As you may have noticed, the shoddy server has been on and off very frequently. This is because the machine it is hosted on is reaching the end of it's life. I haven't yet determined what could be the problem and if I could, I might be able to skimp by on minimal costs and solve the problem myself, but it would be both easier and more beneficial to just replace the whole thing and start from scratch. The machine upgrade will improve performance globally and things like battles and the find function will not hang and go by slightly faster. Most importantly, uptime will be dramatically increased as Shoddy will not be on a machine that's about to hit the end of it's lifespan. Disconnections may still happen in the future as my internet isn't of the highest quality, but there will be significantly less of them occuring due to the machine just going kaput.
This is what components the new machine will have, roughly. They are, of course, subject to change in the future, depending on various factors. I am open to suggestions for component replacements and I may shop around again when I have enough money to actually get what I need. I'm mainly looking for longevity; the actual server software I host on this machine, which includes shoddy and a few other applications, don't use a whole lot of CPU, and of course, it being a server machine, things like graphics, audio, and other multimedia stuff is unnecessary. A combination of a steady CPU with a decent amount of RAM (I made sure I got an extra large amount for what I'm running on the off chance there's a leak) should be enough to keep the software running nice and smooth, and the case and power supply will keep the hardware cool and running in good condition.
So here's the biggest problem;
I'm poor. I have no money. Any money I want needs to go to more important things, like food and shelter, and of course the internet to keep this whole show running. Preferably, I would like a commercially hosted machine to host shoddy and everything else on, but that is such an extreme amount of money that I would never be able to sustain, it is precisely the reason why I've hosted the server in my own home. I've done my part, made my maintenance, now is the time to upgrade and get better. This is where the rest of you come in. If thirty people donated ten bucks towards this goal, I would immediately be done and ordering the parts right now. And that would be more than what I would need at the moment; As you can see from the image, sales right now push the price below $250. If I end up going over, I'll probably pocket the difference, but I will be checking the donated amount twice a day and updating this topic with the current donated amount so you guys will always know what kind of progress we're seeing.
If you want to feel special, I can dole out some rewards for people who donate money towards this cause. Include your username together with any donation of $5 or more and I'll set your forum rank to something that will reflect your donation status. (Something like "Shoddy Server Donor") Donors of $10 or more can include a short message to use as an entirely custom rank altogether. Note that your forum rank is different from your custom message or anything like that, and it will also not affect any forum privileges that you have (provided I'm good at SMF). I haven't thought about rewards for higher amounts but let me tell you, the more money you send, the more grateful I will be. Maybe later on down the line I'll think of something interesting or fun.
I can't think of anything else to post here for the time being but if I've forgotten something, then please do tell me.
You can donate towards the cause here.I'll post donation drive updates later when some progress has gotten going. Remember; any little bit helps.
Current Donation Amount: $263.83! All done! I hate donation fees...
