[Navy87Guy]

Fellow Walther Enthusiasts -

We all received an email from Robert, the Forum administrator, reluctantly asking for contributions to help keep this forum going. He has generously shoulder the financial burden for this operation up until now and he has asked for help to renew the domain registration and continue to pay for the bandwidth.

What he didn't emphasize in his email is that the lease on the domain expires on Friday, 15 July!! There is currently no funding available to pay the fees to lease the names for another 3 years...so as of midnight on Friday, this forum will cease to exist!!

If you are interested in keeping this forum active, I'd urge you to consider a contribution to help keep it alive. You can make a contribution through PayPal to [email protected] Consider how much you use this forum and value the information you find here, and donate according to your conscience. I know many of you were already considering it and would "get around to it" -- but I don't think any of us was aware of how soon we might lose this excellent resource!

Robert did not ask me to make this post. (In fact, he may remove it after he reads it!) But I felt it was important enough to make sure that everyone was aware of the real urgency. Apparently he's held out as long as he could, looking for alternatives to soliciting donations. He's done his part -- now I think it's our turn to help out.

Thanks!

Jim

 

[RCK]

Jim, thanks.  The cat's already out of the bag, so no harm done.  It's just a bad time for me right now.  I've lost two clients, all my money is tied up in assets, and I haven't any A/R right now, so I'm in a pickle.

This is terribly embarrassing for me, but as Lincoln said: "Honesty is the best policy".

For those of you who donate, if we don't hit the required amount, and the forum shuts down, obviuosly, everyone will receive a refund.

 

[sniper350]

This is indeed sad..........

I had only wished this urgency would have been posted sooner! I don't use Paypal........and while I am willing to send a check to the owner....NO WAY it can get to him to help keep the forum operating by Friday. And for his end " the checks in the mail" is not a good enough response to help him.

I did not receive the solicitation e-mails some people have talked about.........so I am playing catch up.

Please post the various ways in which we can support the forum with financial support.......ie an address to send checks if that is even a solution at this late date.

JF

 

[RCK]

For those of you who have not received the Email, it is because you manually deselected the "Send me any updates sent by the board administrator" checkbox in your Email settings, or when you registered.  This is the method by which we (rarely) send Emails to our registered users. Below are the two messages sent:

7/11/05:

Quote[/b] ]Dear WaltherForums Member,

Three years ago, WaltherForums was established with one vision in mind.  To be the best, easiest-to-use community of Walther enthusiasts on the internet.

Now, as we approach nearly 1600 members and 15,000 posts, that goal has been realized.  However, we have come to a point where we must make the somewhat embarrassing request to ask those of you who value WaltherForums if you might be willing to contribute to its operation.

Our domain registration(s) to maintain the WaltherForum(s).com/.net domain names will be expiring shortly, and of our bandwith allocation under the host domain, WaltherForums consumes the majority share, approaching 90% of the monthly plan in question.

If you value WaltherForums, and are willing to help offset the cost of continuing the hosting service and domain registrations that are vital to the operation of this board, kindly PayPal a donation in any amount you are comfortable with to: [email protected] which will ensure the continued success of our community.

Thank you for your support.  Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments!

7/12/05:

Quote[/b] ]Dear WaltherForums Member,

It has been brought to my attention that it would be helpful for those of you who might be inclined to assist finantically, to know how much is in question.

There are four (4) domain names that we have registered, all of which redirect to one.  The four names are:
waltherforum.com
waltherforum.net
waltherforums.com
waltherforums.net

These four were registered under the two .net and .com "top level" domains to prevent another organization from starting another competing community, thereby diluting the effort that you all contribute, and causing confusion and factionalization among Walther enthusiasts who already represent only a small percentage of the overall firearms market.

To renew these four domains for ONE YEAR would cost $67 which covers the re-registration, and a couple dollars for administrative fees imposed by the registrar.  However, it wouldn't hurt us to pay in advance for two or more years.  The amount of donation(s) we receive (if any) will determine how far in advance we can go.

There is some URGENCY to this matter, because the registrations expire on 7/15/05.  I regret the last minute notice, and any inconvenience it might impose, however I have been busy with trying to avoid this appeal, and the date "sneaked up" on me.

If you are inclined to donate, now is the time, before the lights go out.  I'm less concerned right now with the bandwidth, as I am with preserving the domain names.  Monthly operating costs are not as big an issue right now as having something to operate at all.

Regards,
Robert Kreisler
Gotham Marketing Group, LLC
Administrator, WaltherForums

 

[jehzsa]

Sent.

Come on, guys. Every little bit helps.

BTT

 

[tabor]

Robert,

I started an EFT from my bank account to my Paypal account yesterday night, but it takes 3-4 business days so I might not be able to get you the money until the 15th or maybe even the 16th, but you will get it.

 

[Nocturnal]

The forums would not have been shut down after the domain registry expired. Look at the URL in your browser. The walther domains are aliases to a URL in the gothammarketing domain. I never use the waltherforums URLs, only gothammarketing. Of course the gothammarketing domain and hosting isn't free either but in situations like this we shouldn't panic and simply report the facts.

That said, of course I sent a contribution to Robert to help keep things rolling.

 

[PPK/S Guy]

Robert your a great guy, and I love this site. I know GOD will enable you to keep this site.

P.S. what guns do you own

 

[Jake Starr]

Why is this thread still open?

 

[MLB]

I'll second the (implied) motion