A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO All GTA MEMBERS - PLEASE READ>>>>>>>>>>

[gene_sc]

As you all know we are trying to incorporate the old GTA into the new GTA. That would include the old posts, attachments, member accounts etc. It would appear that it will happen very soon.

Like nearly all other forums, we have been on shared hosting all along. As most of you know, the GTA forums and membership and particularly the data base has grown tremendously since we opened the doors five years ago. It is huge.

It now appears that no shared hosting company has the horsepower to run our forums adequately. Few people realize just how big the GTA forum and data base is. As is, we will continue experiencing issues with errors etc., especially once when we finally have all the past data in place and if not now, we will in the very near future with our expected growth.

Soooo……we have made a major decision and commitment. That decision is to move us once again and hopefully for the last time to our very own VPS server "Virtual Private Server".  We will no longer have to share resources with any other hosts. This will be our own server and it will be scalable to our needs as we deem necessary.

As most of you know, we, meaning Bob and Gene, have been paying all of the cost and expenses for the GTA out of our pockets. Up to this point in time, it has not been too costly but because the major changes and the memberships desire for retaining our past history and better service, it has become rather (to say the least) expensive.

The biggie was we had to retain the services of outside resources to build a transition program just for us because there was nothing else available that would work and then download our data, disassemble it and reassemble it with the new program before it could be merged into our new forums data.

In the past, and as we promised from the outset, we do not have banner ads and other things splashing on the screens on the GTA like many other forums which are a nuisance and distracting. The GTA forum has always been “TRASH FREE” and we certainly want to keep it that way.

We could of course run banners, fliers and Ad’s and it would help to defray our expenses. It is an alternative but that would be done only as a last resort. That said we may have to turn to other means for support and we are considering other options and there are not many. For now, we are banner free and enjoy the freedom of no interference and no obligations to anybody but ourselves. This is your forum and it’s not committed to outside marketing sources for it survival. Therefore, on this point, any suggestions that the membership can come up with are certainly welcomed.

Later this week we will be making the move and this time it should be smoother than prior experiences. It is a matter of just pointing our domain name to a new IP address which will be on our own server. At the most it may interfere with some for 24 hours and most just a few minutes at a time as the transition is taking place and depending on the IP address you are using from your ISP.

So when our new server is up and we are running again you will be able to look at most all the posts that were made 4 or five years back and most of the attachments as well.  Also, Gene will have to do some manual editing to eliminate any corrupted posts. A tedious task and the editing is just a matter of time.
 Bob and Gene

[Phil_B]

Thanks to you and Bob for all that you do for us

[borde]

It will be nice to have a donations system and you can show who gave donations too. I'm sure members here will gladly give for the awesome information, work and support you have here. It is also the alternative to ads.

[Davee1]

This post reminds me of how much work goes on, behind the scenes...basically unknown to many who use the forum.  Thank you Bob, Gene, and everyone else who makes this forum possible.  You guys are awesome.

[dust]

Just a suggestion.  Post up a paypal link, and let those whose donate have a special avatar or something simple to show that they supported the forum.

[EtheB]

Whilst being a brand new member I can appreciate the effort running a forum of this quality takes - well done!
I'm all for the donation via PayPal idea with a note on Avatar re membership status, works elsewhere.

[dk1677]

Just a suggestion.  Post up a paypal link, and let those whose donate have a special avatar or something simple to show that they supported the forum.

That's a good idea! Yes thank you Gene and Bob for all the hard work you put into the GTA!

[daveshoot]

I have no idea about the financials- assume some is up front (server and stuff?) and some is ongoing.

You should definitely have a tip jar (Paypal is perfect for me) but if you can let us know how much total is at stake, maybe there'll be some other ideas. You can do that for interested parties offline if you like (PM or email).

We could raffle stuff, have a $$ goal thermometer thingie, a lead-free bake sale, the ideas just go on and on... just please don't make me a "Daisy" again...

[454 Big Block Chevy]

I am game to help with fund raising as well.  being in the military, i could definatly pass the idea of something around.  lets brain storm this and see how we can grow, and expand.  the more members we have, the more information and help will be shared, however... the costs will rise.  lets get this straight!

[454 Big Block Chevy]

I also wouldn't mind at all, a small PA banner, somewhere... considering most of us shop there anyhow, i bet they would be up for the idea.... or mabey some kind of sponsered FPE calculator, or pellet weight conversion chart somewhere....

[Jay]

 Is ALL the info. that important Mr.Gene an Mr.Bob? I know I could live without the past post's(unless informative info.??).But that matter's not a thing to me right now.PLEASE give an address to send donation's too(I have asked several time's to be able to help you with cost as has other's).An who care's if someone know's who gave or not? But that's up to you two.Heck hold a raffle also, I'd give $10 for a ticket on one of your's or Mr.Bob's most beat up junk gun's(pride of ownership LOL).

[bwana]

I'd be glad to donate to the forum. Where do I send the check?

[454 Big Block Chevy]

i imagine if we get creative enough, we could raffle off all kinds of things.......

[samTN]

I'm ready to donate too just direct us to how.

[famine]

I decided to come back and just read this. Gene, Bob, I sent one of you a suggestion a while back notifying you that I had friends that would have done this conversion for dirt cheap or even for free. Quite simply all that would have been needed was a harvester (scrape the data) and a script to convert it and finally FTP access to upload it all back to the new server.

As for suggestions. You could simply raffle off guns. I'm certain that if Gene or someone here did a lube/tune/the works to a relatively cheap gun and then asked users that were interested in being in the raffle to donate 10 bucks you would cover the cost and the tune plus put some money in the pot for server costs. Start out small and do one a month, gather data, learn how many are joining the raffle and what the growth is. Once you can accurately gage the money generated you could then move on to bigger and better guns. And if the money is right you could then start doing more than one gun and more than one winner. If you can then maintain a good amount of users continuing to join the raffle you could then move to a very expensive gun around the holidays to make someone have a very fine Christmas gift.

P.S. - I also have many friends that OWN SERVER COMPANIES, I have a friend that owns a data center in NYC that rents their servers to big companies located in NYC. I could talk to him and see if I can get you a dedicated server for 10 bucks a month. All I need is your information and tell him to contact you.

I've been trying to reach out and help you guys but have not received a word back from my posts or PM's.

[Nightstalker]

For this forum I'd be on board to help anyway I could whether it be yearly Membership or Donation's.A few raffles along with Memberships,whatever it takes! This place is way too Important not to be.I only had 2 places I really liked and I'm down to 1 due to some others who like to stir things up and cause controversy,so I think I speak for most that would say,there's No Better place to be than the GTA!
Thanks Bob & Gene for all you do!

[Big_Bill]

I'm in whatever it takes !

Perhaps having "SUPPORTING MEMBERS", CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS" and "HELPING MEMBERS" would be an idea ?

Just what would the annual costs be

But I'm sure there will be many members willing to help out !!!!!  I know I will !

Bill

[wms]

Thanks for all the hard work.

I like this idea from a post above:

"Post up a paypal link, and let those whose donate have a special avatar or something simple to show that they supported the forum."

Ready to donate.

[454 Big Block Chevy]

you could also raise the price of your GRTIII triggers up a few bucks... if you sell enough of them, that would easily help offset some costs

[ezman604]

I'm a po' old retired military guy (and still working for a living) 
but Gene/Bob, tell us what you need from us and we'll be there!!!!
I like the PayPal donate button idea also and possibly a glowing avatar or supporting member icon?
Happy Shooting!!!!
Dave