• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Donations

warren said:
Donations are just that voluntary donations voluntarily given to help keep the site afloat.

NOBODY gets paid and NOBODY is forced to donate and never will be.

The site's content is now approaching nearly 250GB with well over 1TB of bandwidth used per month I won't go into more specifics than that but suffice to say if you are not comfortable in donating then please don't.

The site will be around for however long it is around for much like us all I guess.

That being said I hope you enjoy using the site and it gives you many hours of enjoyment conversing with like minded people.
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thanks warren i have had years of enjoyment on here, hope to have more thanks to you and your dad
 
warren said:
Donations are just that voluntary donations voluntarily given to help keep the site afloat.

NOBODY gets paid and NOBODY is forced to donate and never will be.

The site's content is now approaching nearly 250GB with well over 1TB of bandwidth used per month I won't go into more specifics than that but suffice to say if you are not comfortable in donating then please don't.

The site will be around for however long it is around for much like us all I guess.

That being said I hope you enjoy using the site and it gives you many hours of enjoyment conversing with like minded people.
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Clearly some users know more about how this site operates and who owns it than I do. I assume this is information has been shared during meetings in person. All I am suggesting is that there should be an 'about' section perhaps along the lines of "This site is a labour of love run by father and son XY. It comprises some 250Gb of data and attracts traffic of more than 1Tb per month. It has more than ZZ members who share an interest in the history of Birmingham."

I accept that people aren't forced to donate and it doesn't surprise me that no-one gets paid, one of the great things about the internet is the masses of content published by millions of individuals at their own expense.

A good 'about' section will quell doubts and encourage donations. At the moment it feels like there is an inner priesthood who know what goes on and the rest of the members are supposed to have blind faith and are denounced as blasphemers if they show any doubt.

I am trying to make a positive suggestion here, not make a negative complaint.

I spoke above about the millions of individuals operatng content-rich web sites. I doubt if many of them have considered what happens when their domain name registration expires and their web hosting contract runs out, (hint: the web forgets). It would be a shame if the 250Gb of this site were to be lost for want of a continuity plan. Believe it or not I say this as I wish you well.
 
I think that Warren said it VERY well! I joined in 2015 and have enjoyed it immensely. My apologies for my earlier post but I believe that the Forum has demonstrated over and over their worthiness. While I don’t always agree with everything, I take my hat off to the mods who have a difficult job and do it very well. Over my years the Forum has demonstrated what they are. It has taken me through a few quite radical surgeries as I know has for others. I have had private conversations with number of members who have helped guide me for which I thank them profusely. My reason for donating is a selfish one, I don’t want it to go away! And because we can.
 
Spargone said:
Clearly some users know more about how this site operates and who owns it than I do. I assume this is information has been shared during meetings in person. All I am suggesting is that there should be an 'about' section perhaps along the lines of "This site is a labour of love run by father and son XY. It comprises some 250Gb of data and attracts traffic of more than 1Tb per month. It has more than ZZ members who share an interest in the history of Birmingham."

I accept that people aren't forced to donate and it doesn't surprise me that no-one gets paid, one of the great things about the internet is the masses of content published by millions of individuals at their own expense.

A good 'about' section will quell doubts and encourage donations. At the moment it feels like there is an inner priesthood who know what goes on and the rest of the members are supposed to have blind faith and are denounced as blasphemers if they show any doubt.

I am trying to make a positive suggestion here, not make a negative complaint.

I spoke above about the millions of individuals operatng content-rich web sites. I doubt if many of them have considered what happens when their domain name registration expires and their web hosting contract runs out, (hint: the web forgets). It would be a shame if the 250Gb of this site were to be lost for want of a continuity plan. Believe it or not I say this as I wish you well.
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thanks for the suggestion but you don;t have to worry we have it all covered
 
Richard Dye said:
I think that Warren said it VERY well! I joined in 2015 and have enjoyed it immensely. My apologies for my earlier post but I believe that the Forum has demonstrated over and over their worthiness. While I don’t always agree with everything, I take my hat off to the mods who have a difficult job and do it very well. Over my years the Forum has demonstrated what they are. It has taken me through a few quite radical surgeries as I know has for others. I have had private conversations with number of members who have helped guide me for which I thank them profusely. My reason for donating is a selfish one, I don’t want it to go away! And because we can.
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It has never been my intention to say anything against the forum and I go along with the general gist of your comments, (obviously personal circumstances differ).

I don't see that it can do any harm to provide easy access to some information about the forum both for potential members and existing members who don't know anything about its operation.

A 'one man and his dog' operation has surely got to be more deserving of donations than a site run by, say, Google, so why keep its true status hidden? Just to be clear, I am not casting aspersions at anyone and I have always tried very hard not to make it seem so.
 
Spargone said:
It has never been my intention to say anything against the forum and I go along with the general gist of your comments, (obviously personal circumstances differ).

I don't see that it can do any harm to provide easy access to some information about the forum both for potential members and existing members who don't know anything about its operation.

A 'one man and his dog' operation has surely got to be more deserving of donations than a site run by, say, Google, so why keep its true status hidden? Just to be clear, I am not casting aspersions at anyone and I have always tried very hard not to make it seem so.
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I think I've been pretty patient up to this point so I'm ending your debate here.

The site, it's members, moderators and caretakers do not answer to you.

And I've been more than tolerant this far but there is only so much Spanish inquisition I will accept. I would suggest you make no further reply on this topic.
 
hi folks just a litttle reminder to especially our newer members that this forum is run purely on the kind donations of its members...once again owing to the fact that due to covid we have not been able to have a forum meet up for almost 3 years...the raffles we hold at our 3 times a year meet ups provided us with much needed funds to help meet the forums running costs..so for the last 3 years or so we have had to rely on private donations...when i ask jim the owner of the forum how funds are standing he always says we are managing but we never really know if he is actually covering running costs out of his own pocket which i know he would do rather than close the forum down...think we are all aware of the cost of living crisis we are going through at the min and money is tight for all of us but if anyone has a spare couple of pounds to spare please hit the donate button...every little really does help...once again jim is not aware that i am posting this reminder and hopefully he wont see it as i may get the sack but i think its only fair that our members (especially new ones) are reminded that this forum is not free to run...

thanks folks

lyn
 
Astoness said:
hi folks just a litttle reminder to especially our newer members that this forum is run purely on the kind donations of its members...once again owing to the fact that due to covid we have not been able to have a forum meet up for almost 3 years...the raffles we hold at our 3 times a year meet ups provided us with much needed funds to help meet the forums running costs..so for the last 3 years or so we have had to rely on private donations...when i ask jim the owner of the forum how funds are standing he always says we are managing but we never really know if he is actually covering running costs out of his own pocket which i know he would do rather than close the forum down...think we are all aware of the cost of living crisis we are going through at the min and money is tight for all of us but if anyone has a spare couple of pounds to spare please hit the donate button...every little really does help...once again jim is not aware that i am posting this reminder and hopefully he wont see it as i may get the sack but i think its only fair that our members (especially new ones) are reminded that this forum is not free to run...

thanks folks

lyn
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well said lyn. the cost of repairs and new parts to keep the forum running are not free. na he wont sack you when he sees it. may be later he might:grinning::grinning:
 
pete i will take my chances :D thing is and where this forum differs from others is the massive amount of historical content we hold...the other thing is the amount of help our members give to others in the way of providing maps...photo restoration..help with family research..providing photographs etc..all given freely and happily...so by donating a little every so often is a very good way for members to show their appreciation...

lyn
 
Astoness said:
pete i will take my chances :D thing is and where this forum differs from others is the massive amount of historical content we hold...the other thing is the amount of help our members give to others in the way of providing maps...photo restoration..help with family research..providing photographs etc..all given freely and happily...so by donating a little every so often is a very good way for members to show their appreciation...

lyn
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true lyn i donated yesterday i see now how we would miss the forum if it had to shut down due to lack of dosh.
 
Astoness said:
hi folks just a litttle reminder to especially our newer members that this forum is run purely on the kind donations of its members...once again owing to the fact that due to covid we have not been able to have a forum meet up for almost 3 years...the raffles we hold at our 3 times a year meet ups provided us with much needed funds to help meet the forums running costs..so for the last 3 years or so we have had to rely on private donations...when i ask jim the owner of the forum how funds are standing he always says we are managing but we never really know if he is actually covering running costs out of his own pocket which i know he would do rather than close the forum down...think we are all aware of the cost of living crisis we are going through at the min and money is tight for all of us but if anyone has a spare couple of pounds to spare please hit the donate button...every little really does help...once again jim is not aware that i am posting this reminder and hopefully he wont see it as i may get the sack but i think its only fair that our members (especially new ones) are reminded that this forum is not free to run...

thanks folks

lyn
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Thank you to everyone who runs and maintains the site. I have just made another donation.
Carolann
 
Had a bit of a surprise today. When I tried to access another site , similar, though much smaller, to BHF concerning another local area (Secret Leeds) which I access and occasionally have contributed to,, I got "Site Expired". This may be corrected , or may mean that another source of information on the web is lost. This shows what can happen , and how important it is for members who can to support the BHF.
 
mikejee said:
Had a bit of a surprise today. When I tried to access another site , similar, though much smaller, to BHF concerning another local area (Secret Leeds) which I access and occasionally have contributed to,, I got "Site Expired". This may be corrected , or may mean that another source of information on the web is lost. This shows what can happen , and how important it is for members who can to support the BHF.
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very sad mike if the leeds forum has expired due to lack of financial support..when this forum was hacked in 2011 and we lost over 66000 images i thought...thats it then we have lost BHF but no ... our owner jim carried on..our members carried on and moderators carried on and where possible replaced many of our lost images and slowly between us we built up the forum again..it costs money for server fees..upgrades and the best security protection we can afford to make sure this does not happen again..our forum funds took a knock for 3 years due to covid and not being able to hold our regular forum meet ups which generated much needed funds through the raffles we hold but we got through that due to the generous private donations made by our members...so after over 20 years we still have this wonderful forum and long may it continue...so once again many thanks to everyone who helps to keep it going especially at the moment when money is tight..i for one would certainly be lost without it... :)


lyn
 
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Astoness said:
very sad mike if the leeds forum has expired due to lack of financial support..when this forum was hacked in 2011 and we lost over 66000 images i thought...thats it then we have lost BHF but no jim carried on..our members carried on and where possible replaced many of our lost images and slowly between us we built up the forum again..it costs money for server fees..upgrades and the best security protection we can afford to make sure this does not happen again..our forum funds took a knock for 3 years due to covid and not being able to hold our regular forum meet ups which generated much needed funds through the raffles we hold but we got through that due to the generous private donations made by our members...so after over 20 years we still have this wonderful forum and long may it continue...so once again many thanks to everyone who helps to keep it going especially at the moment when money is tight..i for one would certainly be lost without it... :)


lyn
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Thank you for all the work you all do to keep the forum running so smoothly.
I get so much pleasure from being a member. It is informative, amusing and helpful.
I have just made another donation. Keep up the good work connecting us all wherever the Brummie diaspora now live. Carolann
 
cba said:
Thank you for all the work you all do to keep the forum running so smoothly.
I get so much pleasure from being a member. It is informative, amusing and helpful.
I have just made another donation. Keep up the good work connecting us all wherever the Brummie diaspora now live. Carolann
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thanks carolann your appreciation means a lot to us

lyn
 
We are now in the second half of the year. I make it a point to donate twice a year. I am away now but will be at home on the 5th and will put our second donation in the mail. I believe that the BHF is a wonderful friendly & educational site. Please try to donate to keep everything going!
 
Richard Dye said:
We are now in the second half of the year. I make it a point to donate twice a year. I am away now but will be at home on the 5th and will put our second donation in the mail. I believe that the BHF is a wonderful friendly & educational site. Please try to donate to keep everything going!
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Thank you for the reminder Richard, i will do mine today
 
Can someone advise me please in regard to Bank transfer details as I don't use Paypal. Th only details given are those at the start of this thread in February 2010 and I am wondering if it is still the same
 
johnny082 said:
Can someone advise me please in regard to Bank transfer details as I don't use Paypal. Th only details given are those at the start of this thread in February 2010 and I am wondering if it is still the same
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the details are exactly the same as in post 1 johnny...thank you.. although it not everyones cup of tea (each to his/her own )its lovely to know that there are folk out there who really care about this forum and totally understand what it stands for and how much it means to so many of our members especially those who are house bound or live alone ..to them it really is a life line

lyn
 
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We are in the last quarter of the year, if you haven’t donated this would be a great time to do so for 2023! I have personally received so much enjoyment and learning this year and will very much miss those who left us along the way.
 
I thought that last year, 2023 was another great year for BHF, it got me through a hip replacement and continuing back treatment.
Each year I have committed to donate twice a year. My check will be in the mail (post) now that the snow has disappeared In Tennessee. A donation will help insure continuity of the Forum. If you have only received 10% of the enjoyment that I have it’s worth donating to!
And a special thank you to all the moderators who keep us on the straight and narrow (especially me) for the great work you do every day!
Thank you!
 
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