SFC Hosting Renewal: we're searching the realm for US$360!

[Alpha]

Send another one? I suspect after over a week they won't reply to that one.

[Kaerou]

I'll send the last $20 your way.

[Moogie]

Much obliged Kaerou! I'll go and update the news article accordingly, so folks know not to send any more!



Thanks to everyone who has contributed towards this year's hosting The target has now been reached & I can go to pay the invoice!

[ffian1]

Sorry I'm late to the party.

I'll hit you up with some Moogie when I get paid to go towards next years. Can't be missing out on the action now, can I?

[Moogie]

Thanks for the kind offer Ian, but at the moment it's actually easier for me just to gather money for each year at a time, as there's no way of holding money aside in PayPal (I do think that would be a nice feature, like a 'piggybank' - but PayPal don't seem to agree!).

[thepeaguy]

I know the donations are done and all, but...

Moogie has a life, marriage and bills to pay. This site comes 2nd in her life naturally, and she's basically doing most of the free work here (when she's not busy working or whatever). If there was a rich member here who would willingly sponsor this site with the hosting per annum, she wouldn't need to ask for donations from members.

I think what she's asking for is reasonable, and if people here think she's taking the piss, you don't have to donate. Simple.

I didn't donate this year because I'm busy with my own life stuff anyway. I haven't paid much attention to this community until I PM'd Century about my Langrisser IV playthrough on youtube just recently. :P

[Salibu]

I didnt donate yet as I amazingly ignored the timeframe...I am currently about to list a bunch of ebay stuff. As soon as it sells, I am going to send 20 us dollars your way...use the money to buy 4 five dollar footlongs for all I effing care. Do what you want with it...trade it into the bank for a bunch of pennies and throw them at your man and have a penny fest for all I care. You deserve it.

[Moogie]

Bless ya mate, will put it to good use (the penny thing actually sounds quite fun ... but I've no idea what a footlong is, sounds dirty ) - thankies

[Doomblade66]

lol.....Moogie. A footlong is what Subway calls their big sandwiches.

The phrase they use in some of their commercials is..."Five dollars ! Five Dollars ! Five Dollar Foot-longs !"

I wonder what Brits call such sandwiches...?

[Moogie]

Dunno, down round here we'd just say we're getting a subway/picnics/fresh bites/whatever the name of the sandwich place is. I'm not even sure subway do such big sarnies here!

[Stordarth]

They do.

I haven't had subway for quite some time, but I usually just asked for a large. *shrug*

[Salibu]

lol.....Moogie. A footlong is what Subway calls their big sandwiches.

The phrase they use in some of their commercials is..."Five dollars ! Five Dollars ! Five Dollar Foot-longs !"

I wonder what Brits call such sandwiches...?

lol...I actually sang the subway song in my head while reading that.

[Doomblade66]

I'm just so happy Moogie likes Shining Force so much.

What's the history of her involvement in the site creation, I wonder ? Like...did she come up with the concept...and how did it evolve into the amazing place it is today ? There must be...what...1000 members at least, scattered across all the sub-forums ? (or at least there have been over the years).

It's a pretty impressive testament to how great the series is, and how loyal and passionate a fan-base it has.

---

Plus...Moogie just sounds cool. I would love it if some future Shining game actually had a special character named "Moogie", in honor of her.

"Moogie attacks ! Goblin takes 35 damage. Goblin is exhausted !" -

[Stordarth]

Hmmm. I smell another hack opportunity.

Maybe.

[Moogie]

I'm just so happy Moogie likes Shining Force so much.

What's the history of her involvement in the site creation, I wonder ? Like...did she come up with the concept...and how did it evolve into the amazing place it is today ? There must be...what...1000 members at least, scattered across all the sub-forums ? (or at least there have been over the years).

It's a pretty impressive testament to how great the series is, and how loyal and passionate a fan-base it has.

---

Plus...Moogie just sounds cool. I would love it if some future Shining game actually had a special character named "Moogie", in honor of her.

"Moogie attacks ! Goblin takes 35 damage. Goblin is exhausted !" -

The site started out as just a SF2 guide back in the mid 90's - there weren't many on the web back then and SirFil (who ran one of the first SF2 sites) suggested I make a site too.
The SF2 site expanded and eventually included a message forum (wwwboard). I also started an SF and SitD site, with the SF site also having a message board. That was the beginnings of the forum community. As more people started more SF sites I thought it would be useful if there was a directory to organise and rank the sites. SFC was born as "The UnOfficial Shining Resources List", which wasn't used much and eventually went offline during its transition into Shining Force Central - intended to bring fans together into a community - inluding yet another simple message forum. Eventually it made sense to combine the communities and I installed IkonBoard and set up various subforums linked up to the main site.
The site itself has grown over the years and had various facelifts - as have the forums (wwwboard -> IkonBoard -> phpBB -> Invision Power Board -> phpBB again!).

Some pics of past SFC designs can be seen here:
http://www.shiningforcecentral.com/?p=i ... troduction


While I'd love my name to turn up in an SF game, the current series producer Mr Sawada seems to have a real chip on his shoulder when it comes to me and SFC so I don't see it ever happening. It's pleasing enough to see my name in the Final Conflict translation patch and knowing that I had some input into the translation when Atlus localised Shining Soul II

[amitrius17]

Your hosting costs $360 a year?! Jesus! Don't you think that's a bit steep? I know some quality web hosts that are half the price. And that's mid range, because I'm not referring to the Walmart-ish cheap and slow hosts like GoDaddy.

[Moogie]

I've been considering downgrading the package a bit, but believe me I've done a helluva lot of research into hosts and enquired with dozens of them about specific areas of concern. A lot of them take issue with some of the site content and its potential questionable legality (large fansites seem to be a stumbling block for many hosts). Plus it's a reseller account which costs a bit more but means SFC can subhost other people's Shining sites (which of course I don't charge for) without breaking the terms and conditions of the host. Not only that but it's so bloody much hassle every time I have to move the site, I can't be dealing with it again and again. I've chosen my host, I trust them and if it ain't broke I'm not going to fix it. Sometimes it is worth paying a little bit more for something which is tried, tested and proven itself

[Evil Gately]

I take it the poll you put up earlier this year about paying for the RPG/Shop system was a fundraising idea? I'm sure there's not many members here who are interested in it that wouldn't pay a token amount to play for a year, especially if they realised what the money was actually going towards! Aroud the £5/$7~ish mark seems reasonable, IMO. That would most certainly cut the hosting bill!

[Barnard]

Though I strongly support Shining Force, I have failed to send in any donations so far. I know that the costs are covered for this year, but if my finances weren't in the crapper, I'd be happy to help.

[junkwes]

I glanced through some of the replies and I just want to say that, in my opinion, Z Master is a complete fool. I hope Moogie is able to collect significantly more than your hosting fees for this awesome service/resource. If I were running such a wonderful site as this, I would try and take myself out to dinner to congratulate myself every chance I got. It is very common for sites to ask for donations year round (and those donations sometimes pay salaries as well). Moogie is being beyond unselfish about this.