So, percentage wise, you loose more from a small transaction (say $5) than from a large one.

True.

so you're saying that to increase efficiency we should all tip in increments of $100?

Or higher, yes. :D

I thought the mug had been filled for Dec?

It has, any further donations will go into January.

If things really go well and donors seem ready to fill the mug all the time, we can then expand. I would really like to improve the server, with a 2U system with a RAID and hot-swappable drives. The barebones version is this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816117060

One would add CPUs and drives to that and have a pretty nice colo setup. Six drives in a RAID mean that a dead drive doesn't take us off the air - ever. Right now, if we have a bad drive in the Cellar system, it's at least a day, maybe two to get there and replace/restore.

With something like that maybe we could add goodies, like image hosting for donors, cellar.org email accounts, who knows what people want.

that would be verrrrry cool!

We've filled the mug every month for the last 3 at least haven't we? That's got to be a record somewhere hasn't it?

I don't recall, but can you share the approximate minimum operating expenses required to fill the tip jar each month? Or better yet did you have a goal in mind to move to something better, a dollar amount per-month? I have no idea what it costs to do something like this.

The base number is $250. I pay $380/month to colocate* three systems with unmetered** bandwidth, and the Cellar is kinda-sorta one-and-a half of them. The systems themselves are about $1000 and depreciate over three years in theory. And there are various extras here and there; rack rails, a little hub, mileage to get to the colo, etc.

Google ads on IotD blog view take up some of the $250.


* colocate: putting servers in a rack in an internet provider's data center. This is typically done to get the best deal on bandwidth. The alternative is to get an expensive circuit to where the servers actually are.

** unmetered: it's rare for an internet provider to allow you to send/receive as much data as you can eat. Most plans come with a limitation. The Cellar kinda needs unlimited for the amount of traffic IotD and all the other images eat up. Even without IotD, we consume a ton of traffic here.

:chuckle:

Be prepared to register a considerable downturn due to rounding.

It sounds like you need to create a Cellar Xmas wish list, or have a Cellar pledge drive. It's for our own benefit, after all.

I think that would be a good idea. I would pledge $250 easily.

I would match TheMercenary's $25 pledge.

and to follow suit i personally guarantee that i will contribute 10% of HLJ's contribution.