Site Update: Supporting Memberships are now available

Phrede · Nov 6, 2013

cubby558 said:
Liked the V logo supporting member better!

+1 on the V logo. I REALLY miss the like button.

Phrede · Nov 6, 2013

Who was the first supporting member?

Rob · Nov 6, 2013

Phrede said:
+1 on the V logo. I REALLY miss the like button.

I'm sorry, but the like button isn't coming back anytime soon. As I stated in an earlier thread, that was part of a SEO software package that is no longer in development by the company and full of security vulnerabilities. It's also not compatible with the core operating system software running on this new server that the XLR Net site is on.

There's nothing I can do about that and I won't risk running a software package that has known security holes in it. :dunno:

Rob · Nov 6, 2013

Phrede said:
Who was the first supporting member?

Tuna.

05 GRAND DADDY · Nov 6, 2013

Phrede said:
+1 on the V logo. I REALLY miss the like button.

"LIKE"

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Dan & Wendy
" 05 GRAND DADDY"

Phrede · Nov 6, 2013

Rob said:
Tuna.

That's amazing that someone that has not posted in over 2 years became the first supporting member. Thanks Tuna.

I suspect that a supporting member is not one supporting XLR-NET.COM, but ALL of the Torque Network's endeavors whether you are members of, or use, the other forums or not.

Care to clear that up, Rob?

Maybe I miss understood what I was paying for.

"The XLR Net Supporting Members are a vital part of helping this community grow and improve. We would like to thank all of our members for their continued help and support.

Over the next year, we are planning on implementing some new sections of the site as well improve the overall look, feel and functionality of the site.

Supporting Members help offset the cost of operating the XLR Net web site. With all the new upgrades and extra room planned, the cost to operate the site continues to increase. We've been able to keep the entire site free to members and non-members and will continue to do so. The Supporting Membership program is completely voluntary and not required for forum membership. It's a simple way to help support the site and provides you with a few extra membership benefits."

Rob · Nov 6, 2013

Phrede said:
That's amazing that someone that has not posted in over 2 years became the first supporting member. Thanks Tuna.

I suspect that a supporting member is not one supporting XLR-NET.COM, but ALL of the Torque Network's endeavors whether you are members of, or use, the other forums or not.

Care to clear that up, Rob?

Maybe I miss understood what I was paying for.

"The XLR Net Supporting Members are a vital part of helping this community grow and improve. We would like to thank all of our members for their continued help and support.

Over the next year, we are planning on implementing some new sections of the site as well improve the overall look, feel and functionality of the site.

Supporting Members help offset the cost of operating the XLR Net web site. With all the new upgrades and extra room planned, the cost to operate the site continues to increase. We've been able to keep the entire site free to members and non-members and will continue to do so. The Supporting Membership program is completely voluntary and not required for forum membership. It's a simple way to help support the site and provides you with a few extra membership benefits."

Sure. Tuna has been a long time Supporting Member of the Corvette Action Center and he also helped me design, start and engineer the Cadillac V-Net site. He's also been, as you observed, a member here for Two years. Every year he donates, above and beyond the same Supporting Membership fee at the Corvette Action Center - enough to be a Supporting Member of several sites. He does so because he values the work and effort I put into these three web sites and he appreciates my efforts. As a result, I made him a Supporting Member here as well as on the Cadillac V-Net - even though there is no Supporting Membership there at this time.

He may not be active here, but he continues to be a member here and if he didn't want to, he would tell me so and I would remove him.

I own and operate this site as well as the others listed in the footer below. All of them are paid for out of my pocket as they always have been. What little ad revenue I get along with Supporting Memberships helps pay for the monthly hosting fees for all of the sites. The hosting fees are not cheap. The Corvette Action Center is on it's own dedicated server. The XLR Net and other sites are now on their own dedicated server as of a month ago. They used to be hosted on very cheap hosting accounts at other hosting companies, but as a result - their performance was God-awful. Why? Because they were on what is called "virtual hosting accounts". Meaning, they were on servers with up to 300 other web sites. If any of those web sites got busy, it affected us. So, I moved the XLR Net and the other sites on to a dedicated server at the same hosting company as where the Corvette Action Center is.

As a result, I now have full control over both servers (as well as more headaches and higher monthly hosting fees), but the trade off is - we are not affected by slow downs like we were before, and I can deal much better with software incompatibilities when it comes time to upgrade software packages both here in what you see, and on the back-end of the server.

I have a full time day job as a Web Developer. I work early mornings, nights and weekends here and on the other sites; in essence, it's like another full-time job. I do this, not just because I'm passionate about web design and development, but because I'm passionate about these cars and felt there was a need for an online source of good, quality information on them.

In the past, I've been offered a rather large sum of money to sell all of my web sites to a couple different companies. Enough money where I could go out and buy an XLR, a brand new CTS-V and a brand new Corvette - and I turned them down. Some would say I was stupid, but others that know me well enough, know that I love these web sites, I love working on them, and I love the cars and the people I meet through them.

Tuna, as well as a couple other Corvette Action Center members recognize that and the work I put into these web sites, and they wanted to support my efforts. The others (not Tuna), only care about Corvettes and could care less about Cadillacs. If they were members here - I would make them Supporting Members as well because I feel it's the least that I could do.

So let me ask you a question:

I don't own an XLR. I don't own a V-series Cadillac. I don't know as much about them as I do about the Corvettes (although building the Registry here gave me one hell of a crash course...). I own a BMW 335i coupe (my daily driver), and a 1990 ZR-1 Corvette. I remember the first time I ever saw an XLR in person. It was a 2007 Black Raven on Ebony XLR-V sitting in a local showroom and I had all I could do from slobbering all over it. I periodically see an Infrared XLR running around here - and drool every time I see it. I would give a limb to be able to own a 2009+ CTS-V, but I don't.

I don't own these cars because I can't afford them, and because I would not be able to take care of them as I take care of my Corvette. I only have a one stall garage with a small driveway and I live in the northeast. If I owned either an XLR or a CTS-V, there is no way in hell I would let them sit out in the open elements around here.

Because I don't own a Cadillac XLR or a V-series Cadillac - do you think I should not have built these web sites? In some ways, I relate your question regarding Tuna - to mine. Even though Tuna isn't active here, he's passionate about these cars, and appreciates the work and effort I put into these sites. He's a member of all three of them.

Even though I don't own an XLR or V-series Cadillac - and I can't help you guys out with tech info on these Cadillacs like I can with some of the Corvette generations, I'm still passionate about these cars, hope to own one of each someday, and in the mean time, I enjoy working on these sites - and giving the owners and enthusiasts a place to call home on the web and learn about and appreciate the cars they have.

A long winded response - yes, but hopefully I answered your question - and that will give you and others a little background on how and why I started the XLR Net and the other sites.

Phrede · Nov 6, 2013

Rob said:
Sure. Tuna has been a long time Supporting Member of the Corvette Action Center and he also helped me design, start and engineer the Cadillac V-Net site. He's also been, as you observed, a member here for Two years. Every year he donates, above and beyond the same Supporting Membership fee at the Corvette Action Center - enough to be a Supporting Member of several sites. He does so because he values the work and effort I put into these three web sites and he appreciates my efforts. As a result, I made him a Supporting Member here as well as on the Cadillac V-Net - even though there is no Supporting Membership there at this time.

He may not be active here, but he continues to be a member here and if he didn't want to, he would tell me so and I would remove him.

I own and operate this site as well as the others listed in the footer below. All of them are paid for out of my pocket as they always have been. What little ad revenue I get along with Supporting Memberships helps pay for the monthly hosting fees for all of the sites. The hosting fees are not cheap. The Corvette Action Center is on it's own dedicated server. The XLR Net and other sites are now on their own dedicated server as of a month ago. They used to be hosted on very cheap hosting accounts at other hosting companies, but as a result - their performance was God-awful. Why? Because they were on what is called "virtual hosting accounts". Meaning, they were on servers with up to 300 other web sites. If any of those web sites got busy, it affected us. So, I moved the XLR Net and the other sites on to a dedicated server at the same hosting company as where the Corvette Action Center is.

As a result, I now have full control over both servers (as well as more headaches and higher monthly hosting fees), but the trade off is - we are not affected by slow downs like we were before, and I can deal much better with software incompatibilities when it comes time to upgrade software packages both here in what you see, and on the back-end of the server.

I have a full time day job as a Web Developer. I work early mornings, nights and weekends here and on the other sites; in essence, it's like another full-time job. I do this, not just because I'm passionate about web design and development, but because I'm passionate about these cars and felt there was a need for an online source of good, quality information on them.

In the past, I've been offered a rather large sum of money to sell all of my web sites to a couple different companies. Enough money where I could go out and buy an XLR, a brand new CTS-V and a brand new Corvette - and I turned them down. Some would say I was stupid, but others that know me well enough, know that I love these web sites, I love working on them, and I love the cars and the people I meet through them.

Tuna, as well as a couple other Corvette Action Center members recognize that and the work I put into these web sites, and they wanted to support my efforts. The others (not Tuna), only care about Corvettes and could care less about Cadillacs. If they were members here - I would make them Supporting Members as well because I feel it's the least that I could do.

So let me ask you a question:

I don't own an XLR. I don't own a V-series Cadillac. I don't know as much about them as I do about the Corvettes (although building the Registry here gave me one hell of a crash course...). I own a BMW 335i coupe (my daily driver), and a 1990 ZR-1 Corvette. I remember the first time I ever saw an XLR in person. It was a 2007 Black Raven on Ebony XLR-V sitting in a local showroom and I had all I could do from slobbering all over it. I periodically see an Infrared XLR running around here - and drool every time I see it. I would give a limb to be able to own a 2009+ CTS-V, but I don't.

I don't own these cars because I can't afford them, and because I would not be able to take care of them as I take care of my Corvette. I only have a one stall garage with a small driveway and I live in the northeast. If I owned either an XLR or a CTS-V, there is no way in hell I would let them sit out in the open elements around here.

Because I don't own a Cadillac XLR or a V-series Cadillac - do you think I should not have built these web sites? In some ways, I relate your question regarding Tuna - to mine. Even though Tuna isn't active here, he's passionate about these cars, and appreciates the work and effort I put into these sites. He's a member of all three of them.

Even though I don't own an XLR or V-series Cadillac - and I can't help you guys out with tech info on these Cadillacs like I can with some of the Corvette generations, I'm still passionate about these cars, hope to own one of each someday, and in the mean time, I enjoy working on these sites - and giving the owners and enthusiasts a place to call home on the web and learn about and appreciate the cars they have.

A long winded response - yes, but hopefully I answered your question - and that will give you and others a little background on how and why I started the XLR Net and the other sites.

I fully understand the concept of dedicated and virtual servers for web hosting and appreciate your efforts in providing a forum. I'm not questioning your or Tuna's qualifications or intentions. I do not think that ownership is a prerequisite for anything here. Participation is also not, in my opinion, a pre-requisite for being a supporting member.

I do find it odd that someone with not a single post in over two years chooses to provide funds for something he does not use. But that is his business and I can only thank him, regardless if he ever visits the site to read anything.

Maybe you missed the point of my question. Are the funds received from supporting members on XLR-NET.com used specifically for XLR-NET.com or are they put into a generally fund used to support the other sites as well? Is it too much to ask what I'm supporting? Different than Tuna, I'm not likely to support a site I don't visit.

Rob · Nov 6, 2013

Ok. Now I understand your question. Supporting membership fees help in both. The XLR Net and three other web sites are on one server. So there is a monthly hosting fee for that server. The Corvette Action Center is on its own server. Both servers entail one monthly hosting fee that is broken down between the two servers. So I pay that bill out of one checking account for ease of billing and ease of tax preparation at the end of each year.

However, the XLR Net has individual software packages that I have to pay annual fees for in order to get the latest upgrades and security patches. Those software packages are as follows: forums, vbadvanced which builds the homepage of the site off of the forums, gallery software, reviews software, video software, knowledgebase software, navigation software that insures the site's navigation system is CSS compliant...the domain name registration every year....that's all I can think of at the moment. So in answer to your question, there are monthly and annual fees that are specific to this site and they are all paid for out of one account for ease of paperwork and tax purposes.

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05 GRAND DADDY · Nov 6, 2013

Rob all I can say is THANK YOU!
I gladly sent a donation because if it was not for this forum we would not of connect with these wonderful people for events and plus probably saved us money by the problems, repair cost that we learn about here and not give money to repair shops that we did not know about until reading here on someone else's post!
Thx again you the man!

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Dan & Wendy
" 05 GRAND DADDY"

Rob · Nov 6, 2013

You're very welcome! I'm glad that the site has been helpful for you!

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sc67jam · Nov 7, 2013

Rob,

I would like to thank you also and even tho I don't post much I think I've read just about every post since I joined last Nov. Again Thank you for all your time and dedication.

Rob · Nov 7, 2013

sc67jam said:
Rob,

I would like to thank you also and even tho I don't post much I think I've read just about every post since I joined last Nov. Again Thank you for all your time and dedication.

You're welcome!

Crimson Pearl · Nov 7, 2013

Supporting Membership

Rob said:
So I've updated the Supporting Membership image and removed the V-series logo. It was the best I could do given the size of the image.

I think the new logo looks great!

I have now become a supporting member and would like to thank you very much for such a great website!

All the great tech info, the get-togethers and friends we have met really illustrate what a great site this is. I'm very pleased to be able to support this website!

Rob · Nov 7, 2013

Crimson Pearl said:
I think the new logo looks great!

I have now become a supporting member and would like to thank you very much for such a great website!

All the great tech info, the get-togethers and friends we have met really illustrate what a great site this is. I'm very pleased to be able to support this website!

Thank you Ken!

ECurtis · Nov 8, 2013

Rob,

Thank you for everything that you do, especially all those things we don't see. I appreciate your dedication and can only imagine the time and effort it takes. Thank you for creating a site where people can talk to other enthusiasts and feel welcomed and accepted. I am honored and proud to be able to support this site.
You are the best! :rocker: