Welcome!

[graham]

I think it was Fletcher who recently mentioned in a thread somewhere that it would be a good thing to help Besslerwheel.com survive and thrive by remembering the guy who makes this all possible.

It’s Scott of course and I must admit I felt a bit guilty that after a year and a half of enjoying the exchange between like minded seekers here on the boards that I had never “done my bit” to help.
So I hit that little “donate” button down at the bottom on the left and sent him a few bucks to say “Thanks Scott” and help cover a part of the costs of running the site.

He sent me a PM thanking me and I was surprised when he mentioned that he hardly ever gets a donation for “maintenance and support” from members.

So in this season of goodwill , if you are able, please remember Scott and all he does for us.

Graham

[scotty]

New member, scotty, here.

I found your site by searching "fountain".

How do I find the "fountain" discussion ?

thanx

[jim_mich]

Hi Scotty,

Welcome to the Bessler Wheel forum. Clicking the search button at the top of this page will take you to the search page. Then enter fountain in the top entry box and at the bottom click the search button.

Hope this helps.

[graham]

Hey Scott thanks for the promotion . I just noticed that I have been given the position of "Site Administrator"
Looks like you're out of a job now.

Graham

[scott]

Hey Scott thanks for the promotion.

You're welcome, Graham. :-) It was a well deserved promotion, too.

That goes for everyone. Hope you all enjoyed being Site Admin for a day.

Happy April Fools!

[jonnynet]

...you don't need to register to vote, only to start new polls (but only one vote is allowed per IP address).

I have heard there are people who have variable IP adresses, that means they have no steady IP adress. are they able to manipulate a poll - to vote as many times as they want?

[scott]

Yes it is possible but I believe highly unlikely. Why bother?
-Scott

[jonnynet]

thank you. I was just interested if I am right with my guess.

[JuddBrooks]

Just to re-state what others have said already.

Skype would have value to many on this board. You can someone's home or cell phone from your computer for FREE (at least US and Canada). Not sure about rest of world.

You don't need a phone number (skype charges for that). You don't need a credit card or any other financial or Identity info.

Recently Micheal and Jim tryed to solve a wm2d problem via message thread. Couldn't help but think how much easier it would have been if they had just did a phone call and walked thru it. Skype would be one way. I see there is also a paltalk which I have not tried yet.

Has anyone heard of a reason to NOT have Skype in one's tool kit. ?

[racer270]

skype is world wide ..... paltack is a zoo ....!

[scott]

Hi All,

Just wanted to give everyone plenty of advance warning that I am starting to hear some strange noises coming from my hard drive. I have a feeling that it may be on its last legs. It could go another year or for just a few more weeks.

Anyway when it does finally die, the site will be down for a few days or even as long as a week while I get it up and running again on a new machine. I'll do my best to minimize the downtime but on a couple of trial runs I've discovered that there will be *a lot* issues to resolve and it could take a while.

Also I'll do my best to prevent any data loss but if the disk does crash suddenly it is possible that a few of the most recent posts could be lost.

Thanks,
Scott

[Tinhead]

You better get a 2nd hard drive :) Use 'ghost image' or something similar to create a copy of your original one, that way it is just a matter of switching them over.

Cheers,
Rainer

[scott]

Backing up the data is no problem. In fact I already keep two backups of all the data. Moving a website that requires about a dozen different installed programs to a different machine and managing all the webserver and dns migration issues is the problem.

[Wheeler]

Scott
Is the system old or in need of upgrade?
Have you enough reserve cash to carry the burden of all the costs along the way?
I often wondered how all of this works.
Seems like you carry a lot on your plate to keep this forum.

[scott]

Hi Wheeler, thanks for your note.

Is the system old or in need of upgrade?

Yes the machine that runs this website is very old and desperately in need of an upgrade. If I recall correctly I got this machine in the year 2000. It is a Dell and has performed way above and beyond expectations. By many accounts it should have already died.

I keep the data backed up on two other machines. The challenge now is installing and configring all of the programs involved and migrating the site to a new webserver machine on the Internet.

Have you enough reserve cash...

Yes thankfully I am fortunate enough to have the resources required. I paid for most of the new machine myself, but a few generous members have also contributed through the paypal link, which is *very* much appreciated. The new machine is here but not at all ready to go.

I often wondered how all of this works.

Well it is a pretty normal website (webserver, database, and peripheral programs and backup machines) except for the fact that I run it from my home. I have often considered using an ISP or co-location service, but since I don't make any money from it, I can't see spending any more than I already do when my current system is working fine.

Seems like you carry a lot on your plate to keep this forum.

Well thanks I appreciate it. For me it is a joy and a hobby and a chore all at once. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Best,
Scott