Club Arnage server hosting - contributions gratefully received

[iomac]

In my humble opinion (or IMHO if you prefer) there are many members like me who may not be at the forefront of CA activity but could not bear to see the site go to the wall for the sake of a few quid. Due to the nature of our collective hobby we must all have a bit of spare cash to make sure that this institution keeps running! As previously stated I do not (due to time and knowledge constraints) join in the discussions a great deal but would pay for the entertainment value of the site alone! If a paypal account is set up please let us know so that a donation may be made.

Cheers

(I know that this is probably a longer winded version of Steve Bs response but I just wanted to add my two penneth worth)

[termietermite]

Not to get too soppy and girly and stuff but at times like these, it's easy to see what's so great about CA.  If the members have anything to do with it, this site just is not going to lie down and die.  Makes you feel all warm inside...

[Lawnmower Man]

Not to get too soppy and girly and stuff but at times like these, it's easy to see what's so great about CA.  If the members have anything to do with it, this site just is not going to lie down and die.  Makes you feel all warm inside...

It's good to see these guys posting and offering support.  Sometimes it's easy to fall in to the trap of thinking that only the regular posters feel they  get any benifit from the site.  Thus one starts to think those guests and "lurkers" won't contribute.  When in fact they get just as much out of the site but in a different way. 

I was amazed last year at the number of people I met who had downloaded The Guide. 

Thanks guys.

[Grand_Fromage]

It does my heart good to read the posts on this thread. From its origins more than 10 years ago Club Arnage and the forum have improved the experience of Le Mans for thousands of people. It remains free of advertising and is an 'enthusiast' based not-for-profit enterprise.  I was very tentative about revealing our poor financial state, but it just came to a pass where I had no option.  Hopefully we can put CA on a sound long-term path to stability. I just need the help and understanding of regulars to get us through this small 'hiatus'.

We have many friends all over the world in the fan community but also within the race teams, sanctioning bodies and in the press corps. I hope we can keep on the rails this year and continue to flourish into our second decade. We ARE the oldest established Le Mans related website in continuous use since 1995.

Thank you.

[Nobby Diesel]

Hey GF,

I don't think that there is any doubt that the immediate problem will be rapidly overcome.

The community on here is a marvellous one.

I don't want to try to speak for everyone (or anyone) but, huge thanks for your work over the years.

Also to Smokester and more recently, Steve.

Thanks.

[Paddy_NL]

I am sure DfH can contribute into this, just send LT or me a PM and we'll donate.
We have learned a lot from CA, and made some great friends here. DfH could never be like it is today if it wasn't for CA.

[Chrisgr31]

I would second the comments of those who have suggested moving servers to reduce costs, although I can understand why there is reluctance to do so.  Having moved a site recently and run into problems due to the number of people involved.  The end result was that the site was down for a couple of weeks, and lost its Google ranking for a month or so.  However once it had been recrawled by Google it was back at the top of the ranking again.

I do believe Hindy said that Club Arnage could sell T Shirts through the RLM shop.  Is that something that could be investigated for the future?  If there was a surplus of money from the immediate appeal could the surplus be used to buy T Shirts or similar for sale on the RLM stand?  
 

[Grand_Fromage]

Moving the server...

I'd hate to move it at all, but I'd really hate to move at at date so close to June.

We have a great situation for our co-located server and backup server at Uni-C. They have reduced our costs over the years and they don't charge a premium however many gigabytes we serve over our connection. If anyone can find an 'open bandwidth' co-location deal to beat what we have now, I'm sure we can get Uni-C to match the price.

[rcutler]

Streamlinenet do a complete unlimited package for £80 for two years. I have never had a problem with them other then that they do not have telephone support only email.

(BTW GF I still have your camping gear in the garage. Do you want it at LM?)

[smokie]

UPDATE: We now have pledges far in excess of the immediate requirement. Thanks one and all, the support has been truly overwhelming.

I have set up a PayPal account, I just need to check details and operation before announcing the detail (tomorrow).

Also I will have a discussion with GF about exactly what our approach will be - I'm simply thinking along the lines of whether we really want to run a surplus (I think we do, as it could be useful for funding future fund raising opportunities, and de-risking them for individual members - e.g. maybe Tom gets 300 lanyards made) and how the fund would be managed (again, I'm thinking that you - the members - appoint a small fund raising committee (which excludes us mods and GF) to coordinate efforts and authorise expenditure, and ensure transparency). Personally I would not want any surplus going to one of our charities - I would prefer to collect less in the first place, leaving the surplus with individuals for them to do with it what they choose.

As an aside, Dave already has some ideas for changes to the site which might give opportunities for fund raising.

Again, thanks for the support!! I haven't yet had time to respond to all the PMs but will try to catch up on this tomorrow.

[Simon (WRC GT4)]

Would gladly pledge a donation to help keep this great site alive, not one of the most active posters on here, but often log on here for a good read.

As a sugestion, could this site offer to sell camping passes & entrance tickets (with a small proffit) to help things in future? Not sure how you would go about this though, maybe a year in advance.
I look here each year to buy our camping pass as i find it easier than trying to buy from ACO.
Happy to pay a bit extra this year for next years pass.

[Bob U]

As usual I have ordered extra tickets for next year in case I may need them. For quite a few years I have sold off any surplas and split the postal charge that the ACO have charged me between myself and whoever I sell the tickets on to. This.IIRC, is about 8 Euro, So next year I will charge any buyers the full postage and donate that amount to CA. This will keep us to our no profiteering ethos as the tickets will still be sold at cost price. If anyone who sells tickets through this site did the same it would amount to quite a sizable donation which no-one would mind paying.

[fagey]

just logged onto this and will be donating as soon as paypal is up!

got to keep the good work up

[Douglas]

Filthy lucre snatched from the landlord's grasp and ready to offer athletic support to our beloved CA.

We would be lost without the only way to get hot and bothered about the second w/e in June

[Papa Eric]

Wow!  Just checked in and seen this topic.  Can't let CA fade away.  Far too much fun and interest all year for that, so there'll be a contribution from me when PP is up and running.

Keep up the good work guys :-D