Greetings and Happy Holidays everyone...

We've been on our current server for many many years and it has been very stable. Unfortunately, technology has passed us by and the ol server is now obsolete to the point where software upgrades are being blocked because they do not support our old hardware. Many of these software upgrades we're missing out on involve significant security patches. Not getting the latest server software puts us at risk of being hacked. So, we need to upgrade servers at our hosting company.

The good news is we should see a performance improvement after the upgrade from the latest technology hardware, increased RAM and a data center more centeralized to the majority of our membership (Washington D.C.). And since we are upgrading within our hosting company, they are offering a 25% discount on the new server. In addition, they offer another 10% discount for pre-payment. Taking advantage of these discounts, our month to month server cost will actually go down from our current rates.

The bad news is that in order to get that 10% pre-pay discount, there will be a sizeable upfront cost of about $525.

If you've been around here a while, you'll know I VERY RARELY make a public request for donations. It's times like this however, where I gotta do a bit of fund raising to keep things going. I want to thank those of you who have contributed toward the site maintenance fund.. and especially to those who do so on a regular basis. 100% of those contributions have gone toward our operating costs these past 12 years. As a reminder, MonteCarloSS.com is a not-for-profit operation, with no banner ads, user fees or annoying google type ads. MonteCarloSS.com depends on user support to continue operations.

So please, if you are in a position to do so, click the 'DONATE' button in the right hand column and contribute what you can toward the site maintenance fund. Please indicate what your screen name is in the donation comments field.

A few more loose ends / bad news: The server switch will involve bringing the entire site down for a day or two. At this point I do not know when that will happen, but suffice to say it will be before the new year. I will make site-wide pre-announcments of this outage days before it happens.

Also, due to the server change, and the resulting heavy burden it will have on the site maintenance fund.. I'm going to have to delay ordering replacement website stickers. Hopefully that delay won't be too long.

PaulC

Just checked my Paypal acct Paul.
Looks like I could contribute a bit towards a server upgrade.
Guy

Done.

Glad to donate.

More than happy to help out.

Dropped a few coins in the pot...

Hope it helped =)

I can't find the "Donate" button. Could it be because I have "View Signatures" turned off? Or something else in my settings?

Go here

https://www.montecarloss.com/community/ubbthreads.php

It's on the right...

Ever think about using Tapatalk on this forum if its compatable? With all the people that have smartphones it's a pretty good way to keep up with forums. I use it on 3 other forums and its a good timekiller during lunch and I'm usually on this site 3 times a day trolling =)

OK, I did it. Money has been sent...

Chuck

Be more then happy to help!

Not much, but hope it helps.

I'm in... hope it helps!

The current software doesn't support Tapatalk
Hopefully 1 of the future updates will fix that.

.. Did you check hosting prices at 1and1.com?

Thanks to all who have stepped up to the plate so far and helped out. The response has been great. If you haven't yet donated, please consider doing so.. even just a couple bucks spread out over many users adds up. Any amount is very much appreciated.

Buzz.. We checked out 1and1 years ago during our last server swap. But to do due diligence.. I just took a look at their offerings. The server I'm looking at pretty much equals their Virtual Server XL, which we are getting after the discounts for roughly $40/mo forever, whereas 1and1's discount runs out after a year.. and it's $49/mo thereafter. I also trust our current provider and have had a good working relationship with them when issues arrise. Thanks for the input though.

Regarding tapatalk.. yeah, that's been an ongoing issue. Our software is admittedly out of date but is VERY stable. There are alternative software packages out there but converting would be a big undertaking.. and a one way deal. I'm still not convinced the alternatives are better in the long run. There is still hope of an upgrade in the future for our current software which will enable the tapatalk compatability. The development company has been bought and sold a couple of times which has derailed development in recent years. Bottom line, I know that capability is wanted. If and when it becomes available I'll be sure to implement.

Once again, thanks to those who have contributed to get the new server. I'll be following up with another post specifically hightlighting contributors' names, and will be responding directly to each with a thank you.

PaulC

Hello Z65_Paul, if you see a donation that was made on Dec 6 @ 18:23:09 PST it was from me Gary_86SS. I forgot to fill in my member name on Pay Pal. Thanks for supporting our hobbies !!!

just did it ,what the heck its Christmas !!

My shekels clanged the pot.

Kicked the pot, thanks for all you do Paul.

Mick

Paypal sent

done

Ditto!

Thanks for everything you do Paul (and PaulB)! Glad to help out!