Will Myswag.org live on? It's up to you...

[Brett]

Righto Swaggers,

We’ve reached a crossroads in the life of the Forum and we as a community need to work out which way we are going to go.The plan to move the hosting from Digital Pacific to Amazon (to try and make the server fees a bit more affordable) hasn’t worked out. Whilst one of our IT savvy Forum members has had a red-hot crack at getting it sorted, it has proven to be too problematic.  We thank him so very much for his time though and give him an A+++ for effort. Asking Firefox (the Forum member who volunteered his expertise and moved the Forum to Digital Pacific back in 2012) to sort it is out of the question as he is a man-in-demand in his job.

As some of you may have noticed over the last little while, the Forum has become quite laggy. That’s because, effective 1st July 2024, it has not been receiving critical security or cPanel updates or vendor support. The server will continue to function, however newly discovered vulnerabilities will no longer be patched. This increases the risk to the server and data over time.

Because the Forum is proving too hard to move, our only viable option at this point in time (if we want Myswag to live on), is to upgrade our server with Digital Pacific. After speaking with Brett and checking the specification of our current dedicated server, Digital Pacific have come to the conclusion the server that will suit best is a cPanel Managed VPS 3. For a fee, they can assist us with the migration. They will also provide a bulk migration discount to make this transition more affordable. The catch is, to be eligible for the bulk migration discount, we need to pay the annual Server Fee up front. See below:

• 1 Month: $308.90/mo  +  Migration charges

• 1 year:    $3,069.20   (18% Discount) + No migration charges

• 2 year:   $5,482.30   (28% Discount) + No migration charges

• 3 year:    $7,845.36    (33% Discount) + No migration charges

We (Brett and Jill) are not prepared to front the $3K on top of the $14K we already have.  We simply cannot keep pouring money into it. So this is where a decision needs to be made.


As a community, do you want to:

• Take up Digital Pacific on their offer and all Members (not just the same old people who cough up every single time) contribute in some way to raising the at-least $3069.20 (1 year Server Fee) so that there are no migration charges. This option would mean Members would then need to be prepared to keep coming up with the Server fees each month/year for the life of the Forum.

OR

• Say, “well it was a good run of 18+ years Myswag but it’s time to pull the plug” and shut the Forum down before anyone’s data is breached

We love the Forum and we have met many Members that we now call friends because of it. We are however at a point in our lives where we can’t give the Forum as much attention as we used to so it needs to remain fairly self-sufficient. Between Brett’s work (DIDO), Jill’s work (permanent night shift), two tweens, aging parents etc our lives are pretty hectic.

I’m going to add a poll to this post to start with and then we’ll go from there.

All thoughts and alternative ideas are welcome…

Brett & Jillsy

[Hairs]

It's a tuff one Brett,
We certainly don't want you Brett & Jill out of pocket.
Running/moderating a forum Web based is a costly and time consuming exercise.
Most groups, community based, even businesses have made the transition to Facebook, Whatsap.
Our 4wd Club is even questioning the dollars spent on a Web site, is it worth it?
And yes there are many who don't use social media platforms forms, for many reasons.
What ever is chosen, I will support, because I have received support from many Myswag members.
Just my two Bobs worth.


You don't use magic to disappear, ya use a 4x4 & Swag.

[Gandalf the White]

I've enjoyed the forum and have met and made many new friends across the nation as a result, inc some now lifelong friends. 

As with any good thing I.e. Tupperware, Old Format Camping Stores, Canvas Campers, Freedom of Speech in the USA etc, times are a changing, priorities and future plans for all of us will continue to evolve. 

I think you and the mods have done a great job, even potentially saving some people's sanity and possibly lives, but it might be time to wrap it up.

I know there's some that don't use social media and use this forum to stay in touch, but if the friendships are strong, they'll find a way to stay in touch.

[xcvator]

I know that this subject has been raised before, but what about advertising on the site ?

[Harbourmaster]

The proverbial rock & a hard place. Done the Northern Simpson trip purely because of this forum. Would be a loss to see it go but social media is making it hard for many forums. If there are enough to throw in some money I’m willing to contribute to help keep it going. Haven’t been on fb since Jan it just gives me the Shites.

[MattNQ]

I find the forum format much better for going back to old posts for reference - eg when I was building a kitchen for my camper- can pull up previous threads on kitchens. Facebook is horrible for that sort of thing.

I was up until recently on a US camera forum (Nikonians) where you pay a small subscription - $12 USD per year for access to all the forum.

Do you think a yearly fee of $20-30 would work for MySwag? I would pay it.