Head in the clouds
Well-Known Member
What is HBA worth - to each of us?
While the shock of the loss of Orion is still fresh in our minds I want to take the opportunity to post a gentle nudge.
When we lost the continuing wisdoms of Bill most of us got a solid reminder of the great value that HBA is to us in the constant accumulation and sharing of knowledge that we need to successfully develop our projects. And that's not even mentioning the enjoyment we get from the fellowship with like-minded friends spread around the globe.
During the lead-up to Orion's Memorial Service there have been several mentions of what Bill would have liked as an ongoing tribute and I have no doubt that for HBA to continue to be the best homebuilding forum, and to continue to improve and develop further, would have been his wish.
My brother develops and runs a very large internet site, though not as big as HBA probably, and it's his full time work and he has several assistants. So that site costs several hundred thousand dollars a year just in wages, let alone the hardware and hosting costs. I've read in various places on this site of just some of the costs that Jake and Belle absorb so very generously for all of us. I saw $20K for basic development work and that's in addition to the clearly tremendous amount of voluntary work, without which this site would join the big heap of smoking relics that tried a similar path but didn't have the fine governance exhibited here.
And remember that Jake is an army pilot, not a captain of industry, and he and family are also trying to build an aircraft to donate to a very worthy cause, there aren't many folks with that kind of generosity. I've also read that the administrators may need to start having advertising on the forum pages to help make ends meet and I quite understand that but think it would be so much better if we can avoid it, as Wikipedia manages to do for example, and this is our Wikiplanebuilding, after all.
Topaz posted last week that HBA has 4000 active members, that's a lot. If only 10% of us gave just a dollar a week to relieve Jake's family's costs that would amount to 400 x 52 (weeks in a year) = over $20K per year which would cover the immediate expenses and allow the site to grow and improve dramatically, rather than decline into the cheaper look that advertising produces.
The figures show that we don't need individuals to take on a heavy financial commitment to make an absolutely huge difference to something we love, a few coins regularly from enough contributors would turn things upside down. I'm sure Orion would have loved that and I know that I want my daily fix of HBA to keep improving.
At the top of the page (HBA supporters 2012) you can see there are only 13 visible contributors (and a few anonymous ones) and that's a very small show from so large a membership.
So in honor of Bill and the knowledge I gained from him, and in recognition of how much I continue to gain from all of you, I have established a small ongoing donation to help with the site costs. My dollar a week won't do much on its own but added to yours it will, so come on members - which would you miss more, your daily dose of HBA or one trifling dollar a week?
While the shock of the loss of Orion is still fresh in our minds I want to take the opportunity to post a gentle nudge.
When we lost the continuing wisdoms of Bill most of us got a solid reminder of the great value that HBA is to us in the constant accumulation and sharing of knowledge that we need to successfully develop our projects. And that's not even mentioning the enjoyment we get from the fellowship with like-minded friends spread around the globe.
During the lead-up to Orion's Memorial Service there have been several mentions of what Bill would have liked as an ongoing tribute and I have no doubt that for HBA to continue to be the best homebuilding forum, and to continue to improve and develop further, would have been his wish.
My brother develops and runs a very large internet site, though not as big as HBA probably, and it's his full time work and he has several assistants. So that site costs several hundred thousand dollars a year just in wages, let alone the hardware and hosting costs. I've read in various places on this site of just some of the costs that Jake and Belle absorb so very generously for all of us. I saw $20K for basic development work and that's in addition to the clearly tremendous amount of voluntary work, without which this site would join the big heap of smoking relics that tried a similar path but didn't have the fine governance exhibited here.
And remember that Jake is an army pilot, not a captain of industry, and he and family are also trying to build an aircraft to donate to a very worthy cause, there aren't many folks with that kind of generosity. I've also read that the administrators may need to start having advertising on the forum pages to help make ends meet and I quite understand that but think it would be so much better if we can avoid it, as Wikipedia manages to do for example, and this is our Wikiplanebuilding, after all.
Topaz posted last week that HBA has 4000 active members, that's a lot. If only 10% of us gave just a dollar a week to relieve Jake's family's costs that would amount to 400 x 52 (weeks in a year) = over $20K per year which would cover the immediate expenses and allow the site to grow and improve dramatically, rather than decline into the cheaper look that advertising produces.
The figures show that we don't need individuals to take on a heavy financial commitment to make an absolutely huge difference to something we love, a few coins regularly from enough contributors would turn things upside down. I'm sure Orion would have loved that and I know that I want my daily fix of HBA to keep improving.
At the top of the page (HBA supporters 2012) you can see there are only 13 visible contributors (and a few anonymous ones) and that's a very small show from so large a membership.
So in honor of Bill and the knowledge I gained from him, and in recognition of how much I continue to gain from all of you, I have established a small ongoing donation to help with the site costs. My dollar a week won't do much on its own but added to yours it will, so come on members - which would you miss more, your daily dose of HBA or one trifling dollar a week?
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