Are the lifeboats manned?

[Vyt]

Those of us who have some experience with large-scale websites know that ASPD's ongoing financial woes and technical issues were largely self-inflicted.

A site with ASPD's traffic (1000-1500 unique viewers at any given time) is fairly substantial, but it's also not terribly unique. Web hosting for a normal site of that traffic would be around $750 a month, I'd estimate. A current vBulletin license is $500 for the most top of the line version. Add another $2000 or so for a consultant's time to import all the previous data, implement the various tools in place, etc. This adds up, but with ASPD's customer base, is easily doable.

Now the fly in this particular ointment is ASPD's legal status. Obviously this is something that the new administrators were worried about. And whether or not a site is 100% legal, finding a reputable web hosting service that will accept its business without question is another matter entirely. Not to mention finding a consultant you can trust to work on vBulletin, SQL, etc while moving gigabytes of data involving, um, active fantasy lives. This may have been driving much of ASPD's most recent decisions, and a failure to deal with them may well explain why they finally closed up shop.

In any event, there were, I'd say, a great many technically knowledgeable people (not just myself) available that the new owners could have gotten advice and assistance from, were they not too busy with "forum dramaz" and alienating most of the people who might have been willing to help.

[Faust 2]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vyt @ Dec 31 2009, 02:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Now the fly in this particular ointment is ASPD&#39;s legal status. Obviously this is something that the new administrators were worried about.[/b]

I&#39;m also wondering, just based on some of the comments made by the new admins regarding other "legal" questions, whether there is some issue of intestacy. I find it odd that they plan to recreate the site with a new domain name.

[yardape]

That&#39;s what I&#39;m suspecting. I&#39;ll try to get a look at the public filings, if any, soon&#39;s I have a little spare time.

[SofaKingFun]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dee Licious @ Dec 30 2009, 10:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I heard that playing the minute fieryjade posted her first extortion for money post... for those who don&#39;t know too much about websites... had it been maintained properly ie money in take care of the baby and all will fall in place... well that didn&#39;t happen... and now they want us to swallow it never made money... not sure about anyone else but had I given 10 years of my life, saint good hearted whatever... it would have to the very least pay for itself... I think Madam took the biggest shit on her daughter and still wants to blame the "community" &#39;cest la vie...[/b]

I&#39;ve got to agree with that reasoning.

I&#39;m afraid the problems run much deeper than just that though.

One of the biggies being that ASPD&#39;s bank/Verotel accounts have been frozen due to the fact that a death certificate can not be produced.

Certainly, we&#39;re all saddened by Amber&#39;s passing but I suppose that it&#39;s just a bigger burden than the family is willing to bear. But please don&#39;t insult my intelligence and say that it&#39;&#39;s "barely making ends meet".

If that&#39;s the case why even bother with a "mirror site"?


I simply find it hard to believe that the site was so poorly managed to justify FieryJade&#39;s non-money making claim.

Look at the numbers. (and I&#39;m just roughing it here)

ASPD has been running on the same software for YEARS. A few server issues and bumps along the way --but for the most part, has been relatively maintenance-free --meaning minimal cash outlay.

That said, take a look at the banners at the top of the page.

I counted 19 non-aspd ads. Each of these ads costs the advertisers (going off of their published rates)
$70 wk/$900 qtr ($17,100 Mo)

I counted 30 Sponsor Providers @ $25 mo each ( $750 Mo)

The site has approx 158,000 members. Let&#39;s just say that a mere 2% of the membership is "Paid BCD" .

That&#39;s 3160 members paying $10 Mo ($3160 Mo...and that&#39;s just at 2%!)

That totals to $21,010 Mo ( $252,120 Yr)


How much does it cost to keep the place up-n-running??

Can&#39;t be too much... I mean it&#39;s been virtually running on auto-pilot for years...the promised upgrades never happened..the staff is volunteers/no salary.


But for argument sake, let&#39;s assume that after it&#39;s all said and done that it costs $2000/2500 or hell, even 3500 mo.

Take away expenses and folks that still leaves a pretty good chunk of change on the plate.


Now if a site&#39;s running those kind of numbers and can&#39;t make a go of it...?? I, for one, ain&#39;t buying that "it&#39;s not a money maker"

No, I&#39;m afraid the problems run much, much deeper than one might tend to believe. Frozen assets. Transference of ownership? IRS issues?? LE scrutiny??? etc. etc. Who knows??


I&#39;ve got to admit though, it&#39;s really sad seeing it go under because that site was the catalyst for many a&#39; good friendships and many a&#39; good times.





</span>

[txsacker]

SKF, I think you just said what most of us suspect to be true. I never knew Amber, and I think most of the people on ASPD didn&#39;t either. But that doesn&#39;t mean we didn&#39;t appreciate ASPD and all her hard work. By the time I joined she had already retreated from the board due to illness.

When Fiery Jade posted the "Extortion" post as Dee called it, I was pissed. I would never demand that anyone pay for a memorial for one of my family members. I was pissed at how much my Dad&#39;s funeral cost and he had it all paid for already and it was a simple ceremony.

Then she posted the "GONE AND FORGOTTEN" thread and chided us all for not donating, or wearing the equivalent of a black arm band on our avatars, etc.... Many times over the last few weeks I wanted to speak my mind and tell Jade to stick her attitude where the sun doesn&#39;t shine, but I held my tounge.

Now I have gotten emails from Angel saying she and Deuce are building a new site and it is "in NO WAY associated with Jade and Mel". If her OWN daughter doesn&#39;t want anything to do with Jade, I think that says volumes about Jade.

I am going to miss ASPD, and the Many MANY food threads in batcave, and all the banter in the locker room. I saved most of my reviews and when I have time I am going to repost them here and on Eccie.net. But I have almost posted a giant F**K YOU on ASPD a few times recently.

[Vyt]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

I am going to miss ASPD, and the Many MANY food threads in batcave, and all the banter in the locker room. I saved most of my reviews and when I have time I am going to repost them here and on Eccie.net. But I have almost posted a giant F**K YOU on ASPD a few times recently.[/b]

The only reason I haven&#39;t is that I try not to burn bridges ever (you never know when it can blow back unexpectedly). But I agree with how you characterized it. It really seemed like someone who was unfamiliar with this particular community careening in, and demanding immediate respect. I&#39;m sorry, I didn&#39;t know Jade from Adam, and was barely aware that Amber founded the board. I appreciate the work that that entailed, but if the CEO of McDonalds passes away, I&#39;m not going to tear up just because I buy a sausage biscuit there on my way to work once in a while.

The whole transition was really badly handled. I think in retrospect, especially given the spotlight shone on ASPD after the Houston busts, closing it was the right thing to do.

[txsacker]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vyt @ Jan 1 2010, 11:18 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

but if the CEO of McDonalds passes away, I&#39;m not going to tear up just because I buy a sausage biscuit there on my way to work once in a while.

The whole transition was really badly handled. I think in retrospect, especially given the spotlight shone on ASPD after the Houston busts, closing it was the right thing to do.[/b]

Exactly. And I know many people knew her, and I mean no disrespect. But seriously I am very unlikely to donate to a memorial or whatever when I am admonished for not doing it. I prefer humble people.