18 months ago I never thought that this site would become so big and [I think] successful. Membership has grown, and along with it so has the size of the site. We have 9000+ systemfiles just to run the forum and the gallery, this doesn't include allpost content pages generated from the database [like this topic], andmultitudes of large PDF files, all of which take up space and bandwidth.Site costs are gradually rising over time due to this growth,as such, I am spending most of this weekend moving the wholeGallery and heavy duty PDF filesto another host that provide a muchbetter bang for the buck [with a separate domain name - stay tuned]. The forum itself, being mission criticalwill stay where it is, mainly to avoid a messy Beta phase if moved elsewhere [don't upset the status quo etc]. The Skybolt Builders Manual contributions help pay for the site, but of course, this is a niche market, so activity there islow.
Just for the record, I have no intentions of ever making this website a pay-site. I think this would change the flavor of the forum completely..and I like it as it is...to the point where I will pick up the slack to keep it this way.
If this site has really helped you, andyou have never donated, and would like to give something back,please think about hitting theDonate button at the footer of this page. It can be a simple $5...every bit helps. Thanks.
Notes of interest
Per month we get:
<60,000 page views
8,200 visits
2,500 uniques [unique users/computers]
26% of our traffice comes from outside the U.S.
..not bad stat'sfor a niche market...
Just for the record, I have no intentions of ever making this website a pay-site. I think this would change the flavor of the forum completely..and I like it as it is...to the point where I will pick up the slack to keep it this way.
If this site has really helped you, andyou have never donated, and would like to give something back,please think about hitting theDonate button at the footer of this page. It can be a simple $5...every bit helps. Thanks.
Notes of interest
Per month we get:
<60,000 page views
8,200 visits
2,500 uniques [unique users/computers]
26% of our traffice comes from outside the U.S.
..not bad stat'sfor a niche market...
