Bat House Forum

[Joe Spencer]

UPDATE: The BHF is saved thanks to very generous forum members! I'm speechless and humbled by your generosity! No further donations are necessary at this time. Thanks to all of you for your kindness. I just got home from work and found that Hostmonster (our current host) made a mistake and automatically renewed us for 3 yrs. at the discounted rate. I'd never consented to that so I just called customer support and ironically/fortunately got the same support person that I had in CHAT dialogue last night "Felipe". He is issuing us a credit for the difference between the 2-3 yr. plan which they said takes 1-5 working days. I just signed us up for 2yrs. which is the minimum duration to get the $3.95 monthly (2yrs paid up front/advance rate). THANK YOU again everyone!

Hi all! Because of very recent and unexpected financial issues I may have to shut down the Bat House Forum. I hope the financial situation improves next year. I /we lose the site/webhosting on October 28th at which time my 3yr. hosting commitment runs out @$3.95 per month paid upfront rate. At this price the host has been great and reliable. The monthly cost on a 1 yr. renewal is $4.95 per month plus the domain name. I will be paying for the domain name renewal for 1 yr. before the deadline so we don't lose that but I can't afford the web-hosting at this time. I will also back up the site to my hard drive a couple nights before shutdown to preserve our data should things improve in the future. In all the years of hosting the BHF after Dave started the Dave's Bat House Discussion Group, it has been a passion for me and the members have made it so. These are difficult times for many so I'm sorry about the bad news. I've added a PayPal donate page below. Should we meet the minimum hosting requirement for 1yr. of web-hosting $120 ($$ CORRECTION I'm posting the update below) I'll gladly keep her going! Should anyone else like to take over the forum for themselves that would of course be welcomed too! Just email me and we can discuss that. Thanks in advance for any help you're able to offer. No amount is too small.

DONATION PAGE: http://www.bathouseforum.org/forum/donate.htm

Most appreciative

Joe

[Erik]

Hi Joe,

you can count on me for a donation. I learned a lot from the forum in the past years.

greetings, Erik

[Joe Spencer]

Thanks Erik! For some reason I can't get the Paypal dontation button to appear on the forum pages but I put the donation link page below and now also above in the original post. If I don't receive enough donations after the deadline to keep the site up and running or my web-host can't work with me on it, I will gladly refund any donations I receive by anyone as desired. Thank you for your consideration and kindness....

DONATION PAGE: http://www.bathouseforum.org/forum/donate.htm

Most appreciative to all!

Joe

[cloudman75]

Joe,
Sent you some bucks today by paypal.
Frank

[Herb]

For the good that you do- $120

Thanks HF

[Dave Miller]

Thanks Joe, I sent some $ as well.

Thanks for all you do and for taking the baton from me many years ago!

Dave

[William Bagwell]

Several scattered thoughts here:

Put me down for a small donation. My financial situation is in a state of flux at the moment or I would offer a more generous one.

Website back ups; A 'hot' backup on another site might be a possibility if your web host uses cPanel or some other admin tool that allows exporting a phpBB forum? My web host uses cPanel and I seem to recall some kind of import / export function. Be glad to host an invisible mirror on my site to take over in the event you can no longer run the forum in the future.

For that matter, my web host offers packages starting at as little as $25 per year that could probably handle the forum with room to spare. My $50 per year (or $5 per month) plan has 750 MB of storage and 18 GB per month of bandwidth. Virtually every thing else is truly unlimited... A bit geekier than other hosts but I have managed to muddle through for years:) Willing to help you move if that is the best option.

William

[Joe Spencer]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you forum members! We will go on! I feel like George Bailey (maybe I'm dating myself) I'm overwhelmed with the generosity from everyone on this first day and during such difficult financial times. I wish I could have prevented the last minute situation. William, thanks for your feedback. I just spent time in my/our current webhost Hostmonster. I wanted to share/confirm their prices from a chat session with them I had tonight so here's the dialogue:


Chat Content:
Felipe: [5:36:58 PM] Welcome to our real-time support chat. Please be patient as I am assisting several clients at once. Can I start by getting the primary domain name to your account please?
Joe: [5:36:58 PM] Hi! I am a 3 year customer and originally signed up for the $3.95 a month hosting 3 years ago. My site hosting is set to expire on the 28th. I only had enough $$ to renew my domain tonight with you which is bathouseforum.org for which I was charged $10. We are trying to raise money for webhosting elsewhere or staying with you. Would you kindly let me know what it would cost to renew with you considering I already registered my domain with you for one more year? Please give me the price for any 1-3 year plans annually and monthly breakdown. Thanks Joe
Felipe: [5:37:40 PM] Let me take a look at the account for you. Could I start by getting your main domain to the account please?
Joe: [5:38:35 PM] I renewed my domain tonight with you tonight for 1 additional year so I would not lose it: bathouseforum.org
Felipe: [5:39:23 PM] Thank you. Give me just one moment to pull up your account.
[5:40:56 PM] So you're just looking to see our rates then?
Joe: [5:41:37 PM] yes for now since I still have one week to go before I expire with you.
Felipe: [5:42:00 PM] Pricing
[5:42:00 PM] 1 Month plan is $9.95 a month
[5:42:00 PM] 3 Month plan is $9.95 a month (total of $29.85)
[5:42:00 PM] 6 Month plan is $9.95 a month (total of $59.70)
[5:42:01 PM] 12 Month plan is $8.95 a month (total of $107.40)*
[5:42:01 PM] 24 Month plan is $7.95 a month (total of $190.80)*
[5:42:01 PM] 36 Month plan is $6.95 a month (total of $250.20)*
Joe: [5:42:52 PM] Felipe $3.95 is what I'm shooting for
[5:43:22 PM] Surely this is not how you treat existing customers right?
Felipe: [5:43:42 PM] Where did you see the 3.95?
Joe: [5:43:53 PM] Hostmonster homepage
[5:44:21 PM] hostmonster homepage it was my original rate as well with 3 year commitment.
Felipe: [5:45:10 PM] Gotcha. I can offer you the 4.95/month for the 12 month plan, or 3.95/month for the 24 and 36 month plans. These are promo rates we've been running for our existing clients.
Joe: [5:48:38 PM] Thank you for your confirmation on the prices. We hope to be selecting one of the latter plans you just mentioned prior to our expiration. Can you kindly confirm my/our web-hosting expiration date?
Felipe: [5:50:06 PM] 10/28/2011
Joe: [5:51:23 PM] Thank you very much we look forward to renewing our site with you before the expiration date! Take care and thank you!
Felipe: [5:55:06 PM] Sure thing, our deals end on Monday the 24th of October.
[5:55:52 PM] Do you have any further questions for me today?
Chat Again | Close Window

Felipe: [5:55:06 PM] Sure thing, our deals end on Monday the 24th of October.

[BrackishBatter]

I love this site, great resource. Donation sent!

[Emersombiguns]

I want to see it stay up also...I gave a little so we can keep it up. Randy Haughton,La

[Joe Spencer]

UPDATE: The BHF is saved thanks to very generous forum members! I'm speechless and humbled by your generosity! No further donations are necessary at this time. Thanks to all of you for your kindness. I just got home from work and found that Hostmonster (our current host) made a mistake and automatically renewed us for 3 yrs. at the discounted rate. I'd never consented to that so I just called customer support and ironically/fortunately got the same support person that I had in CHAT dialogue last night "Felipe". He is issuing us a credit for the difference between the 2-3 yr. plan which they said takes 1-5 working days. I just signed us up for 2yrs. which is the minimum duration to get the $3.95 monthly (2yrs paid up front/advance rate). THANK YOU again everyone!