You may notice a few things changing around here in the coming week. So, if things start looking odd or different, know that the site’s not experiencing technical difficulties, I’m just taking steps to try and reduce overhead.
With the amount of traffic that this site gets, combined with the resource hog that is the forum, Huntsman’s Lodge is now costing me a whopping $89/mo. to host. The days of me decorating the site to my heart’s content are over… sadly. 🙁
You’ll also notice that I’ve been uploading slightly smaller screenshots in an effort to curb the resource usage.
This ship will continue its course, but I need to jettison a bit of the cargo in order to help keep it afloat. I’ve gotten accustomed to paying premium hosting fees to maintain this beast, but one large per year is where I gotta draw the line.
And for those of you who feel like tipping your hat to me, there is a handy donation feature in the sidebar… just sayin’.
I know I run ads on here, but it ain’t like I’m gettin’ rich by any means. With the amount of hours I’ve contributed to this site over the years, combined with the out-of-pocket expenses, the total costs involved with maintaining this site are insane.
I know my recent contributions have slid in the past few months, but that’s due in large part to my need to refrain from activities that ‘cost money’, rather than those which are actually ‘profitable’. 😉 After all… I have a wife, a kid, another business to run, and a mortgage. I’d love to dink around on here all the time if I could… hell, I’d love to be able to play a bit more often, but duty calls.
Before I wrap up this post, I’d like to encourage you to recognize not just me, but all of the WoW bloggers and contributors out there who have enlightened, educated, or entertained you over the years. There are a lot of folks out there working very hard so that you all can enjoy greater satisfaction from this game.
I for one have made a point to donate to all of the sites that I’ve found valuable over the years. Well, apart from Frostheim’s… but that’s only because he’s just recently added that option on his site. However, I have donated to OutDPS in recognition of the HPP.
Since I’m thinking about it, I’m going to head over to the WHU after I wrap up this post and buy Frost a couple of beers. Those of you who haven’t yet should do the same. I can’t even begin to fathom the amount of time he invests on a regular basis, in order to provide hunters with the best independent class resource on the web.
Let’s not forget Mania or Zehera either… If you’ve used either of their sites, I highly encourage you to send them at least a couple of bucks and a simple “thank you”.
Do it.
That is all.
See you guys soon. 🙂
Hi, happy to donate a few pounds to a good cause.
And btw another blog worth giving a name check to is
It’s A Trap!
http://oonoes.blogspot.com/
especially if you like PVP. Its just started, written by one of the top hunters in NA and already contains some great info including class by class how to for hunters vs others.
Thank you Martin. You’ve donated in the past – perhaps around the time I first had to move to a VPS. I really appreciate you answering yet again. 🙂
I’ll have a look at that site. Thank you for the link.
Wish I could help you out with the financial part of the site Gar, but with the wedding coming, all my money is tied up there.
No worries my man. You’re contribution to the forum is worth more than any donation you could send my way.
Good luck with all the planning and politics by the way. The in-laws still trying to dictate policy, or have they lightened up a bit? I would have PM’d you this question, but I figure it’s probably a safe bet that they aren’t regular visitors at HuntsmansLodge. 😉
Hey Garwulf.. as a serial website wrangler (or should that be mangler?) myself am more than happy to chuck a few dollars your way.
This site, among others has really helped me improve my game experience.
it’s a fine line getting “income” from a website. you ask for donations or you flood the site with Google ads that break up the page and make it an eyesore. You have a few ads and they’re unobtrusive which is fine.
hope the few bucks I sent goes some way to offset this months costs.. at the very least it’ll buy you a couple of beers 🙂
keep up the good work and long may this helpful and informative site continue.
Beowulf
(Brynhildur : Lightbringer : EU)
Thank you very much Beowulf! I sincerely appreciate the recognition. And the beer money was really nice of you as well! Although, it’s most likely going to be applied towards my monthly
bloodlettinghosting fees. 😉Thanks again!
Hi Ellifaen
I can’t and am not speaking for Garwulf but on the tech side I’m not sure if you know but Gar designs, builds and maintains sites for a living with his company iArtisan (I’ll be sending him a bill for $14674.00 for that plug) Matter of fact, he’s is in the process of doing a site for one of my companies & has already chastised me for using an overpriced provider. So in that area I think he has it covered:) He’s actually pretty good but don’t let him know I said anything or he might overcharge me:) I only found out that he did that when I sent him some cash for the personal help he gave me in making me the incredibly skilled sexy dwarf hunter of WoW that I am today. …k I even hurled at that…
It’s the content, editing and maintenance that, as I’m sure you know, is a time resource hog. I ‘think” he was talking more about making the site leaner to lessen that cost area and giving people a heads up on the changes. The way I read it, he was simply reminding people that good content;as you probably know, takes a lot of effort and the more ‘successful’ your site gets, the more time it takes and it can end up being a moneysink. Such is the innernets though:)
Gar…
Your efforts are much appreciated and I totally understand your having to reorganize priorities. Just out of curiousity – who do you host this site with? A lot of excellent providers offer unlimited bandwidth and storage, so I am wondering if you’re getting the best deal you could be…
It’s not the bandwidth or storage space that’s the problem — it’s the resource usage (ie: CPU and memory). Hosting companies bury these little details in their Terms of Service, so most people are unaware, but… once a site starts to receive a decent amount of traffic, all of those hits begin to devour a lot of server resources. Even though they grant you unlimited bandwidth, you’re not allowed to use more than your share of the server’s CPU and/or memory.
This is an issue that the WHU has just recently run into, and frankly, I’m amazed it’s taken this long, as he sees much more traffic than I do. But… I think Frost had some foresight, which is why he kept his sight so minimalist.
Me on the other hand, I can’t help myself… I have to utilize high-res images, then go implement a forum to boot. The forum is actually the number one reason why this site is such a resource hog. But… it’s become a pretty cozy place for many to hang out, and I don’t want to disrupt that.
Believe me… I wish could go back to $8/mo. hosting, but with the amount of traffic this site gets, I am considered a bad neighbor as far as shared hosting is concerned. 😉
I DONATE.
I understand what your saying. My Guild on Wow like the website we have the Vent and the rest. But sadly never throw a few coins in the ring to help and it all comes out of me. With as much as your site and you have helped me through the years I gladly Donate, and will try to remember more often.
Thanks Alienwolf. 🙂
I sent you an email last week, but another thank you isn’t gonna hurt, so…
Thank you!
Well put. You know my feelings about this site and the costs. Free is fine but then again you get what you pay for. People are spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on guides , levelling hustles and gold (though most would probably deny it vehemently which is probably why there are 10000 such sites and 1,000,000 ads for em) when a lot of the information can be found here for free. That should be worth a few bucks.
While I respect and salute sites such as WHU and have gatthered very helpful information from that site and a few others the vast majority do not have forums. They say ‘here it is’ and occasionally respond to questions, typically those that disagree with them about theory craftng that I can’t understand anyhow 🙂
Nor do they have people like you and others who contribute to this site who will give specific information in a personalized way, right up to and including doing a spec for them. The articles by folks like Drach and others are informative, very.
It’s not an insult to any of the other sites, simply a fact. Also, I’m guessing the majority don’t have the financial responsibilities you do. Now, no-one is holding a gun to your head to do this but it is a great site and I do believe this is the forst time you’ve mentioned the costs and desire for some help. I hope a few more people help feed the monster.
Hell that was long so… That is all 🙂
Thanks Agio.
I did see your post in the forums awhile back, and I actually started to respond but then I had to shift to something else, then that browser window got shut down, and there you go… Not to mention, I’m waaay behind in reviewing many of the threads that have been posted the past few weeks anyway.
I really do want to spend more time on here making the site even better, but I have to be realistic. Time is money.
But… if I can get a little support, am able to drop down to a more economical server plan, and I find some time, I promise to infuse a little more awesome into this place.