Faster is generally better, but is also more expensive.

The catch is that if there are significant problems with the underlying code, they'll still be there regardless of how fast the server is.

I have a related question -- does Fangeek have its own server, or are we sharing with other IH clients?

Faster is generally better, but is also more expensive.

Understood, and figured into the question. Depending on the rate of how much more expensive, it might be doable.

The catch is that if there are significant problems with the underlying code, they'll still be there regardless of how fast the server is.

But - tell me if I'm not getting this - on a dedicated server, the programmer Buffistae would have the time and room to work on fixing the code?

But - tell me if I'm not getting this - on a dedicated server, the programmer Buffistae would have the time and room to work on fixing the code?

I don't know. I'd rather see us try to fix it on the less expensive option, than spend the dough and then have the system slow to a crawl under the load anyway.

I have a related question -- does Fangeek have its own server, or are we sharing with other IH clients?

Semidedicated. There are other clients, but I have no idea how many others.

To give you a frame of reference, moving to a dedicated server could cost you anything from $200/mo. - $1,000/mo. Admittedly, that's just me looking at one other host's site, but I think it's a fair assessment of the general dedicated market.

FWIW on the dedicated server/Buffistaffiliates question --

Powell's pays its "partners" (their term) 7.5% of the purchase price and does not charge for partnership. There were 180 unique posters during the first 10 months of August.

Assuming these numbers are typical, an average of $20 spent per poster per month through affiliate links would lead to $270 per month. (7.5% of $20 = $1.50 per poster, x 180 = $270) At that rate, within 9 months we'd have the $2000-2500 that's been mentioned for a dedicated server. And have ongoing income for upkeep, a cushion for down months, and maybe a little extra for charitable contributions to honor ME-related births.

$20 per month is a little more than one full-price CD, or one fairly modest-priced DVD, or alternating one hardback book with one trade paperback each month.

Is this doable (as an average -- some will spend more, and some can't afford that much)? Is this something we want to consider?

(ETA, based on xposts -- Obviously, Monique has answered one of my questions -- $20 per poster would give us minimal service. And I'm tossing this out in the spirit of let's-play-around-with-ideas, not we-should-do-this-now.)

Semidedicated. There are other clients, but I have no idea how many others.

Ok. (I wondered how close we are to effectively having a dedicated server already, in terms of MySQL usage. But if we're sharing with other clients, there's really no way to tell.)

Really just curious, though.

$20 spent per poster per month through affiliate links

I think that's wildly optimistic, although I have no data to back that up.

Xposted:

I keep my downloads set at 100, FWIW.

I think quickposts, timelies and numbersluts contribute to the overall hominess of the borad.

If mandating 50 to 100 posts per and jumping autorefresh to 30 minutes will let us keep the little sillynesses, I'm all for it.

If the code can be tweaked to make it even less a problem, wooo!

But I like us. I like the little posts, the long posts, the weird posts and even the nitpicky posts, the long arguments and the quick birthdays.

Anything that can be done to keep the flavor of the Buffistas without bashing away the nuances would make my day.

$20 spent per poster per month through affiliate links

I think that's wildly optimistic, although I have no data to back that up.

If posters are anything like yours truly it's actually a very conservative estimate. I spend at least 200 dollars a month online, at Buffiliate potential sites, between personal and business expenditures.