Stability and speed seem to be two top priorities - to my non-technical ear, this sounds like what Kristen is offering, and she and FG have been greatly helpful, so it sounds like a good path for us. That said, whatever the stompies and more tech-minded folk decide is ok by me.

As far as the money goes, my understanding is that we have enough right now for the set-up and first three months under FG's offer. That gives us a little time to come up with the rest of the year. I don't think we'll have too much trouble, and by the end of a year we'll have a much better understanding of our needs and problems so we can decide where to go from there.

I put a link to this discussion in Press.

Yeah, I'm all about "defer to the people who know what they're doing, and I'll kick in money when they tell me" plan.

Anyone have a liking/suggestion for the places Astarte and Rob mentioned?

Rob -- Does that mean that we could sublet pieces of our server to other users, like what Kristen is offering, and thus bring down the $129/month cost even further?

It looks like the control panel is set up for exactly that sort of thing. I sent a email asking if the iStrata terms of service allow it.

I think the $99/month dedicated server would be plenty for Phoenix.One of the $29/month virtual dedicated servers might even do the trick, since we'd still have complete control over the configuration of the virtual server, including Apache and MySQL configuration.

I feel safe leaving this decision in Stompy hands, and I'm also willing to make a significant donation to the moving fund if it's needed. This place is certainly worth it to me.

Chiming in to say this is me as well. Plus, I have not contributed money up to this point, because there didn't seem to be a need. But I am all about contibuting fundage on a regular basis. Thank you smart stompies.

I would love to see the board have more stability and am certainly willing to donate for the cause.

I have no issue with leaving this in the hands of those with more technical prowess than IO. Also, this is precisely the kind of issue that I think voting should not be used for. I believe in those of us who have more technical know how and therefore abdicate my usual desire to vote to those with more knowledge.

eta: And the fact that the board ate my post three times before showing up... t waves cash at problem It could work.

[link] also offers the same kind of virtual dedicated server plan Rob mentioned, where we have full access to Apache, mysqld, and so on. It looks like the $27.95 plan fits our usage level.

I'd hate to see us spending $200 a month if it isn't necessary.

I'm with Kat as well, in both the leaving it up to the stompies, and in thinking Kristen has been really great through all of this.

I'm good with the Stompies deciding.

I am thrilled with how wonderful Kristen has been. love love love her.

We have discussed setting up affiliate accounts with retail places before - has that ever happened? I'd buy all my online Holiday purchases via a Buffista affiliate link if one existed and that would begin to generate a constant flow of funds.

It looks like the $27.95 plan fits our usage level.

We've come close to their 16 Gig transfer limit recently. I can't imagine our bandwidth usage will go down over time. Also, do you have any experience with them Amy? I'd much rather go with Rob or Kristen since they both have had long term happy relationships with their providers. And Rob's place also has a VPS option for a similar price.