We can start discussing ways to make it easier for Doug and faster for all of us.
Require registration to start with an e-mail to a mod?
Colo a dedicated server?
I'm assuming the bulk of the admin duties are dealing with SPAMers?
This place is important to me. I would happily send $10-25/mo to make it better, and could donate a rather beastly machine for the purpose.
I looked into colocation many times but the cost of the service was the issue, not the hardware, though I do appreciate the offer to donate a beastly machine. If we can find a reasonable colocation area, maybe we can build a dedicated machine through donations or something?
Spammers are an issue and I've been trying to find better ways to reduce them. There are improvements that can be made. I spent a few hours last Saturday troubleshooting some code, but I made no changes or progress yet. I have a list of things I need to change/implement to make it a little better.
This topic should move to its own thread for better visibility.
If there is anything we can do to help, please let us know.
What are the hardware requirements for a web site server?
It really isn't practical or affordable for us to use our own hardware. Rack space at an ISP ain't cheap and they may not allow anyone onsite to maintain the hardware.
David also offered hardware, but like time mentioned, it's not the hardware or cost of hardware, it's absolutely the hosting which is expensive. I did look up some colocation hosting in Mass last night and it looked to cost around $150/month for bare minimal space (1U) and very limited bandwidth (less than 5Mb/sec).