I've been watching all of this with quite a bit of interest.

First off, as someone who builds server class computer systems as part of my job, the prices and offers really can shift in the middle of a Friday afternoon with no warning. I've been burned by this a few times, and been able to see the price on components drop by a large margin in that time. Also, I've been watching RAM prices as I'm in the midst of building a few machines right now and they are in fact very unpredicatable right now, and the offers from suppliers usually have a 3-7 day windows attached to them.

Second, I'm in the Devil you Know category. FG and IH have been very very good to us. I tend to reward businesses that have been good to me by remaining a customer. If customers always go to the cheapest place then we are going to eventually have a world of nothing but WalMarts, and I really don't want that. I'm all for staying with what has been a good situation.

There's lots of stuff that isn't spelled out on their web page. I was particularly surprised that I couldn't find an AUP anywhere on their site.

iStrata is their new brand name, which they are just starting to use. They've been doing business under the name Netgate since 1994. The Netgate AUP is here.

But if iStrata is just unacceptable, Dreamhost offers a dedicated server for the same price that FanGeek is offering us a semi-dedicated server. And I think we really want a server where Tom Scola can have the root password and make whatever changes to the server config he thinks is best for the board. I don't think that's what FG/IH is offering us.

I don't think that's what FG/IH is offering us.

Huh. I thought it was.

Also, Dreamhost? Not a managed server. You have to pay extra for that.

We're getting (if I've got it right) no limit on the number of SQL connections we're allowed to have. Which means Kristen can take out the measure that prevents us from going over our allowed number of connections, so we won't be getting the error message. Why we're going over our connection limit with virtually zero traffic would still be nice to find out, but it takes the urgency away. And when we need something technical done to the server, and ask Kristen, she can just go and do it, instead of going to our hosts and trying to get them to do it.

That would be true with any dedicated server arrangement.

Now that we have some time to decide, maybe someone with expertise (Tom? I hate to volunteer you but you're the pro...) can make up a list of questions/concerns and we can forward them to the possible providers, requesting answers in writing. We could also request guarantees if they don't live up to what they answer.

Not writing good. Must go home and nap.

How can you give Tom root access and still have other clients? Wouldn't those clients be upset to know that Tom has total access to their data?

As I understand it the only way that we will have other clients is if we'd like to add them there to lower our operating costs.

How can you give Tom root access and still have other clients?

Well, I can't speak for Tom but I feel relatively confident that he wasn't planning on screwing Tim or Nick's website while he was in there. Also, I don't see what is so different from working with Tom on this issue or letting Steven do it or hiring some freelance consultant to go in and fix it.

I feel relatively confident that he wasn't planning on screwing Tim or Nick's website while he was in there.

I forsee some creative hacking in our future. Possibly involving capybaras.

As I understand it the only way that we will have other clients is if we'd like to add them there to lower our operating costs.

I read Kristen's original offer as if we were sharing the server with the other fangeek sites, but, we would be the only php site on the server, so (I'm so non-tech) I took that to mean that the MySQL connection issue isn't an issue for other fangeek sites, just for Buffistas.

Am I even close to understanding?

One more post and then I'm gone until Sat. nite. If Kristen and Monique want to continue to deal with our headaches then I'm all for staying with them out of trust, loyalty, and general Buffistage-er-ness. I think instead of spending too much time debating the options we should come to a consensus PDQ about which way we're going to go, and then spend the rest of the week figuring out how we can afford it and if it will change the overall culture of the board.

FTR, I think we will be able to come up with the funds (even if we have to do a Buffiliates or something) and I don't think it will change the culture of the board since contributions are anonymous and nobody in this wonderful group has ever complained about who gives and who doesn't.