Donations (server bill 22nd each month)

[Ben]

Hi all.

I wanted to give a rundown of where Alizée America stands financially since the change in management.

The short version is that we still depend on member donations to pay for the server each month.

Here's the long version:

I've managed to cut our dedicated server bill down from $200 USD per month to $170. The reason it's so high is because things like the video section and podcast require a fast uplink speed. That is, bandwidth at any given moment. Yes, shared servers are a dime a dozen these days and ofter plenty of bandwidth per month, but get a handful of high-speed users trying to stream from them at once, and watch their sites come screeching to a halt. A major reason I took over Alizée America was because it didn't make sense for Brad to be paying a premium when he didn't have enough time to add new content. That's why one of the first things you've seen me do here is improve and expand the video section.

In addition, this month we've had to pay for domain renewals and software license fees. These expenses don't come around as often, but are still common. Last, not to make this too personal, but I'm also moving to a new apartment in Manhattan, where living ain't cheap. So that leaves two options: banner ads, which I'd rather not do because they're ugly and probably wouldn't cover our expenses anyway, or donations. The link for the later, with a new lower $10 subscription option, is below and at the top of every page. If we could just get a handful of people subscribed at the listed amounts each month, I think we'd do fine. Of course you can still send in one-time donations of any amount at any time. Every cent helps.

One important notice: if you had a PayPal subscription with Brad, please be sure to cancel it and re-subscribe so that the funds come to the right place! Right now we're only accepting PayPal because it's fast, easy, secure, and can be sent directly to our server provider, SingleHop. Reset assured, everything goes straight to our expenses. We never turn a profit from this site. Though it would be nice to break even for once!

Finally, I really want to thank those who have already donated without my even asking. Brad had talked in the past about offering perks to you guys, like a special title, ftp space, or something. Let me know if you have any suggestions, because I'd really like to follow through on that!

Please click here for more information on donating.

Thanks for reading!

Ben