Mark and Fellow Listers,
I would be reluctant to donate ANY moneys if it meant that the amount of my
donation would be published. You are offering a great service and I will send
you the amount that I am willing and able to donate to support that service.
I believe your overture was well written, honest and covered all points. I don't
think it should be reduced to a contest between those with deep pockets and an
expose of those without.
Jay Fishbein, CT
Owner Of More British Stuff Than I Need
William Schickling wrote:
> Mark,
>
> Maybe you should keep track of where the money comes from, then publish it.
> Use our natural tendencies to compete. Supposedly the Spridgets list is
> occupied by the "We tight" crowd, but I would venture that, from my
> experience with that group, they would be generous to a fault. If nothing
> else it would tell you who your real customers are.
>
> Bill Schickling
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Mark J Bradakis <mjb@cs.utah.edu>
> To: <healeys@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Sunday, October 17, 1999 3:31 PM
> Subject: A new world? [Long, but important.]
>
> >
> > 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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