Author: Jeff Mahler
Date: 11:42:48 08/27/04
Go up one level in this thread
On August 26, 2004 at 13:15:44, Steven Schwartz wrote: >There are three major tangible parts to CCC/CTF expenses: > 1) The cost of hosting from ISP > 2) Payment to Tim for 24 hour technical support > 3) Payment to me for oversight of the board > >There are several intangible costs: > 1) Lost sales due to having posts on the board promoting: > a) competitor's products > b) programmer direct sales > c) sales of items we do not sell > >As far as the first group - per year: > 1) The ISP = $599.40 > 2) Tim's support 24/7 = $2340 > 3) My time - average of 4 hours a week - including reading all moderator >email, all complaint emails from members about other member's posts, decision >making, responding to requests for passwords, communicating with Tim almost >daily about CCC related issues, setting up and running elections, emailing >membership about elections, resolving conflicts, speaking with my attorney about >possible CCC related issues, liaison between ISP and Tim when problems pop up, >requesting that Tim add or modify features, etc. etc. etc... "paid" at a rate of >$7 an hour (minimum wage) = $1456 > >That is an expense which we lay out yearly of $4395.40. This does not include >any legal related expenses that have/might come about. > >I cannot quantify what we lose from the board promoting other's products, but >perhaps it equals what we make from being associated with the board. > >There are 5439 active CCC/CTF email addresses right now. If I had to guess, we >probably have between 500 and 1000 who either post or lurk in a typical month. > >The bad news is that when we run an election, we get all of 200 members who step >up to vote, and I have grave concerns that a plea for donations will affect, >maybe, that small a number or less. > >I have projected that the degradation of the chess software and stand-alone >market has meant that we have paid the CCC/CTF bills, in their entirety, for >that long which, according to my accountant, at least, is a total 3 year expense >of $13,186.20. > >I am sure that some of you resent the fact that I have included a fee for myself >in the figures above. However, that is just for accounting purposes. I do not, >and never have, received a penny from operating the CCC, but I have certainly >dedicated hundreds of hours (in the last three years alone) which certainly, if >I were not busy with administering the CCC site, would have allowed me to make >more than minimum wage. I can not count how many times I was in the middle of an >ICD project when a frantic email came in from CCC about one thing or another. > >What it all comes down to is that you all see a smoothly running forum because >we make it that way. Just because someone volunteers to host the CCC does not >mean that everything will run the same way. There is LOTS more going on that the >typical member does not see. Just ask the moderators. > >So, I will follow through on what I said last night. I would like to ask for >donations to help defray the expenses here. I think our expending over $13,000 >over the last three years has shown our dedication to this project (and if you >are still puzzled by my "pay", make that $9000+). I would like the membership >now to step up and take on some of the burden. > >I have guaranteed to keep CCC/CTF up and running as it has been for at least 6 >months. If donations pay the expenses, we can run on indefinitely. > >Should donations stop and the expenses mount, I will again make a plea. If that >does not work, I will give the membership plenty of time to move elsewhere. > >I think I have covered everything. If I have not, please ask and I will try to >answer all questions. > >I will put up the donation information in a short while, but I am leaving >tonight for a long weekend without a computer, thank goodness, so if I do not >answer today, I will by Monday. > >Please donate!!! >Steve >P.S. The CTF is an extremely small drain on resourse. It does not add to the ISP >expense nor does Tim get paid more and I have not attributed any time devoted to >CTF to my own "allocation". $600.00 to host?? That is almost 3 times the hosting rate from other ISP's. It usually goes for $20 a month. Perhaps the e-commerce part of that is jacking up the price. Here is the proof: http://www.computerconcept.net/websites.html
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