COMBAT MISSIONS: Bad News Folk's

[BFCElvis]

I am not a "mod" guy (I'm a rocker) but I have gone to your site for scenarios. I don't go there as much as it sounds like these guys do but I would certainly send you $5 or $10 to keep the ream alive. Think about it.

[Juju]

How's about we give our personal webspace to Manx to host the mods? I'd be willing to. It ain't much, but a lot of littles make up a large, or somesuch.

[Scipio]

Juju, that's an interesting idea.

There's a lot of free webspace out there. Why don't the modmakers search free webspace or pay on their own for the hosting, and Manx - of course only if he want to - only sort and collect the links. This would free him from limitations in webspace and traffic, and the modsluts don't need to search dozens of sites.

[Juju]

Big ole BUMP! Been a while since I done one of them thingies.

Just checked with my provider. Turns out I could host 10MB worth of stuff. Most providers offer a limited amount of webspace, don't they? So, how about it, people? Would some of you be willing to give away their bit? Would Manx be interested in scheme like this?

[Frenchy]

Manx: Thanks for all your efforts. Your site was one of the best and will be missed. See ya on the board!

BTW, submit your credentials to BTS. Perhaps you can spruce up their site a bit, eh?

[Foobar]

Manx, check your email,

I have some questions for you.

[Stixx]

Well what do you say about it all Manx?

There are plenty of alternatives here for you, I'd be willing to pay $5 U.S for access to Combat Missions.

Or give you access to my personal webspace as well as my Freeservers account (20Mb) and my Yahoo acount (20Mb?).

What do you say mate?

[massimorocca]

I'm ready to pay for the site access.......

Massimo

[Clubfoot]

I'd be willing to pay also. And to avoid the perceived elitism Mr. Dorosh referred to, instead of charging $5.00 for access to the site, $5.00 donations should be considered. I give NPR money every year so EVERYONE can hear it, and I'd be willing to donate money to CM's every year so EVERYONE could benefit from it.

So with a goal of, say, $1200 US in mind, let's start a CM's pledge drive.

My pledge is $20.00. That leaves $1180 to go.

Count off everyone. State what your pledge would be and let's keep a running total.

[ 10-20-2001: Message edited by: Clubfoot ]

[Rogue]

let me just say CM's is my fav, and imo, the best cm site out there.

i think i saw this suggested already, but one thing you could do, is take off all the old mods and put them on a hotline server. You could keep the newer mods on the site until a certain amount of mods is reached,say 10, then u clear it out again and add the new mods. for the old mods, u could make a hotlineserver (www.bigredh.com) with all the mods on it. just list the ip somewhere obvious on the site. (if you are uncomfortable with that then i guess it kind of eliminates the whole thing ) you can organise all the mods into categories like they are now so they are easy to find.

dunno if this would help any of your problems or not. one downside is the hotline server would have to be up all the time, as it is run from your computer.

you could also include downloadable tactics and stuff.

just my ideas, id hate to see cm's die

its started to inspire me to make my own cm site, i hope it stays.

[GriffinCheng+]

Manx,

I hate when you are trying to do that again! You are making me cry.

It is strange to me that your current isp is charging you based on traffic volume! I am not sure what it means but I strongly believe that your case is the first ever in the Internet world. Most sites closed due to lack of "hits" and now yours is just the other way round!!! Too popular is a problem? This is crazy! This is madness! (Okay, now take a deep breath and control thyself).

Putting out a changing scheme on your site would not work, it will only make your "alienate" against our fellow CMers. I suggest you setup yourself a server! Hardware is dirt cheap -- get an o'PC (a Pentium II or equivalent is more than enough). All you need to beef up the memory (256MB is a very "mandatory minium") and of course a large HDD, Ultra-IDE HDD with 45GB is dirt cheap now (Yes GB, not MB, it is not a typo)

The greatest problem areas would be:

1. Connection. Find a ADSL service providers. In Hong Kong 3Mbit ADSL providers are plenty and the rate are low (less than USD40 monthly). The speed is not great but I think it is acceptable.

2. Site setup. Linux and friends are cheap and there are a lot of good site software (Apache/PHP/MySQL just come into mind) available. The problem is you need time/skills to setup up using them. BTW, please don't use IIS!

3. Lastly, site management/maintence. Since your site is running 24/7, I am afraid you need more time to backup and look after the site since hardware comes into the picture. You need to do your backup, sort out old files and keep your hardware in the good running condition (like putting the server in an air-cond room, etc). The tools is not a problem, just the time taken.

I am no expert here. But if you don't mind, I know a Finn musican running a site on his own (and he is not a full-time IT people, shame on me) using just Linux/MySQL/PHP all by himself (with his own UBB forum too). Here is the starter:

http://www.photography-on-the.net/

(...and that site contains hints to partially explainations of my appearent "disappearence" in CM community).

Sorry for the longish and hope it helps.

Griffin.

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: GriffinCheng+ ]

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: GriffinCheng+ ]

[Richard Morgan]

Gustav and Michael Dorosh would seem to have the right idea. Please keep this site going - do it on principle if nothing else!!!

Noli illigitimi carborundum,

Richard.

[Franko]

I'd be willing to pay Manx..I'd pay, say, 25 bucks a year.

I don't think its "elitist" to charge, as someone else mentioned, above. Thats just silly. In fact, I think its somewhat "exploitive" that we enjoy someone elses work (i.e., MANX) without paying a nominal fee of some sort. Manx does bring value worth compensating.

My 2 cents.

F

[Manx]

Sorry about the delay in replying:

I'm speechless, so it's a good job i can still type. I see the ol' "Band of Brothers" spirit of togetherness is very much in evidence on this forum.

I'll briefly try and reply to some of the suggestions/points raised:

1). Split site up into smaller satelite sites/accounts -- Yes this could be done quite easily (i am already doing it), but it would be an absolute nightmare to admin. These accounts only offer limited webspace, typically 10-50 MB, and this would soon go. I would call this a short-term option.

2). Pay-->Password for site/file access -- NEVER!

3). Setup own server -- Possible. However, living in the UK makes the cost prohibitive (we pay more for everything!). The UK, to my knowledge, still hasn't caught up with the US in making it a feasible option for people to run these sort of setups from home, at least not without a great deal of expense. If anyone living in the UK can tell me this ain't necessarily so, i will be listening.

4.) Selective File Hosting & Rotation of Hosted Files -- Again, easy to do, and i agree that mods that have perhaps grown outdated could be taken off and archived. Ever since the site first hosted mods, i have adopted a policy of only accepting mods that, IMHO, were of a high enough quality for people to be interested in using. There is no point in hosting stuff that no-one will ever d/l. It's just a waste of diskspace.

5.) Banner Ads -- I'm from the old school...I hate em'! Anyway, CM's is already running a "Recommended WW2 Books" section, whereby people can help to support the site. I see this as a feature of the site -- people will be buying WW2 books anyway, so why not make it easy for them to do so. So far i have received one cheque from Amazon for £37 (paid quarterly and after deductions) from books sold. Typically i receive 5-15% commission on items sold -- 15% for a direct link sale, 5% for indirect.

6.) Private Donations -- I'm amazed at people's generosity, but as mentioned, i think it is important that the site (i.e -me) isn't seen to be profiting from the work of others, because after all, that is what CM's relies on totally for it's content. Even though this would be classed as voluntary contributions, the implication is that i would still be making financial gain.

I don't know -- so much to think about! :confused:

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: Manx ]

[Manx]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by GriffinCheng+:

Manx,

I hate when you are trying to do that again! You are making me cry.

It is strange to me that your current isp is charging you based on traffic volume! I am not sure what it means but I strongly believe that your case is the first ever in the Internet world. Most sites closed due to lack of "hits" and now yours is just the other way round!!! Too popular is a problem? This is crazy! This is madness! (Okay, now take a deep breath and control thyself).

Putting out a changing scheme on your site would not work, it will only make your "alienate" against our fellow CMers. I suggest you setup yourself a server! Hardware is dirt cheap -- get an o'PC (a Pentium II or equivalent is more than enough). All you need to beef up the memory (256MB is a very "mandatory minium") and of course a large HDD, Ultra-IDE HDD with 45GB is dirt cheap now (Yes GB, not MB, it is not a typo)

The greatest problem areas would be:

1. Connection. Find a ADSL service providers. In Hong Kong 3Mbit ADSL providers are plenty and the rate are low (less than USD40 monthly). The speed is not great but I think it is acceptable.

2. Site setup. Linux and friends are cheap and there are a lot of good site software (Apache/PHP/MySQL just come into mind) available. The problem is you need time/skills to setup up using them. BTW, please don't use IIS!

3. Lastly, site management/maintence. Since your site is running 24/7, I am afraid you need more time to backup and look after the site since hardware comes into the picture. You need to do your backup, sort out old files and keep your hardware in the good running condition (like putting the server in an air-cond room, etc). The tools is not a problem, just the time taken.

I am no expert here. But if you don't mind, I know a Finn musican running a site on his own (and he is not a full-time IT people, shame on me) using just Linux/MySQL/PHP all by himself (with his own UBB forum too). Here is the starter:

http://www.photography-on-the.net/

(...and that site contains hints to partially explainations of my appearent "disappearence" in CM community).

Sorry for the longish and hope it helps.

Griffin.

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: GriffinCheng+ ]

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: GriffinCheng+ ]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Griff -- Thanks for your comments, but i think i should point out that it's not a question of how many "hits" the site gets (i recently put up a counter that shows exactly how many). What is in question is "Bandwidth".

At this moment in time i have two major problems which are seriously affecting my ability to run a site such as CM's with the "services" it is trying provide.

DISKSPACE -- Specifically: mod hosting. Mods are getting bigger! We all like to choose different graphics depending on the choice of force type, location, time-line etc.etc, and with the advent of programs like CMMOS, which make it easy to switch graphics, mod-makers are increasingly adding loads of optional extras to downloads that bloat the size of mods considerably -- a "standard" 1 modded bmp for each CMBO bmp may come to a 1MB d/l. Start adding 3 or 4 diffent options for each one of those bmp's are you soon have a mod that is 4-5MB in size. Now i'm the worst modslut i know, and i love to have all these different options, but speaking solely as a CM webmaster, there is, and increasingly will be, a major headache in trying to accomodate all these files. This goes for anyone trying to host CM files.

BANDWIDTH -- The No.1 site killer! CM's is on it's 4th change of HostCo. because of what they call bandwidth "abuse". For those that aren't sure - bandwidth basically encompasses things such as "page loads" and "file downloads". If i have a page that is 5k of html, with a 30k graphic on, then you accessing that page will add err...35K of bandwidth, which is then clocked-up against the sites account. If you then go and download a 5MB mod then that too get's added, so you end up with -- 1 visitor access (hit) and err...5,035Mb (approx) bandwidth usage. There are a few other things that also go towards a sites bandwidth figures; FTP uploads, e-mail send/retrieve etc. etc.

Currently, my HostCo. will allow roughly 15GB of bandwidth per month on the type of account i have with them. Not every month, but most, CM's goes past this figure. As more and more people become aware of how great a game CM is, the more and more difficult it is to operate within these limits.

I have scoured the net looking for sites that offer relatively cheap accounts with lots of diskspace and high bandwidth limits, but they either provide one or the other, never both! For instance one HostCo i approached could offer 1GB of diskspace (CM's currently only has 250!), but will only provide 3GB of bandwidth per month. It would not take long (a few days) before that host kicks me off.

How i can go about solving this problem (if i can) remains to be seen.

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: Manx ]

[GriffinCheng+]

Manx,

Thanks for your kind reply.

Oh, I see, they are telling you their trunk/pipe is too small?! What an arragont company they are! (or greedy I guess)

Is there any xDSL service (or any "The Last Mile" service) in your area? I know it is darn popular in Hong Kong and the States. I am not sure about if BT or Cable & Wireless. They are not as fast as dedicated lines but I think they are very acceptable (at least to home use). For ADSL, I guess you know already, the downlink to your machine is faster than the uplink. But if the price is low, you can subscribe two lines, each handle one direction. Many small business here use this solution and there are hardware which allows multiple user sharing the same line.

I am not sure why it is hard for UK ppl to setup their own servers, sorry. But the site I know is based in Finland. Well, it may be due to their exceptional infrastructure.

Alternatively, you can setup your server outside UK! Yes, if you can find someone or a company you can trust somewhere else. (e.g. I have a P2-450 + 128MB RAM and 9GB UW SCSI HDD) Just put a dedicated site server there. You can manage the site remotely. Talk about "global village" here. For hardware, I think many CMers are happy and willing to donate they old (or "pre-CM" ) PC or Mac to you. You just need someone to install/setup/manage the server for ya.

Oh, btw, my web consultany hourly rate is....just kidding.

Hope it helps.

Griffin.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Manx:

Griff -- Thanks for your comments, but i think i should point out that it's not a question of how many "hits" the site gets (i recently put up a counter that shows exactly how many). What is in question is "Bandwidth". <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Clubfoot]

Manx,

Regarding contributions: In no way will most of look upon you in an unfavorable light for accepting contributions. Check out the "KEEP MANX'S CM's ALIVE" thread to see who would be willing to contribute. A lot of us are mod authors and scenarios designers who view the service you provide as beneficial to us, not you.

I know you won't be profitting, as do most of your sites loyal perusers. We just want the pipeline for the distribution of our work to stay open. If CM's dies, whichever site then recieves the lion's share of goodies that used to go to you, will go out the same way.

Please consider the pledge drive option!

[aka_tom_w]

Hi

I have been following this thread with great interest. It would be my opinion that the actual amount of disk space on the web server is not really the biggest issue here.

Its the BANDWIDTH.

I have ALL of Gunslinger's mods hosted on an ftp server that I administer and the server has over 1 gig of free space (and I can get more if I need it). The problem is with the isp and the amount of bandwidth used for all the downloads.

I thought someone here is/was already running a Hotline server dedicated to serving CM files and mods. I am a fairly techincally savy and literate mac user and I have seen all of the software and games and music and videos that are available on these types of servers, BUT what I still can't figure out is how they can afford the cost of the bandwidth for all the FREE uploading and downloading??? (advertising revenue?? not really most are totally non -commerical underground servers??)

Someone, (fairly new I think) out there in this CM community is already running a CM mod Hotline site/server and it would seem they are not burdened by the bandwidth issue and I would really like to hear from that person to find out how they are getting around the bandwidth problem of so many downloads?

I would be happy to pledge 400 megs of disk space on my ftp/web server BUT I can't afford the EXTRA traffic and bandwidth above and beyond what I already use per month to serve up Gunslinger's toned down mods. ( I fell in love with them so much I had to host them and share them for the CM mod community!)

I hope someone will post here with the info about the person who was (is?) running the CM mod server.

Thanks

I hope we can all help Manx out and keep the GREAT web site up and running.

-tom w

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: aka_tom_w ]

[Lawyer]

Manx, I use your site regularly and consider it the best out there. When you figure out what to do, I would be happy to help with money or such. I consider supporting your site a public service for the benefit of us all. The CM community has wonderfully talented mod and scenario designers, and you are the critical link to bring their products to us.

Question? When I enter Amazon through your site, do you get credit for any books or merchandise I buy at Amazon, or just for the specific books you have displayed on your site? I spend a lot of money there on a variety of things.

[Manx]

Lawyer Thanks -- Amazon's Associate Program works like this:

DIRECT SALE (15%) -- You use a link from one of the books listed at CMs and then purchase said book WITHOUT going to any other Amazon page, that is classed as a DIRECT sale for which Amazon pay 15% commission.

INDIRECT (5%) - From a link at CMs - If you went to the book you were interested in, but then had a look around Amazon, but then went back and bought the book they would pay 5%. Also, if you went to Amazon through anyone of those links and bought ANYTHING, that too would be classed as an INDIRECT sale and again 5% would be paid.

Club - I really appreciate what you and the guy's are trying to do (CMs Pledge thread), and i'm glad that CMs is so highly thought of that people would like to see it carry on, but i'm not entirely comfortable with the idea that i should receive monetary assistance to run a site that is only a small part of a much larger, totally FREE, Community.

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: Manx ]

[Clubfoot]

Manx,

I can understand your reluctance. However (and isn't there always one of those), CM's would remain free to all who use it. Our assistance wouldn't be considered payment for the sites use, but charitable contributions from those of us who would just spend the money on smokes or beer anyway. And I get at least as much enjoyment from CM's as I do from my smokes and beer.

Please consider this alternative. This is for our benefit as much as (or more so than) yours. The fact remains that whatever site steps up to fill a CM's gap will only collapse under the same conditions. Sooner or later, there will have to be a site that can handle the traffic. I say sooner rather than later.

If there are further issues for discontinuing the site which you haven't brought forward, or you simply refuse to consider pledges as an alternative, we'll respect your wishes. But please consider this option before you make any final decision.

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: Clubfoot ]

[Wolfe]

Waaah! Sorry to hear about your troubles, Manx. The fact that this issue keeps popping up must be a real annoyance. Sounds like you should take a break from all this nonsense.

If you can't find a kind benefactor able to take away much of the BW load, it may be best to scale things down and add some banner ads. The ads may be annoying, but they pay the bills and I think most folks have accepted them as a necessary evil.

Whatever the case I hope you can find a solution that's suitable to you. Don't worry about us; we'll be fine. Do what's best for you and your site. This is supposed to be enjoyable, remember? It ain't supposed to just be another obligation!

- Chris

[offtaskagain]

Has Manx's host put a bandwith cap on his site? I just got some BS about exceeding the site's configured capacity.

[Priest]

Manx you have my favorite site!

Well depending on what happens I am hoping that after my career (darn IT field) gets back on track I am going to be putting together a server that will constantly be online with oretty decent bandwidth. You could put the page on there if need be for any length of time (i dont care). Whether this be the new home or a temporary solution I do not care, I just want the page to survive. I would need to know the needs of the page storage wise so that I can buy the right HDD when I purchase it (hopefully within 2 months). I was thinking at least a single 60gb to start with.

Hope I can help!

[EdDaChed]

I'd pay $20/ year to help keep it going.