XWeb - State of the Forums

[geekdaddy]

Contribution sent! Thanks for all you do. This forum is the best!

 

[MarkF]

A quick update as of December 31, 2018:

The operating fund contains $1,210 thanks to many generous donations this year. Thanks!
In order to support the increased usage, I've stepped our hosting tier up. This should slightly improve performance, but also adds needed storage for the forum and backups, as well as enhanced technical support assistance.

• VPS hosting, support $410
• CPanel license $120
• Xenforo forum software maintenance $40
• Domain registration fees (.com/.net/.org) ~$50
• XWeb 1.0 (archives - N54 now at Tapatalk) these are now free-tier hosting since Tapatalk took over Network54

With an annual cost of about $600, we have funds to cover expenses for a couple years
Our forum software will need to migrate to a new version sometime in 2019. This is important to maintain product support and compatibility. It will take some effort, but this shouldn't incur any financial outlay.
Please let me know if you have questions. My goal is full transparency around the forum operational budget!

Here's a snapshot of the YTD forums stats. Note that the user session count shows logged-in users only. With our typical read-only guest usage, the count is about 3x what is shown.
Also attached, a list of posting stats by user. Congrats to @Dr.Jeff

 

[Dan Sarandrea (Phila)]

A quick update as of December 31, 2018:

The operating fund contains $1,210 thanks to many generous donations this year. Thanks!
In order to support the increased usage, I've stepped our hosting tier up. This should slightly improve performance, but also adds needed storage for the forum and backups, as well as enhanced technical support assistance.

• VPS hosting, support $410
• CPanel license $120
• Xenforo forum software maintenance $40
• Domain registration fees (.com/.net/.org) ~$50
• XWeb 1.0 (archives - N54 now at Tapatalk) these are now free-tier hosting since Tapatalk took over Network54

With an annual cost of about $600, we have funds to cover expenses for a couple years
Our forum software will need to migrate to a new version sometime in 2019. This is important to maintain product support and compatibility. It will take some effort, but this shouldn't incur any financial outlay.
Please let me know if you have questions. My goal is full transparency around the forum operational budget!

Here's a snapshot of the YTD forums stats. Note that the user session count shows logged-in users only. With our typical read-only guest usage, the count is about 3x what is shown.
Also attached, a list of posting stats by user. Congrats to @Dr.Jeff

View attachment 18159

Dr. Jeff made the rest of us look like wallflowers! LOL

 

[Hasbro]

You said it, Dan! Fortunately his expounding contains credence!


Good way to start the new year; https://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-donate-to-xweb.33721/

 

[CandBMotorworks]

Mark:

I have been away for a while and just saw your 2018 update. I made a donation this morning.

I might need help with Tapatalk. My username isn't recognized. Is only xweb 1.0 there?

 

[kmead]

A quick update as of December 31, 2018:

The operating fund contains $1,210 thanks to many generous donations this year. Thanks!
In order to support the increased usage, I've stepped our hosting tier up. This should slightly improve performance, but also adds needed storage for the forum and backups, as well as enhanced technical support assistance.

• VPS hosting, support $410
• CPanel license $120
• Xenforo forum software maintenance $40
• Domain registration fees (.com/.net/.org) ~$50
• XWeb 1.0 (archives - N54 now at Tapatalk) these are now free-tier hosting since Tapatalk took over Network54

With an annual cost of about $600, we have funds to cover expenses for a couple years
Our forum software will need to migrate to a new version sometime in 2019. This is important to maintain product support and compatibility. It will take some effort, but this shouldn't incur any financial outlay.
Please let me know if you have questions. My goal is full transparency around the forum operational budget!

Here's a snapshot of the YTD forums stats. Note that the user session count shows logged-in users only. With our typical read-only guest usage, the count is about 3x what is shown.
Also attached, a list of posting stats by user. Congrats to @Dr.Jeff

View attachment 18159

Please keep us aware of the fund level. We don’t want to run low (out).

Thank you for all you and others do.

Karl

 

[MarkF]

Update as of March 1, 2020:

The operating fund contains $1,711 as of this morning. Thank You to all!

• VPS hosting, support ~$35 /6 months = $70/year. This has decreased substantially this year and is great value.
• CPanel license - pricing has changed to $14.50/month = $174/year
• Xenforo forum software maintenance $40/year
• Domain registration fees (.com/.net/.org) ~$50/year
• XWeb 1.0 (archives - N54 now at Tapatalk) these are now free-tier hosting since Tapatalk took over Network54

Our current hosting tier seems to be coping well with the load for the forum. The increased use of image storage, and organic forum growth does mean we'll need to add storage either onsite or archival in 2020, primarily to maintain backups.

Annual cost of about $350, we have ample funds to cover expenses for the foreseeable future. As always, my goal is full transparency around the forum operations budget.

I made some recent OS and back-end upgrades in December to freshen and optimize what we currently use. The Xenforo 1.5 forum platform reaches end of support in May 2020 - we've had a good run on this major version release for 3+ years, but a migration to version 2.x needs to occur in 2020. This is not a trivial operation since some aspects have significant changes and some customizations may work differently, so testing will be needed.

Here's a snapshot of the YTD forums stats. Note that the user session count shows logged-in users only. With our typical read-only guest usage, the count is about 3x what is shown.

Also attached, a list of top 100 posting stats by user. Congrats to @Dr.Jeff (again!)

 

[MarkF]

Mark:

I have been away for a while and just saw your 2018 update. I made a donation this morning.

I might need help with Tapatalk. My username isn't recognized. Is only xweb 1.0 there?

Hi Jeff - when we moved XWeb to this platform in 2016, the decision was made at that time to not include Tapatalk support.
Reasons in this thread https://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/tapatalk.31434/ but basically some serious security and stability issues, along with the new platform already being more mobile-friendly.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

Mark, thanks once again for all of your wonderful support and effort. We are immensely indebted to you for everything you do here. Although we may not say it enough, it stands to reason that this forum would not be the fantastic experience it is without all the hard work and time put in by you and the other members of the administration. I've said it before but it warrants repeating, this is by far the best forum in existence. Thank you.

 

[kmead]

Indeed thank you for the hard work on all our behalf in making this a great place for us all.

In regards to Tapatalk, there are few programs I dislike more. It constantly asks to be used (and doesn’t take no for an answer) and is buggy. I have no trouble with the formatting on my iPhone or iPad which use mobile browsers (I know thats me).

If there is anything non technical users like me can do to assist with the testing I would be pleased to assist.

 

[MarkF]

XWeb Update as of January 1, 2021:

The operating fund contains $1508.57 as of this morning. Thank You to all for your donations.

Here are the current expenses:

• VPS hosting, support ~$35 /6 months = $70/year. This remains good value.
• CPanel management license - pricing has changed to $14.50/month = $174/year
• Xenforo forum software maintenance $40/year
• Forum software add-on $10/ one-off
• Domain registration fees (.com/.net/.org) ~$45/year
• XWeb 1.0 (archives - N54 now at Tapatalk) these are now free-tier hosting since Tapatalk took over Network54
• Amazon S3 backup hosting - I'm covering these as part of my contribution to the Forum

With annual expenses of about $340, we have ample funds to cover operations for the foreseeable future. Our hosting tier seems to be coping fine with the load. The increased use of image storage, and organic forum growth needed a new solution for backups, and this has been achieved by dropping periodic backups offsite to Amazon S3. The migration to Xenforo 2.0 forum platform happened mid-year. This helped with maintaining+improving functionality and security, and allowed us to remain on recent, supported software.

With all the changes that have come about in 2020, it's reassuring that XWeb remains stable and healthy. For the first time in 35 years, I no longer have a Fiat in the garage, and so my forum visits have become less frequent beyond addressing technical issues. Thanks to the moderation team who keep an eye on things!

Here's a snapshot of the 2020 forums stats. Note that the user session count shows logged-in users only.
Also attached, a list of top 50 posting stats by user. Congrats to @Dr.Jeff (again!)

 

[MarkF]

XWeb Update as of January 30, 2023:
I guess I missed doing this update last year. Sorry!

The operating fund contains $599.67 as of today.

Here are the current expenses:

• VPS hosting, support ~$51 /6 months = $102/year. This remains a really good value.
• CPanel management license - pricing has changed to $22/month = $264/year
• Xenforo forum software maintenance $55/year
• Forum software add-on $10/ one-off
• Domain registration fees (.com/.net/.org) ~$60/year
• XWeb 1.0 (archives - N54 now at Tapatalk) these are now free-tier hosting since Tapatalk took over Network54
• Amazon S3 backup hosting - These average $10-15 /month. I've covered these as part of my contribution to the Forum for the last two years but will be paid from the forum fund going forward.

With annual expenses of about $640, we have enough to cover operations for another 12 months. Our hosting tier was upgraded last year for more storage headroom.

Xenforo - who supplies the forum software - began offering a cloud hosted version of their platform in 2021. This would eliminate most but not all of the line items above, and include access to some of their additional features along with automatic upgrades. The base tier is a similar cost ($60/month) to what we pay now. What this would not solve for though is the Wiki, which is also hosted on our server but is entirely separate from the forum software. I'm going to explore solutions further this year since I'd like this to be more turn-key sustainable.

Here's a snapshot of the 2022 forums stats. Note that the user session count shows logged-in users only.
Also attached, a list of top 50 posting stats by user. Congrats to @Dr.Jeff (once again!)
Finally, a 5 year average of users and postings.

 

[fastx19]

Good lord Jeff. Do you do anything but sit on Xweb all day long? Your activity is 2x's the next closest person! I think we need to create an awared.

 

[MarkF]

XWeb Update as of January 02, 2024:

It's that time again...

Here are the current expenses:

• VPS hosting, support ~still $51 /6 months = $102/year.
• CPanel management license - $22/month = $264/year
• Xenforo forum software maintenance $55/year
• Domain registration fees (.com/.net/.org) ~$60/year
• XWeb 1.0 (archives - N54 now at Tapatalk) these are now free-tier hosting since Tapatalk took over Network54
• Amazon S3 backup hosting - These average $10-15 /month.

The operating fund contains $1097.24 as of today. With annual expenses of about $625, we have solid funding. Thanks to those who have donated toward operations!

• Top 50 posting stats by user. @Dr.Jeff in the lead again!
• 2023 forums stats.
• Finally, a 5 year average of users and postings.

SELECT username, COUNT(username) from xf_post WHERE post_date BETWEEN 1672531201 AND 1704067201 GROUP BY username ORDER BY 2 DESC

username	COUNT(username)
Dr.Jeff	1577
kmead	1362
carl	1035
tvmaster	874
Steve Thomas	721
lookforjoe	605
dllubin	577
JimD	545
fiatfactory	455
JKIDD	455
KBabcock	388
Rupunzell	377
Dan Sarandrea (Phila)	280
bruinbro	280
MikeHynes	267
Lowtechprime	245
ng_randolph	245
Alex(Tenerife)	237
twincam69	233
Jeff Stich	213
EricH	198
Bjorn Nilson	190
SuperTopo	187
dherr	185
Nurburgringer	182
Steve Hoelscher	181
86X	178
rx1900	176
Chris Obert	171
jimmyx	166
Larry	162
DanielForest	161
autox19	153
Bobkat	153
Jonohhh	153
Jefco	153
lanciahf	152
NigelProdrive	152
LarryC	143
johnph	141
Tom Ginefra	138
dnudelman	137
Ics19	130
LoveX1/9s	127
Serhiy Luchkey	122
BEEK	119
Russe11	114
Yves	113
Michael Oxman	108
myronx19	108

 

[MarkF]

Happy New Year! XWeb update as of January 01, 2025:

2024 saw a move to a new VPS and hosting platform at the same provider, and thus a move off 2016 pricing. While hosting costs did increase, a switch to a different management toolset mitigated much of that. The forum physical size continues to grow as we host our own image content on-site, rather than relying on third parties. Storage needs will mirror this growth. There were also some additional one-time AWS charges in 2024 associated with the testing environments for the various upgrades made in October.


Here are the current expenses:

• VPS hosting, support - $24/month = $288/year.
• DirectAdmin management license - $5/month = $60/year
• Xenforo forum software maintenance - $60/year
• Domain registration fees (.com/.net/.org/test domains) ~$75/year
• Amazon S3 backup hosting - These average $15-20 /month ~ $210/year

The operating fund contains $694.68 as of today, with annual expenses of about $693. Donations of $394.78 were received in 2024.
Thanks again to those who have donated toward operations!

Special thanks to @JimD and the rest of the moderators for keeping a close eye on the forums.

• Top 50 post counts.
• 2024 daily activity
• 5 year average of activity

SELECT username, COUNT(username) from xf_post WHERE post_date BETWEEN 1704067201 AND 1735689600 GROUP BY username ORDER BY 2 DESC

 

[MarkF]

Also, by popular request - I've added a link near the bottom of the forum list on how to make donations

How to donate