forum renewal update

[mobile_bob]

ok guys, i just paid the forum renewal fee's for another 6 months

so i want to know from all of you, is this place relevant any longer? 
we are going to have to either make it so over the next 6 months or have a fund raiser to raise the needed monies to renew
it next time it is due.

i no longer want to keep reaching in my pocket to support something that doesn't seem  to have much interest anymore.

so what do you guys think?   with the changing world wide political climate, higher fuel prices make forums like this more relevant and drive the next generation of folks here?  or not?

bob g

[Tom Reed]

I'll kick in some $.

[veggie]

Hey Bob, Thanks.

I do love this stuff.
Micro Power generation, CHP, etc....

But man! It's hard to justify keeping the site alive for just a few posts every month.

I vote to let it go.

[mobile_bob]

i am really torn about what to do going forward

on one hand it is hard to put up 275 bucks a year, or the 150 whatever for 6 months
especially given i don't have enough time to post any projects, let alone properly manage this forum

on the other hand,  everything in life seems to run in cycles, i recall the 70's to the very early 80's where gas prices
home heating, interest rates through the roof, and inflation spurred a truck load of books being published on all manner
of "how to do whatever you want"  like power generation, using an old lawnmower engine, and an old delco dn10 alternator, rheostat control and maybe a couple group 24 car batteries to power a few 1156 bulbs to provide the power for an offgrid lifestyle.  good lord if we had a forum back in that time period it would have a few hundred hits every day.

what i think i see happening is this, we have gone through a pretty good period of relative peace, cheap everything... so nobody much cares about this sort of thing we talk about here, or rather a lot few folks have been giving it any thought at all..

now with the world seemingly going insane, gas prices way up, home heating and cooling are going to also escalate, so i wonder if we are now on the edge of the next wave of "lets see what we can do to make some heat or power"  maybe another generation is on its way into the conscientiousness.

so maybe we hold on a while longer?  i got us paid up until september, so maybe by then we shall see what the world looks like and decide then?

maybe my life will simplify enough so that i can also get back to what i really love, that is everything related to microcogen.

just in case i haven't told you guys lately...

i love ya'all

bob g 

[Tom Reed]

Way to much valuable info here to let it go. I'd be a shame.

[veggie]

Tom Reed is right, lots of info here.

Hypothetically, if the forum were to be discontinued,
Just thinking out loud here....

I don't know the file format of the forum software, but I wonder if there is a way to save the thing as a big searchable text file or some other such format that would make it useful to anyone who wanted to download it.
Most (if not all) of us here are already part of the Lister Engine Forum.
It could be posted there for download.
Also, a notice could be put on this home page advising members to sign up at the LEF for further forum discussion.

[veggie]

The fact that only 2 of us are discussing this (other than BobG) kinda tells a story.

[mobile_bob]

i guess if there are only 3 of us, there is a lot of elbow room!

the next 6 months might tell us what needs to be done.

as for some sort of downloadable format, i guess i need to see if it could be downloaded onto a searchable
cd.

then it could be archived and made available to any number of folks by various means, and maybe if the day comes there is a sea change in politics ( i know, a pipe dream) it would be around to relaunch as part of something new and relevant.

bob g

[mike90045]

I'd say, with current conditions, renew for a year.   I'll kick in $150 to start with.   What's the paypal address ?

Mike  ( been way too busy working to be very activly posting )

[Tom Reed]

Another option is moving it to my server. I am already running 3 websites and the traffic here certainly wouldn't bog things down much further. Then the only charges would be for the domain name. I'm willing to discuss this further if there is interest.

[vdubnut62]

hey I'm here!! been reading,but hard to respond with a dislocated shoulder and a fractured eye socket. Bob you know Im good for a few dollars
too much valuable info here to let it all escape into the ether
Ron

[mobile_bob]

Mike, Ron and others,

i appreciate the support,

the forum is paid up to september, so i will try to let everyone know before the due date so that maybe we can
have a fund raiser to pay up for the next year...

thanks guys

bob g

[Tom Reed]

It looks like the forum software needs an update. I'm seeing php errors about depriciated commands being used.

[veggie]

If the majority is for keeping the forum, then so am I.
Bob, count me in for a few bucks also.

veggie