Hi all,

I've provisioned a new server for Aussieveedubbers in Singapore. There are several benefits:

• Ad revenue is way down. I need a cheaper solution. Currently adsense does not cover our current VPS bills. We're migrating from a $55 USD per month solution to a $20-30 per month solution, including more recent Xeon CPUs and faster SSDs, so speed should be similar if not better than now
  
• Added security - TLS / SSL support - once the move has taken place, you will be able to access AVDS only through secure communications. This will bump our priority in search results, which should improve traffic. Also, Chrome won't whinge about submitting passwords in clear text come January
  
• Hopefully, should fix e-mail bugs.
  

The move is going to be finished by the end of Christmas. Once I'm ready to make the move (i.e. done a few practice goes), I'll let everyone know when the actual move is on. It'll happen late one night and hopefully no one will notice any difference.

Also, the new server has an IPv6 address, so for those of you using modern networking, we're future proofed.

Andrew

This move is happening now. Sorry for the short notice, but I need to do it before the 4th, and this is the best time, as hopefully few folks will be on.

If there's no update to this post, you are still on the old server.

This is the new server, but there are issues as you can see. Hang in there.

Andrew

Server is fixed. Header template was a bit borked. I will have to check out if any other templates have similar issues, but for now, it looks solid.

Welcome your new server. This one is a dual core Xeon server running at 2.8 GHz in sultry Singapore.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E5-2680+v2+%40+2.80GHz 

(It's fast)

We have 50 GB of fast SSD storage, which is more than enough for us.

Lastly, we are now available via TLS only, which is a huge security improvement, as it means your usernames and passwords will no longer travel over the Internet in the clear. In fact, once you've been to the site, you will never come back via an unencrypted link. This has a benefit to us as well, as it means our Google search ranking will improve as Google is basically eliminating search results from unencrypted sites now.

One more thing, we are also now available via IPv6, which sets us up for the future of the Internet. More and more of you will be able to use IPv6 support to the website, so I need to fix a few bugs on that soon, as currently the forum doesn't handle IPv6 registrations, banning, or dodgy moderator or admin logging. I'll fix that soon.

Thanks for all your hard work

Excellent upgrade. Things the membership (not Andrew) should address - if the ad. revenue is so low, who should *we* be approaching to advertise on this site? - can *we* aggregate in some manner our annual $ spend on VW (or auto) parts and merchandise to be able to attract potential advertisers? Do advertisers know how much *we* spend and intend to spend in the next three years?

I've emphasised the *we* because any useful solution would involve *all* members of the excellent free forum.

Peter,

Even if Google Adsense income goes to zero, I can afford $25 PCM. $55 was stretching the friendship a bit. At the moment, Adsense is bringing in around $25-30 pcm, so we're doing okay. I always expected a car forum with declining actual cars on the road to go downwards in popularity and thus ad revenue. We're doing fine for the moment.

When I used to do sponsorships, I had all sorts of interesting demands, including tax invoices, and I even went as far as registering the business name, but it was just such a hassle. We never got close to needing to lodge a BAS statement, but I had to be on my toes, and the extra administrivia such as issuing invoices, chasing payment, and so on and on it just wasn't worth it. I'm happy where we are at the moment - it's not expensive, and I don't have to do anything to receive payment from Google.

Andrew

how is actual traffic here? A lot of the sub forums seem old and I would imagine most now use facebook primarily.

This is just my view, but it'd be tragic if everybody was forced onto Facebook as a format for VW people to get together. I was pretty active about seven or eight years ago on a US-based scooter forum when I was fixing up a vintage Lambretta. Now? It's a ghost town. Which is fairly crappy for anybody who doesn't want to plunge their lives into the privacy-destroying morass of life-eating, time-wasting trivia that is Facebook. As you can probably guess, I will never sign up to a Facebook account, and I doubt I'm the only one.... so, big shout-out for your efforts.

You are quite correct Lo-tech...you are NOT the only one!

FACE ACHE is like a mad woman's S hite all over the place