LowEndSpirit Is Not a For-Profit Site and Will Never Be Pay-to-Play

MasonMason AdministratorOG
edited April 2022 in General

Due to recent changes in related communities, I'd like to take this time to remind our visitors that LowEndSpirit is NOT a for-profit website nor will ever be in the future while under @mikho and my dual ownership. LES also does not and will never charge hosting providers nor community members to participate here.

These are some areas that set LES apart:

Our costs are transparent. I've outlined our specific costs to operate this site. Comes out to ~$30/mo and some change (3x Hetzner VMs ~$15/mo, monthly runcloud sub $15/mo, yearly mailcheap email hosting ~$2/mo). All of which I'm paying out of my own pocket without any issue.

Our ownership is transparent. @mikho and myself have full control over LES and its properties. We do not run LES as a business, but as a community-focused discussion space. We are the only admins at the moment, no moderators.

No membership fees... ever. We will never charge our members to participate here -- business-owners and private individuals alike. Doing so would be counterproductive to our goal of fostering a welcoming and all-inclusive community. Our ideas for generating revenue to fund development or pay for content have always been non-intrusive donations or sponsorships of blog posts from providers (i.e. "this month's technical blog post brought to you by TwonkRacks").

Ad-free. We don't have ads and won't be adding them. Period.

Community-powered Decisions. We believe before making any decision that impacts the community at-large, the first step is to gather input from those that will be impacted. Many many many feedback threads have been posted over the past couple years to gather community feedback to drive our decisions here at LES.

Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions or concerns.
Cheers,
-Mason

Humble janitor of LES
Proud papa of YABS

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Comments

  • MannDudeMannDude Hosting Provider

    Happy to be here. I lurk mostly on LET but the surprise $100 invoice in the inbox left a bad taste. Seemed too urgent and desperate for comfort.

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  • MasonMason AdministratorOG

    @MannDude said:
    Happy to be here. I lurk mostly on LET but the surprise $100 invoice in the inbox left a bad taste. Seemed too urgent and desperate for comfort.

    The legend himself. Welcome, Sir!

    Thanked by (1)MannDude

    Humble janitor of LES
    Proud papa of YABS

  • yokowasisyokowasis Services Provider

    So, LES is going to F2P route ? pay $100 for a chance to obtain shiny top ultra mega rare provider tag.

  • MasonMason AdministratorOG

    @yokowasis said:
    So, LES is going to F2P route ? pay $100 for a chance to obtain shiny top ultra mega rare provider tag.

    Current plan is to introduce loot boxes, but they'll have super shittly low-end prizes. Like free 3 day shared hosting trial, one of those ancient off-white IBM keyboards (you pay shipping), and a NFT for that picture of a server in a cardboard box at FDC

    Humble janitor of LES
    Proud papa of YABS

  • MikeAMikeA Hosting ProviderOG
    edited March 2022

    @Mason said:
    Our costs are transparent. I've outlined our specific costs to operate this site. Comes out to ~$30/mo and some change (3x Hetzner VMs ~$15/mo, monthly runcloud sub $15/mo, yearly mailcheap email hosting ~$2/mo). All of which I'm paying out of my own pocket without any issue.

    Where can I donate? I can't afford a marketing budget so I can only donate to support communities I enjoy,

  • @MikeA said:
    Where can I donate? I can't afford a marketing budget so I can only donate to support communities I enjoy,

    Can't agree more. I've seen open source projects live and sound with donation programs. Put a $1/month sponsor button for us to show support for the community.

  • MasonMason AdministratorOG

    @MikeA said:

    @Mason said:
    Our costs are transparent. I've outlined our specific costs to operate this site. Comes out to ~$30/mo and some change (3x Hetzner VMs ~$15/mo, monthly runcloud sub $15/mo, yearly mailcheap email hosting ~$2/mo). All of which I'm paying out of my own pocket without any issue.

    Where can I donate? I can't afford a marketing budget so I can only donate to support communities I enjoy,

    I just set this up at Donorbox as I was just using my personal PayPal in the past. Should make things easier as I've used Donorbox for a gaming group in the past with good success. A thousand thanks and heaps of appreciation to all who donate.

    https://donorbox.org/lowendspirit-donations

    Humble janitor of LES
    Proud papa of YABS

  • qpsqps Hosting ProviderOG

    @Mason said: one of those ancient off-white IBM keyboards

    This actually might be worth something.

    Thanked by (2)Mason skorous
  • MichaelCeeMichaelCee ModeratorOGServices Provider

    Bunch of weirdos /they/ are. Wish I could delete my LET account altogether.

    Michael

  • 👏🏻 Bravo

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  • That's the spirit!

    Thanked by (3)Ganonk Amadex ariq01

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  • vyasvyas OGContent Writer

    @TheDP said:
    That's the spirit!

    That’s the LowEnd spirit !

    FTfY

    Thanked by (1)TheDP

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  • lentrolentro Hosting Provider

    Woohooo! $22k/year seems a bit excessive to me from LET, maybe they need to start thinking with the Low End Spirit :joy:

    Thanks @Mason and @mikho! Providing value to all community members with costs so low that donations and personal contributions are enough to keep the forum afloat :)

    Thanked by (2)Mason Ympker
  • mikhomikho AdministratorHosting ProviderOG

    Not to toot my own horn, but Beep, Beep!

    Sent a donation, matching the provider tag …
    LES is more!

  • @Mason said:

    @MikeA said:

    @Mason said:
    Our costs are transparent. I've outlined our specific costs to operate this site. Comes out to ~$30/mo and some change (3x Hetzner VMs ~$15/mo, monthly runcloud sub $15/mo, yearly mailcheap email hosting ~$2/mo). All of which I'm paying out of my own pocket without any issue.

    Where can I donate? I can't afford a marketing budget so I can only donate to support communities I enjoy,

    I just set this up at Donorbox as I was just using my personal PayPal in the past. Should make things easier as I've used Donorbox for a gaming group in the past with good success. A thousand thanks and heaps of appreciation to all who donate.

    https://donorbox.org/lowendspirit-donations

    This. Done.

    Thanked by (1)beagle
  • _MS__MS_ OG
    edited March 2022

    Good work, @Mason & @mikho!

    It would be interesting to see the (change in the) analytics of LES in a week from the announcement on LET.

    Thanked by (2)mikho Ironia
  • @MichaelCee said:
    Bunch of weirdos /they/ are. Wish I could delete my LET account altogether.

    You can, just say under GDPR and they push the button 😂 stick the ticket in and heck I’ll even do it for you. DM me first before you send the ticket so I can be on to grab it.

    Thanked by (2)MichaelCee Ympker

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  • @MS said: It would be interesting to see the (change in the) analytics of LES in a week from the announcement on LET.

    While most of the community members are here (as can be seen from the thanks list), it seems that the spirit of the original community is lost in forum transitions such as this and I don't think this place would become active just because of this. Maybe providers need to run some specials just for this community to increase engagement (yes, that sounded Biloh-esque but it's coming from a good place).

  • edited March 2022

    Sorry to hijack this thread but what are the requirements for the OG tag? I'd like one too and I feel I meet the requirements.

  • mikhomikho AdministratorHosting ProviderOG

    @stevewatson301 said:
    Sorry to hijack this thread but what are the requirements for the OG tag? I'd like one too and I feel I meet the requirements.

    It was/is for the first group of people who signed up.

    @stevewatson301 said:

    @MS said: It would be interesting to see the (change in the) analytics of LES in a week from the announcement on LET.

    While most of the community members are here (as can be seen from the thanks list), it seems that the spirit of the original community is lost in forum transitions such as this and I don't think this place would become active just because of this. Maybe providers need to run some specials just for this community to increase engagement (yes, that sounded Biloh-esque but it's coming from a good place).

    I totally see your point here.

    They come for the deals and stay for the talks.

    Thats kind of how the userbase increased in LET middle-age. (Can’t say early days, since it was another interest back then).

    Thanked by (1)stevewatson301
  • Thanks @Mason and @mikho

    Transparancy goes a long way to keeping things as a community.

    Appreciate the hard work you put in. Happy to help support things where possible.

    Thanked by (4)mikho Ironia Ganonk Mason
  • sweatbarsweatbar Hosting Provider

    Hats off for the decision

    Thanked by (1)mikho

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  • Faith in LowEnd community restored

    Thanked by (1)mikho

    Why?

  • mikhomikho AdministratorHosting ProviderOG

    @Mr_Tom said:
    Thanks @Mason and @mikho

    Transparancy goes a long way to keeping things as a community.

    Appreciate the hard work you put in. Happy to help support things where possible.

    You help by being an active part of the community.. 👍
    we love the users here (even if some push our limit :) )

    Be active, post answers, help others, ask questions, be curious.
    This is a couple of things you can do that only ”cost” a little bit of your time.

    And if time is limited, there is the donor option.
    We will, in light of transparancy, disclose the amount of donations.
    At this moment, we wont disclose the name of the donors. To avoid feeding that ”we and them” feeling that might grow.
    We don’t make a difference if you donate or not.
    We are all a part of this community and the bread and butter which makes it a better place.

    @Mason said:
    I just set this up at Donorbox as I was just using my personal PayPal in the past. Should make things easier as I've used Donorbox for a gaming group in the past with good success. A thousand thanks and heaps of appreciation to all who donate.

    https://donorbox.org/lowendspirit-donations

    Thanked by (3)Aidan beagle Ympker
  • Thank you for the disclosure @Mason.

    Finally decided to join.

    Thanked by (2)mikho Mason
  • MannDudeMannDude Hosting Provider

    @Mason said:

    @MikeA said:

    @Mason said:
    Our costs are transparent. I've outlined our specific costs to operate this site. Comes out to ~$30/mo and some change (3x Hetzner VMs ~$15/mo, monthly runcloud sub $15/mo, yearly mailcheap email hosting ~$2/mo). All of which I'm paying out of my own pocket without any issue.

    Where can I donate? I can't afford a marketing budget so I can only donate to support communities I enjoy,

    I just set this up at Donorbox as I was just using my personal PayPal in the past. Should make things easier as I've used Donorbox for a gaming group in the past with good success. A thousand thanks and heaps of appreciation to all who donate.

    https://donorbox.org/lowendspirit-donations

    Donated. ;)

    Thanked by (2)mikho Mason

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    We believe that privacy and freedom of expression are two very important things, so we offer solutions to accessing and publishing content safely.
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  • Welp, here we go

  • LampardLampard Hosting Provider

    Just joined LES - was thinking to join already from a long time.
    I really like the transparency here, and personally believe that the cost of running the forums shouldn't be too much.
    I myself have run different forum communities for many years that were related to gaming, which were really active.

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