I may need to shutdown IceInSpace :(

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Donation just submitted.

V.

[N1 (Mirko)]

Likewise

[astronobob (Bob)]

Donated very similarly

[AstralTraveller (David)]

I love IIS and am willing to help it survive. Donation just sent. I think astronomy in Aust needs something like IIS lest we become atomised and lose interest in this wonderful hobby. I don't say much but I do visit regularly and truly enjoy the images, the news and the chat. I also imagine that the imagers appreciate somewhere to showcase their work.

It seems to me that the financial aspect can be solved pretty simply, either by some sort of fee or a regular donation drive. Just look at the response to this SOS. The thing is that I, and apparently many others, were not prompted by the Donation button that we scroll past every day. So Joe's suggestion of a regular email to the effect "OK folks, time to pay the bills. We need $XX in the next fortnight." might be sufficient. Personally I'm happy to pay a subscription but I can see the arguments against one.

The other issue is work to keep the site running. I'm retired and so have a bit of time and would be willing to assist, if I have any relevant skills.

I'm a member of a small, some might say tiny, astronomy club. A few people contribute to the running of the club but at any one time most of the work is carried by 2-4 enthusiastic members. There is a slow but regular turnover of leadership and in this way the club has survived for >60 years. I used to go to a bluegrass jam (I'm a very, very poor musician and they were very tolerant.). It was run by one bloke and after 16 years, during the COVID shutdown, he decided that he had done enough (and he had). Now people strum at home and, if they are like me, are doing less and less of that.

I don't know if we need an 'IIS Society' - there are overheads to running a society that perhaps we don't need - but it seems that we need some sort of structure/arrangement so that the site can outlive the individual. Any thoughts?

[gjr80 (Gary)]

Donation sent.

Gary

[Stefan Buda]

Donation sent.

[Nikolas (Nik)]

There are so many astronomical societies in Australia could we not ask them for some support even if it is an annual donation/sponsorship from each of them? Most of us are members of these societies.

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Donation sent.

[gts055 (Mark)]

Donation sent, hoping the website and all the knowledge and history held here is not lost.
Cheers Mark H

[ChrisD (Chris)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Subscriptions can be a barrier to entry for newcomers who might want to come to the site and enjoy the discussions, learn stuff, ask advice etc.

I agree, while I and many others would happily support subscriptions, unless the site has something to offer that cannot be found at any of the free forums, it's going to be difficult long term to attract new members. Be aware that there are consumer law and tax implications of fundraising/subscriptions, they differ from state to state.

From what I've read there are 3 problems here:
1. The immediate payment or reimbursement of the approx. $2000 to keep the IIS open.
2. Find a solution to the long term viability of IIS. Some forums are owned or sponsored by astronomy retailers.
3. Rehosting and data migration.

I suggest we address item 1 first to buy time to look at 2 and 3.

Originally Posted by iceman

Apologies, yes that's broken.
But you can still paypal to paypal@iceinspace.com.au, or the BSB/Acc# are still valid.

I've donated through paypal to help keep IIS open.

Chris

[kalon (Kevin)]

Would you consider Discord? It has pretty much all you want except it is chat rather than forum-based, and is a couple of hundred dollars annually. You would miss out on ad revenue but that doesn’t exist by your own report. Or partner with an existing server, like mine (Lonosham Observatory) or Bintel’s, but then you’re risking diluting your brand…

[tempestwizz (Brian)]

This site has been a great and trusted resource for many years. $20 donation sent.
Thanks for the efforts of all involved.

[AstroViking (Steve)]

The last thing I want to see here is for IIS to turn into a chat system like Discord or FarceBook.

Have you ever tried searching for anything on those platforms?

If you're not watching the endless streams of text (yes, they can be broken out into channels and sub-threads), you miss stuff. There is no way those platforms can replicate what we have here.

My preference is to keep IIS as a forum, like it is now, with all the separate topic areas and (most importantly) the search capabilities. This feature alone saved me hours of frustration when I was starting out - simply because everyone else had gone through the same thing and provided answers here.

I'm also aware of the massive task in migrating the site to a new home. I've quickly added up how many posts there are, across all the areas (and I've probably missed some). There are over 1.4 million posts, many with attached images, and then there are all the articles, reviews and what-not written by members.

To lose this resource would not be a good outcome, in my opinion.

Regards,
V.

[Pierre_C]

Originally Posted by Nikolas

There are so many astronomical societies in Australia could we not ask them for some support even if it is an annual donation/sponsorship from each of them? Most of us are members of these societies.

I like this idea. Four societies each paying $500 each year for server costs would add up to $2000 each year.

It might also entrench some shared institutional ownership of site administration, which would outlive any individual.

Perhaps set up a combined videoconference with the society presidents to workshop ideas - what IIS is, what the problem is, what the proposed migration solution is, what they might want, what they might gain, how they might be able to contribute, and whether they have any other ideas?

Perhaps an initial investment of $1000 per society for establishment and migration costs could also be sought to purchase expert IT assistance for a refresh and migration; or one of the societies may have an expert volunteer to help do this?

There are also New Zealand societies - I am not sure if they have an umbrella organisation that might be interested in formally being part of something like this.

[iceman (Mike)]

Thanks for all your support, and to those who have generously donated.

Originally Posted by ChrisD

1. The immediate payment or reimbursement of the approx. $2000 to keep the IIS open.
2. Find a solution to the long term viability of IIS. Some forums are owned or sponsored by astronomy retailers.
3. Rehosting and data migration.

This is exactly the approach I'm taking - get #1 out of the way first.

The donations up to this point appear to have been enough to buy another year and get enough time to work on #2 and #3.

I've had the hosts on my back and was able to get an extension until mid-next week, but looks like that will be fine now. Thanks to everyone's support.

I'll have more to say when I get more time, but I really appreciate all the posts and all the donations.

[CoolhandJo (Paul)]

Originally Posted by AlexN

Absolutely happy to pay a yearly memebership to help keep it alive, alternatively, I can help you to look into new hosting/migration processes etc...

It's been a few years since I've done a full website and database migration from one server to another, especially when talking about having to shape 20+ years of posts and user profiles...

I really don't want IIS to go away if we can avoid it Mike.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help, but by all means, implement a membership fee for us all, I'd say the firm majority of active users would happily cough up $20~$50/yr... I pay more than that for Astrobin, just to host my photos so I can link to them on here!

Agreed would pay membership

[CoolhandJo (Paul)]

Originally Posted by AlexN

Absolutely happy to pay a yearly memebership to help keep it alive, alternatively, I can help you to look into new hosting/migration processes etc...

It's been a few years since I've done a full website and database migration from one server to another, especially when talking about having to shape 20+ years of posts and user profiles...

I really don't want IIS to go away if we can avoid it Mike.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help, but by all means, implement a membership fee for us all, I'd say the firm majority of active users would happily cough up $20~$50/yr... I pay more than that for Astrobin, just to host my photos so I can link to them on here!

Just paid 20

[Leo.G (Leo)]

This is exactly the approach I'm taking - get #1 out of the way first.

The donations up to this point appear to have been enough to buy another year and get enough time to work on #2 and #3.

That's a very good start and it's obvious members want IIS to stay and donations aren't a problem.
A forum as good as IIS is well worth preserving.

[gregmc (Greg)]

Charging a fee could shut people out that you really want on the site. If you are selling something to upgrade, a new person may not see the value (yet) of joining (paying) and won’t see your add to buy gear.

Perhaps look at this from a different angle.
It’s an Australian resource. Could it be something that Australian clubs collectively fund for its membership so the entry fee would be belonging to an affiliated society.

Then have the collective societies haverepresentaion on an organising/funding/direction committee.

We should have (or bring back) this communication between societies in Australia anyway and this could be an extra reason.

Greg
(VP of the Northern Sydney astro society)

[leon]

Nice one guys, it seems that we might have saved the day in the short term, lets hope all the top "Techy" people here can sort it out, I personally wouldn't stand a chance.

We need Alex back, he'd fix it.

Leon