Site migration to VPS coming soon! (and going forward)

Barefoot TJ

Barefoot TJ

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Staff member
Mar 5, 2010
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#1
Be prepared for a short interruption in service on September 1 and/or September 2. We will only be offline for a few hours. We are attempting to migrate to a VPS once again, but this time, at least we will be in capable hands with our new hosting company, unlike the last hosting company. I'll keep you all up-to-date as it happens. Thanks.
 
#3
We have grown enormously.  We

We have grown enormously. We are getting approximately 2 million hits per month. In the evenings, we have upwards of 70-90 people on at one time (authenticated and unauthenticated). We have outgrown our previous host, which was a vanilla server. iJoe from AIS was kind enough to host us at no charge for the past 6 months on one of his four servers, but now we are taxing his server, and he needs that space for paying customers. Our fee will be $50 per month ($600 per year) starting September 1. He will still oversee our account's status and help out when we need a guru.
 
#4
TJ--How will it be financed?

TJ--How will it be financed? If it's through donations, it might be cool to encourage people to "adopt a week" for $12. ($12 * 52 = $624...unless you really want to get accurate and ask for donations of $11.53 for one week!) I'd pay $12, and it would only take 49 others to finance a whole year....
 
#5
That's a good idea, Beth. 

That's a good idea, Beth. Jamie and I have a fundraiser planned to take place after the migration to help raise funds for the BRS. As you all know, the BRS is an all-voluntary effort, no one, not even me, receives a wage. The BRS has no debt, owes no one (except me), as I make sure that I cover all of its bills. If we don't have the funds for this or that, then we either wait until we raise the funds, or I pay out of my pocket. I feel it's worth it, and a lot of you do too. So, as long as we have people who believe in what we are doing here and continue to contribute by donating funds or volunteering their time, we will be just fine. I thank you all. You are a good group of people.
 
#8
Sometimes I have to chew on

Sometimes I have to chew on it for awhile, but the more I think about it, Beth's idea would be a cool idea. Adopt a Week of BRS. Hmmmm. Let me talk to Jamie (Paleo) about this, since he's organizing the fundraiser. We can brainstorm together how to go about it. If any of you have any ideas, they would be more than welcome. And any ideas on how we can broadcast who the member of the week is? How about a Member of the Week Profile to go with it? We haven't done those in awhile. People seem to like them. Any other ideas?
 
#9
Well.... I am sure there are

Well.... I am sure there are more costs associated with the performance of the site than just the base fee to get the VPS, such as guru work to add new features, etc.

I like the adopt a week for the base cost, but perhaps having various tote boards to display how much is needed for various other goals. I remember the threads for getting the formatting changed, as well as the whole quote in the box/out of the box issue. This way those who find out the weeks are all adopted can see something they'd like to have happen and contribute to their goal of choice (and root/plead for their cause in the Pub as well?) knowing that when the total is reached, they can expect it to be realised.

The problem with many organizations (I was going to say clubs, since this is where it mostly happpens, but moving on) is a lack of ownership of the whole nuts and bolts. A kind of us and them mentality. The treasurer may know the costs, but may be reluctant to bring the whole thing up to the community as a whole for whatever reason. I like to think if the community is vibrant and of a certain mentality, opening the responsibility to them in a good way is an excellent way for people to think of themselves as "participants" beyond just posting to topics.

I like "goal oriented" giving, since without a goal, most contributing is visualized as a kind of black hole you toss money into and hope something good comes out of every now and then. Also, people like to see results. Thoughts along the lines of: "Goal established, money received, goal achieved, what's next?" kind of helps the whole thing move along. Hmmm.. another long post. LOL. Gonna stop here then.

John T.
 
#10
I understand completely why

I understand completely why you ask this, and I don't blame you for wanting to know.

All of this is addressed in the new fundraiser, as you will see shortly. We have already hit upon these points and covered them there. There's also a donations page that has been created to cover past and present donors that will go along with this, and I have been in contact with all of the prior donors over the past few weeks. The site migration announcement is just a heads up, so you will all know what's going on. In my priorities, the fundraiser is secondary to the migration.

Yes, there are a lot more costs associated with running an organization (this size) than what you all may realize, such as registration, filing fees, taxes (gotta keep it legal), occasional printing, PayPal fees (deducted from amounts received), etc.

The first and only fundraiser we have ever had was called Black Thursday, and it was well published as to what was needed and where the funds would go, if you recall. We raised just under what we needed to pay for that.

The next fundraiser, More Odd Looks, will detail the same. As I have already stated, the largest concerns are the migration ($250), the yearly hosting fee ($600), and whatever it costs to get the formatting issue fixed, in that order of priority. That's the minimum. There's more work, and I have a nice list prepared for all of you to pick at.

Donations in the interim were used towards a serious time zone issue on the site due to a programming bug by the developers of Drupal, as you all may recall from my announcements, and added functionality to add views (display data), as well as anti-spam, etc., of which I footed the majority there as well.

For the long haul, what I'd like to see is a few committed, dedicated people stand up and take on executive roles to carry this through. More people need to stand up and handle the day-to-day as well. We are still in need of volunteers to handle many different tasks. (See the BRS is Hiring thread stickied above.)

What say you all? ;-)
 
#11
Account Statement for

Account Statement for Barefoot Runners SocietyBarefoot Runners Society

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXX, GA XXXXX



Questions? Please contact us:Phone: 678-783-0138

Email: [email protected]

AIS Solutions Group

401 Westpark Ct.

Suite 200

Peachtree City GA 30269Account Summary as of August 24th, 2011 Invoiced2,550.00 USD

Payments - Thank You!-2,550.00 USD

Credit-0.00 USD

Account Balance$0.00 USD

Detailed SummaryDateInvoiceAmountPaid 08/24/11 0015567-Paid 300.00 USD08/22/11 0015567- CPanel/Drupal website transfer from AIS/CFC server to NG/VPS server & VPS hosting for 9/2011 300.00 USD 08/15/11 0015560-Paid 375.00 USD08/10/11 0015560-Installing anti-spam software & Enable missing post listings (3 hrs actual work, quoted client and capped at 2 hrs.) 375.00 USD 05/31/11 0015508-Paid 250.00 USD05/27/11 0015508-Error with Product Review custom content type (4 hrs total, capped at 2 hrs billable )250.00 USD 04/27/11 0015488-Paid 875.00 USD04/26/11 0015488- Drupal consulting on time zone issue and creation, setup, and configuration of development environment (The bill was originally for $1,875, but AIS donated $1,000 to the BRS as a gift.)

875.00 USD 02/21/11 0015442-Paid 750.00 USD02/16/11 0015442-Site Recovery (The bill was originally $3,750, but AIS donated $3,000 to the BRS as a gift.)750.00 USD Amount Total2,550.00 USD

Paid Total -2,550.00 USD

Credit Total -0.00 USD

Account Balance $0.00 USD
 
#12
BRS INCOME RECEIVED(01/01/11

BRS INCOME RECEIVED[/b][/b]([/b]01/01/11[/b] thru [/b]08/24/11[/b])[/b][/b]




Donations Received: [/b]$1,627.44

Donations $1,690.00

PayPal Fees - 62.56

NET $1,627.44



Ad Revenue Received: [/b]235.00

Branca Running $135.00

Good for the Soles 100.00

TOTAL $235.00



Future Ad Revenue Pending:

Branca Running

Kigo Footwear

STEM Footwear



Affiliate Sales Received:[/b] 24.93

Amazon $20.93

Road ID 4.00

TOTAL $24.93



Affiliate Sales Pending (payout threshold not met):

Amazon $ 9.63

Terra Plana 8.68

ZEM Footwear (old) 36.00

ZEM Footwear (new) 18.00

Invisible Shoes 30.95

Spartan Race ?

Luna Sandals (just began in Aug.) 0.00

Altra Running (to begin in Sept.) 0.00

TOTAL $103.26



Merchandise Sales Received:[/b] 669.37

Zazzle $663.34

StrayTats 6.03

TOTAL $669.37



Merchandise Sales Pending:

Zazzle (payout on 15th) $18.96

TOTAL $18.96



GRAND TOTAL $2,556.74[/b][/b]








BRS EXPENSES PAID[/b][/b]([/b]01/01/11[/b] thru [/b]08/24/11[/b])[/b][/b]


Website:[/b]

Web Development (AIS Solutions) $2,550.00

Domain Name/s (Go Daddy) 28.01

Drupal Software (Lynda) 59.14

Domain Hosting (Jan./Feb.) 100.00

TOTAL $2,737.15



Taxes/Filings:[/b]

Federal Filing, INC (Tax Facts) $345.00

LLC Filing (GA Secretary of State) 100.00

Dissolution of AOI (FL Dept. of State) 35.00

TOTAL $480.00



Printing:[/b]

Business/Post Cards (EPT Marketing) $149.50

TOTAL $149.50



Accounting:[/b]

Accounting Software (Quicken) $79.97

TOTAL $79.97



GRAND TOTAL $3,446.62[/b][/b]




YEARLY FORECASTED EXPENSES


Website Hosting $600.00

Website Development Unknown

Domain Name Registration $100.00

Domain Name Reservation 28.01

Tax Filing, LLC 250.00 (proposed)
 
#13
List of Site

List of Site Fixes/Enhancements

This is a list of the site improvements needed. I don't have time to troubleshoot, research, learn, and fix these issues myself; therefore, I have only listed those that require outside assistance, as there are many others I will tackle myself. Of course, if you are a skilled/experienced web developer, and would like to donate your time and services to get any of this done, please email me at [email protected].

(These are in no particular order, yet).

Web developer to do:

Fix formatting issue in forums/postings.

Quote feature is not intuitive or automatic.

Make attaching images intuitive.

Remove chapter registration option on account creation.

Fix maps on site.

Give each chapter a map of its own.

Give each chapter a calendar of its own.

Expand locations database.

Fix avatar delay issue on site.

Refresh delay issue.

Fix New_Window not working in advertisements.

Fix invite.module on site.

Make blogs more personable.

Make chapters more personable.

Troubleshoot Guide/Book.

Image from slideshow appears to the left in main Story.

Fix Create Content > Blog link.

Make Chapters default alpha sort.

Remove Five-Star Rating from Gear reviews. (This isn't critical, and I could remove the rating, but it calls for splitting the Gear from the Footwear view, and we don't really need that extra structure, or have to have that extra structure, on the site.)

Set up Language Converter Module on site.

Repeat time zone not recognized on multiple days of week (I have a workaround (not a fix), so this is not a biggie.)

Install Spell Checker. (This is a very expensive module as it is not a free open source product, and can cost up to $800, at last check.)

Correct Smilies.
 
#14
We have had a very generous

We have had a very generous offer for assistance with our web development needs from hmduey, who has been working in web development for the past 10 years. She will first work toward familiarizing herself with our site, setup, and then get to work on tackling those issues she can handle in priority order. If anyone else has skills and would like to help her, please email me at [email protected], and I will put you in touch with her.

Thank you, Heather, for stepping up to help out your club! Your contribution is much appreciated.
 
#15
Thanks TJ, I'm happy to pitch

Thanks TJ, I'm happy to pitch in where I can.

Folks, just please be patient while I get acquainted with the site and as I fix things I'll try to post them somewhere on the forums with updates as I go along. It might take a little while to get the first one up, but after that hopefully it'll be smoother sailing.
 
#16
I have some limited HTML/CSS

I have some limited HTML/CSS experience if you run into some minor things you want to delegate. Not sure how much those skills will be needed for a site like this (I have mostly worked on simple websites), but if it might help feel free to give me a jingle.
 
#17
Heather, please feel free to

Heather, please feel free to use the stickied thread I have created in the Site Help forum to update the list of stuff you get done, status on items, etc., (there's even a strike-through text button you can use) called List of Site Fixes and Enhancements here: http://www.barefootrunners.org/forum-topic/list-site-fixesenhancements
 
#18
Thank you, Smelph, for

Thank you, Smelph, for offering to help out. If there's anything I think I can pass to you to take the load off Heather, I will send it over to you.
 
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