Hi everyone!
So, this is an important update post, and how things go from here will affect the future of Furrypile. No pressure or anything.
So the Brain tells me that our forum software is a little bit out of date to the tune of several forevers, which is not great for a slew of reasons, but one of them is security. We don’t feel comfortable running on an insecure platform for many reasons, chief of which is your security. It’s not right for us to sit on our laurels while everyone is at risk.
With the rise of AI, this is especially crucial, as the new technology is being used to probe and attack sites like ours.
Which is why I’m making this post. As much as I hate to admit it, while running the forum host on a monthly basis isn’t that expensive (you can see our costs on the sidebar every month), renewing the software license is.
It so is, that we’re looking at a renewal cost of about $220.
So, the crux of the issue: Activity on the site has been very low lately, so we’re seriously weighing up the pros and cons of renewing at $220. This isn’t something we can pay out of pocket, so we’re looking to you to help us out.
Yeah that’s right, this is a donation drive. Lock the doors, Calm.
So the plan is:
Raise $220. This is ideal, because it means we can keep the software, we keep everything as it is, everyone can keep enjoying the site as it is.
Don’t raise $220. This is less-than-ideal, but it’s not the end. The option is always available to change to a cheaper/free forum software. For transparency, we’re looking at Discourse. You can see an example site here.
A secret third option is to sunset the whole site, but unless we’re seeing a total and complete lack of interest in keeping the site running from our userbase, we won’t be considering this one.
SO! That’s pretty much the whole post. Thanks for bearing with me to the end. I’ll leave it for the others to elaborate on the technicals of it, but this is basically the call to action.
So, this is an important update post, and how things go from here will affect the future of Furrypile. No pressure or anything.
So the Brain tells me that our forum software is a little bit out of date to the tune of several forevers, which is not great for a slew of reasons, but one of them is security. We don’t feel comfortable running on an insecure platform for many reasons, chief of which is your security. It’s not right for us to sit on our laurels while everyone is at risk.
With the rise of AI, this is especially crucial, as the new technology is being used to probe and attack sites like ours.
Which is why I’m making this post. As much as I hate to admit it, while running the forum host on a monthly basis isn’t that expensive (you can see our costs on the sidebar every month), renewing the software license is.
It so is, that we’re looking at a renewal cost of about $220.
So, the crux of the issue: Activity on the site has been very low lately, so we’re seriously weighing up the pros and cons of renewing at $220. This isn’t something we can pay out of pocket, so we’re looking to you to help us out.
Yeah that’s right, this is a donation drive. Lock the doors, Calm.
So the plan is:
Raise $220. This is ideal, because it means we can keep the software, we keep everything as it is, everyone can keep enjoying the site as it is.
Don’t raise $220. This is less-than-ideal, but it’s not the end. The option is always available to change to a cheaper/free forum software. For transparency, we’re looking at Discourse. You can see an example site here.
A secret third option is to sunset the whole site, but unless we’re seeing a total and complete lack of interest in keeping the site running from our userbase, we won’t be considering this one.
SO! That’s pretty much the whole post. Thanks for bearing with me to the end. I’ll leave it for the others to elaborate on the technicals of it, but this is basically the call to action.
