[Spooks] Mailing List Update

[Chris Smolinski]

A short note to the members of the Spooks list...

As most of you know, the mailing lists at qth.net have been migrating to
the new mailing list software. The Spooks list was in fact one of the
first lists to make the move. The new software allows list subscribers
to manage most of their settings now by themselves, this reduces the
workload for those of us who administer the lists. The new software, as
well as some new hardware going into qth.net, should also reduce delays
in relaying messages.

For those unaware, qth.net is run by Al Waller, K3TKJ. He runs it
totally out of his pocket, with help from donations from fellow hams and
subscribers to the lists. I believe his expenses are in excess of
$30,000 US every year, and a lot of this does come out of his pocket.

Qth.net is about to have a second broadband connection hooked up on
Friday morning. The T1 now in use has been running at 105% of capacity
which is why qsl/qth.net sites may seem slow at times. Financially, the
new connection's cost will be ON TOP of the old, original T1
connection... which brings me to the REAL point of this message...

Al has said this:

"Other than the technical things with the servers, much of my time is
spent
trying to find creative ways to finance what we do and not make it
commercial. I usually remind our users in the late Fall of donations and
during this time of the year I have 2 "Platinum" sponsors that I
contact.
These 2 account for about a third of our yearly expenses. Today I made
the
calls and both are not able to help us any longer, I can understand
this.
the economy is flat and who knows when it will get rolling again."

He continues with:

"This means we are $10K short for the year at the start, but it gets
worse.
I can't put any more money into this than I already do, to do so would
not
be fair to my family. The only place I see this being made up is from
the
users with a great deal of effort on our part. If every user gave us a
dime
we could operate for 18 months or so, If every user sent us $1.00 we
could
operate for the next 20 years. What actually happens is about 600 
users/clubs donate an average of $10 each and we never hear from the
rest.
I'm not ungrateful for the donations don't get me wrong but it is the
same
users year after year and that will cease too, I'm afraid. With no help
we
will be in deep dodo by Fall."

Bottom line: donations to help offset the costs of running
qsl.net/qth.net
would be gratefully accepted by Al. ANYTHING would help, even just a one
dollar bill. 

You can mail to: 
  QSL.NET,Inc. 
  34087 Old Hickory Road 
  Laurel, Delaware 19956 

Or if you would like to do it electronically, go to any of these web
sites:

http://www.qsl.net/donations.html

https://proxy.qsl.net/donation

PayPal          http://www.paypal.com   (account k3tkj@qsl.net)

BidPay          http://www.bidpay.com   (account k3tkj@qsl.net)


Al's been kind enough to host the Spooks list on qth.net for several
years now. If there's any way members of the Spooks list could
contribute even a few dollars each, it would help Al out a lot, and help
to ensure that the Spooks list continues to run. 

How many of you subscribe to lists on Yahoo or other commercial
services, with those annoying advertisements, plus the spam mail you get
as well? You don't get any of that with qth.net (indeed there's some of
the best anti-spam protection possible on these lists, notice how it
never gets thru?). 

I don't mean for this to sound like a PBS fund-raising drive, but if we
want the Spooks list to continue, we need to support Al. My check's
going in the mail tonight. 

73
Chris