Thetownend.com

Gone but not forgotten.  On the last thread on TUMDFC, mention was made of how much it cost to keep the TEF going and how Whits was stumping up out of his own pocket most of the time (it's £60 a month).  Rightly IMHO, the vast majority voted for the remaining TUMDFC balance to go to fund TEF but I was wondering whether we could come up with a plan to share the load in the future.  I'm away from home for most of the week and this site is the only place I value when it come to keeping in touch with what's going on. I appreciate there will be some who can't contribute and that's fair enough.  What do you reckon?

I say we start fining lurkers  :D

Oi leave Lloyd out of this!  :)

Seriously though, if 10 or so regulars chucked a fiver a month in, it would help Whits fund this forum/circus/mental home no end.

I'm happy to contribute to anything that's decided.

doesn't even need to be that much, even if the top fifty gave a quid each a month it would pretty much cover it.

i don't think whits has the time nor inclination to do anything with the forums now. i was planning to take it off his hands but i can't find a job. either way, i don't want to either.

to the best of my knowledge, the forum needs moving to new hosting. personally i think it'd be worthwhile upgrading the forum software, but everyone would go spare if they lost their posts etc.

Maybe we could get Ben to do a sponsored shave his head thing with your beard trimmer attachment

If 365 people gave 2 quid they could be entitled to nominate one day a year as their day and everyone has to agree with and worship them for 24 hours  :D

I understand where you're coming from, but realistically there isn't 50 posters that would commit to giving £1 a month on a regular basis.

Getting 10 mugs on a fiver a month is much more manageable. 9 to go then..

Not my call, so up to the powers that be.

Who's going to sort out the payment to the host, the hosting and the running of the site?

I think they're the main issues. People will pay if they knew what was going on with it etc.

realistically there is nobody on here with the knowledge, patience and time to dedicate to it properly.

true, I can offer only a bit of cash now and then. wouldn't have a clue or the time for the rest of it.

This sounds a little apocalyptic!  If we carry on as we are what's going to happen??

Couldn't a few people run it as a collaboration. I'm sure between a few of us it would be manageable.

All I was alluding to before was that we'll need to think about these things because Whits isn't able to run it really. Obviously the money is an issue, just not the only one.

I'm in a lyrical mood tonight............

When you go will you send back
A letter from America?
Take a look up the railtrack
From Miami to Canada

Sonic no more
Oevil no more
Ralphy no more
Sussex no more
Birdy no more
Lady no more
Si Pie no more
Flammable no more
Fred no more
Mex no more
Reg no more
Axs no more
Fatbury no more
Bart no more
Gazza no more
Macca no more
Pumbaa no more
Bullzeye no more
Pauld no more
Samdy no more
BarryS no more
Reeves no more
tans no more
PHIL!!! no more
Ms Angry no more
Jayohaitchen no more
Janaage no more
NMH no more
Arriba no more
JFW no more...this is getting stupid and apologies to those I've missed I'm doing it all from memory, I'm pissed and I can't type all night but you get my point - I;ll sit down with anyone to sort out what we do next

I previously said I'd run it with Sonic, but it was when I had a job. I love the tef, but in all honesty I don't spend the time on here that I used to.

I do want to be involved though. And would consider taking the whole thing in my name if there was promised donations and stuff. But to be honest sorting the whole thing out, finding a better host etc. seems like a bit of effort and I'm basically lazy.

Also, the Tef has managed to start a few shitstorms over the last year. I know "politics" with the club have died down with the new owners, but it's still something to take responsibility for.

I'm not good on responsibility.

Oh and lastly. I doubt I'd be anybody's choice to take over the TEF anyway. Not on my own. I'd just get drunk and ban everybody who's name didn't begin with a b or an s or an f or other letters or something.

And I'd probably spend all the donation money on fags and white ace.

That's fB's manifesto for the future of the TEF.

I don't think anyone should do it on their own Ben.  Maybe those with the technical expertise handle that side but having the support of enough funds from everybody else.  One thing's for sure there will always be Swindon Town stuff to discuss and we could be moving into the best era ever.  I'm going to have to crash now but I'll be up for having a beer and discussing how we move things on whenever anyone feels like it.

I could bung whoever a fiver a month....................

I'm happy to contribute money each month to keep the TEF running. IIRC, PayPal has a regular donation feature that you can set up although obviously there are charges involved in that. Alternatively you could use standing order to whoevers bank account.

I've a fairly good knowledge of php, the forum software and mySQL so I'll gladly lend a hend with anything technical that needs doing.



Very easy to do actually, would only take an hour or so depending on if any mods have been installed into the current phpBB files. And nobody would lost their posts, it doesn't involve any changes to the mySQL database.

Infact, you could move to a new host with a completely new install and not lose any data. Simply take an SQL dump from the current database and then just drop it into a new one.

Count me in for regular £ contributions. Count me out for forum maintenance, I'd love to learn into it, but I can't commit the time..

I've used this host (http://www.freevirtualservers.com/xlarge_hosting.html) before.

8GB storage and 100GB bandwidth for £12 a month.

Id be happy to contribute monthly, however I have no idea on the technical side so no help there Im afraid.

I'm sure I could pick up how everything works in a short time...I could realistically commit an hour an evening to helping out, with the exception of a few weeks a year when I'm not in Swindon and have no access to the internet.

As others have stated, it's nice to be able to argue about football again. Who'd have honestly thought a few weeks ago we'd be discussing a signing to the tune of £200k. Besides, I'm sure Fitton et al read the forums and this has contributed to their openess. Even for the sake of fan interaction it would be useful. General discussion pwns though!!!!111one

As for contributing money, I'd be more than happy. I've seen things on similar forums where people who contribute get a different coloured name thingy or something under their name to say they are vip. Although obviously not really giving anyone anything extra, perhaps we could do something similar, maybe even a periodic vip membership for show. At least it would show up the tight pocketed fools who post 18,000+ times.

The only other thing I can think of is that we set up a porn studio in Sussex and Birdy's garden shed and she can give out a soapy tit wank to everyone who pays a bit of cash. The videos would probably fetch a good amount too. I'm sure Birdy would love it and it would probably get Sussex's rocks off as well.

I am happy to help with the technical side of things

What configuration are we on at the moment?

I would offer IT skills but doubt they would help

£5 a month is no probs, oha and rebull is a git, gazza but no bush boooo

wtf?

He means redbullzeye had gazza on his list but not him.

Takes a bit of studying to actually make sense of that sentence!

I think it's currently a VPS, hence the high monthly cost. Not sure on current storage/bandwidth allowances.

According to Whits, the TEF uses about 15GB to 20GB a month.

I suppose the biggest thing would be a host that can cope with hundreds of concurrent connections.

Ive already offered to take over sorting the money side of it but nothing happened so I gave up being arsed.Id imagine we can pay a year up front or I can probably just open up a bank account with someone purely for this.

I cant do any of the tech stuff so others would have to.Barry Scott offered to help but couldnt get any of the info he needed and is now struggling for time.

Personaly I dont see the problem with losing old posts and the most be some way of archiving stuff anyway.Surely a forum that works is prefereable to one that doesnt with lots of old old posts?

I knew I'd upset someone  8)

:D didnt upset mate just bored in my office so thought I would say.

Im glad lady understands my waffle though

Ill gladly contribute monthly

I would also help organise and run it

It would be a pleasure

I have a pretty powerful VPS, which is currently 99% redundant and would run this forum without breaking a sweat. I'd consider moving it  there and swallowing the costs in whole while it's not in use. I say that, but if push came to shove, i'd probably change my mind!

I could also build a subscription page and add a paypal/google checkout subscription facility. SHUT UP, my fingers are writing cheques my time can't cash.

However, i won't run it or take full control, i'm not here enough or able to constantly monitor everything.

I would contribute as I am sure would Santini. Lurker Lloyd wouldn't because she's as tight as a ducks arse.

Could we not sell advertising space - Dunwoody Marketing would leap at the chance to make their wares available to the thronging masses of TEF'ers.

Hiya guys

Am happy to contribute some cash as well - I mean, if it's a couple of quid a month to keep this place going, who's going to miss one pint every four weeks?? (apart from a severe alcoholic!)

I'd also be happy to contribute some time/technical expertese etc to whatever is needed. I've got at least some basic experience of setting up and maintaining phpBB stuff as well as other web skills ...

If you need a hand, drop me a note ...

i'd be more than happy to contribute some dosh to the site.

I'd give cash, but i don't own a computer so i doubt i could assist in any techie stuff from work!

Your the man to take it over. I nominate you.

Do it sam.

Im quite happy to donate monthly, say £10 or so

i'll donate money if i have to aswell

I've donated before and will gladly do so again. Monthly, annually whatever. I don't have time to help out manage the site - a high maintenance wife doesn't help, plus work is going to get VERY busy for me soon.

And RBE remembered me, and not Bushey  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: Cheers mate  :wink: I'm impressed.