As I see it, he needs $500 per month for 4 or 5 months.
Lets just round that to 6 months times $500 or $3000.
I don't know how many people are on his 60+ mailing list but just guessing,
I believe if only 1/4th the people contributed $1 per month for 6 months or just
$6 that would cover it.
I am willing to donate up to $5 per month for up to 6 months paid either
monthly or a lump sum depending on what he needs.
Just like in Public Television or Radio, I challenge everyone on the list
to join me with an equal pledge.
Regards,
John Carlson
jcarlson_at_cj.com
http://www.cj.com
>>> Jared.Still_at_radisys.com 08/28/01 03:28PM
>>>Ok, now that I have your attention, please read the
following message fromBruce Bergman,owner of fatcity.com. It
concerns the future of this list.Please read the entire message before
replying.Thank you.Jared Still ( List Owner
)-------------------------------------------Hello ORACLE-L
list members --I would like to take a few minutes of your time for a
"State of the Union"address, if you can call it that. This is a rather
serious message, and Irequest that you take the time to read this message
entirely. I've got aproblem that needs resolution this week, and I'm
hoping you folks can helpme come to a conclusion. This message turned
out to be fairlylong-winded, so please excuse me for that. :-)Fat
City (fatcity.com) is my company, and I am the provider of the listservices
that you receive ORACLE-L through. I've been hosting Internetmailing
lists for over 10 years, and carry quite a few lists, including abig
selection of Oracle-related lists (14, in fact). Fat City has
alwaysbeen a labor of love for me. Over the years it has rarely
generated anyincome at all, and it usually does not cover my expenses --
most of thetimeit is a monthly loss for me. The vast majority of
my 60+ mailing listshavebeen hosted for free, at my expense (as is the
ORACLE-L list, for example).Yet I have absorbed these costs because I enjoy
hosting discussion listsand I know a lot of lists can't afford to pay for
quality service.I am soon to be one of the Rhythms Orphans.
Rhythms, my DSL provider, hasgone bankrupt and will be out of business by
10-Sep-2001. I need to findanother provider of high-speed Internet in
order to continue operations. Iam at the point of either folding shop
completely and going out of businessmyself, or trying to make Fat City a
viable, money-making endeavor. I needto make this decision by this
Friday (for financial and planning reasons).After Friday, I am committed one
way or the other.My upstream ISP and I are on very good terms, and in
fact, I've been acustomer of theirs since 1985! As a result, they have
graciously offeredto help me out of this situation at considerable expense
to themselves.I'm not at liberty to discuss the terms of the contract I
would engage inwith them, but suffice to say that is one of those
once-in-a-lifetimeopportunities that I'd be a fool to pass up. I have
this offer personallyfrom the President of that company, if I want it.
Simply said, my abilityto take them up on their offer and switch Fat City
over to a dedicated T1orbetter solution revolves around being able to
generate quite a bit ofadditionalincome per month, and very soon.
In an effort to be open and up-front withyou folks about this, I basically
need to generate an additional $500 morepermonth. Right now that seems
daunting, but I've been working hard to line upthatadditional income,
and I believe I can do it. Just not right away. Myestimates are
that it will take me four or five months to come up to thatlevel. I
need to get out there and sell website hosting and list hostingpackages, and
get new customers. That takes time, unfortunately. I need
abuffer to enable me to get past this startup phase.After some
discussions with Jared (the list owner), and some encouragementfrom him, I
am coming to you to ask for you help in keeping Fat Cityfinancially afloat
until I can be self sufficient. I'm not asking for aspecific dollar
amount from anyone, nor am I *expecting* anything from youfolks. But
if it is within your power to contribute some money towardsthisend (and
yes, I know these are hard financial times for everyone), I amhoping you can
help. If I can get sufficient promise of funds that willseeme
through the next few months, I am willing to jump in with both feet andmake
Fat City a viable business. If it looks like the contributions
arenotsufficient to enable me to do that, I will cease operations within
the next45-60 days.Let me be clear about a few things: If I *do*
cease operations, I will giveall of my lists time to find new list
providers, and will make every effortto aid the shift over to the new
provider, provide list dumps, archives,mail forwarding, etc. Even
though Rhythms goes out of business on10-Sep-2001, I have secured service
until at least 10-Oct-2001 to enablethis to happen. So don't worry
about having to rush into your conversionifthings don't work out.
I would also like to clearly state that this is notsome attempt to blackmail
or coerce anyone into coming up with money. Thiswill either succeed or
fail based on what you folks can comfortably andwillingly contribute.
If I had the ability to cover this startup periodmyself,I would
definitely do so. If Fat City ultimately goes under, it wil NOT beyour
fault, and I hold no one to blame. That's just how the Internet
cardsare right now. I do not want anyone to contribute if they don't
havethe money, or if things are tight at home, or anything like that.
I wouldlike contributions to be made from those who are able to make such
acontribution willingly.Also, I don't want anyone to send any money
right now. Basically I justwant a show of hands of those who could
contribute something to this cause.Send me (bruceb_at_fatcity.com) or Jared
(jkstill_at_cybcon.com) an E-mail sayingwhat amount you'd be willing to
contribute. If you would rather donateanonymously, perhaps Jared could
collect those donations. I will "passaround the hat" until Friday
morning, at which point I'll see if there weresufficient pledges to enable
me to move forward. If it seems like thereis,then I will come up
with a way for you to honor your pledge (probablyeitherdirectly to me
via check or via PayPal, most likely). The funds can becollected in
the next few weeks, but I must make my decision on Friday. Iapologize
for the late notice on this, but I was not given this offer by myISP until
late last week.In return for your contributions, I promise the following
things:- I will use all contributions ONLY for the express purpose of
paying formyInternet service costs- I will continue to host the
ORACLE-L list for free for the forseeable,indefinite future- I will make
no more requests of this list for contributions of this sort- I will provide
a full accounting and update to the list on the costs andhow the funds are
being used- I will make improvements to the list that will enhance your
features andperformance (for example, faster turn-around on list postings,
etc)- I will at least carry though for the next calendar year unless I
havecatastrophic financial failurePlease note that the ODTUG
organization is already making a considerablecontribution by way of a
monthly payment for service, so they are alreadyaware of this situation and
are actively helping out. There are a goodnumber of people here who
are on the ODTUG lists too, so I wanted to pointthat out ahead of time and
let you know that they are being very helpful.Another way you could
contribute would be to come to Fat City for your listhosting or website
hosting needs. I had just started offering websitehosting services
before this mess started, and obviously, a monthly payingcustomer is far
better than a one-time contribution. If you go to<A
href="
http://www.fatcity.com">
http://www.fatcity.com and click on the
"Website Hosting" link, you cancheck out the packages I offer. In an
effort to get new customers, I amwilling to waive all setup fees in order to
bring new customers on board.If you become a customer here in the next
couple of months, that would helptremendously. If you have an interest
in hosting your website (personal orbusiness) with us, -or- a want to start
a new mailing list, please contactme for details.I know this is a
lot to ask of you folks. You are entirely welcome to justtell me to
jump in a lake, and that that's how business is right now.
ButIknow many of you personally, either from ODTUG conferences or from
otherOracle events, and I also know how staunchly you support this mailing
listwith useful information, humor, helpfulness and an eye toward
quality. Iwould like to think that you find Fat City to be the best
place to hostyourlist, and that you will want to help me out so that I
can continue toprovide the list to you folks free of charge. I made a
promise to Jaredyears ago to host this list for free because I think it is
one of the bestand most valuable resources out there. I intend to
honor that promise tohim by continuing to provide it for free. If it
turns out that I mustcloseshop and call it quits, at least I will have
known I did my best to make itsucceed, and I did so without having to reneg
on committments I hadmade in the past.I am being open and honest
with everyone because I believe that this is thebest way to succeed. I
believe you appreciate this kind of approach, and Iwant you to know that
regardless of what happens, I certainly appreciateevery consideration you
give this request. Whether or not this succeeds, Iknow that you are a
great group of people and I wish this list the bestluckin this life, or
the next. :-)Remember, time is of the essence. The sooner I hear
from people whocan help, the sooner I can nail down a line of
approach. If you have anyquestions or concerns, please E-mail
me.Thanks everyone!Bruce BergmanPresident, Fat City Network
Services-- Please see the official ORACLE-L
FAQ:
http://www.orafaq.com-- Author:
INET: Jared.Still_at_radisys.comFat City Network
Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051San
Diego, California -- Public Internet
access / Mailing
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Received on Wed Aug 29 2001 - 11:57:50 CDT
