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Grex > Coop7 > #123: Grex Finances Through September 30, 1995 |  |
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danr
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Grex Finances Through September 30, 1995
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Oct 17 01:52 UTC 1995 |
Here is the treasurer's report on Cyberspace Communications, Inc.
finances through September 30, 1995.
General Fund
Beginning Balance $ 3492.33
Credits $ 441.00 membership dues
Debits $- 108.00 Dungeon Rent, including $83 for
electricity
$- 20.00 Innovative Concepts phone line
$- 217.07 phone bill
$- 115.00 reimburse John Remmers for JCC
table rental
$- 500.00 reimburse Rob Argy for 1.2
Gbyte hard disk drive
$- 20.00 State of Michigan (corporate
filing fees)
$- 5.23 bank service charge
--------
Total $ 2948.03
Dues rebounded this month--we covered our nut, as they say.
Still, we do need to find a way to increase our membership if we
are going to offer more and better service. So, if you're a
regular user of Grex, can't you find $6/month to help support the
system?
Dues are still only $6/month or $60/year (CHEAP!). Send cash,
checks, or money orders to:
Cyberspace Communications, Inc.
2113 Arborview Boulevard
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Thanks!
ps. If you are joining for the first time and you're paying by
cash or money order, please, please, please include a photocopy
of some piece of identification. I can't add you to the
membership rolls if I don't receive this i.d. Thanks!
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| 30 responses total. |
popcorn
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response 1 of 30:
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Oct 17 06:46 UTC 1995 |
This response has been erased.
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ajax
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response 2 of 30:
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Oct 17 07:02 UTC 1995 |
Great to see memberships up!
Some financial things for folks to keep in mind:
* I still need to send Dan a check for the proceeds of the JCC sale,
which I think is roughly $360 (it's written down somewhere).
* Greg mentioned he has around $500 in misc expenses to be reimbursed.
* Some portion of Grex's savings ($100-$250) is earmarked for a UPS.
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danr
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response 3 of 30:
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Oct 17 21:13 UTC 1995 |
re #1: We never reimbursed John $35 fro the JCC sale before this one.
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lilmo
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response 4 of 30:
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Oct 18 06:05 UTC 1995 |
didn't items of this type get linked to coop in the past? I haven't seen one
there for quite some time...
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nephi
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response 5 of 30:
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Nov 6 23:44 UTC 1995 |
No! They never get linked to Co-op!
(Agora 63 in now linked to Co-op 123. 8^)
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sidhe
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response 6 of 30:
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Nov 9 04:56 UTC 1995 |
Well, this one is now, thank you..
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wisdom
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response 7 of 30:
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Nov 18 22:41 UTC 1995 |
You guys don' run on much moolah, do you?
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scott
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response 8 of 30:
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Nov 18 22:52 UTC 1995 |
Heh. Doesn't it look like we do?
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robh
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response 9 of 30:
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Nov 19 00:32 UTC 1995 |
There's a thought, the next time somebody asks me why we
don't allow GIFs on Web pages here, I'll just show them
our budget. >8)
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drew
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response 10 of 30:
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Nov 19 04:29 UTC 1995 |
I will note that m-net's numbers are about an order of magnitude larger.
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srw
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response 11 of 30:
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Nov 19 05:10 UTC 1995 |
I fingered Grex and Mnet earlier tonight and found 50% more users on Grex
than on M-net. We could really use more members to help keep this old
bag-of-chips running.
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danr
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response 12 of 30:
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Nov 19 05:40 UTC 1995 |
re #7: No, Debra, we are truly a shoestring operation. We'd welcome you with
open arms if you'd like to become a member. :)
re #11: Are M-Net's revenues truly ten times higher? What do they do with
all that money?
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ajax
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response 13 of 30:
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Nov 19 15:01 UTC 1995 |
They're really substantially higher (not sure if ten times, but
several times, anyway)...they had a balance of $15k last I saw, if
there weren't any hidden debts. In the last year, they don't seem
to have spent it on much - not a lot more outlays than Grex, anyway.
I don't follow M-Net's internal operations, so my impressions may
be way off, but it seems to me like part of the lack of spending is
due to not enough technical people to put in the time to spend it
(i.e., to research an issue, propose it to the board, order and
install things). I think ISDN was approved quite a while ago, but
they're only now having the lines installed. Their board has also
been in a minor state of turmoil lately.
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adbarr
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response 14 of 30:
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Nov 19 16:38 UTC 1995 |
ajax = "Master of Understatements".
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robh
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response 15 of 30:
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Nov 19 22:58 UTC 1995 |
So the real reason we don't have as much money as M-Net
is STeve Andre'? >8)
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kerouac
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response 16 of 30:
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Nov 19 23:53 UTC 1995 |
For m-net being so much larger and having so much money, Grex is
actually much more reliable from what I can see. M-net goes down
for long periods of time (at one time this year I think it was down
for at least a week...grex has not had a prolonged downtime in
a long time) I think m-net'
s success is almost entirely based on being slightly faster and having
a much better 'net provider. Its being a doorway as much as a
destination that brings in the big money, but whats the point if
people are just using someplace to get to someplace else?
Also, and I dont know this for sure, but I think m-net is better
advertised (meaning that is is on more gopher menus and freenet
menus and webpages than grex)
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ajax
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response 17 of 30:
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Nov 20 06:14 UTC 1995 |
Actually, I've heard it said on M-Net that their net link is
inferior to Grex's, though I don't know in what way (I thought we
both had 28.8 connections, and they had a Michnet link as well).
Some more noticable differences in Internet service are that
they offer Usenet news, and an introductory manual.
I think their wealth is mostly due to a very different approach
to pricing and marketing. Pushing themselves as a cheap local
Internet provider this past year caught a profitable wave of
users.
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scg
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response 18 of 30:
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Nov 20 06:18 UTC 1995 |
Last time I checked, M-Net's MichNet link was no longer operational, and their
Internet connection was a pair of 16.8 modems. I'm not sure whether that's
still the case or not. Hmm, does anybody besides me remember the big 19.2
Zyxel vs. 28.8 Hayes debate when we got our Internet connection?
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janc
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response 19 of 30:
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Nov 20 18:25 UTC 1995 |
I think M-Net currently has a bit of a leadership vacuum, due to everyone
involved being a bit burnt out. Spending money on expansion is work, and
nobody is really pursuing it right now. Slow reboots is, I think, a
similar problem. I think it may actually be good for M-Net to lie quiet a
while, to catch its breath.
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drew
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response 20 of 30:
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Nov 21 02:21 UTC 1995 |
M-net's internet connection is hosed as I type this.
Last I heard it was a pair of 14.4K modeei, one at the MSEN office, the other
at the NEW center, with a normal phone call made from one to the other. There
are supposed to be automated systems and software already in place to fix
problems like this, according to responses I got in their Policy conference.
Apparantly they are insufficient.
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dpc
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response 21 of 30:
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Nov 23 01:05 UTC 1995 |
Did someone say M-Net? 8-) Here's a quick update on some of the
things people have mentioned.
M-Net currently has $14K in the bank. Over the past fiscal
year, our net worth increased from about $20K to about $25K, or a
$5K increase in a year.
As to usage, we "normally" have about 70 people on line at a given
time. Most come in through our absolutely *terrible* MSEN connection.
We have 18 dial-in phone lines (not counting exotica like the
"staff" line). On November 28, Ameritech will be adding 4 more, for
a total of 22.
*Some* time in the next month or so, the Goddess willing, we
will be replacing our present MSEN Internet access (one 14.4K modem,
I think) with standard ISDN service. Rumor on the street says we
will have twice the capacity of Grex' service. I hope that means
something to the cognoscenti of esoterica.
As a newly-annointed member of Arbornet's Board of Directors,
I am extremely chagrined at M-Net's continued reliability problems.
I will shortly have (I hope) some solid, non-anecdotal statistics
on reliability.
Arbornet's income for the month of October was about $1200,
nearly all from M-Net sources.
The delay in getting ISDN installed was due to our pious hope
that we could get both the new Ameritech lines and the ISDN service
installed at the same time, hence saying bux. However, the possibility
of getting some better bids for ISDN caused us to postpone the ISDN.
The Arbornet Board will probably make a final decision on
ISDN service at our December 10 meeting.
Hope this helps!
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adbarr
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response 22 of 30:
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Nov 23 02:05 UTC 1995 |
Most refreshing, David. There is hope!
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chelsea
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response 23 of 30:
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Nov 23 14:07 UTC 1995 |
I'm oh so happy M-net is doing well financially, just like I'm
always tickled when Grex's staff is going ape over the volume
of traffic moving through our hobbled hardware. But, at least
from my perspective, the money and the volume isn't nearly as
telling as the conference content. And anytime you want to know
how your system is *really* doing you need to take a look at
what is being said and if anyone is (or needs to) listen.
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mdw
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response 24 of 30:
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Nov 23 14:30 UTC 1995 |
For the record, grex'x internet connection is a pair of 28.8K modems
(one at ic-net, one at the dungeon), with a normal phone call made from
one to the other. The 28.8K protocol includes provisions for
compression and error correction (which make it tricky to rate actual
throughput), and the software protocol on top is PPP (which does header
compression, just to further muddy the picture.)
An automated system is supposed to fix minor problems with the link, but
often fails. A human backup system of staff persons catches the
remaining failures, with rather more efficiency than I would have
expected. The most common human intervention method in fact consists of
a human remotely toggling power off/on to the router box, which is
separate from the grex cpu itself (in part, specifically to enable just
this sort of remote repair thing.) The second most common method
consists of a human actually visiting the dungeon. My guess is that a
human intervention is required somewhere between once a week and once a
day, the frequency varying based on time of year, the weather, and if
the telephone company or our internet provider are making equipement
upgrades (both have done so, several times.) A successful automatic link
recovery takes about 5 minutes. Manual intervention varies.
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