The Ref Stop

A little help……

Donate to RefChat

Help keep RefChat running, any donation would be appreciated

Ross

Ross

Forum VAR
Staff member
Level 5 Referee
FA Referee
You may have noticed the donate button at the top of the screen, you may not have noticed it, but it’s there.
RefChat needs your help!
For the last (nearly) 15 years I’ve covered the cost of keeping this place going, but due to the success of the site, we keep outgrowing the servers the site is hosted on, so as you can imagine, this is starting to get expensive, as is the cost of living for everyone.
It’s currently costing just under £1500 per year to keep this site online, I’ve never asked for a penny, but am now asking if any of you are willing to help please click the link and donate whatever you can

Thanks in advance and a big thank you to those that already have, it is very much appreciated!
 
The Ref Stop
Ross said:
You may have noticed the donate button at the top of the screen, you may not have noticed it, but it’s there.
RefChat needs your help!
For the last (nearly) 15 years I’ve covered the cost of keeping this place going, but due to the success of the site, we keep outgrowing the servers the site is hosted on, so as you can imagine, this is starting to get expensive, as is the cost of living for everyone.
It’s currently costing just under £1500 per year to keep this site online, I’ve never asked for a penny, but am now asking if any of you are willing to help please click the link and donate whatever you can

Thanks in advance and a big thank you to those that already have, it is very much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Morning Ross,

Thanks for keeping the site up and running. I will make a donation at some point and I'm not disputing the requirement to do so, but surely a large part of the problems is these bots?

A quick search of 'all members' and a scroll down suggests that probably 70% of the first members alphabetically (and I only say first alphabetically because I stopped scrolling after getting to B) are these advertising bots.

Is there no way to include a captcha for access? And I understand it would take someone a lot of time but a cleanse of the members list would probably help too?
 
The database is huge, members table is a tiny percentage of that. The bots are an issue, but not the biggest issue. We’re on the verge of needing a dedicated server rather than the vps we’re currently on.

There is a captcha in place, but the software is 3 versions out of date, so need to upgrade that, I believe that will also help.
 
Feel free to shoot me down but would it be worthwhile 'archiving/deleting' any forums that are seen as surplus. I'm thinking like the old selling threads.

It's clear to see where the bulk of it is but I would be hesitant to remove any of them as it is mainly in the match related ones and that is where I and many others would have discovered the site. Will happily donate some when payday comes as everyone has helped me so much in my progression over that last year or so and wouldn't want to lose that.
 
Ross said:
You may have noticed the donate button at the top of the screen, you may not have noticed it, but it’s there.
RefChat needs your help!
For the last (nearly) 15 years I’ve covered the cost of keeping this place going, but due to the success of the site, we keep outgrowing the servers the site is hosted on, so as you can imagine, this is starting to get expensive, as is the cost of living for everyone.
It’s currently costing just under £1500 per year to keep this site online, I’ve never asked for a penny, but am now asking if any of you are willing to help please click the link and donate whatever you can

Thanks in advance and a big thank you to those that already have, it is very much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Chief, thank you so much for all your efforts. I have donated. The kids can eat bread and dripping. They will be fine!

I hope you can find a way to either cut the costs or get more low effort ad revenue. I am really happy to donate to get you out of a hole now but TBH I am not a fan of repeats. I think and hope there is a winning model for you and us 🫶
 
Samuel said:
Feel free to shoot me down but would it be worthwhile 'archiving/deleting' any forums that are seen as surplus. I'm thinking like the old selling threads.

It's clear to see where the bulk of it is but I would be hesitant to remove any of them as it is mainly in the match related ones and that is where I and many others would have discovered the site. Will happily donate some when payday comes as everyone has helped me so much in my progression over that last year or so and wouldn't want to lose that.
Click to expand...
Archiving is something to look at but it’s a painful process and I don’t trust myself to do it directly in the database.
one said:
@Ross I think you should ask the bots to chip in with some crypto currency.
Click to expand...
Already had an offer of a million quid, need to send him a grand first though 🤣
santa sangria said:
Chief, thank you so much for all your efforts. I have donated. The kids can eat bread and dripping. They will be fine!

I hope you can find a way to either cut the costs or get more low effort ad revenue. I am really happy to donate to get you out of a hole now but TBH I am not a fan of repeats. I think and hope there is a winning model for you and us 🫶
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for your generosity, everyone one of you.
 
Not sure how simple this solution is but I'll share 'my wisdon' anyway. A script that purges any member that has posted less than X posts in the last Y days, run on a say monthly basis. To start with purge any account with zero post in the last 12 months.
 
one said:
Not sure how simple this solution is but I'll share 'my wisdon' anyway. A script that purges any member that has posted less than X posts in the last Y days, run on a say monthly basis. To start with purge any account with zero post in the last 12 months.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your words of wis, Don.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: one
Honestly guys thank you so much for the generosity you have already shown. Very much appreciated
 
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