IMSLP talk:Site support

Score Donators and Score Scanners

I am thinking that it might be a good idea to hook together people with scores they'd like to donate with people who have time to scan them... but I haven't hit on a definite plan yet. Though, to get good scans the score will probably have to be taken apart (hence score "donators"). Any comments are welcome. --Feldmahler 20:10, 9 October 2006 (EDT)

IMSLP Dedicated Server?

I know I had promised a few months ago that I would move to another host during the holidays; however, the plan fell through because the host in question did not have PHP5 (only PHP4), and was unwilling to upgrade, which undermined my trust of their support system. Plus, the setup I had in mind is quite complicated (involving splitting IMSLP between two servers), and error prone. But this now still leaves the question of how to improve the site service (which seems to be at times fair but at other times quite bad)...

Hence I've been looking around, and happened upon this offer, which I thought was a great deal, especially for a Canadian host. Being hosted on this server would mean the end of almost all server-related site problems (including downtime) and a much much faster site. I've done quite a bit of research on this company, and they seem like a responsible hosting company (reading their blog says alot... especially their response to criticisms), which is much more than can be said for some other hosting company that I know.

The problem is, however, that even the (imo) very cheap price of $69/mo is a little too much for me as a student; and so there would have to be a choice made:

1. Keep the current (shared hosting) server and do nothing
2. Switch to the dedicated hosting server and set up a donation system
3. Switch to the dedicated hosting server and set up an ad system
   

The main concern here is not me, but rather the other users of IMSLP, and which one would be most beneficial. Personally, I would like to avoid the last choice if possible, but of course there are benefits to this choice too. There is no hurry to decide; rather, I just wanted to get an idea of what people who use IMSLP would like :) --Feldmahler 17:22, 10 January 2007 (EST)

I have almost no experience in dealing with hosts, but I brainstormed for a few minutes and I think there may a few other options that may be worth looking into:

1. University Hosting: I would assume that many universities would be interested in a service like IMSLP. A university that could donate the space would be very nice.
2. Other Free Hosting: This might be a stretch. I know many free software projects are hosted for free (like sourceforge). There may be a host out there willing to donate the space. Would wikipedia be willing to let IMSLP join and become an official sister project?
3. Corporate Sponsor: Perhaps there's a company out there that can donate the space. I know google's goal is to organize the world info (or something like that).

Of course with options like these we lose a lot of control which could be bad. They're would probably have to be tighter control over submissions too.

To comment on the original proposals:

1. Things have seem to improved. (Or you've worked around much of the nightmare already.)
2. This would be nice and I think there would be many willing to donate a buck or two. Maybe we could sell DVD's of what's here to raise money instead.
3. I wouldn't really mind google ads. They're fairly unobtrusive.

Horndude77 21:31, 10 January 2007 (EST)

My two cents: I don't think that becoming a Wikimedia Foundation project would be a good idea, or even possible. Don't get me wrong, I hold Wikipedia and its sister projects in high esteem; but I'm always wary of things (the Wikimedia Foundation, in this case) growing too big. But there is also a practical reason: Wikimedia Foundation allows only content that is free worldwide, including derivative works and commercial use (though somewhat schizophrenically allowing fair use, which is in a way the opposite of free content). This is in contrast with the IMSLP copyright policies.

I can understand that Feldmahler would rather avoid setting up an ad system. However, I would consider this as an acceptable solution, at least as long as it is about unobtrusive text ads (flashing banners would be a different issue). In my understanding, the primary reason for not having ads in Wikipedia is that they might contrast with its goal of Neutral Point Of View (you don't bite the hand that feeds you). This shouldn't be an issue for a project like IMSLP.

University hosting sounds like a great idea. Better IMHO than corporate sponsors. --Leonard Vertighel 08:20, 8 February 2007 (EST)

Well... I ended up just switching to the dedi. I might also set up a donation page later on, which might be better than ads, since no money is lost to a third party (after all, the company putting the ad on IMSLP must have earned more money than what they gave to IMSLP, or else it makes no sense). I agree with Leonard in that we probably should avoid being a Wikipedia subproject, for many reasons... not only because of copyright, but also the fact that I would rather musicians have sole control of IMSLP, and not have to answer to people who aren't really musicians, and have other things in mind. Though, integration with Wikipedia (linking) is always a good idea.

Universities are much better, if they offer hosting; but that is not easy to get. Especially since IMSLP is getting quite big, with many hits per day (now around 120,000 total hits per day), which would require serious computer resources and bandwidth, which I'm not sure a university would be willing to provide (I know at least that my uni has a horrid internet connection).

But hey, everything is fine atm, so no worries :) --Feldmahler 10:54, 8 February 2007 (EST)

This is a good time to think about this question. IMSLP continues to grow, and even if you can handle the costs now, there will be a moment when you can't pay the bill anymore as server demands rise (or am I wrong?). I do not know the income of an ad system, but I think they are not fitting in the IMSLP free and public spirit.

Isn't the donation worth a try? The wikipedia fundraiser was quite amazing. I think that your current bill could be payed by a couple dollars a month of the current IMSLP enthousiasts... The donation system should be very accessible (e.g. paypal or even multiple payment possibilities). And the fund incomes and spends should be made very clear to the public.

At last, corporate sponsors would be great. wikipedia gets servers from hardware companies, and a great deal of their fundraising came from companies.

Long live IMSLP! --Peter 15:12, 8 February 2007 (EST)

Haha... I see there are disagreements about corporate sponsors. But I don't think that would matter atm because IMSLP has not yet become known enough for corporations to feel like helping... but when it happens we'll deal with it then :)

About the donation system, I'm currently somewhat busy, but should be able to set something up in a month or two... :) And we'll see how it goes. --Feldmahler 18:05, 8 February 2007 (EST)

Wikia

Hello. I'm from Wikia and wanted to let you know that if the hosting costs are becoming to much for you, we are very happy to offer you free hosting. It is advertising supported, but if you look at our existing sites, you'll see it's not overly intrusive. The admins here would retain their admin access access and the community itself would still be responsible for the site. We offer any technical and community support you need whilst you retain independence over the content. If you're interested in moving, please contact me at angela(@)wikia.com. This is a really worthwhile topic and I'd be pleased to welcome your community into Wikia. Angela 10:16, 13 April 2007 (EDT)

I have responded via e-mail :) --Feldmahler 23:03, 13 April 2007 (EDT)

Where did the Paypal button go?

? --Leonard Vertighel 05:48, 18 April 2007 (EDT)

Well... I took it off because I thought I didn't have enough preparation (I haven't had time to write anything about this, including the hosting costs etc.), and so I thought I'd take it off for now and put it back on in two or three weeks. Though, I was wondering whether it is a good idea to put this in the sidebar or just on the main pages? --Feldmahler 14:10, 18 April 2007 (EDT)

OK, I have reverted your edit to the page, so people don't get confused looking for a button that is not there. Personally, I think that having it in the sidebar is not bad, because I suppose that many users will never see the main pages (thought it doesn't hurt to mention it there, too). Wikipedia sometimes even has a notice at the top of every single page. --Leonard Vertighel 14:32, 18 April 2007 (EDT)

Can you accept international transcriptions (ie IBAN & BIC numbers)? The individuals who don't have a credit card (like me) and hence no paypal should have the possibility to give!--Peter 16:03, 18 April 2007 (EDT)

I'll have to look into this. Thanks for the information :) Guess this is why I really need to do more research before setting up the donations haha. In any case, I will have much more time in about 3 weeks or so :) --Feldmahler 17:37, 18 April 2007 (EDT)

In Germany you can use Paypal without a credit card (the money can be withdrawn directly from a bank account). I don't know if this works in other countries though. By the way, if I'm not mistaken, Paypal has increased its fees recently. It may be worthwile looking for less expensive solutions (e.g. Moneybookers.com? May not be suited for the purpose though). --Leonard Vertighel 18:20, 18 April 2007 (EDT)

Well, what I know is that PayPal does allow both bank and credit card transactions... but don't know if the bank transaction extends to the EU or not (though I suppose since you know it works in Germany it should be fine). About fees, Paypal doesn't charge *any* fees for bank transactions (unless there are more than $600 transferred per month, but that's not going to happen for now for IMSLP), but *do* charge a pretty penny for cc transactions ($.30 per transaction, plus 2.5% of the transaction I believe). Though I guess this money goes to Visa or Mastercard. In any case, I'll do a little more research on this when I get a load of free time in a few weeks :) --Feldmahler 18:50, 18 April 2007 (EDT)

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Upload file

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