[Bgnet] Bowerman/Gifford Family Photographs

Tue Mar 14 13:28:46 EST 2006

Lon:

Again - I have to consider drive space and bandwidth issues on the website.
The website generates no revenues of any kind and the costs are on me
(already at the tune of 300.00+ a year).  If the majority wants this
material on the website, we need to consider what gets removed to add it.
Additional space and bandwidth upgrades are going to get beyond the amounts
I am willing to continue donating to this effort.

I'm going to be dead honest here - the ONLY reason the website is still
around is due to the reputation we have for quality content.  Most
professionals and researchers consider this the premiere Bowerman site.
Schools, Historical Societies and Archive facilities all link to our site as
references; not only for the Bowerman content, but the historical data we
present as well. Add to that a touch of ego and pride for the work we have
done collectively.

Let me explain this better:

Every time a page or picture is viewed, the total size of the picture and
every element on the webpage gets added to the "bandwidth" usage of the
website.  Let's say that a page with ten photos is a total of 4 meg in size.
Multiply that by an average of 1000 hits (or views) per day (4 gig).  25gig
limit - 4gig = 21gig remains). 

Now - add every page on the website - multiply that by 30 days and close to
150000 hits per month.  I pay 10.00 a gig, for every gig over the 25 limit.

Every time we add new material to the site, our usage increases by a factor
of about 75%. People will sit and just scroll through the pages and photo's
for hours - then download them all for their collection.

Here's an actual example - when I added the rogues gallery originally, we
only had a 5gig/month bandwidth limit.  That collection, on the site, bumped
our bandwidth to over 40gig for 2 months.  That cost me almost 700.00 and
was the reason for the first upgrade.

OK. make thumbnails of the photos to reduce the size.  This is what I did
for several items now on the site.  I get a ton of requests for the full
size images to be sent out to folks.  Every mailing of those full size
photo's, adds to the bandwidth usage (because we have our own email server).

Don't get me wrong here - I would like to put this material on the site. The
file for just the index would be well over 3 meg in size.  Do the math and
consider every Bowerman researcher viewing that file 3-4 times at least. add
in every other page they use and you begin to get the picture.

You suggested sending you and Patti the pages to transcribe.  This means
running down, making copies, mailing them out.  This is what I had suggested
in the original discussion, basically.  I can make a copy of the entire
index, make a copy of the CD with the albums, and ship it out to those that
want them at cost + shipping.  This would be less than $20.00 to those
interested.

Does this explain my concerns a bit better?

Ron

  _____  

From: Bowerman Genealogy Discussion [mailto:Bgnet at hawkshome.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 10:04 AM
To: Bgnet at hawkshome.net
Subject: Re: [Bgnet] Bowerman/Gifford Family Photographs

Ron,

How about taking the 150 pages of indexed material and pull out just the
Bowerman names and making a sub-index?  How many pages would that end up
being?  If you send me the 150 pages I could probably do that.  Then put
that sub-index on the web site so anyone could see it.  Then if anyone wants
the pictures send them a CD with the sub-index and pictures for a price.  Or
send 75 sheets to Patti and 75 to me - LOL - that way it would get done in
half the time if not sooner.  Or 50 to Patti, 50 to me and 50 for you.

Lon

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Bowerman <mailto:Bgnet at hawkshome.net>  Genealogy Discussion 

To: Bgnet at hawkshome.net 

Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 10:40 PM

Subject: Re: [Bgnet] Bowerman/Gifford Family Photographs

Lol - Patti can type, Lon can sort and collate, Ron can convert to html and
spend a month adding a few hundred links - roflmao!!!

While it sounds good in theory, it's a massive undertaking, Lon.  Close to
2000 entries to type up, convert to html, and link into the website.  I just
do not have the time for that now, as I am sure it would not be done before
I leave here in May.

I also have to consider the amount of drive space it would consume - we are
close to our limits now, unless I upgrade the server again.  I had thought
to add the photo's to the site, as they are all sorted by album, but that is
650 meg - more space than I have - by almost double.  Mind you, there are 52
albums of photos.

What I am considering are a couple alternatives:

1.	Posting the index for album 1 for a period of time, then pulling it
down and posting album 2., etc.. 
2.	Creating a bound photocopy of the indexes, adding a copy of the
entire CD, and letting people order them from me for cost + shipping. 

I personally think option 2 to be the most realistic.

I have the same problem with the West Falmouth Archive listing - too much
data (over 100 pages) to put up on the website.  The file would take forever
to download and take up a lot of space.

Add these facts to a 35gig/month bandwidth limitation - means it isn't going
to happen.  This is the same problem I have with adding all the Picton
references.

I'll make a final decision on all this after I decide if I want to lay out
the cost of another website upgrade.  This site was originally based on a
200 meg partition, and we are already cramping 600 megs. The next
addition/upgrade puts me into commercial website territory and that starts
getting expensive.

I'll keep you posted though.

Ron

  _____  

From: Bowerman Genealogy Discussion [mailto:Bgnet at hawkshome.net] 
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 9:25 PM
To: Bgnet at hawkshome.net
Subject: Re: [Bgnet] Bowerman/Gifford Family Photographs

Ron - at least you need to get the index up on the web site so we can search
it.  Otherwise we will never know if there is a picture we may want to look
at.

Lon

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