomas Kitchen I still have to wait for PayPal to sort out my balance. Oh well...

 

So did I when the forum was down the other day. Still not been afforded supporter status though.

 

So, I don't know how well this would work but... we're all writers. Along with the option of offering beta-reading, grammar support... why don't we put together some anthologies and sell them on Amazon? Those revenues would go towards the site, we as writers would get our names out there, and we'd get some great writing practice.

Just a thought, but I do like the idea of offering other writing related services for a nominal fee. And its something that the person doing it can claim on their resume.

 

I'm not good enough at grammar to offer services as a proof reader or editor, but I can sell the rights to use my image on the cover of books. I can be the next Fabio.

 

I'm still under the possibly-delusional impression that a big "Keep WritingForums free! Donate what you can afford!" banner, maybe with a thermometer for how many months' worth of server funding are safely secured, would do the job. I donated some money yesterday just to test my own conviction, and therefore bolstered my delusion.