** Donation Information **

[Administrator]

It has come for a favor to be asked of the 3A Down Low members. The board is still on the old server, and has to be moved to the new server again by December 15. The memory leak has been found, but there is not enough memory in the machine to handle the amount of traffic that is received to the board and causing the amount of processes on the machine to skyrocket, in turn, bogging down the board. (40,000 hits last month - and in November - 55,000) We are in the need of Donations to help get the board moved over to the new machine without having any major downtime. As always though, Donations are accepted but not something you have to do, but they're always appreciated. A separate Fund will be created for 3A Donations and used to upgrade the machine as needed, and/or purchase updated software to help the board speed up even more. You may use the paypal link at the top of the page to use PayPal to donate, or you may mail your donation to:

3A Down Low Donations
*******
Bridge City, TX 77611

Anyone who donates will receive recognition on the board with their status changed to "Donating Member" and will have a small graphic also showing that you're a donating member. Please be sure to include your username when donating via PayPal or mailing in your donation. If you have donated, and your status hasn't change within 1 week of donation, Please PM me, and i'll get you fixed up. Should it be requested, there could be a "Donating Member Only" section of the board for those of you who donate to discuss anything you want amongst yourselves. Please remember that there is no minimum amount required to gain Donating Member status. Your dedication to this site has made it become with it has today, the largest discussion board for football in Texas. Please direct any questions to Matthew328.

http://bbs.3adownlow.com/ubb/donating.gif

[Ranger Mom]

I think that is a GREAT idea!! I'm in!!

[Chris Hart]

I agree, I believe yall are handling this problem in a great way. The Old Coach is about to start charging for membership, which will ultimately kill that board. The donation way is the best solution I can think of. I will definately be a donor.

[Old Green]

Count me in. The check is in the mail.

[bearkatdad]

Count me in too!!! And I hate to say it, but "the check is in the mail. Suggestion...next year ask for donations earlier in the season when you have lots more people posting on here.

[sinton66]

I'm onboard!

[luvhoops34]

I made my donation with paypal. I don't post on here very much, mostly on txpreps, but this is a nice board and I think we should all do what we can to keept it operating. :D

[eye of the tiger]

I'm in. TIGERS NEVER QUIT when there is a friend in need.

[Rabbit'93]

count me in as well.

[exbccards76'smom]

Mine will be in the mail tomorrow.

Donna :D :D :D :D

[Reveille]

Here's to ya 3a down low. I hope the sight has continued success!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<small>[ December 01, 2002, 01:19 PM: Message edited by: Reveille ]</small>

[SintonFan]

Count me in...
BTW, when I get my X-mas bonus, so will yall. :D

[Birdman]

Count me in! This is cheap entertainment and great information from a great bunch of folks who love Texas High School Football!!! :D

[slpybear the bullfan]

Where is the address to take me to the PayPal site?

I think this is well due by a bunch of us. Thanks to Matthew328 and all the others who provide this for us.

slpybear

[j_dog]

My check will be in the mail tomorrow. You run a great board!!!

[twinkle]

*bump*

[slpybear the bullfan]

Forget my message re: link to paypal. I found it and used it.

Hope you get a great response Matthew328...

slpybear...

[Blackcat03]

hey, i wanna donate but i dont have a checking account. so will yall take cash? let me know and ill get it in the mail ASAP. thanx

[BIG19]

Just dropped it in the mail box. Great service you all are supporting. THANKS TO ALL!!

[Administrator]

Blackcat03:
hey, i wanna donate but i dont have a checking account. so will yall take cash? let me know and ill get it in the mail ASAP. thanxAny way you wish to send your donation is OK and in any amount.

Everyone's donations are greatly appreciated and will be put to great use to further improve the 3A Down Low boards! I will post an update this weekend to give an update on money raised.

Are there any special requests of those of you who donate on wanting a "Private" message board for yourselves or no?


bearkatdad:
Count me in too!!! And I hate to say it, but "the check is in the mail. Suggestion...next year ask for donations earlier in the season when you have lots more people posting on here. At the start of the season, the board was extremely small (and practically new) and because of this, there weren't many people posting or viewing the board at a single given time. As the season went on, this board has grown tremendously, and if you ask me, is now bigger and better than the PIG. But with the tremendous amount of folks coming here during the season, it didn't take long to overload a small IBM webserver that isn't fast enough to handle the amount of traffic that was hitting it. The new machine is faster, and will have about 3 times the amount of RAM that is in the currently in the slower webserver. 640 MB of Memory should fix a lot of problems. I do agree with you about having to put it online at the start of the season, but it wasn't necessary at that time.

All: Should enough money be raised by next season (or at anytime) a new server will be purchased as well as new discussion board software that will be blazing fast. As time goes on, this board will be faster and faster, and you'll definitely notice the difference!!

Again, thanks to everyone for your donations! They're GREATLY Appreciated! I will be away from the computer for most of the week, please be patient for your Status to be changed to Donating Member and for the Graphic to appear under your name.

[PPHSfan]

Well I finaly remembered my paypal password. It had been a while since I made a purchase on eBay. :D

Anyhow, as much as I put in my two cents around here, I figured I could buy myself a few more posts. :p

Good Luck 3ADL, I just hope lots of folks can get onboard.

<small>[ December 02, 2002, 09:46 PM: Message edited by: PPHSfan ]</small>

[bearcat1]

You guys (and gals) are just too much. I cant express to you enough how much your generosity and well wishes mean to us. I just want to say that there may be some of you out there who don't have the financial means to donate, please don't feel as if you aren't important to us because you are. Just your encouraging words & visits to our site mean the world to us. We had no idea when we started out how many of you would stumble onto our site, but more important to us is that you stayed here! And made this more than what we dreamed it would be. I know when we started this, we were just hoping a few folks might like to come and read our stuff and maybe hang out here and talk 3A football with us...the sheer number of you and your daily visits mean the world to us. So to our readers (donating or not), thank you for your support and for participating in our site. You all truly make this a 'fans' site, not just 'our' site. We love you man!!!! &lt;sniff&gt;
bc

[Blackcat03]

ima get my money in the mail pretty soon. hey bearcat1, since you 'love us man' can i get your bud light? hahaha... :D

[slpybear the bullfan]

bearcat1:
You guys (and gals) are just too much. We love you man!!!! &lt;sniff&gt;
bcDang... With all of this sentimental talk, Ol Sleepy Bear's eyes are getting kind of misted up... or that third Shiner is finally kicking in. wink

Bearcat, Matthew328, et al... Just curious, how many different usernames have been issued for the 3ADL? I know we are up to around 40K posts. That is pretty amazing.

Just curious,

[SintonFan]

PPHSfan:
[QB]Well I finaly remembered my paypal password. It had been a while since I made a purchase on eBay. D

[QB]Check you privates...

[spaniard]

weve got your back :D

[ej2525]

I am in... check is in the mail. You guys do a heck of a job here. Two thumbs up!! And Mr. Admin., you do a heck of another job on "the other" board too. This really cool to see all of these people from all over the state and out of state that visit these boards and how often they are visited. I know I pop in here almost every day. (Junkie) And I must say almost a varsity member too!! Ha, Ha!!

[vet93]

A cup of morning coffee, a honey bun and 3adownlow...life just doesn't get any better! Thanks for all the work that you guys do...I am looking forward to next season already wink

[Swarm 51]

My check went out in the mail today. Glad I could contribute to a great cause. You guys keep up the good work.

[3ABirdMan]

Been a little under the weather, and kinda behind on a few things, so

1st - I gladly support your efforts on this board!
2nd - Checks in the mail!
3rd - Could you keep us posted on how much you guys need vs. how much you've collected? Not trying to be an auditor or something, but I feel there are alot of posters on here who might reach into the pocket more than once if need be. The value of the entertainment outlet you guys provide is immeasurable!
4th - THANK YOU for your time and effort!

[pirate4state]

3ABirdMan:
Been a little under the weather, and kinda behind on a few things, so

1st - I gladly support your efforts on this board!
2nd - Checks in the mail!
3rd - Could you keep us posted on how much you guys need vs. how much you've collected? Not trying to be an auditor or something, but I feel there are alot of posters on here who might reach into the pocket more than once if need be. The value of the entertainment outlet you guys provide is immeasurable!
4th - THANK YOU for your time and effort!Ditto to #1, 3, & 4!! I used paypal. :)

[russ31]

I'm in too. Hope the little that I donated will help. I'll always be onboard for any other help you guys need. I really appreciate the good job you guys are doing running this board.

[bulldog65]

1st - I gladly support your efforts on this board!
2nd - Checks in the mail!
3rd - Could you keep us posted on how much you guys need vs. how much you've collected? Not trying to be an auditor or something, but I feel there are alot of posters on here who might reach into the pocket more than once if need be. The value of the entertainment outlet you guys provide is immeasurable!
4th - THANK YOU for your time and effort!I AGREE WITH 3ABIRDMAN!!!

hey Matthew, could I donate a Bulldog hat? How about a sweatshirt,seat cushions,thundersticks?
Just kidding, sending check today. Keep up the good work!

[Administrator]

slpybear the bullfan:
Bearcat, Matthew328, et al... Just curious, how many different usernames have been issued for the 3ADL? I know we are up to around 40K posts. That is pretty amazing.

Just curious,As of today, there's been 1555 registrations. I had cleaned house about a month ago and purged any one who hasn't posted in the past 6 months to conserve space on the server. Approx. 500 members were purged, and all of them had under 10 posts.

[Administrator]

3ABirdMan:
Been a little under the weather, and kinda behind on a few things, so

1st - I gladly support your efforts on this board!
2nd - Checks in the mail!
3rd - Could you keep us posted on how much you guys need vs. how much you've collected? Not trying to be an auditor or something, but I feel there are alot of posters on here who might reach into the pocket more than once if need be. The value of the entertainment outlet you guys provide is immeasurable!
4th - THANK YOU for your time and effort!As an update, There will NOT be any DownTime after December 15th, because enough money has been raised to move the board back to the new, Temporary, faster server. I've purchased a 512MB stick of RAM and should have it in next week. I'd say we're about 75% to 80% of the price of a new server, I'm currently checking eBay from some great servers and prices. Ya'll are doing a great job! Thanks to everyone who has donated, your help is greatly appreciated!

[BarneyBulldawg4President]

Just got my receipt from Paypal. Even though I am new here, this is by far the best plae to keep track of my beloved Burnet Bulldogs. Thanks for all you do for those of us who follow our teams. :D

[PhiI C]

Hi Adm! I am also Phil C depending on the computer I am on. I will send a donation in the mail today. Thank you for your great work!

[Buffalo]

I am in also

[Administrator]

** Monthly Update **
Hello Folks, Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year, Hard to believe how quick last year has flow by, and how fast Jan is already going! I Will be giving updates (as requested) every month or two on the status of purchasing the new server for the system.

As of right now, We have 86.5% of the needed money to purchase the new server. There should not be any problems what so ever to have a speedy server online before next football season, and probably before the upcoming Baseball season has completed!

Once the server has been purchased, we will begin the migration time to move the entire system over to the new server.. While this migration is taking place, the boards will not be available. There will also be a new IP Address to access the website at that time, and will probably not work for some users for several hours, depending on how long your ISP takes to refresh DNS information. I Will post information about a week or two in advance to give advanced notice of the scheduled migration. There will be a few other times before Football Season where the board would be unavailable (Mainly for the new software which is planned to be installed later in the year) which will allow much faster access and many more features. There should not be any slowdowns next football season at all, as the server will be strictly dedicated to 3A Down Low traffic, instead of 100 or so other websites.

Anyway, Just wanted to give you the monthly update.. Your donations are greatly appreciated, and because of them, you're helping make this board even better! Your help does not go unnoticed.

Thanks again to everyone, and have a great weekend!

[Administrator]

Great News, The server has been purchased! I still lack about $100 on actually paying the server off, with no interest.. It is a brand new Dell PowerEdge. Got a great deal on it.. Here are the specs:

Dell PowerEdge 1400SC
Dual 1.3 GHz Processor
512 MB RAM (Will be getting an additional 512 MB for a total of 1GB as time goes on)
two 18.6 GB SCSI Drives

I Will be moving the board over to the new server between now and June. I have been extremely busy with work and many other things here lately. I have copied the board over to the new server for testing purposes, and it is 10000 times faster (or so it seems?? lol) in page loads and posting, etc.. You will definately notice the difference in how fast the board works once the move has been completed.

If any of you have any questions, let me know.. It may be a few days before I Have time to reply back, but I will reply..

[Old Dog]

We all really appreciate your dedicated hard work to keep this system up and going and let us have our fun! THANKS!

<small>[ April 09, 2003, 10:46 PM: Message edited by: Old Dog ]</small>

[j_dog]

Excellent! Now maybe if a few new members will throw a little bit in the pot the final $100 can be paid off. :)

[sinton66]

This is great news. I can't wait til it's ONLINE!!!!!!! :D :D :D

[Fanmailer]

Just recently found you. My check is in the mail. Thanks for the site....its great!!

[Ladykat5]

Ok this is probably a dumb question but what is the minimum amount for donations you are excepting. I would like to donate but I dont have a lot may 5-10 dollars.

[3afan2K3]

Ladykat5:
Ok this is probably a dumb question but what is the minimum amount for donations you are excepting. I would like to donate but I dont have a lot may 5-10 dollars.there is no minumum amount you have to donate

[Bandera YaYa]

Just licked my envelope and I'm on the way to the Post Office....YA'll do a great job and I love this site!! :D Least we remember what's the truly important things in life....Peace and Ya Ya!!

[Administrator]

Hello Everyone,
The new server has been paid in full thanks to your contributions. In just over a month, The 2003 HS Football season will be kicking off, and will be the first season using the new server. The new system should be able to handle the traffic, which as you remember last year, caused very slow or total downtime while the site was being hammered. Not only did it affect this site, but it affected the other 100 or so sites that were on that specific server last year. Only time will tell how the server will handle the traffic, and very likely, much HEAVIER traffic than last year's season.

Should the current software for some reason not be able to handle the load, new software will need to be loaded and we will be getting rid of the current UBB Classic board -- ONLY if the current software can't perform what is expected of it. A Seperate donation request topic will be created SHOULD this need to be done - but I honestly think the server will handle everything OK.

Also, Donating Status for those who donated last year will remain in Donating Status through the remainder of the year, and starting then, donation status will be good for 1 year. I'd like your input though and let me know if you agree with this or not. It's not set in stone yet.

Copied/Pasted from first post to inform of the mailing address since we are now on 'page 2' of this discussion. Updated Text as well as of July 21, 2003.
-----------------------------------
A separate Fund has been created for 3A Donations and used to upgrade the server as needed, and/or purchase updated software to help the board speed up even more, and anything else that may be required/requested as time goes on. The majority (70% or more) of each donation will go to help Matthew328 and Jacket2k pay the financial duties of the website. The remaining portion will be kept for server emergencies, such if something major failed in the system. You may use the paypal link at the top of the main page to use PayPal to donate, or you may mail your donation to:

3A Down Low Donations
*******
Bridge City, TX 77611

Anyone who donates will receive recognition on the board with their status changed to "Donating Member" and will have a small graphic also showing that you're a donating member. Please be sure to include your username when donating via PayPal or mailing in your donation. If you have donated, and your status hasn't change within 1 week of donation, Please PM me, and i'll get you fixed up. Please remember that there is no minimum amount required to gain Donating Member status. Your dedication to this site has made it become with it has today, the largest discussion board for football in Texas. With Football season just right around the corner, things will begin to heat up here and the traffic will increase tremendously (as you can tell it already has).

[EDITED TEXT IN BOLD ITALIC]

[sinton66]

Matt, I can't speak for anyone else on the board, but I would like to see future donations go towards the financial obligations placed upon Jacket and Matthew first. Any other needs such as new software can be addressed with a seperate donation request. Anything left over from the site financial obligations could be applied to future upgrade needs also. Just my opinion.