>>>Maybe if a few more people paid to become PUTM, Michel could afford some better server hardware or a faster link to the net.
>
>Not sure that is an acceptable solution ??? The bottom line is that more people than ever are now on the UT. And, there are other forums. Clearly, Michel's hardware and/or pipe is not scaling. I complained about the speed several weeks ago, and that fell on deaf ears to some extent.
>
>At the very least, this forum needs to be on a quad box with no less than a T-1 pipe, and at most, mo more than 1 hop away from one of the major carriers. If it is not, then I would politely suggest that Michel get on the stick and make the necessary improvements. There is revenue from banner ads and PUTM already. Why can't these imrovements be made now.
>

John, not being part of UT's management, or privy to the finances and resources available, I don't know, and anything I said would be speculation at best, and uninformed speculation in all fact. Michel has stated that he would make improvements in the server platform and internet connection as the funds became available, so I can only guess that the funds are not now available.

I find that UT is a very valuable resource; I get more out of it than I do from a subscription to FPA or FoxTalk (where I've read a number of your articles in the past). I pay to subscribe to both.

As I've stated before, I contribute to my local public radio station each year, too - I think that having NPR news service, shows like Prarie Home Companion, and a commercial-free classical and New Age broadcast station is worth a contribution of a bit more than a dollar a day. I certainly pay more than that for my cable service.

It'd be nice to have a donor stratifications system like the local public radio station has, so that we could ask people to pay what they can. Unfortunately, we have a situation where membership at a base level gets you benefits - access to extra things in the UI, and discount from UT Partners on their products. My membership so far has come back each year in discounts on vendor products - SDT for one, and Y2KFox for another.

I believe strongly enough that I went ahead and renewed my PUTM fee here as of today, even though as an MVP, the fee is either waived or covered for us by MS. But I realize that UT needs the support, and if I expect other people to kick in for the cost of keeping it running, I'd be hypocritical not to do so myself.

FWIW, I pay for access to FPA and FoxTalk in a subscription fee, and if Steve Black asked for contributions to keep the wiki site going, I'd kick in there, too...

>Heck, the FoxForum is on a T-1........

Maybe the people running FoxForum could help Michel switch his operation over to their ISP - I've found UUNet, Michel's provider, to be a PITA ever since I dealt with them when I hooked up the connectivity at the Javitts Center for a couple of trade shows back in the distant past in conjunction with PANIX...