I'm not gonna be in charge of the donation process. Another admin will have to do it, or another mod/staff.

I guess in the worst case scenario there's 1and1, where's located the domain name, but then that means some errors.

Also one issue now is that since the domain name is included in another $59 hosting package, you would need to move the domain to the other host. It would cost an extra $11 I think (since private registration isn't free) but you wouldn,t have to pay for 2 hosting accounts.

Because we get what we pay for. To be honest, when I lurk on Cemetech, which uses Surpasshosting, I do notice the 7 seconds loading times. Usually, the site loads fast, but the slow times happens often enough to be noticeable and even annoying in some cases. Omnimaga had the same problem on 1and1. Cheap host == overcrowded servers == lower performance. We prefered to stick away from oversellers after the horror stories we heard from people who had million-hit sites running on a cheap host.

Also, cheaper hosts have more limited PHP. Our spambot mod didn't work on 1and1 and Kerm told me Surpasshosting used Safe mode PHP and the functions required by the anti spam (www.stopforumspam.com I think) were not supported by them.

However, if people can't afford better but more expensive hosting, I guess you'll have to go with Surpasshosting or return with 1and1. The latter is more likely as the domain name is also there and it's all set up, but when we get 5 million hits in a month it's not gonna be fun.

TL;DR: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/wiki/Overselling

Also ads won't do any good, because I heard that in 3 years, ticalc.org got like the price of 2 beers with their ads.

I understand the reasoning behind spending more for hosting, UTI currently has some pretty shoddy hosting.

$300 just seems like a lot of cash, I think you could get away with something for half that and still have it relatively fast. I'm just throwing that out as an option. I can't remember what RS uses but when we made the front page of slashdot and all those other sites and had 600 people visiting the forums at once for a good majority of the day...we never had any issues.

Keeping these sites going is important and I'm sure something can be figured out.

This makes me really sad, I'll miss you deeply DJ_O!
I also don't have a lot of money(I'm 15 too), so I voted for advertisements, but then I read DJ_O's post about that its really little.
I'm also very sad that you're off ticalc.org
But seeing everything, it looks like people might donate.
But DJ_o, is there a chance you might ever return?

I hope that you will be able to take a good rest, DJ_O.
What you have done for this forum is incredible! Replying to basically every thread in this forum, and keeping us updated with all the news in the TI world.

I'm sorry to see you go, but I fully understand your reasons.

I hope you won't leave permanently DJ.    I can't really help pay for the site, but I think Donations via cash and Paypal will work.  Some years we may have extra, and we could save it for the next year, and so on.    I guess the only way to keep this site running is to work hard together and raise enough money to pay. 

That's a really good idea Xeda

I'm willing to pay the entire bill, come October.