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How Can We Help GetDPI Stay Alive

dj may

Well-known member
This is the attitude that has made this site successful. It seems to have been a labor of love. Turning it over to someone who will see it as a monetizing opportunity will kill the spirit, in my opinion. Of course the expenses must be paid. I would volunteer to pick up some load to the extent that I am able. Who else will volunteer?
As Bob said, it isn't just about money, though more could solve it. The site costs are not that significant — about $2000 to $2500 annually to host and maintain. The real issue is the background labor and attention required on a daily basis -- and Bob and I are tired of doing it gratis. It requires somebody(s) with forum software prowess to approve and vet new members and approve posts daily from new members until they hit 10 or so -- which is how we keep spammers to a minimum, and yet you see the ones that still make it through even with that. Then it requires somebody with web skills to manage all the site software updates and patches, and then manage malware or hack attacks that can come almost any time day or night. In short, it takes somebody being on deck pretty much 24-7. So that’s the real issue for us: we're tired of doing it and there simply isn’t enough money to outsource those tech parts…

We would be totally open to handing it over to a consortium of folks that want to take all of that on to keep GetDPI alive. We've had a few basic offers to take it over, but they would move the site to a subscription/ad model or merge it with their own existing site -- in the hopes of getting all of our members active on their forum, so they can reap the ad and subscription revenue. In short, it would become all the things we never wanted the site to be...

We love the members -- you've made GetDPI truly a unique community. But we don't see a clear path for us to gracefully depart and keep the flavor the same...
 
You know Dante supports and appreciates all efforts to preserve the GetDPI family, whether standalone or moved elsewhere.

Even though Dante lives in the hearts of most of you here at GetDPI, I need a home.

--Dante
 

Shashin

Well-known member
The good news is we have a timeline--June 1.

If we can organize a group of people to start taking over the tasks Jack and Bob are performing now and learn how to run more technical aspects of keeping the site going, we should be able to keep GetDPI running (or figure out if we can get enough volunteers to efficiently run the site).

While I don't have the technical skills now, I have learnt to code and do other things to run IT. I just need to learn. (And you would expect in a photography forum that loves gear and technology, I would not be an outlier).

We just need to organize and use the time to get up to speed.

I am in! Who else?
 

Ztacir

Member
I am ready to contribute any amount of donatiıon to keep this wonderful community under Getdpi forums.
Ziya
 

DougDolde

Well-known member
I've never been one to support pay sites and this would be no exception.
As Ben Franklin said “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship”

I think it's more about being a social gathering place than providing much useful content

I understand why people are upset, no one wants anything to change. But life is change so get over it !
 

tcdeveau

Well-known member
I am happy to help, but I don't the technical skills or the time to learn right now :( If it were a different time in my life I would've already started trying to learn....

Not sure how else I could help or contribute other than donations to help with hosting fees.
 

Pemihan

Well-known member
As I wrote on another thread:

This is very sad news :cry:

When I started researching MFD back in the day GetDPI became my forum of choice. Great bunch of members and dealer participants as well. So much knowledge stored here that you simply can't find anywhere else. It's a photographic knowledge goldmine!

I would gladly pay a considerably amount monthly or yearly fee to keep this site running no doubt about that! Count me in!


Sadly I do not have the tech skills to contribute on that side. I really hope we together can find a solution to keep this valuable site running!
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
There must be another forum that could benefit from sharing the hosting costs ? Contract service approach . Separate forums with shared infrastructure costs .
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Firstly, we appreciate all of the support -- this is a very special community. Let me just say there have been a few dialogs that have opened up, and one in particular may be quite promising in helping keep the forum open under its current model.

Also know that we appreciate all the offers of of financial support. That could be very helpful, and we will let you know if (or more hopefully, when) those would be appreciated.

Stay tuned!
 

anyone

Well-known member
Firstly, we appreciate all of the support -- this is a very special community. Let me just say there have been a few dialogs that have opened up, and one in particular may be quite promising in helping keep the forum open under its current model.

Also know that we appreciate all the offers of of financial support. That could be very helpful, and we will let you know if (or more hopefully, when) those would be appreciated.

Stay tuned!
That sounds very promising! Looking forward to the news. I also really do appreciate that you are not just thinking of selling it off to someone. That's very sympathetic indeed! By keeping this somewhat neutral and non-commercial, the treshold of becoming part of the community stays low. That statement is independent of a voluntary donation (count me in).
 

Knorp

Well-known member
Firstly, we appreciate all of the support -- this is a very special community. Let me just say there have been a few dialogs that have opened up, and one in particular may be quite promising in helping keep the forum open under its current model.

Also know that we appreciate all the offers of of financial support. That could be very helpful, and we will let you know if (or more hopefully, when) those would be appreciated.

Stay tuned!
We will ! Hurrah !
 

B L

Well-known member
Firstly, we appreciate all of the support -- this is a very special community. Let me just say there have been a few dialogs that have opened up, and one in particular may be quite promising in helping keep the forum open under its current model.

Also know that we appreciate all the offers of of financial support. That could be very helpful, and we will let you know if (or more hopefully, when) those would be appreciated.

Stay tuned!
Dear Uncle Jack, You know what you are dont you? You are a Star.:clap:
 

vjbelle

Well-known member
First of all I would gladly support this site in any way necessary. As for finding talent to run the software side I think that if funds were available professional talent could be found on an as needed basis. Why take any chances with learning when that type of talent is available - albeit for a fee.

The real difficulty is keeping the personality of this site in tact. I have liked the laid back atmosphere and any change to that with new moderation personalities would be a negative for me.

Regardless - I'm in.

Victor B
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Woof! Missed the start of this yesterday.

First off: Thank you both, Jack and Bob, for all the work and time you've put into making GetDPI an excellent forum! It's one of the few sites I participate on that I would be willing to buy a paid subscription for. Good folks, good conversation, lots of great photos to enjoy...!

I'm heartened to hear that some possibility has come up to maintain GetDPI going forward. I don't have much to offer other than a subscription or modest donation to the cause or I'd step forward on that front, but I surely would do either or both of those.

In the event that GetDPI cannot survive, I imagine that one route to continued support of the GetDPI community would be to use a private subscription mailing list. Three of my other forums have been eliminated over the past year due to funding and time problems by their owners; two of them have successfully transitioned to pretty-much-self-running email lists hosted by groups.io. The groups.io model allows an overall mailing list with sub-groupings by topic, and the costs per year are very low.

What it would take to transition the GetDPI community that cares back to something like that is probably a bit of work and thought up front by the GetDPI administrators, and the willingness of the community to interact with that sort of environment. I'd certainly be happy to help and would subscribe.

But it's only a thought. I'll be monitoring this thread to see what happens.

best,
G
 

Boinger

Active member
As Bob said, it isn't just about money, though more could solve it. The site costs are not that significant — about $2000 to $2500 annually to host and maintain. The real issue is the background labor and attention required on a daily basis -- and Bob and I are tired of doing it gratis. It requires somebody(s) with forum software prowess to approve and vet new members and approve posts daily from new members until they hit 10 or so -- which is how we keep spammers to a minimum, and yet you see the ones that still make it through even with that. Then it requires somebody with web skills to manage all the site software updates and patches, and then manage malware or hack attacks that can come almost any time day or night. In short, it takes somebody being on deck pretty much 24-7. So that’s the real issue for us: we're tired of doing it and there simply isn’t enough money to outsource those tech parts…

We would be totally open to handing it over to a consortium of folks that want to take all of that on to keep GetDPI alive. We've had a few basic offers to take it over, but they would move the site to a subscription/ad model or merge it with their own existing site -- in the hopes of getting all of our members active on their forum, so they can reap the ad and subscription revenue. In short, it would become all the things we never wanted the site to be...

We love the members -- you've made GetDPI truly a unique community. But we don't see a clear path for us to gracefully depart and keep the flavor the same...
I have all the necessary skills required and would be happy to take over the technical duties of the forum. I have developed and ran several websites / forums in the past. I would just need some help in terms of willing moderator volunteers. I also have my own managed server.

If you are willing / want to / open to a transfer? Otherwise I would be happy to just lend a hand on the technical aspects of the sites like continues updates to the back end etc.
 
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Shashin

Well-known member
I've never been one to support pay sites and this would be no exception.
As Ben Franklin said “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship”

I think it's more about being a social gathering place than providing much useful content

I understand why people are upset, no one wants anything to change. But life is change so get over it !
There is also "penny wise and pound foolish."

But thanks Doug for your supportive contribution to the conversation (as always)! Did you think the change could be the community becoming self-sufficient? Just a thought.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Did you think the change could be the community becoming self-sufficient?
:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:


Boinger, we may be contacting you. ;)



Guys, I am now pretty confident we can make this work out. Stay tuned.
 

sc_john

Active member
Firstly, we appreciate all of the support -- this is a very special community. Let me just say there have been a few dialogs that have opened up, and one in particular may be quite promising in helping keep the forum open under its current model.

Also know that we appreciate all the offers of of financial support. That could be very helpful, and we will let you know if (or more hopefully, when) those would be appreciated.

Stay tuned!
Count me in!

John
 
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