As an actively participating SZ member for nearly 4 years, I've always wondered just how our forum is able to sustain itself financially. Realizing (and appreciating) that Synthzone (thankfully) only has one advertisement banner, I would think that this alone could not subsidize the constantly increasing webspace & subsequent storage fees(?) our ever growing accumulated message postings surely must have added up to over the many months and years.

In addition, this doesn't even take into account all the countless hours, weeks, and years of 'website maintenance' work that Nigel, our moderator & SZ System administrator, has to do to keep our forum running so smoothly, as it has. I realize that I far too often take our special Synthzone Arranger Keyboard forum for granted, forgetting about all the behind the scenes work Nigel does to keep Synthzone up for us.

Whenever our SZ website does go down (luckily rarely, thanks to Nigel ), I suddenly feel disconnected from my arranger keyboard family here.

I don't know what all is involved in being a website administrator, so perhaps Nigel can fill us in on all the behind the scenes work required to keep Synthzone up and running. Until then, MANY MANY thanks from the bottom of my heart to you Nigel for EVERYTHING you've done (and continue to do) to maintain Synthzone as the special place that it is for arranger keyboardists, and which has not only enabled me to chat online with other arranger kb enthusiasts around the world, but to meet many in person, and develop lifelong friendships as well. Happy holidays to all. - Scott

THIS ALSO GOES FROM ME, I ALSO AM LEARNING A LOT FROM THIS FORUM,SO THANK YOU NIGEL, MERRY HOLLIDAYS TO YOU ALL,BEST REGARDS BENNO

I agree with Scott too. I've learnt so much from this forum / website and would also like to thank Nigel and other behind-the-scene members for keeping up this place.

Gotta chime in here. Scott and I have been here close to the same length of time. It's been much better since Nigel took over.
DonM

Thanks Nigel. For Keeping our "family" together. And allowing us to share and learn from each other in this format. It is a rare day that I don't check in even with my busy schedule.

Thanks,

- Brian

Nigel
Two thumbs up and a little something extra in your stocking this year besides a lump of coal. Who knows maybe even asecond bowl of soup too.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Hey thanks to all of you for your ongoing support. It really makes it all worthwhile.

Unfortunately there is minimal advertising revenue since the dotcom crash so http://www.synthzone.com runs at a loss nowadays and relies on me continuing to work my day job to pay the monthly dedicated server charges. I am looking at some cheaper options but because things have been running so smoothly for a few years now since I got the dedicated server I have been reluctant to risk changing to a hosted service. I also ran into problems with hosting services before the server and this BBS was an example of that when it was running on synthworld.com and was shut down by the hosting service in 2001. I'm sure that many of you were already members back when that happened. After that I moved it to the Synth Zone server and all has been great since then. But finances may force me to try something cheaper in the near future. I'll warn you all before I do in case there are some glitches.

There is always plenty for me to do when I get home from work though I do check on the BBS during the day from the office. Apart from maintaining links listings and deleting outdated links from the Synth Zone pages I also have quite a bit of email from new BBS members and existing members who are having problems posting. I regularly back up the BBS system in case I need to restore it again. Of course I monitor all the forums daily and deal with any problems. And every now and then the server gets hacked by people that have nothing better to do, and that always causes headaches for a week or two while the damage is being fixed.

Reading the postings on this BBS daily for so many years has made me realize what a great online musical community we have here. There are so many people here who are a pleasure to have come in contact with both musically and personally. I really am just happy that I can continue to help keep this service online.

Thanks again to all of you for providing so much to the BBS over the years.

Nigel .... you know how much we all appreciate your work. I'm glad Scott started a public "suck up" to give your some props ! You desreve it all !
If it ever gets too much to bear ..... I'm sure most of us will pay a fee to keep it going. I'd miss this place terribly if it goes south. Don't hurt yourslef too much ... we're all here to participate.

Keyboard City gift certificates are available ! Ho Ho Ho .....Nigel !
If you never met Nigel , your missing one of the nicest people you could meet .

How much to advertise ?

Dano

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Technics,Ketron Yamaha Casio arranger keyboards . www.keyboardcity.net
1-866-348-8876

[This message has been edited by DanO1 (edited 12-13-2003).]

Nigel and all,

I have been a member in BBS for the last (almost) 4 years, and I wish to thank you on behalf of all "foreigner" members who are able to keep in touch with you and get precious advice and friendship across the world.

For example, yesterday I was about to purchase a second hand DAW (Roland 18..) for $1000, but thanks to Scottee's post I looked into Yammy AW16G, and found a brand new offer of $1100 (cdR included).

Just how BBS improves our musicians' lives.

Thanks again from Italy.

Amelio