Our hosting Co-Op is a lot less of a Co-Op and a whole lot more of money pit for me than I originally envisioned.
Sure, I've given away lots of free access to various people for various reasons in the past: special projects that I agree with, artists whose work I appreciate and wish to support, and friends who have limited needs and consume very few resources and wouldn't otherwise purchase hosting if I weren't being generous. Having the freedom to be able to do these things means a lot to me. But paying $100/mo just isn't worth it for what I get out of it. That's why we started the Co-Op in the first place.
At this point, there are 6 paying members in the Co-Op. They get everything I get (i.e. just about anything they want) and they don't have to do the technical work to make it happen. Unlimited domain names, unlimited FTP accounts, and unlimited space. Anything that isn't currently supported can be added through nothing more than a simple email. All of this for $10/mo. I'd say that's a pretty good deal for them.
But, with only 6 paying members, I'm still out $40/mo. The goal was that I would pay nothing (my technical and administrative contributions would be my payment). I would be happy just paying $10 like everyone else. To make matters even worse, I only have 2 members who pay religiously on a monthly basis. That means that often times, I'm floating the full bill every month until people get around to paying me.
I'm sure if I sent invoices I'd be paid on time. But, this isn't supposed to be *work*. To save my time and energy, I don't send out bills or invoices. I expect that the members will do what it takes to remind themselves to pay me each month. I keep no record of who has paid and who hasn't. It's just friends helping friends. The honor system. All that good stuff. As best as I can tell briefly looking over PayPal records, there is over $250 in outstanding balances to me. One member hasn't paid in over a Year. Another, in over 6 months. Two more are 3 months behind. And then I have the two good members, who are 100% current. What's even funnier is that the two people who are the *most* behind are also the two most active members in terms of disk space and system usage.
If you're a Co-Op member, please, please, please pay what you owe.
If you're currently getting hosting elsewhere and would like to be part of the Co-Op, please let me know.
If you are currently getting free services from the Co-Op and would like to send a little donation as a token of your appreciation, they are happily accepted as well.
