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

vyas

@KermEd said:
I love this berry berry much

Non intrusive ads aren’t bad (LES has none) but profiting off hosts to let them post a thread is just sad.

I want flashy, gif and video ads in autoplay mode. And three popups minimum.

---

Too bad macromedia and flash player are dead. And I really, really miss real player.

yoursunny

@vyas said:

@KermEd said:
I love this berry berry much

Non intrusive ads aren’t bad (LES has none) but profiting off hosts to let them post a thread is just sad.

I want flashy, gif and video ads in autoplay mode. And three popups minimum.

---

Too bad macromedia and flash player are dead. And I really, really miss real player.

<script>
while (!confirm("Is vyas sexy?"));
</script>

Ympker

@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

Great idea! I don't remember the platform's name, but there was a platform where you could accept donations and it publicly showed how much money is in the pod and the cashflow where it goes (e.g. if it is spent on Hetzner or whatever ppl would see where it goes). Would also be cool to see (ofc not in terms of doubting the glorious M&M Duo but rather "see" where your money goes and better understand the expenses). Just an idea Of course, would first need to check what fees they charge etc. I just saw an open source project on GitHub using this the other day and thought it looked neat.

Edit: Found it. It's called "Open Collective":

From their website a tl;dr:

Community is about trust and sharing. Open Collective lets you manage your finances so everyone can see where money comes from and where it goes.

https://opencollective.com/

https://medium.com/open-collective/what-is-open-collective-how-it-works-c51bacc73d94

stratagem

Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

Jord

Don’t forget the content creators and video editor 😂

lapua

hi. lapua here, hyperblast there.

Ryujin

@Lampard said:
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.

@Ympker said:

@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

Great idea! I don't remember the platform's name, but there was a platform where you could accept donations and it publicly showed how much money is in the pod and the cashflow where it goes (e.g. if it is spent on Hetzner or whatever ppl would see where it goes). Would also be cool to see (ofc not in terms of doubting the glorious M&M Duo but rather "see" where your money goes and better understand the expenses). Just an idea Of course, would first need to check what fees they charge etc. I just saw an open source project on GitHub using this the other day and thought it looked neat.

Edit: Found it. It's called "Open Collective":

From their website a tl;dr:

Community is about trust and sharing. Open Collective lets you manage your finances so everyone can see where money comes from and where it goes.

https://opencollective.com/

https://medium.com/open-collective/what-is-open-collective-how-it-works-c51bacc73d94

Yeah open collective is a great place to use if you rely on donations, track all the money used.

cybertech

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

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

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

dont forget to post deals here!

natvps_uk

@Mason said: All of which I'm paying out of my own pocket without any issue.

I’m sure people would be happy to donate to help cover the fees - I certainly would! Let me know if I can help.

TheDP

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

LES was not created to compete with LET or any other forums and this is a clear example of a "community driven" platform vs a "community focused" platform

AlwaysSkint

Just remember a wee bit of credit to @AntFish, who made this all happen. I'd tried to kick it off with a suitable domain name but he pushed LES into existence.
Apart from my standard monthly fees to clients, I also work/impart information on a donations basis. I view anything I get through donations as a bonus and though infrequent, a donation is always appreciated. Last week I got a fiver from someone out-of-the-blue - a great surprise!

Of course, best wishes to the forum, going forward. Like with other projects (Mint, TinyCP etc.), I'm sure I'll pop in a small donation, once in a while. As I say, if everyone pays a buck then it can make a huge difference.

LowHosting

@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

I donated something, not much, but I hope it will help grow this place.

Ironia

@TheDP said:

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

LES was not created to compete with LET or any other forums and this is a clear example of a "community driven" platform vs a "community focused" platform

Any chance you could give a short origin story for the two? I'm kind of a noob to both forums and I just found them (plus HostedTalk) via Google alerts. They all seemed to have overlapping userbase so I assumed they were sister sites of some sort, but it looks like things might be a little more complicated than that.

elliotc

@Ironia said:

@TheDP said:

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

LES was not created to compete with LET or any other forums and this is a clear example of a "community driven" platform vs a "community focused" platform

Any chance you could give a short origin story for the two? I'm kind of a noob to both forums and I just found them (plus HostedTalk) via Google alerts. They all seemed to have overlapping userbase so I assumed they were sister sites of some sort, but it looks like things might be a little more complicated than that.

lowendspirit initially runs on a 256MB box, as a "ticket system" for NAT sellers.

TheDP

@elliotc said:

@Ironia said:

@TheDP said:

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

LES was not created to compete with LET or any other forums and this is a clear example of a "community driven" platform vs a "community focused" platform

Any chance you could give a short origin story for the two? I'm kind of a noob to both forums and I just found them (plus HostedTalk) via Google alerts. They all seemed to have overlapping userbase so I assumed they were sister sites of some sort, but it looks like things might be a little more complicated than that.

lowendspirit initially runs on a 256MB box, as a "ticket system" for NAT sellers.

@Ironia said:

@TheDP said:

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

LES was not created to compete with LET or any other forums and this is a clear example of a "community driven" platform vs a "community focused" platform

Any chance you could give a short origin story for the two? I'm kind of a noob to both forums and I just found them (plus HostedTalk) via Google alerts. They all seemed to have overlapping userbase so I assumed they were sister sites of some sort, but it looks like things might be a little more complicated than that.

Yes, and on top of that, long story short, let's just say Anthony Smith, who started/founded LES and who also runs Inception Hosting, went his own way and parted from moderating LET and the platform itself, started his own paradise, which is this.

LES is not owned by anyone, not even Ant, but he is the founder and this place is purely a community-driven platform, which I personally see it as the lowender's haven.

Now Ant has stepped aside from managing, maintaining and moderating LES, which he then passed his responsibilities on to two great admins, moderators and tech guys where we refer them as M&M, being @mikho and @Mason.

Hope I got all of that right and it wasn't just a bed time story

angstrom

@TheDP said:

@elliotc said:

@Ironia said:

@TheDP said:

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

LES was not created to compete with LET or any other forums and this is a clear example of a "community driven" platform vs a "community focused" platform

Any chance you could give a short origin story for the two? I'm kind of a noob to both forums and I just found them (plus HostedTalk) via Google alerts. They all seemed to have overlapping userbase so I assumed they were sister sites of some sort, but it looks like things might be a little more complicated than that.

lowendspirit initially runs on a 256MB box, as a "ticket system" for NAT sellers.

@Ironia said:

@TheDP said:

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

LES was not created to compete with LET or any other forums and this is a clear example of a "community driven" platform vs a "community focused" platform

Any chance you could give a short origin story for the two? I'm kind of a noob to both forums and I just found them (plus HostedTalk) via Google alerts. They all seemed to have overlapping userbase so I assumed they were sister sites of some sort, but it looks like things might be a little more complicated than that.

Yes, and on top of that, long story short, let's just say Anthony Smith, who started/founded LES and who also runs Inception Hosting, went his own way and parted from moderating LET and the platform itself, started his own paradise, which is this.

LES is not owned by anyone, not even Ant, but he is the founder and this place is purely a community-driven platform, which I personally see it as the lowender's haven.

Now Ant has stepped aside from managing, maintaining and moderating LES, which he then passed his responsibilities on to two great admins, moderators and tech guys where we refer them as M&M, being @mikho and @Mason.

Hope I got all of that right and it wasn't just a bed time story

Just to add to what @TheDP said, a few years ago, LET/LEB (but especially LEB) were in a neglected state (neglected by the owner(s)), which was the main motivation behind Ant's starting LES.

mikho

@TheDP said:

@elliotc said:

@Ironia said:

@TheDP said:

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

LES was not created to compete with LET or any other forums and this is a clear example of a "community driven" platform vs a "community focused" platform

Any chance you could give a short origin story for the two? I'm kind of a noob to both forums and I just found them (plus HostedTalk) via Google alerts. They all seemed to have overlapping userbase so I assumed they were sister sites of some sort, but it looks like things might be a little more complicated than that.

lowendspirit initially runs on a 256MB box, as a "ticket system" for NAT sellers.

@Ironia said:

@TheDP said:

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

LES was not created to compete with LET or any other forums and this is a clear example of a "community driven" platform vs a "community focused" platform

Any chance you could give a short origin story for the two? I'm kind of a noob to both forums and I just found them (plus HostedTalk) via Google alerts. They all seemed to have overlapping userbase so I assumed they were sister sites of some sort, but it looks like things might be a little more complicated than that.

Yes, and on top of that, long story short, let's just say Anthony Smith, who started/founded LES and who also runs Inception Hosting, went his own way and parted from moderating LET and the platform itself, started his own paradise, which is this.

LES is not owned by anyone, not even Ant, but he is the founder and this place is purely a community-driven platform, which I personally see it as the lowender's haven.

Now Ant has stepped aside from managing, maintaining and moderating LES, which he then passed his responsibilities on to two great admins, moderators and tech guys where we refer them as M&M, being @mikho and @Mason.

Hope I got all of that right and it wasn't just a bed time story

As a reference, read these topics

https://talk.lowendspirit.com/discussion/2317/a-year-in-les-reflections-thoughts-my-history-and-the-future-for-lowendspirit

https://talk.lowendspirit.com/discussion/2574/congratulations-to-mason-the-new-les-admin

Mason

@mikho said:

@TheDP said:

@elliotc said:

@Ironia said:

@TheDP said:

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

LES was not created to compete with LET or any other forums and this is a clear example of a "community driven" platform vs a "community focused" platform

Any chance you could give a short origin story for the two? I'm kind of a noob to both forums and I just found them (plus HostedTalk) via Google alerts. They all seemed to have overlapping userbase so I assumed they were sister sites of some sort, but it looks like things might be a little more complicated than that.

lowendspirit initially runs on a 256MB box, as a "ticket system" for NAT sellers.

@Ironia said:

@TheDP said:

@stratagem said:
Interesting to see the monthly cost for this forum vs the other one. Quite the disparity.

LES was not created to compete with LET or any other forums and this is a clear example of a "community driven" platform vs a "community focused" platform

Any chance you could give a short origin story for the two? I'm kind of a noob to both forums and I just found them (plus HostedTalk) via Google alerts. They all seemed to have overlapping userbase so I assumed they were sister sites of some sort, but it looks like things might be a little more complicated than that.

Yes, and on top of that, long story short, let's just say Anthony Smith, who started/founded LES and who also runs Inception Hosting, went his own way and parted from moderating LET and the platform itself, started his own paradise, which is this.

LES is not owned by anyone, not even Ant, but he is the founder and this place is purely a community-driven platform, which I personally see it as the lowender's haven.

Now Ant has stepped aside from managing, maintaining and moderating LES, which he then passed his responsibilities on to two great admins, moderators and tech guys where we refer them as M&M, being @mikho and @Mason.

Hope I got all of that right and it wasn't just a bed time story

As a reference, read these topics

https://talk.lowendspirit.com/discussion/2317/a-year-in-les-reflections-thoughts-my-history-and-the-future-for-lowendspirit

https://talk.lowendspirit.com/discussion/2574/congratulations-to-mason-the-new-les-admin

This as well, the original origin story from our lord and savior, Ant.

https://lowendspirit.com/hello-world/

---

Edit: and here's the thread when mikho and myself took over in Anthony's place:

https://talk.lowendspirit.com/discussion/2577/new-admin-who-dis

TheDP

@Ironia - Just for the record, here at LES, we don't usually discuss or carry over the drama that happens elsewhere, especially on LET.

It does slip in once in a while but it does not get dragged for long and it's better that way.

This is just a "special" occasion

vyas

@TheDP said:
@Ironia - Just for the record, here at LES, we don't usually discuss or carry over the drama that happens elsewhere, especially on LET.

It does slip in once in a while but it does not get dragged for long and it's better that way.

This is just a "special" occasion

No drama makes LES boring for some. Good for us !

On that note was tempted to link/reference Ant’s rant on OGF and the call to arms to start LES. But good point on drama. Best left at that.

Ironia

Thanks for the history lesson and the references, everyone. That was very educational - not just about LE History but about hosting in general... The mentions of what things used to cost boggle my mind and make me feel almost too young to be here.

Also thanks for the warning about avoiding cross site drama. I don't want to cause trouble around here and I appreciate being gently introduced to the local culture so I don't find myself suddenly up against the ban hammer.

FrankZ

Warning!! You may see more frequent post from me here and although this may lower the overall quality of LES posts, I will do my best to refrain from posting bus photos. Mainly I am here to support the small providers that the OGF is pushing out and because all the people that I have respected over the last 10 years on that forum have moved here over the last couple of years. Hopefully this is acceptable to the community.

mikho

@FrankZ said:
Warning!! You may see more frequent post from me here and although this may lower the overall quality of LES posts, I will do my best to refrain from posting bus photos. Mainly I am here to support the small providers that the OGF is pushing out and because all the people that I have respected over the last 10 years on that forum have moved here over the last couple of years. Hopefully this is acceptable to the community.

We do allow bus photos in this thread https://talk.lowendspirit.com/discussion/3265/bored-then-post-your-best-gifs-imgs-youtubes created by @ehab

angstrom

@FrankZ said:
Warning!! You may see more frequent post from me here and although this may lower the overall quality of LES posts, I will do my best to refrain from posting bus photos. Mainly I am here to support the small providers that the OGF is pushing out and because all the people that I have respected over the last 10 years on that forum have moved here over the last couple of years. Hopefully this is acceptable to the community.

I no doubt missed the crucial detail, but what was at the origin of the bus photo meme? (Something VirMach-related?)

Mason

@FrankZ said:
I will do my best to refrain from posting bus photos.

Convince DaddyMach to join us and post as many bus pics as you want

FrankZ

@angstrom said:
I no doubt missed the crucial detail, but what was at the origin of the bus photo meme? (Something VirMach-related?)

I think @imok said it best, so I will just quote his post. (I have removed the OGF from the links in the post .)

@imok said:

@storm said:
Whose idea was it to start posting buses/trains/boats anyway? I mean get that we select for CAPTCHA, but it would be an interesting story to tell my kids someday.

I was there, but my memory is fragile. So I made some research.

Everything started in a Black Friday day in 2018 from @VirMach.

After a lot of words shared on The great thread of 2018, a lot of people decided to spent their time posting the page number inside the posts. I don't know if this was because of the excitement (Virmach will make some giveaways and double giveaways at some point) or just poor UX.

Suddenly @donli posted a bus. He won't know at the time, but a milestone was set.

(Image reuploaded for archiving purposes)

Source: /discussion/comment/3063223/#Comment_3063223

Of course, people would take that with curiosity:

@donli said:

@FrankZ said:
Is that a magic bus?

Bus 176. 24 to go.

More non-bus images will appear in the meantime, all of them related to page numbers.

@donli will do the same again on page 180. @ben47955 and @FAT32 will jump in to the trend, but it will not last for too long.

@FAT32 said: Guess I should post some too LOL

Source: /discussion/comment/3063945/#Comment_3063945

One day, @saibal missed his coffee pot, so he decided to continue the legacy.

Source: /discussion/comment/3066595/#Comment_3066595

As many of you will know, this happened before The great derailing of 2020, when a lot of people would find all the bus stops won't be where they should be. Nobody knew something like that could happen.

After that, everybody knew what to do when the page number changes.

In the latest days, trend includes trains too.

---

PS: I don't know if "derailing" is the correct word for such event.
PS2. This is not a peer-reviewed paper, some mistakes have been made.
PS3. English is not my native language, and I'm not sorry about that.
PS4. Double prizes would take years to arrive.

--

@Mason said: Convince DaddyMach to join us and post as many bus pics as you want

I'll work on that.

emperor

@mikho said: It was/is for the first group of people who signed up.

Too bad i found my account not working which i had it from 2017 reg here Did account expire when not active for more then 6 months or year?

AlwaysSkint

@emperor said: more then

.. more than!

MichaelCee

@emperor said:

@mikho said: It was/is for the first group of people who signed up.

Too bad i found my account not working which i had it from 2017 reg here Did account expire when not active for more then 6 months or year?

Maybe from the old forum version?

vedran

@TheDP said:
Just for the record, here at LES, we don't usually discuss or carry over the drama that happens elsewhere, especially on LET.

No drama and people just being nice to each other is probably the main reason I don't visit this place very often. I know, I'm a bad person, LET has ruined me