ANST - Second-Guessing

[Galen W. Bevel]

 I've got the same reservations -- my take is that owning the server is OK
*so long as we allot a budget into the future to handle growth*.  I
personally wouldn't try to
>establish nor set up the server myself because there are *way* too many
problems with keeping it running - more power to Pug for being willing to
take it on.
>
>Wæs Þu Hæl (Waes Thu Hael)
>
>::GUNNORA::
>
>Baroness Gunnora Hallakarva, OL



Let me play a little devils advocate here and look at this in another way.
There is a debate right now, even among those who agree with buying the
server, whether or not to budget for it from Kingdom funds, or to ask for
donations.  Many arguing for using Kingdom funds do so from the point of
view that it is "not good" to have too many funds sitting in the bank
waiting for future use in emergencies or whatever (their argument, I am just
reporting).  If we budget money now to be held for use in the case of
"future growth", I suppose the same argument could be made about those
funds.  In usual business circumstances, those funds needed for maintenance
and operation would be in the budget for the year in which they would be
used.  But...all of that aside, what would happen if we _didn't_ budget such
things?  Lets say we just bought the server for $2000.00 and then let it go,
strictly with Pug's care to keep it running.  How long could we count on it?
Would it be safe to say, barring disasters, a year? Would there be
significant costs/effort involved in dropping the server if we could no
longer maintain it?  If not, then we get a year of server use for $2000.00,
what would that same service cost if outsourced?  Answer that question, and
you know whether buying the server would be worthwhile.  Basically, if the
extreme worst case (but still within the realms of planning) scenario still
provides value, then the deal is a good one.  I trust Pug and those with
greater experience in the area than I have to make that judgement call.

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