I merged my two threads talking about this into one thread so it's not all over the forums.

We've already had FOUR donations come in ranging all the way from single-digit dollar amount to triple-digit dollar amount per donor! THANK YOU SO MUCH! This is exactly what we need to happen; people pitching in regardless of how much or little they can offer. I am VERY happy with the turnout so far and it's safe to say the donation page is free of any bugs or glitches. Please DO NOT feel like it's too small of an amount to donate if you only have a few bucks to spare... it's very much appreciated and needed right now.

My goal is going to be to try and gather enough funds to take the XWF site to a much more reliable host in the next weeks/months/however soon I can. I'll probably pay to have it professionally transferred so the move is A) much faster and B) doesn't result in us losing any data (last year on our server switch we lost a day's worth of posts).

I'm going to still have to do more investigating, but off the top of my head I can already imagine that the actual switch to the new servers and the cost of keeping the site running on them is going to be in the several hundred dollar range all at once (because I would need to pay for a full year on most hosts in order to get a good per-month rate) but on the bright side, I should be able to then turn on some "long lost" features that some older members might remember us having. Basically if we can upgrade to a better server I won't have to be "cheap" on our plugins anymore. As some of you may know, on our current server I have been having to "juggle" some of our features and remove certain ones as I add others, in order to keep the "resource load" down on our site. My dream is to take us to a more robust server that has LESS downtime and can support ALL of the plugins and features we want.

I originally was going to pay for all of the above myself when I had these thoughts a few months back, but lately I've run into some unexpected expenses and other problems with money so that's why I've got to reach out to the family. You guys are helping me out on two levels right now and I thoroughly appreciate it. Thank you very much to the four who have already donated and in advance to anyone else who plans to!

Lastly, if anybody has any "goal suggestions" feel free to let me know what those are... like if you have an idea we should try and save up funds toward. Not sure what those would be but maybe somebody has some good ideas? One of my other goals is to launch a serious onslaught of advertising for the fed so we can bring in some new blood. It's been a good few months since I've done any advertising for the fed, and I think it has shown in how our new signups are more spread out.

tl;dr = First day of donations has gone really well. Thank you to the 4 ppl who already donated! I have plans for a bigger, better, faster site as our #1 goal followed by a serious blast of paid advertising to bring in some NEW blood after our site's body has been given its steroid injection! We're already covered financially as far as letting the XWF "continue to exist as it has" for another month or two, so now let's shoot past that so I can give us our XWF "super site"and restore all of our long lost features that have been dormant for the past 9 to 11 months. I have VERY high hopes for a fast turnaround if this support continues. Thanks all!