crazyguyonabike needs your help :)

[cindysue]

Crazyguyonabike seeks donations to improve the site. The site hosts thousands of touring journals of people just like us.

It's a great resource if you've never checked it out. And our very own Denise Goldberg is a frequent flyer there.........

www.crazyguyonabike.com

Here's the letter from the very generous guy who runs the website.
-------------------------
Server Fundraising Appeal

After the site went down recently, I ditched the company that was
hosting it because they appeared to be somewhat incompetent in the hardware maintenance department. I couldn't immediately find a good replacement hosting company, and anyway I was now more than a little cautious about using other people's hardware. So I moved the website back to the old server which I had been using since 1999. It was a pretty good machine, a dual Xeon 550, but now I am noticing that with the website growing, it's not really able to keep up with the load any more. So, I would like to get a new server to take us into the next few years. Unfortunately I am currently unemployed and unable to afford this kind of expense, so I
thought I would see if the community would like to help make it happen.
Here's your chance to help make crazyguyonabike better - it's a simple
deal: We are trying to raise $2000, since this is about what it would
cost for a reasonable machine that should be able to handle the load for a
while. If you go to the website then you'll see a big yellow box on the
home page, which has a progress bar so people can see how much we have
raised so far. This links to the Donation page, which has more
explanation about what it's all about, and how you can contribute.

I am hoping that people will see fit to give as much as possible, since
it's your website too and you'll see a direct benefit in faster
response times and the ability to implement better features, e.g. interactive
maps.

So, if you like the site, this is your chance to give something back
and help it grow! Oh, and one last thing - after a discussion on the Forums
about this, I understand that people think it would be nice to get some
kind of website-related sticker in return for donating. So if you make
sure to give me your postal address, ideally on a self-addressed stamped
envelope (SASE), preferably business size to be able to hold an average
sized sticker, then I'll get one of these sent out to you as soon as I
can get them made up. Currently I am thinking about two designs: Both oval
on white reflective background, one saying "CGoaB" and the other "GET
CRAZY", both with the website address in smaller letters underneath. Anyway, as I said, as soon as I can get these made up then I'll send one out to people who send donations for the server. The SASE is not required, but it
would certainly help save me time and money mailing the sticker back to you.

Thanks!

-Neil

[DeniseGoldberg]

cindysue -

Thanks for posting this note here - I should have thought to do that myself!

There have been numerous conversations about the need for a new server and the right way to raise money for it between Neil & some of the crazyguyonabike authors, both on and off of the site. I think it was a hard decision for Neil to make to ask for help raising money for a new server, but I think that it was a good decision. I'm hoping that enough people will agree with that thought to actually fund the server...

--- Denise

[MomOnBike]

I've been wondering for a long time how Neil does it - that site has to be costing him, in both money and time.

It's a great resource. I'll pay up as soon as I get paid, and I encourage others to do so as well.