New Server Fund Raiser

[DrSpooky]

Hi,

The time has come to replace the server that is running The Board and the Wiki and I hope that those of you who enjoy the content hosted here will contribute to the fund. If you have been around here a while, you will know that this is the first time money has ever been mentioned for equipment or the business class Internet connection. The monthy subscriptions (Thank You) and modest Amazon click throughs do not cover the monthly Internet cost let alone any equipment. It would be nice to break even on recurring expenses of hosting the site but that is not the point of this fund raiser. This is a more pressing need.

The computer hosting this site is at least 6 years old. It is a Dell Desktop (XPS 2400 [1]) that wouldn't be acceptable for normal desktop use. I am concerned that it will simply die and we will be stuck. I personally purchased this machine because it was better than the machine we started with (P2/333). JohnE used Wiki Amazon money to buy the UPS we are using. There are 2 USB external drives used for backups purchased by myself and JohnE. It has been maxed out in every way to handle the site including a massive (sarcasm intended) 2GB of RAM. We have been very lucky this computer has lasted this long and handles the load as well as it does.

I have identified a nice, but fair from excessive, computer that will be more suited to hosting the site. It is approximately USD800. I will order it and upgrade once money is raised.

So here I am .. begging .. hat in hand.. like NPR if you enjoy the programming.. please contribute.

Please goto http://www.elviscostellofans.com/helpthesite.html and make a donation via PayPal.

Thanks.

DrSpooky

[1] For those who care, it is a 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4 with 2 GB RAM. That is all the RAM it can hold. More details at http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/SYSTEMS/dim2400/en/sm_en/index.htm

[sweetest punch]

Thanks for all the time and money you have all invested in this site. Just made my contribution.
Come on, people. Help Doc with his (our) new computer.

[johnfoyle]

Well done Doc & thanks for all the effort. I've sent of a few quid.

Not wanting to be too self adulatory , it'll be in addition to the $5 I already automatically send every month. It's the least I can do, in appreciation of grateful I am for being allowed to use this forum and the many benefits - info., new friends etc. - I've gained. Regular users really should consider making a similar monthly payment .

modest Amazon click throughs

I thought that no longer worked. I see now it is still there , via the

http://www.elviscostellofans.com/helpthesite.html

link. Didn't it used to be more obvious, above the intro. listing of sections?

[DrSpooky]

Well done Doc & thanks for all the effort. I've sent of a few quid.

Not wanting to be too self adulatory , it'll be in addition to the $5 I already automatically send every month. It's the least I can do, in appreciation of grateful I am for being allowed to use this forum and the many benefits - info., new friends etc. - I've gained. Regular users really should consider making a similar monthly payment .

And we appreciate it John. Spooky and I talk about an EC fan tour of Ireland and the UK. But that must wait until after all the kids leave the house.

modest Amazon click throughs

I thought that no longer worked. I see now it is still there , via the

http://www.elviscostellofans.com/helpthesite.html

link. Didn't it used to be more obvious, above the intro. listing of sections?[/quote]

It was prominent on the right hand side of the top bar but for some odd reason, it disappeared during an upgrade of software that runs The Board. It needs to become more prominent again. Since the Wiki is on the same machine, it probably would be better to move helpthesite.html over to the wiki and make it a bit more appealing.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Well done and thank you for upgrades. Any way I can donate that avoids PayPal? I had my account hacked there and a payment made illegally in my name, and so have kept away since. To be fair they intervened very quickly and refunded the not huge sum, but it left a bad taste. Any way I can donate just via supplying card details?

[DrSpooky]

Well done and thank you for upgrades. Any way I can donate that avoids PayPal? I had my account hacked there and a payment made illegally in my name, and so have kept away since. To be fair they intervened very quickly and refunded the not huge sum, but it left a bad taste. Any way I can donate just via supplying card details?

Spooky and I can't directly process a credit card. If we sign up for "Premium Paypal", we can directly accept a credit card. PayPal takes 2.9% + $0.30 USD per transaction (ex: $3.20 fee on a $100 donation) that way. Out of curiosity, I checked Wal-Mart gets $0.60 USD for a money order and the USPS is $1.10 USD for a money order up to $500.

We also take large sacks of cash.

[Jack of All Parades]

Dr. Spooky- I, like Otis, share an aversion to the use of paypal for much the same reason. If you could possibly send me a private email with an address where I could send you a check I would gladly contribute to your new server fund.

[Ypsilanti]

Dr Spooky,
Was very pleased to send you some $$ for the server just now. Best of luck raising the money. Hope it goes very quickly.
Also signed up for the monthly $5. Have wanted to do so for a long time, but the financial aspect of the Ypsilanti household has been too scary. But I think we've finally clawed our way back into the middle class, so it's a big relief to be able to pay for the privilege of using this board.
Thanks for everything,
Ypsi

[DrSpooky]

Dr Spooky,
Was very pleased to send you some $$ for the server just now. Best of luck raising the money. Hope it goes very quickly.
Also signed up for the monthly $5. Have wanted to do so for a long time, but the financial aspect of the Ypsilanti household has been too scary. But I think we've finally clawed our way back into the middle class, so it's a big relief to be able to pay for the privilege of using this board.

Thank you. These are tough times. Any donations are very much appreciated. This is a "shovel ready" project but I don't think we qualify for government funds. LOL

Spooky and I am frugal by nature. That's why we are still using a computer that is this old. I have upgraded pieces and parts avoiding the inevitable.

And for those without a PayPal account... Spooky and I are going to sign up for PayPal "Website Payments Standard." This lets the account accept credit cards directly from people who do NOT have a PayPal account.

If that makes you uncomfortable, then we can tell you where to leave a sack of unmarked bills.

[Otis Westinghouse]

That would be great (provided it takes a Visa debit card as opposed to credit as I don't have the latter!). Thanks.

[DrSpooky]

I have added a button to http://www.elviscostellofans.com/helpthesite.html which should allow folks to make donations with a credit card WITHOUT having a PayPal account. It is a PayPal service so it is still a PayPal button but once you click it, you get an option to use a credit card OR login to PayPal.

I hope this works for those who don't have or want PayPal accounts.

Thanks.

[DrSpooky]

Thanks to everyone who has donated so far. We are now at about 70% of our goal and only $230 short. In anticipation of meeting the goal and wanting to switch from the old to new server over the holidays, I went ahead and placed an order for the machine today.

This is a custom configured server which will receive a burn-in period before they ship it. If all goes according to their estimate, it will ship next week and take about a week to get here. Right in time for the holidays.

Again I thank everyone who has donated so far. You all are very generous.

[Otis Westinghouse]

I hope this works for those who don't have or want PayPal accounts.

Afraid I can't get it to. It keeps on resetting the amount I've entered to 0 when I try and pay and telling me to enter an amount greater than 0 (would have more fitting if it had said an amount less than zero, boom boom!), so I've retried twice and got the same result. Could this be checked out? Will then happily donate.

Many thanks.

[DrSpooky]

I hope this works for those who don't have or want PayPal accounts.

Afraid I can't get it to. It keeps on resetting the amount I've entered to 0 when I try and pay and telling me to enter an amount greater than 0 (would have more fitting if it had said an amount less than zero, boom boom!), so I've retried twice and got the same result. Could this be checked out? Will then happily donate.

Many thanks.

Which browser and OS? I am trying Firefox on Linux and it works all the way for $1 until I have to enter billing information.

I put in $1, clicked "Update the Total" and then the "continue" link. If I don't click update and then continue, it gives an error message which indicates I should have clicked update the total.

Whatever you are doing, I am not reproducing it.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Maybe I didn't click 'update the total' as I didn't plan to update my total. It's now bedtime (or well past it!) so will try tomorrow. I want to contribute!

[jmm]

Link below worked for me (although front page of wiki didn't)

Thanks for all the work and making it easy to donate too!

[spooky girlfriend]

Otis, Doc hopped a plane this morning and will be checking in occasionally, but I will try to correct whatever is wrong....and I appreciate your willingness to contribute.

We really do want to convey how much we value each of you, and combined with contributions from some good Elvis fans on Listserv, we are well on our way. This is important to not only this fan forum, but also to the Elvis Wiki which we also host (the one formerly hosted by John E.).

Thanks again, everyone. Really.

[pophead2k]

Thank you for all you do!

[DrSpooky]

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed. If my math is correct, we have almost reached the goal. The server was ordered Tuesday (today is Saturday) and should be here in time to do the transition over the holidays.

If anyone is still having trouble with the PayPal Credit Card link, please let me know so we can figure that out.

[DrSpooky]

I want to let everyone know that the fund raising goal for the new server has been met. YEAH!!! Thanks to everyone that has contributed in this campaign. The server arrived today and I have begun to do the configuration that will let us move to the machine. I hope this goes quickly and smoothly.

Spooky and I also want to thank everyone who has a monthly subscription to help fund the monthly operation of the Board and Wiki. The site has a dedicated business class internet connection and each month there is a bill from the ISP for that. The monthly subscriptions and Amazon click throughs are what helps to cover that.

I will make an announcement before the server transition occurs. The current server will need to be taken offline to do the final synchronization and switch over.

[Otis Westinghouse]

That's great news, Doc. Well done and many thanks.

I finally got round to trying to make my donation, and this time it all worked to get past the 'update my total' hurdle, but then wouldn't accept my card. I tried with two of them, both Visa debit cards, both rejected. I use them for online payments regularly with no trouble. Any reason they won't work here? Can it be amended? Any other way I can pay? (Apart from wretched PayPal!)

[so lacklustre]

Otis - send the money to me and I'll make the payment for you.

[DrSpooky]

I finally got round to trying to make my donation, and this time it all worked to get past the 'update my total' hurdle, but then wouldn't accept my card. I tried with two of them, both Visa debit cards, both rejected. I use them for online payments regularly with no trouble. Any reason they won't work here? Can it be amended? Any other way I can pay? (Apart from wretched PayPal!)

Maybe it just doesn't like you.

Seriously I have no idea what is giving you grief but appreciate the trouble you have gone to just to attempt to make a donation.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Is it not possible to amend it so that it accepts Visa debit as well as credit cards?

[DrSpooky]

Is it not possible to amend it so that it accepts Visa debit as well as credit cards?

I didn't see anything on PayPal's site about debit cards being unsupported but I do see other people on the web with a similar problem. They all appear to be getting a message indicating the card can't be validated.

http://articles.webraydian.com/Gift-Card-Question---Using-Visa-or-American-Express-Gift-Cards-on-PayPal-article8276.html indicates this may be due to PayPal not being able to validate the address you gave with the card issuer.

At this point, sit back and enjoy the board. You have put way too much effort in this.