You guys are one of many who help us keep things going here and it's very appreciated, even by those who fail to see the "behind the scenes" actions.
My hope would be that people would support those who help support this place. Visiting the sites and buying from the people who advertise and donate to help keep things running and strengthens all of us.
I don't expect everyone to kill themselves to help by any stretch of the imagination, but to see so many benefit from our existence and to not bother helping is a shame.
Just as an example of costs for even minor things. The chat server, as many of you have noticed, was replaced. The old chat server license has since changed for demos which only allows 30 days of use. Nobody had bothered to check for updates, let alone changes to the software, license, etc. Looking to upgrade to a nicer package I looked around and realized not just that, but that costs were insane. $2500-$4000 on average for a decent package. For CHAT!!! (Ok, so maybe its not a big deal to me, but that's because I realize there's usually only 10-20 people on there per night!)
Server software runs high, hardware needs to be updated and expanded every year, and hosting costs and bandwidth prices seem to increase as well. (Not to mention our BW usage is crazy!)
This place exists because we work together to make it so, now we're just asking that companies, who have so much to gain, jump in and help us out!
Visit the advertisers, spend some money, and help support those who keep us running!!!