- Reaction score
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Folks, I wanted to provide an update as a few things have changed recently.
Bottom line up front: We have incurred some big server costs while our key source of funding has dried up. Army.ca is no longer financially self-sustaining.
The Funding
Very few folks know that Army.ca has been primarily funded by part-time work that I carry out on my evenings and weekends (the ones where I'm not wearing green) as I operate my Cybersecurity consulting company, Crypto Logic Canada. This week, my "lynchpin" contract that has provided most of the business income, has closed out.
While Army.ca does make some money through advertising and subscriptions, it's not enough to bear the ongoing server costs.
The Costs
Army.ca is comprised of 2 server (front-end webserver, and back-end relational data store - a database). These 2 servers have up-front 'lease' costs, and monthly usage costs.
The usage costs vary month to month based on CPU usage, traffic, load, etc. but in the last 6 months have fluctuated between $371.92 and $592.48, with an average around $450.
Last month I renewed our database server (one of two key systems that Army.ca uses), at a total cost of just under $3,200. The business did not have that much cash on hand, so I chipped in $1,500 of my own money - thank god my wife doesn't read these forums! Had I known the business' main contract was about to end, I may have done things differently, but then without a server lease I'm not sure what we'd be left with, so maybe this was for the best.
The good news is that this lease renewal pays for the database server for the next three years. This only covers the server, not usage fees, and it's also just one of the two main servers Army.ca uses.
The front-end server doesn't need a renewal until April 2026 and is expected to cost $1,500 on top of the monthly fees noted above, for a 3-year renewal.
There are also other minor costs such as renewing the domains, licensing the forum software, purchasing DNS services, etc. that occur on a monthly or annual basis.
The Way Forward
So what can we do?
I'm a little unsure to be honest. I've been drafting this message for a few days and just now realized I'm not entirely clear on what the next steps should be.
Yes, a boost in paid subscriptions would definitely help, but I've always maintained that Army.ca can't demand support from its members. I really hate the thought of going to the membership on this, and let me be clear: this is not a "pay or we shut down" situation. Having just sunk a good chunk of change into Army.ca's 3-year outlook, shutting down or scaling back is not on the table.
At the same time, I need to get back to a situation where Army.ca is self-sustaining.
I guess, ultimately, I am asking for folks to consider to a site subscription, if they are able.
I appreciate that not everyone is able to do this, and that Army.ca needs to remain a free service.
Your support is greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Mike
Bottom line up front: We have incurred some big server costs while our key source of funding has dried up. Army.ca is no longer financially self-sustaining.
The Funding
Very few folks know that Army.ca has been primarily funded by part-time work that I carry out on my evenings and weekends (the ones where I'm not wearing green) as I operate my Cybersecurity consulting company, Crypto Logic Canada. This week, my "lynchpin" contract that has provided most of the business income, has closed out.
While Army.ca does make some money through advertising and subscriptions, it's not enough to bear the ongoing server costs.
The Costs
Army.ca is comprised of 2 server (front-end webserver, and back-end relational data store - a database). These 2 servers have up-front 'lease' costs, and monthly usage costs.
The usage costs vary month to month based on CPU usage, traffic, load, etc. but in the last 6 months have fluctuated between $371.92 and $592.48, with an average around $450.
Last month I renewed our database server (one of two key systems that Army.ca uses), at a total cost of just under $3,200. The business did not have that much cash on hand, so I chipped in $1,500 of my own money - thank god my wife doesn't read these forums! Had I known the business' main contract was about to end, I may have done things differently, but then without a server lease I'm not sure what we'd be left with, so maybe this was for the best.
The good news is that this lease renewal pays for the database server for the next three years. This only covers the server, not usage fees, and it's also just one of the two main servers Army.ca uses.
The front-end server doesn't need a renewal until April 2026 and is expected to cost $1,500 on top of the monthly fees noted above, for a 3-year renewal.
There are also other minor costs such as renewing the domains, licensing the forum software, purchasing DNS services, etc. that occur on a monthly or annual basis.
The Way Forward
So what can we do?
I'm a little unsure to be honest. I've been drafting this message for a few days and just now realized I'm not entirely clear on what the next steps should be.
Yes, a boost in paid subscriptions would definitely help, but I've always maintained that Army.ca can't demand support from its members. I really hate the thought of going to the membership on this, and let me be clear: this is not a "pay or we shut down" situation. Having just sunk a good chunk of change into Army.ca's 3-year outlook, shutting down or scaling back is not on the table.
At the same time, I need to get back to a situation where Army.ca is self-sustaining.
I guess, ultimately, I am asking for folks to consider to a site subscription, if they are able.
I appreciate that not everyone is able to do this, and that Army.ca needs to remain a free service.
Your support is greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Mike
