Charles Fischer Administrator No. 1 Share Posted 22 hours ago My Duck-Buddies: I am forced to migrate this forum to a new version--where they can charge me more. (Of course) The new version is a massive change, although this forum should not change in appearance. Most of the change will occur in the backend, where I have to learn a ton of new stuff with the dashboard. Naturally I have no choice, as the software provider will discontinue giving service and security patches soon. So I have to roll with it. This migration will occur in the near-future, and the forum will be shut down for 1-2 days, and prior to it occurring...I will let you know. It is very costly, as just one element of the forum, our moderation system, is going to cost $700.00 alone. The rest of the bill? I try not to think about it, but I know our web developer in England is devoting a weekend to this, and it won't be cheap. I AM the Shameless Beggar, and there is a gold-colored button at the top of the front page for donations, or right here. If you can spare some dollars to help keep this unique community going--I would be grateful. WHO Makes Money Off the Forum? Regardless of the countless hours I put in, I take NO draws from the site. I get paid nothing, but I am not the only one who puts in TONS of hours on a volunteer basis. We have a dozen moderators, and a number of Duck News Hunters who bring the articles to you for free, and do it out of love for Our Beloved Ducks...and you. Our wonderful writers who have each written over 100 FishDuck articles each, (yours-truly has written over 600 articles) and they get nothing for all the incredible hours of research, writing, and photo-editing they do. All these guys and gals are generous to us all, and again--I cannot function without them. I joke with the tech people and the photographers that although they are underpaid for their skills--they are still the only ones making money off the sites! These sites are my-babies, and I will continue to allocate the time because I love the discussion, the community, and of course....Our Beloved Ducks. If you can help, please go to the "Donate" gold-colored button at the top of the front page of the forum, or right here. Thank you! This Shameless Beggar began asking for money nearly 14 years ago, (above) at the beginning of this adventure... 1 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Author Administrator No. 2 Share Posted 16 hours ago So I got to wondering..."how many articles have our writers written for FishDuck.com and this audience?" (So I went and looked it up) Jon Joseph 117 articles written Alex Heining 137 articles written David Marsh 165 articles written Darren Perkins 202 articles written Jordan Ingram 212 articles written Keep in mind that each article takes anywhere from two hours to six hours to complete. I think 3.5 to 4.0 hours is typical for me, thus you can compute the incredible number of hours these wonderful people dedicate to us all. Often these articles are written after work, when they're tired or at inconvenient times. So they have given 400 to 800 hours for our pondering entertainment? How many 40 hour weeks is that? (Damn...I'd owe a ton if I had to pay them!) Before you ask, yes I looked mine up and I guess I have to change what I tell people as yours-truly has written 733 articles over the last nearly 14 years. Whew! The bottom line is that the amount of time the volunteers give is just enormous...and that does not count the volunteer editors! We have three that have helping us between seven and twelve years! Writers, Editors.... 2 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDuck Moderator No. 3 Share Posted 4 hours ago Thank you Charles for alerting us about the migration to a new version, upgrading this platform. This is a free forum, blessing all who joins this community of Duck fans. A green space for all to enjoy, freely able to share ideas. There are times when help is needed. If all of us donate an amount, whether great or small, will meet the goal that’s needed. Thanks Charles for all you have accomplished along with a community of volunteers that makes this one of the most unique sites for all fans to enjoy! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
