Ok, now I know where the spridget shirt profit check is going to... I was
wondering about that...
Toby
1971 Land Cruiser
1969 Austin Healey Sprite..
>
>Last week, many of the folks here in the U.S. of A observed what we call
>Columbus Day. It comemmerates the voyage of Christopher Columbus and his
>"discovery" of the New World. Columbus took off for unknown territory in
>search of new trade routes, thinking he'd find one thing, and found
another.
>And it is getting to the point where I may do a similar thing with
Team.Net,
>taking off in an unknown direction, without knowing how it will turn out.
>
>The current situation is that the 80 or so Team.Net lists [1], their
roughly
>14,000 subscribers, the www.team.net web pages, the ftp.team.net FTP
archives
>are all handled by an old computer tucked off in the corner of the machine
room
>here in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Utah. And
doing
>the care and feeding of that server is me, just one person.
>
>*** What I would like to do:
>
> - Replace the server with at least one new box. Perhaps split off the web
> and ftp from the mailer machine, so having one service blow up the
server
> doesn't topple the others.
>
> Why? The current hardware is sort of still working. You got this
message,
> didn't you? One of the disks that was donated during my last plea is
making
> WAY too much noise, and will likely kiss the turf in the very near
future.
> This stuff doesn't last forever. I've actually shuffled stuff around,
if the
> disk does fail soon, there should be minimal loss of service.
>
>
> - Divorce the Team.Net box from the University. Rather than keeping it
> hanging off some U of U wire, get sufficient bandwidth at home or the
shop
> or somewhere to support the traffic loads for the foreseeable future.
>
> Why? Basically, to keep some sort of equipment replacement fund on
hand,
> I'd like to find some way of generating a modest bit of income from all
this
> work. And while it would be nice if all of the 14,000 subscribers
mentioned
> above would send me, say, 7.95 every year to cover each of their list
> subscriptions, that is unlikely to happen. So I'm thinking of
commercial
> sponsorships, perhaps some advertising, maybe a classified cars and
parts
> service for a modest fee, whatever. But doing anything like that using
> University resources is not the way to go.
>
>*** What it will take:
>
> - Money. Basically enough funding to purchase the required hardware, to
cover
> the installation fees of a network line of some sort set up somewhere,
and
> enough to cover several months of the ongoing line charges and such,
while
> I ponder various income schemes. Looking for those new trade routes, so
to
> speak.
>
> - Time. I'll provide this.
>
>
>*** What I request of you:
>
> - Contribute money. You *knew* this was coming, didn't you? Send a
check,
> made payable to Fat Chance Garage, to this address:
>
> Fat Chance Garage
> PO Box 58333
> Salt Lake City, Utah 84158
>
>Simple, eh? Now, the few times over the last decade or so I've done this,
>I've gotten many offers from folks willing to throw in some unused, surplus
>hardware of various types. For example, the failing disk I mention above.
>In truth, I'd rather go out and purchase new stuff, which comes with a
warranty
>and someone I can pepper with complaints if need be. I think that is the
best
>route in the long run.
>
>Also, for those many list folks who are not in the US of A, don't worry
about
>it. Usually, a check from out of the country costs me more in service
charges,
>currency conversion and hassle than it is worth. If a batch of folks based
in,
>say, England or Australia or Canada or Germany or wherever got together and
sent
>in one large bank check payable in US Dollars, that would be different!
>
>If you've recently contributed, or don't feel like you are getting anything
>out of these lists[2], or are just plain old broke, don't worry about it.
I'll
>continue to provide what I can; payment for services rendered is on a
strictly
>voluntary basis. Which in some cases is likely a shame, as I bet there are
>many on these lists who make use of them for personal financial gain in one
>form or another, and are quite willing to continue doing so with no regard
for
>the efforts I provide enabling them to do so. The flip side of that,
though,
>is that there are folks with commercial interests directly related to the
>areas of list interests who always come through with contributions when I
ask.
>Cool.
>
>So, let's see what we can do to improve the services I provide. If I
gather
>in a few hundred dollars, you probably won't notice anything different. A
few
>thousand, and there could be some screamin' new hardware behind it all.
And
>if a hundred thousand or so (Less than $8 per subscription!) I'd quit my
day
>job and actually be able to work full time as the Team.Net guy, and you
might
>get a decent level of customer service out of me, instead of the current
>situation of more than likely no reply at all. Hmmm, would that be my
dream,
>or a nightmare?
>
>
>So, if you can assist, great, there's a few thousand others around the
world
>besides me who would appreciate it. If not, I hope that I can still
provide
>you with something useful in your life through the Team.Net services.
>
>Thanks,
>mjb.
>
>
>1: To see what the lists are, send a plain text message to:
>
> majordomo@autox.team.net
>
> Put nothing in the body of the message but the command
>
> lists
>
>
>
>2: To unsubscribe from a list, first make sure you know the name of the
list.
> See 1 above. Then, send a plain text email to
>
> majordomo@autox.team.net
>
> Put nothing in the body of the message but the command
>
> unsubscribe <name_of_the_list_as_majordomo_knows_it>
>
>
> If the program can figure out who you are, you will be unsubscribed.
IF
> not, the request will be forwarded to me, so that I can handle it,
hopefully
> in a less than infinite amount of time.
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