A Statement Regarding the Future of the Forum

[James R Gordon]

Hi,

The Energy Crisis is now a serious problem for me. Costs have gone up for me in the last few days and I am having to make decisions I hoped not to make. My electricity company has today suggested that I immediately raise my payment by 30%. One implication of this is that I have a personal web site that I am possibly no longer going to be able to maintain the costs of.

Put simply I am facing financial oblivion if I do not take steps now. I am probably going to loose my website because I am likely to be unable to pay the firms Hosting charge [ as well as other charges ] for the site. And an energy increase of a further 30% is just not possible in my present conditions.

And that is before January when rumours suggest a further even higher rise in energy prices.

I know I have suggested pulling out before but this time I am facing a personal financial disaster unless I act now. I will pay the EF August 2022 payment but someone else will need to fund from September 2022 onwards.

On previous occasions members have very kindly raised monies but it is not just funding the EF that I need to reconsider. The total impact of the energy crisis - both now and in the coming months - is beyond the cost of funding the EF.

Sorry. But after August 2022 others will need to provide the EF funding.

James

 

[Kirk Gallaway]

Ok,James, I'll kick in.

[James R Gordon]

I have sent Kirk an email.

I believe we are beyond donation -even given the enourmous generosity of members.

James

[Ty Carpenter]

Are you asking for someone to take over ownership of the forum?

[James R Gordon]

Yes!

But there is a financial commitment. The person who takes over is responsible to Invision. Invision will direct debit that person every month.

james

[Cory Santos]

Can I ask how much is it?

[James R Gordon]

$70 per month

[Guest]

I hope this can be solved, especailly your personnal financial issues, the crisis is kicking in hard, also here in EU, those damned Russians are making us pay

(EU is largely dependant on Russia for especially gas)

Now, 70 usd is not cheap for a forum. Yes it has it's advantages (upload pictures, etc).

But there are fairly good "free" forums out there (WCS...), pictures only with hotlinking but that works fine

Another issue is the history on EF, I hope for that price there is a way that can be preserved ? Is it in the contract ?

 

 

[Guest]

Is anyone else up for organising a standing order / DD of sorts to an account each month to make sure this gets covered? If the 10-15 of the hardcore posters chip in, it’ll be less than a Netflix membership each. I think it’s worth doing. I don’t mind taking it over if we can organise something like that. Would say $10 a month be unreasonable? 
 

James, I am sorry to hear the issues that the energy crisis is causing you, and many others. The increase where I live has been identical on electric, with oil and gas, even worse. 😞  

[W. Niederhut]

I'd be willing to chip in, with other members here, to cover the monthly costs.

I'd hate to see the archives here disappear.  In addition to the daily discussions, I have often searched these archives to better understand a number of topics.

Edited August 1, 2022 by W. Niederhut

[Ron Bulman]

James, I'm in the same boat with you in a sense.  Now on a fixed income my electric bill this month will consume over 1/6th of it.  That's because of the price of natural gas in my case.  The price of oil/gasoline makes everything else go up.  While these industries rake in record profits.  It's price gouging to me.

$70 a month is $840 a year.  If 14 members would commit to contributing $5 a month that would cover it.  I could do that.  With an auto withdrawal I wouldn't miss it.  For some, that's "A" cup of coffee at Starbucks.  

An alternative could be a yearly pledge drive.  KNON, a public non-profit radio station in Dallas did this for years I remember.  People would call in with twenty bucks, fifty, more.  They may still do it (I'm out of range now).

Would a US non-profit work?  A few attorneys visit the site from time to time, might they comment?

I'd be willing to donate a few dollars now to get us through another few months to figure something out if you'd prefer not to deal with it any longer.  I appreciate the years that you have.  If nothing else, I would like to see the archives preserved as others have mentioned.  I've told my kids if they ever want to get to know me better to read my posts here since they're too busy, uninterested or distracted to talk about the subject.

Best regards, Ron   

[Chris Davidson]

James,

Sorry to hear about your predicament, but I'm not sure I follow this clearly.

We had a fundraiser in the early part of this year. At that time, supposedly we had raised enough to get us through April of 2024:

https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/27564-i-am-resigning-my-post-in-admin-and-stopping-the-invision-payment/?do=findComment&comment=452432

Moving forward, I then suggested that it might be easier for everyone to contribute in smaller monthly amounts, via automatic payment.

https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/27564-i-am-resigning-my-post-in-admin-and-stopping-the-invision-payment/?do=findComment&comment=452389

Where do we actually stand in regards to our reserve totals?

Thanks,

Chris

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

I do not know the details on the current contract, prices did go up https://invisioncommunity.com/buy *

And indeed I also assumed everyting would be ok till Apri 2024 ??

* it seems, e.g. a Creator * package now costs 89 USD/month)

 

 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Jean Paul Ceulemans

[James R Gordon]

Chris and Jean Paul,

It is true that in 2019 the reserve balance was  $4, 774:00. The end date of December 2024 was based on a monthly extraction of $70:00 per month. I see the reference to £89 per month. That is not the contract that is presently in place.

At present our band width requires a fee of $70:00 per month, that was not always the case. In 2019 we had a larger membership and for a period our band width exceeded the requirements of the present charge which is the 100 user plan. For a lengthly period of time - I believe somewhere in the range of 14 months - our charge rose to the next charge of $120:00 per month. That quickly depleted the reserve funds.

Because our present active users is smaller than it was in 2019 our charge has reduced. The image below is yesterday’s usage. If the band exceeds the boundaries two days in succession our payment rises to $120:00 per month.

As you can see we are getting close to the boundaries. If we exceed these boundaries two days in succession we will be charged $120 per month. Unfortunately the image does not display on the EF.

The reserve is depleted, but I appear to have made mistakes because the sums do not make sense to me. Currency exchange certainly lowered the sum. The monies collected were in $. But moving them into my account, the funds had to be transferred to £. I recollect when I transferred the sums the total sum was in excess of £3,000.

We were in the enhanced payment period for around 14 months. That cost £1680.
We have been in the standard payment for around 18 months. That has cost £1260
                                            Total £2, 940

I can see there is a discrepancy and I am not sure how it has come about. I know I have been making the last few months payments out of my own funds, yet according to those figures I should not have been.

I cannot explain that.

James.

[Gil Jesus]

19 hours ago, James R Gordon said:

Hi,

The Energy Crisis is now a serious problem for me. Costs have gone up for me in the last few days and I am having to make decisions I hoped not to make. My electricity company has today suggested that I immediately raise my payment by 30%. One implication of this is that I have a personal web site that I am possibly no longer going to be able to maintain the costs of.

Put simply I am facing financial oblivion if I do not take steps now. I am probably going to loose my website because I am likely to be unable to pay the firms Hosting charge [ as well as other charges ] for the site. And an energy increase of a further 30% is just not possible in my present conditions.

And that is before January when rumours suggest a further even higher rise in energy prices.

I know I have suggested pulling out before but this time I am facing a personal financial disaster unless I act now. I will pay the EF August 2022 payment but someone else will need to fund from September 2022 onwards.

On previous occasions members have very kindly raised monies but it is not just funding the EF that I need to reconsider. The total impact of the energy crisis - both now and in the coming months - is beyond the cost of funding the EF.

Sorry. But after August 2022 others will need to provide the EF funding.

James

 

Jim, may I suggest that under the current economic situation you consider adding a fee of $60 per year ( $5/month ) for members who wish to post. Lurkers and non-members could continue to read the postings for free, but those who wish to participate in the debate and post would need to pay a fee. This would also serve to filter out the "riff-raff" and retain only those posters who are serious about the evidence. Current members would have the option of paying monthly or yearly or not paying at all and just read for free. I've been a member of this forum since 2005 and I realize that this forum gets a lot of exposure so its importance to all of us is quite obvious. I'd be willing to go the yearly route. I hope you and our members will consider this option to save our forum.