Re funding for the site, it was not long ago several people offered to help financially. Why can’t some professional tech people be hired to get the job done (as in convert this site to a similar & permanent one) within a few days?
I would contribute but i think Jason said it was not a money issue
Yeah, I wouldn’t mind funding someone hired professionally to port the site over. Or taking donations for it either. 
[tag]Alex Smith[/tag] would have to arrange that, though. (Theoretically one of the owners or other admins could, I suppose, but he’s the one currently most familiar with the guts of the engine.)
Sorry, the forum didn’t tell me about this tag 
Anyway, looking into the website has been on my to-do list for ages. I had aimed to sort it out over my long service leave but other more pressing issues came up… I’ll have a chat to a web guru friend & offer to pay him to migrate us, so that at least we have up-to-date backend software & then we can figure out the moderation issues separately.
I’m very sad this wonderful website is closing…lost forever.
well, I’m willing to help and support this site financially…just dont know how to go about it.
I am also willing to donate some money to keep this place running.
You can talk to Alex, guys. He’s trying to find a way to keep it going, but the problem (here) is that soon the forum software will no longer be supported. He’s had a hard time finding a platform to move it to without quite a lot of money changing hands. (More than I can help out with–and to be fair moving it would be a big job and no doubt worth the quotes he’s gotten.) I think we just have to wait and see what he comes up with unless you guys have ideas. I don’t know enough tech stuff to even discuss it intelligently.
Cindy,
What are the quoted prices?
Where & how can people send funds?
When will the forum software no longer be supported & the forum go to read-only? How long would the read-only forum survive?
Will a new site be purchased, or merely rented with the same problem potentially occurring again? Perhaps it would be more economical to purchase a forum like this site, link to this one, & allow people to move/copy/duplicate threads & posts (their own & others) over to the new one at their leisure?
“Before you think about starting a new blog you might want to consider buying one that is already profitable. Buying websites is now serious business and, if you know what you’re doing, it can be a really smart financial decision.” blogtyrant.com/how-to-buy-a-website/
Hi, Origen
One guy Alex talked to proposed to move everything over to a new platform for about $1500 (USD, I assume, but maybe not, since Alex is an Aussie.) That wasn’t a finalized estimate–just a guestimate. On top of that, it would be $100 to install and $10/month (unmaintained). If the volume of posts were to increase at some point, we’d have to upgrade to a maintained account. Alex didn’t say how much that would be. But you can talk to him. Just hit the PM button next to any of his posts–there are some on this topic. If you go to the beginning, you’ll definitely find him, since he’s the OP. He’ll get a notice in his e-mail as soon as you send a PM. If you have any ideas, I know he’d be glad to hear them. I know he’d like to get this whole thing settled and I suspect he’d love to have it off his hands. He’s been the go-to guy for a long time.
Thanks for caring. 
Drop him a note.
Oh yes… I just realized I didn’t answer your other questions. The only thing I can say is that we don’t know. Alex was led to believe it would have been quite a lot earlier. We’re all kind of surprised we’re still here.
What? A measley 1500 Kangaroo dollars? I’d have guessed at least 15K US. If only Hermano had known that a year ago 
According to xe.com/currencyconverter/ - as of today…!500 Australian dollars equals 1175.87 US dollars. You can Google “convert currency online”, for other currency converters.
So in Bitcoins that would be, what, about one Bitcoin? It’s sounding cheaper by the minute ;
If you put in “convert Australian dollars to bitcoin”, at the top of the Google search, page 1,…If I put in 1500 Australian dollars, then it comes out 0.11 Bitcoin. Perhaps you (or someone here), might wish to start a funding page at Go Fund Me (gofundme.com). It’s just a suggestion. Which would probably be best initiated, by one of the admins here?
Speaking of technology. I am now in the Opera browser on Windows 10. But I also have a fully loaded Firefox and Google Chrome available - if needed? Why Opera? They offer a free and unlimited VPN, with servers in the US also. Even though they are now brought by a Chinese company, I use Sophos Home Premium. Which also encrypts, any data I type. And the plug-in HTTP Everywhere, also forces another layer of encryption. Opera offers some good plug-ins, like the security ones for Avira, Avast, and WOT. Along with Adguard and Ghostery. And LastPass to manage passwords. But there’s also one called install Chrome extensions. Which also allows me to install Data Saver, which compresses data on Google Servers. And Grammarly, which checks some spelling and style stuff. Also Pop Up Blocker for Chrome.
Alex asked me to look into a crowd funding option. You’ve suggested one, Randy. I don’t know ANYTHING about this, so any and all advice would be appreciated.
Hi, Cindy. My cousin and her husband, had a friend from Scotland - of many years. He became ill this year and died of stage 4, Pancreatic cancer. Well, he didn’t really leave many funds, for burial and such. So Julie’s (my cousin) husband Alen… suggested to set up, a Go Fund Me page at gofundme.com. And they asked me, to promote it on Facebook. I gladly complied, since Scott and Julie are families. It did raise the capital needed (probably in the same ballpark, as the funds needed here - perhaps more). So I can recommend, this platform from experience. Of course, I recommend this to be started, by someone like you or Jason here.
Here’s an article for everyone regarding Opera (Although I also believe, in having Chrome and Firefox - as backups):
Thanks, Randy
I started setting it up, but then it looked like the money would have to come to me, so I quit at that step. I sent the link to Alex, because it only took me a few minutes to get to that point, and with him being in Australia and all and him being the one who’ll be obtaining the services, it looked like that would be a lot simpler. I just messaged him and haven’t heard back yet. At any rate, I will be asking for advice from you and everyone else who may have some to offer, for promoting the campaign. Thanks again!
The person doing the migrating would be in the United States, so no reason to worry about currency conversion – at least on this end! (We have members all over the world.)
We’re working out details on how to proceed. Come to think of it, we need a new thread for polling about how much members would be able and willing to contribute.
Thankfully we found a way forward without needing to retire the forum
See Forum running costs for details.