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Grex > Coop12 > #113: Cyberspace Communications finances for June 2002 |  |
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aruba
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Cyberspace Communications finances for June 2002
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Jul 2 01:17 UTC 2002 |
Here is the treasurer's report on Cyberspace Communications, Inc. finances
through June 30th, 2002.
Beginning Balance $5,887.72
Credits $246.00 Member contributions
$40.00 Miscellaneous donations
$4.11 Interest on our savings account
$0.25 Contributions to the Silly Hat Fund
$6.00 Give up on refund check
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$296.36
Debits $76.58 Pumpkin Rent for July
$45.97 Electricity for June
$175.01 Phone Bill
$135.00 DSL June 15 through July 15
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$432.56
Ending Balance $5,751.52
Our current balance breaks down as follows:
$4,517.53 General Fund
$149.99 Silly Hat Fund
$60.00 Spare Parts Fund
$1,024.00 Infrastructure Fund
The money is distributed like this:
$1,429.18 Checking account
$4,322.34 Savings account earning approximately 1.30% interest annually
There was no activity in the Grex store this month, so the balances remain at:
Cash Stock
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$149.40 $162.10
We had no new members in June. We are currently at 83 members, 79 of whom
are paid through at least July 15th. (The others expired recently and are
in a grace period.)
Notes:
- Membership is at a very low ebb. If you've been considering becoming a
member but just haven't got around to it, now is a great time. See below.
- We issued a refund check back in March to a user who submitted a stolen
ID. I wrote "valid for 60 days" on the check, bcause I suspected it would
never be cashed and I didn't want it on the books forever. Indeed, it has
not been cashed, so I'm crediting the $6 back.
Thanks to everyone who contributed in June:
atticus, bruin, ea, remmers, valerie, and wh.
Thanks everyone!
If you or your institution would like to become a member of Grex, it only
costs $6/month or $60/year. Send money to:
Cyberspace Communications
P. O. Box 4432
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-4432
If you pay by cash or money order, please include a photocopy of some form of
ID. I can't add you to the rolls without ID. (If you pay with a personal
check that has your name pre-printed on it, we consider that a good enough
ID.) Type !support or see http://www.cyberspace.org/member.html for more
info.
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| 271 responses total. |
ea
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response 1 of 271:
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Jul 2 04:01 UTC 2002 |
someone needs to toss a spare penny in the Silly Hat Fund ...
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aruba
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response 2 of 271:
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Jul 2 14:44 UTC 2002 |
To put the situation in perspective, here are some numbers:
Dues money received in the first half of the year, since 1995.
My month codes are of the form yymm, where yy = year - 1990. So:
501 = January, 1995
906 = June, 1999
1001 = January, 2000
1206 = June, 2002
501 654.00 601 252.00 701 948.00 801 384.00
502 492.00 602 1020.00 702 396.00 802 615.00
503 678.00 603 720.00 703 690.00 803 648.00
504 486.00 604 222.00 704 108.00 804 522.00
505 276.00 605 309.00 705 618.00 805 378.00
506 732.00 606 642.00 706 540.00 806 1182.00
------- ------- ------- -------
3318.00 3165.00 3300.00 3729.00
901 510.00 1001 324.00 1101 624.00 1201 528.00
902 1002.00 1002 486.00 1102 888.00 1202 444.00
903 300.00 1003 546.00 1103 708.00 1203 444.00
904 474.00 1004 522.00 1104 906.00 1204 234.00
905 426.00 1005 390.00 1105 360.00 1205 546.00
906 624.00 1006 372.00 1106 372.00 1206 246.00
------- ------- ------- -------
3336.00 2640.00 3858.00 2442.00
You can see that we had a bad half-year in 2000, but that otherwise 2002 is
way below what we're used to receiving in dues.
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jp2
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response 3 of 271:
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Jul 2 14:51 UTC 2002 |
This response has been erased.
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jmsaul
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response 4 of 271:
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Jul 2 15:44 UTC 2002 |
The same thing's happening to Grex as happened to M-Net, just a couple years
later, since Grex was cushioned by having a larger core clique (in part
because older members of M-Net's core clique moved over here in response to
some of the M-Net newcomers and political turmoil).
I'm not entirely sure what the mechanism is, but here's a stab at it:
Text-based BBSes aren't as exciting any more, so a lower percentage of the
net population spends their time on them. In the old days, M-Net and Grex
were pretty exciting for locals, and became very important in a lot of
people's social (and sometimes professional) lives. Now, they attract a
much smaller population, most of whom are users from back in those old
days who show up for sentimental reasons or because all of their friends
are here. You only get a few new people, because without that attachment
to the place, a text-based BBS isn't going to appeal to most Internet
users today... so as old users drift away, your paying user base
decreases.
I don't honestly know what your solution is. Since you didn't piss your
cash reserves away on an expensive high-speed link like M-Net did five
years ago, though, you can probably hold out a very long time on very
little in the way of donations. Once your users figure that out, you'll
probably see a further drop in donations (we did), but you may not care.
It's not like your expenses are high now, or like you're going to buy
expensive new equipment -- you seem locked in to using antique Sun
hardware, and the prices on that are dirt cheap -- and if you do need to
you can probably do a fund-raising drive for specific items and get help
with them.
You may need to curtail your monthly expenses, of course, but that should
be pretty easy to do. I think M-Net's are around $160 now, and it's on a
faster machine and possibly a faster link at a co-lo site.
Frankly, *I* don't see any reason to donate to an organization with $4K in
cash reserves that could easily cut its expenses and live within its
means. What would be the point? It's not like you're going to expand
services, or get a faster computer. I guess that could be taken as an
implicit second theory as to why donations are down. ;-)
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jmsaul
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response 5 of 271:
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Jul 2 15:53 UTC 2002 |
Actually, I just went back and read #0 again. You'd need to cut your
expenses; they *are* high for what you're providing. This is probably as
sensitive an issue on Grex as it was on M-Net, but do you have any figures
for phone line use? It's possible you have more lines than you need.
For just over the cost of what you're spending per month on DSL, we co-lo on
a high speed link and have access to dial-in lines. I realize that this isn't
the preferred Grex mode of operations, and that the staff really hate the
idea, but your user base may not be willing to foot the bill for the staff
to have the Pumpkin to play around in -- in fact, I'd have to say that they
*aren't* interested in footing the bill, given what they're donating.
You have to look at what your service is, what people are willing to donate
to keep it out there, and the most cost-effective way of delivering it.
You're delivering dial-in access, email, and a text-based BBS, with some
limited Web capability. You *could* do that from a more modern (but still
cheap) machine at a co-lo site for less than half of your current cost, and
your donation level would pay for it.
I realize that there are disadvantages to using a co-lo site. We've
discovered that to some extent on M-Net, because it takes time for staff to
get to the one we're using, but that could be mitigated by using a slightly
more expensive but local one. But if your donations aren't paying for the
Pumpkin, you may want to think about it in light of what your "job" is.
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jp2
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response 6 of 271:
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Jul 2 16:07 UTC 2002 |
This response has been erased.
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aruba
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response 7 of 271:
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Jul 2 16:43 UTC 2002 |
Jan is the phone-line-usage-measurement-man, and I don't think he has run
any numbers recently, but I think it likely that we could drop a line with
no ill effects. I'm pretty sure we can't drop more than one without
breaking our centrex contract (which has another year to run).
I think comparisons to M-Net's financial situation are premature. But I do
think we should think more seriously about how to get more members.
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jep
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response 8 of 271:
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Jul 2 16:46 UTC 2002 |
re #6: YOu're complaining about Mark's accounting? On what basis?
I doubt if Grex could co-locate with obsolete Sun hardware. I'd expect
the ISPs would prefer to co-locate with organizations who have standard
PCs that look like (and fit into the same space as) their other
customers.
Jan Wolter, who used to donate massive amounts from time to time to
support M-Net, said once that he felt like the organization should run
on closer to a shoestring; that people would send money when they felt
the organization actually needed it, and not to worry overmuch about
people not donating when there's a healthy cash reserve.
I was on the Arbornet board at the time, and found it an uncomfortable
way to run the organization. Arbornet got into some fund raising
efforts which I favored at the time but now wish we hadn't. We tried
to expand it's role as a low-cost ISP; it cost a lot of money and
produced nothing at all, and that was indeed unfortunate. Still, it
seemed like we ought to do something.
Grex got about 2/3 what it got in the previous half year. Hopefully
it's just an aberration and the money will start coming back in.
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other
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response 9 of 271:
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Jul 2 17:33 UTC 2002 |
Mark's accounting is superior to the standards jp2 wants applied, which
is consistent with jp2's expressed desire to undermine Grex. What's your
question?
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jmsaul
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response 10 of 271:
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Jul 2 17:39 UTC 2002 |
Re #6: This isn't "change your strategy or I won't donate," this is "I don't
see that you actually need the money to provide your services, so
I'm not going to bother right now." If Grex had a financial crisis,
I'd probably kick something in to keep it afloat, but since they're
fine right now I'll use the money for other things. They're rolling
in cash, basically.
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jmsaul
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response 11 of 271:
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Jul 2 17:45 UTC 2002 |
Re #7: I don't think it's possible, to be blunt. Unless by "more members,"
you mean "get a higher percentage of Grex users to donate," which
you might be able to do just by talking it up in Agora enough.
The population of people out there on the Internet who want to pay
money to support a text-based BBS is low and declining gradually,
so I don't see recruitment of new users as being a likely strategy.
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keesan
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response 12 of 271:
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Jul 2 18:14 UTC 2002 |
The rationale behind not cutting one more phone line was that there is a bad
modem on one line. Any chance of replacing the modems some time this year
with the faster ones that dang picked up? Or at least removing the bad modem
which appears to be first in the queue?
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aruba
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response 13 of 271:
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Jul 2 19:59 UTC 2002 |
Re #11: Yes, getting a higher percentage of people who use Grex to help
support it is what I mean.
Grex is not "rolling in cash". I tend to agree that we should spend some
of what we have saved on upgrading the system, but by no means are we
wealthy. (BTW, Joe, whenever I say "we", I include you, since you are a
Grexer.) It's true that we have some reserves, which is a good thing,
making this a call for discussion and not for panic. It's also true that
our membership is low, and we have been in the red for the last 3 months.
The notion that you shouldn't contribute to something you care about until
there is a financial crisis bears some scrutiny. I understand the emotions
behind that - after all, there are a lot of things to worry about in the
world. But if people contribute at other times, then there won't *be* a
financial crisis - isn't that better?
Oh, I agree that it isn't as dramatic, and the same kudos one can get from
being a savior of a sinking ship are not available to those who help at
other times. (And I'm not discounting that - feeling like a savior is a
powerful incentive.) But if your goal is to see something you think is
valuable thrive - does it make sense to wait until it's in trouble?
I am not much of a salesman, as you all know by now. But I do believe in
Grex, and I believe it benefits a lot of people. I appeal to those of you
who get something out of Grex, and can afford it, to support the system.
Not because we have a financial crisis, but so we never have to face one.
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jp2
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response 14 of 271:
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Jul 2 20:46 UTC 2002 |
This response has been erased.
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aruba
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response 15 of 271:
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Jul 2 21:01 UTC 2002 |
I don't know how complicated those standards are, but I suspect Grex would
have to hire a real accountant in order to do it right. Our policy has
always been full disclosure on money matters, though, so if there's
some information you want, ask and ye shall receive.
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jp2
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response 16 of 271:
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Jul 2 21:08 UTC 2002 |
This response has been erased.
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jmsaul
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response 17 of 271:
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Jul 2 22:14 UTC 2002 |
At Grex's current rate of donations and expenses, you could last almost
three years on your current reserves alone.
If you moved to a co-lo site, but kept donations constant, you'd be
adding to your reserves every month while providing the same services you
provide now. This is a potential fallback plan if donations don't
increase and your reserves get below a comfortable level, say two years
down the road.
Given those facts, and given that I'm not desperately searching for ways
to get rid of money, Grex isn't high on my priority list for donations
right now. This isn't criticism, it's triage.
I guess I can criticize the fact that you're deliberately providing your
services at higher cost than you need to by renting the Pumpkin, and thus
in a sense wasting donated money, but I recognize that you need to keep
your staff happy and that they really want to do it that way.
(I'm using "you" and "your" here out of awareness that I'm an outsider
when it comes to Grex policymaking, both as an M-Net person and as a non-
paying Grex user.)
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cross
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response 18 of 271:
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Jul 2 22:41 UTC 2002 |
This response has been erased.
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cross
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response 19 of 271:
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Jul 2 23:25 UTC 2002 |
This response has been erased.
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jp2
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response 20 of 271:
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Jul 2 23:36 UTC 2002 |
This response has been erased.
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mcnally
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response 21 of 271:
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Jul 3 00:22 UTC 2002 |
A couple of months ago I would have said the solution would be to
cook the books to show $2.4 billion in imaginary revenues and then
have an IPO but I think investors are on the lookout for that one
now.
On the other hand I might have a little change in my cookie jar I
can send along.
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jmsaul
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response 22 of 271:
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Jul 3 00:53 UTC 2002 |
Re #19: Smaller communities are already happening, but they're happening
around "communities of interest" like Slashdot, or around blogs.
I hope I'm overstating the difficulty of attracting people to
text-based BBSing, but...
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janc
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response 23 of 271:
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Jul 3 02:26 UTC 2002 |
I feel Grex is an important part of my life, so being a member makes sense.
I'm not too concerned about whether $60 a year is more than it needs to be.
I'm not buying a service here. However, it's been a while since I've done
more than donate $60 a month, partly because I don't see Grex as needing a
lot of money right now. If we ever make any progress on putting together a
new server, then we'll need some money. So I feel pretty much just like Joe
does, except I feel enough a part of Grex to say "we" which is enough of a
reason for me to want to be a member.
Nobody needs to send money. (Especially not Jamie - I *hate* it when he's
unpredictable.)
People who use Grex a lot should give it some thought though. Maybe you'll
find you feel like Joe or like Jamie. That's A-OK. Other people do
differently, some of them scrape pretty hard to find the money, even. People
are different.
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aruba
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response 24 of 271:
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Jul 3 02:52 UTC 2002 |
Re #17: Of course, I wouldn't press anyone who couldn't afford to help
support Grex. But I think it's important to keep reminding everyone that
our bills don't pay themselves; if you're not helping pay for Grex, then
someone else is paying your share. Again, if you can't afford it, then
fine. And if there are other worthy causes you give money to that are in
such dire crises that you can't spare $60/year for Grex, that's fine too.
But if you don't think anything is worth donating to *unless* it's in
crisis, then consider some advantages of avoiding a crisis altogether:
- When there's a crisis, people are more likely to make bad decisions.
- When no one's sure if the crisis can be overcome, everyone is afraid
that the whole system will fall apart, which makes them less likely to
donate to it, which increases the crisis.
- People fight a lot during a crisis. (I guess some people would see this
as desirable, but it wears thin on those who are on the spot.)
Or consider how many hours of entertainment you get from Grex each month,
and compare that to the number of hours spent watching cable TV
($38/month) or going to movies or sporting events ($4-$20/hour). At
$6/month or $60/year, Grex is a bargain for someone who spends a lot of
time here.
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