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the girl who used to dance on fire and brimstone
whiskyinmind
24 August 2007 @ 08:10 am
*flails*  
I don't know what to do now.

After posting that I could no longer afford my web hosting, I have had several genuine offers to either pay for the whole thing or to contribute to the cost so that INaP can stay exactly where it is.

I am incredibly touched by this and part of me wants to scream "Yes!" straight away, but...

I have issues with sites that have giant logos declaring they can only run with the financial contribution of the users of the site - especially fandom sites. We're already skirting on the edges of copyright law, we could at any moment get a C&D if WB, UPN, Mutant Enemy, Joss, Nick or anyone else who has a legitimate claim of ownership decides that enough's enough. It's less likely in this fandom because Joss is on record encouraging fandom to continue his 'verse, but it is still a genuine possibility.

If I accept money towards the upkeep of the sites then even if that money is being used solely to keep the site online, I am in essence being paid to run the site. That's taking the line and blowing it apart.

I know every offer (including those from people I do not know personally) is genuine and meant in the best way, but I have to admit to being flumoxed right now.

I need to think on it some more.

(And there's also - to me - the issue that only part of the web space I have is given over to INaP and related sites. Okay, yes, it's the majority of the space, but I also have my own site up there which for me further complicates the matter.)

The cost of keeping it with my webhost is just shy of 100 pounds (£98), I've had issues with them and had been looking into moving to another host at some point but the costs there are comparable. If I was to accept money from people it would be 100 GBP (around 200 USD). To me that's a lot of money, and I'm not good at accepting things (as anyone who's ever tried to compliment me knows).

Am I just being silly? This would keep the site(s) going until I can sort something more permanent out, it would take a load off my mind, it would keep the status quo for a little while. Just because I get awkward when people try to help me out is that any excuse for me to knock back these incredibly generous offers?

brain hurty now
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31 comments —
( 31 comments — Leave a comment )
draconindraconin on August 24th, 2007 08:35 am (UTC)
Possibilty: Take some or all of the contributions being offered now on the basis that this will keep it going for another year. You then have a year to work out a more permanent solution. It seems to me that part of your problem is the pressure of having to make up your mind in such a short time. This at least gets rid of that factor.
IMHO (as a non lawyer) I think you may be worrying too much about the legalities of it. Firstly, as you point out, Joss has a record of supporting this sort of thing. Secondly, yours is one of *many* other sites and I don't see any signs of any organised campaign by WB or any others to close them. Thirdly, so what if you *do* get a C&D? You do what it says and take down the site... what have you lost? That's what you were proposing to do anyway.
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the girl who used to dance on fire and brimstone: xander belong - mewhiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 08:39 am (UTC)
My main issue with the possibility of getting a C&D (which isn't too likely it has to be said) is that at the moment it's just me. If I take money from others to pay the hosting fee then they'll be the ones to have lost out financially from it.

Does that make sense?

Basically I'm worried about letting down others.

I've also had a couple of offers to take over the site completely, and a couple to host it if I continue to run it - basically I have a lot more options open to me right now than I did yesterday and as you say, it's the time scale of the thing that's really throwing me now.
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draconindraconin on August 24th, 2007 08:57 am (UTC)
If I take money from others to pay the hosting fee then they'll be the ones to have lost out financially from it.

If by this you mean that they'd maybe get sued by WB, I think the possibility is remote and it would not worry me. If you mean from the POV that you'd taken money and then not been able to deliver then that's not a problem. Speaking for myself, the offer I made was not in the nature of a contract expecting delivery. It's in the nature of my offering to help out a friend, with the ulterior motive on my part of hoping to benefit from the results. ::rubs hands and cackles but feels ashamed::

But if something intervenes and it doesn't end up lasting then so be it.... ::shrugs:: I've seen your dedication to running these sites for long enough now to know that you'll do your best. :-)
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(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 09:03 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - draconin on August 24th, 2007 09:16 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 09:19 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - draconin on August 24th, 2007 09:54 am (UTC) (Expand)
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the girl who used to dance on fire and brimstone: Pratchett//redo from start - wildecatewhiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 09:23 am (UTC)
*snuggles*

Thank you - that could well be something that would solve some of my issues.

You almost got a text at 6:30 this morning about it... *g*
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(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 09:37 am (UTC) (Expand)
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(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 09:46 am (UTC) (Expand)
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(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 10:24 am (UTC) (Expand)
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(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 10:41 am (UTC) (Expand)
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(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 10:54 am (UTC) (Expand)
tessarintessarin on August 24th, 2007 09:26 am (UTC)
I think you need to feel comfortable with whatever decision you make.:-)

If you take up one of the hosting options would you not then effectively be doing free webmistress duties depending on whose name the hosting was held in? Therefore no more exposure to a C&D than now? Maybe one of the lawyers on the flist could cover this ?
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the girl who used to dance on fire and brimstone: xander belong - mewhiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 09:32 am (UTC)
:)

I have to say thank you straight away, because I have to say it. (Yes, I'm aware that sentence makes no grammatical sense but words are starting to fail me right now.)

The option of someone else hosting it on their server and me continuing to run it is a goo done - but then I'd run into my guilt complex issues. The script on the site is prone to being hacked - there are hackers out there who specifically target anything running on eFiction to see how quickly they can break it. I try to keep ahead of them but there's been instances when I've been unable to do so and the server's been infiltrated. If that happened on someone else's server I would feel awful about that because usually the infiltration affects far more than just the INaP subdomain.

I feel like I'm on swings and roundabouts right now - I'll process things in my head a little more and try to come up with some solution that will keep the site going (either where it is or on another server) and won't make me or anyone else feel terrible about it. :)
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the girl who used to dance on fire and brimstone: head-desk - mewhiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 09:41 am (UTC)
'goo done'?!!

*headdesk*

See? My vocabulary has officially left the building.
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(no subject) - tessarin on August 24th, 2007 10:00 am (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 10:13 am (UTC) (Expand)
WesleysGirlwesleysgirl on August 24th, 2007 11:53 am (UTC)
Hi! You don't know me from a hole in the wall, but I wanted to say that if people are willing to chip in to help keep a community resource, which you've been paying the entire bill for until now, going, then I think you should 1) look at it in those terms and 2) let them. :-)
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the girl who used to dance on fire and brimstone: xander//happy place - emeraldswanwhiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 12:46 pm (UTC)
Hi! I've seen you around commenting on other people's journals in the past. Thank you - I'm probably going to go ahead with this option, it's just one of those things that I find a little difficult to accept if that makes sense? Accepting anything from others has never really come easily to me - probably as a result of my west coast of Scotland upbringing to be honest!

Thanks again.
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(no subject) - draconin on August 24th, 2007 02:09 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 02:21 pm (UTC) (Expand)
Sam PF: Giles party weaselsmhwpf on August 24th, 2007 11:59 am (UTC)
Hmm... seems to me if we were actually paying you, as in paying over the cost of the site, I could see there could at least theoretically be a problem. But if we're just paying the cost of the hosting, then it's essentially just an arrangement amongst friends to purchase web hosting services, with you then running the show unpaid as at present. If a bunch of people put some money into a pool and give it to one of their number to go to th shop and buy something for them, then the person who does the buying cannot by any stretch of the imagination be said to be making commercial gain from the transaction.

I don't see that this would need to be made public, with announcements on the site or anything - and you could keep the 'appeal' f-locked. Yes, it's always a possibility that at some point the PTB will decide to eradicate fanfiction from the web, but such an arrangement would not make this any more likely.

I'm not good at accepting things

*hugs* I know the feeling. Which is a thing, but in this case it's not an 'us helping you' scenario. It's all of us, you included, working together to get something we all want. With you still making by far the largest contribution with the huge amount of time and love you put into this.
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the girl who used to dance on fire and brimstone: xander belong - mewhiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 12:50 pm (UTC)
I think it might have a lot to do with my upbringing and who I am at heart - I don't want to feel beholden to anyone. I know logically that is not going to be the case if I accept this kind of help, but that small little part of me that thinks it will be is shouting kinda loudly right about now.

I'm also slightly worried that if I do put an 'appeal' out there then I could end up with more than the cost of the sites. or less

I hate my brain.
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Sam PF: Doctor Marthasmhwpf on August 24th, 2007 12:57 pm (UTC)
I think more than the cost is most likely. In this case there are at least three options (might be best to ask people what solutions they'd prefer and would be willing to go with):

1) Ask for pledges first, then reduce the amounts pro rata if they go over, and email people with the resulting amount.

2) Donate the excess to a previously-announced charity

3) Retain the excess in a Paypal account for the sole purpose of going towards next year's hosting fee - or, if circumstances have changed by then, donating to charity.
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(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 01:14 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - draconin on August 24th, 2007 02:04 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 02:20 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - tessarin on August 24th, 2007 02:36 pm (UTC) (Expand)
(no subject) - whiskyinmind on August 24th, 2007 03:55 pm (UTC) (Expand)
liz_marcsliz_marcs on August 24th, 2007 03:59 pm (UTC)
It doesn't have to be an either/or situation on the charity/future hosting thing.

What I would do with the donations is the following:

  • Decide whether you're going with a better host since you've had issues with this one.
  • Once you've settled on a host, I'd pull out at least enough money to cover 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 so you've got the next two years covered no matter what.
  • I'd also bank the amount for 2008-2009 (or however many years you actually set aside for future hosting) in a sort of escrow so the money will at least earn some interest (if there's enough money in the account, the money could probably pay for hosting for a number of years).
  • If you have any money left over (and if your conscience demands it), once you've got the next two (or however many) years "paid for" and banked in escrow, donate the balance to charity.
  • Publicly put up an accounting of how much money you took in, how much has been set aside for future hosting needs, and how much was donated to charity.


      Just IMHO.
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