Donations Program
Over the years, we've supported the costs of maintaining this site (server space, software tools, etc) via means other than advertisements or paywalls (restricting content for paying members). As long as I'm able, The Acaeum will be free to use in its entirety, and uncluttered with distractions. Up until recently, we were able to earn a fair amount of income from commissions off displayed eBay auctions, though this source has since dried up for a variety of reasons.
We've had a long-standing donations program here that has done quite well. In return for your donation -- rather than empty promises of massive site updates and expanded functionality, which will probably happen anyway, but I don't want to be beholden to that promise -- the idea is to give you something concrete that you can use right now. That something is your own web space and email.
What You Get
Upon receipt of your donation, the following will be granted to you for one year based on the donation amount (in US currency):
$20 = 100MB server space, 5GB bandwidth usage per month
$30 = 250MB server space, 10GB bandwidth usage per month
$40 = 500MB server space, 15GB bandwidth usage per month
$50 = 1GB server space, 20GB bandwidth usage per month
$75 = 2GB server space, 20GB bandwidth usage per month
$100 = 3GB server space, 20GB bandwidth usage per month
If you require more space or bandwidth, please contact me at webmaster@acaeum.com to discuss
Additionally, all donors of at least $20 will receive the following:
An "acaeum.com" e-mail address -- yourname@acaeum.com. This can be either downloaded via a POP3 / IMAP mail program (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc), or forwarded to another e-mail address of your choice. This address is already equipped with the Spam Assassin filter, which will cut out around 85% of the spam mail sent through it
The option to either register your domain name and have your site hosted by us (see below), or receive a free subdomain on our servers (yoursite.acaeum.com)
Control panel for your website, allowing you full control over e-mail addresses, subaccounts, passwords, etc
Unlimited e-mail addresses -- yourname@yoursite.com , etc (or if you have a subdomain, it'll be yourname@yoursite.acaeum.com). All of which can be either downloaded via a mail program, accessed via webmail, or forwarded elsewhere
FTP & SSH access, MySQL databases, auto responders, statistics reports, etc. Basically, everything you need to set up and administrate the website you want
If you want your own domain name, you can register your domain through many different registrars, or I will register your domain through Cloudflare at cost (currently $10.44/yr). Whichever way you do it is up to you. If you do *not* register a domain, you'll be stuck with a subdomain name of The Acaeum -- i.e., "yoursite.acaeum.com". Not very pretty, but it can save you some money if you don't care.
A donation grants you the above benefits for a period of one year from receipt of the donation. All benefits are optional -- if you don't want web space, or an Acaeum e-mail address, that's completely up to you -- though they will still be accessible to you for one year. Any and all benefits are also transferable to anyone you choose, at your discretion, for that one-year period.
At the conclusion of your one-year period, you will receive an e-mail requesting a further donation. Should you choose not to do so, your account(s) will be closed after suitable warning. Any files that you wish to retain should be copied to your home computer before that time.
Benefits to Doing This
Your own space on the web -- and a substantial chunk at that! (the entire Acaeum site, right now, fits on about 450MB, and uses around 30GB of bandwidth per month... that's with roughly 8,000 individual files, an active forum, and over 120,000 total hits each month!). You could host pictures, your personal family web site, whatever you like, at a fraction of the cost of any other provider out there. You can even host files, as long as you don't exceed your monthly bandwidth quota or host pornography / pirated media
No pop-up advertisements or other annoyances. Many cheap web host providers are able to provide (most of) the services above at the price they do because they inundate you with pop-up ads, etc (or they're on a very slow server). Not so here. The difference being, I'm not out to make a profit on this -- I'm simply looking to break even, so I can continue to provide the functionality The Acaeum deserves without a financial loss
Our server is very fast -- it's powered by a mesh of 100Gbps Ethernet connections and connected to multiple Tier 1 IP backbone providers, and is physically located at the Interserver Datacenter in Secaucus, NJ. 99.9% uptime is guaranteed. It's further reinforced by a Cloudflare proxy that ensures global access speed, protection from attacks, and redundancy in the rare event of an origin server outage. Without exception, other web hosts in this price bracket are on a much slower / less stable connection
Even if you don't care about web space, you still get unlimited e-mail addresses under your domain name. These e-mail inboxes can be downloaded into your mail program, forwarded to other e-mail addresses (i.e., all mail to yourname@yoursite.com could forward automatically to yourname@gmail.com), and/or accessed through webmail, so you can check it on the road as easily as you do your GMail account
An "acaeum.com" e-mail address! Impress your friends.
Most importantly -- you're donating to a good cause. How much enjoyment do you get from The Acaeum -- both the main site and the forum? If you're a frequent visitor, ask yourself how much it would matter to you if the site were down
Frankly, I think this is a win-win situation for all of us. I'll be able to continue to offer this website on a fast server, for minimal or no cost. You'll be able to support this site, and get your own website in the process, for a truly trivial amount per year.
Lastly, it should be clear that this offer is open to anyone, not just Acaeum members. If your uncle wants a no-hassle, fast, cheap web host, this will do perfectly.
How to Donate
Before donating, please read our Terms of Service. Acceptance of any of the benefits of donation indicates your agreement to abide by the TOS.
Donations will currently be accepted through PayPal. When I receive your donation, I'll forward you further details of how to access your web space, setup e-mail addresses, etc.
