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.

Yep. I can be a vote hound too, but I'm with Kat.

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.

The Buffiliates idea was tabled as unnecessary and distracting. This should certainly be a vote issue but only if there's enough interest. I'm not proposing it.

Kristen - in my experience, anytime I've had a business relationship with friends I've either a) done way more than I'd ordinarily do for a client; b) endured much grief and/or c) never found it to be economically worth my while after the fact. Very often it's a combination of all three. What I'm trying to say is thanks for everything you're doing and I'm sorry that you're in the uncomfortable position of having to tell your friends that they make difficult clients. Because we know that we do. And your efforts are universally appreciated.

WRT the offer, I'd like to speak as an outsider. I don't believe it's a good idea to rush into a decision because the other party (in this case Steve) has set what seems to be an arbitrary deadline on the offer. I would suggest that the offer be turned down unless Steve is willing to give the board at least a week to discuss it.

I would also suggest that giving a year committment can only work provided the system runs as expected and there are no further hitches with the programming . Obviously if three or four months down the line the board is constantly down with error messages on the new system both the board and the ISP have a duty to act in haste and in good faith to trouble-shoot and fix the problems. Otherwise the board would be free to walk away because everyone is aware of the potential problems going into it and under no circumstances would the board be obligated to pay a full year if the code problems persist unabated.

This is what I do for a living.

You are a better person than I am. Have I ever mentioned how grateful I continue to be that there are people who seem to like to maintain servers and do complicated programming?

iStrata is a much better deal wrt bandwidth.

Yeah, it sounds like it! I'd be a lot more inclined to go with them than a dedicated server, if VDS is a good option for us technically. I'm really not terribly happy with the tight and seemingly arbitrary deadline on Steven's offer, and I definitely don't like the way way way more money.

Even though folks are fine with letting us choose a 20 or 35 or 50 dollar package, I worry that a $200/month deal, even with the possibility of some discounts, might lead to some HUGE board culture changes that I don't feel like we can commit to without careful consideration by the whole community -- and I'm not comfortable with making that kind of choice.

This is what I do for a living.

Tom -- Are there any providers you've worked with that you would recommend?

If we get a dedicated or virtual server, I would volunteer to set up and maintain it. After the initial set-up, the amount of time involved should be minimal.

You're awesome, Tom.

I worry that a $200/month deal, even with the possibility of some discounts, might lead to some HUGE board culture changes that I don't feel like we can commit to without careful consideration by the whole community -- and I'm not comfortable with making that kind of choice.

I agree.

Tom -- Are there any providers you've worked with that you would recommend?

Unfortunately, no. The ones that me and my friends have dealt with, we've had informal relationships with. Which I wouldn't recommend in this case.

I worry that a $200/month deal, even with the possibility of some discounts, might lead to some HUGE board culture changes that I don't feel like we can commit to without careful consideration by the whole community -- and I'm not comfortable with making that kind of choice.

That's true, as far as it goes. But the additional problem is, can the board continue as we've been doing? Have we outgrown the $20/month options?

(Edited to delete pointless question.)

I'm very nervous about making a decision in this abbreviated timeframe. If we rush into this, things don't go well, we maybe cause problems for Fangeek's other customers -- we're spending a lot of money to make Kristen miserable.

Have we outgrown the $20/month options?

Yes, but we haven't outgrown the $50-60 options that people are throwing around.