JavaRanch Server FundraiserIS DONE! When we kicked it off, we thought it would probably run about a week. So we would have a the whole weekend to wrap things up and say our thank yous and all the little bits that come with a big event like this. Here it is, less than 24 hours since the mailing went out and we have received far more than our goal. The check has been sent for the new server! There were two really amazing things that came of all this. First, a lot of folks sent some really kind words with their contribution. I think we'll all be riding the glow from those words for a really long time. Second, we've had a really fantastic relationship with JetBrains for many years. I, and most of the staff, use their product (IntelliJ IDEA) all day long every day. We really like it. And to show our appreciation, we are happy to run their banners and the like. They seem to like us too - they have been giving licenses to the staff for years. It's always been a generous relationship both ways - with no money changing hands. Until yesterday. Our goal was to raise $4650.30. JetBrains is sending us more than half of that: $2650.30. It's gonna take us a few days to get everything shuffled into the right spot - to figure out who gets which books, to update the donations page to show all the donors, etc. Paul Little of Evolution Hosting is taking care of our hardware needs. He is donating his time to install the new server and get us moved over. He's been up in the middle of the night a lot for us the last month because our existing server has been so ill. When our secondary server died, he cobbled together another box for us to get by until we could come up with a longer term solution. Paul and Evolution Hosting have been really patient with us over all these years - a bunch of volunteers putting in bits and bobs of time as we can to hold together a site that has mysteriously become freaky big. Jim Yingst will coordinate with Paul Little to oversee the transition to the new box. I'm certain the Ernest Friedman-Hill and Ulf Dittmer will play big roles too. These are the four guys that leap into every fire and figure out how to keep us running. Jeanne Boyarsky has volunteered to shuffle all of the books for the fundraiser. No small task! 170 books and some people have had some interesting instructions on how their book has to be sent to them. Thanks Jeanne - gimmie a day to get the final donor info to you! I set up a thread for any post fundraiser discussion here. Thanks again to the publishers listed below for coming through with all of those great books! Thanks everybody. I was putting off doing the fundraiser because I thought it would be a dirty, money grubbing experience. Wow. What can I say. This has been one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
paul wheaton Thar's so darn many of y'all hangin' out 'round the ranch that, well, the greenest greenhorn knows we're bound fer trouble. Yep, that's when all those ornery messages like "the ranch is busy come back later" start gittin' in the way of yer quality time (we hate 'em too!). As you already know, JavaRanch is tighter than than a half hitch knot with scads of book publishers. Last week, we let it slip that we needed a new server and we were flooded with emails offering free books as part of our fundraiser! An' as if'n thet weren't enough, our good friends at JetBrains, whose hearts are as big as the lonesome prairie, ponied up enough greenbacks t' choke a mustang! We is sure grateful to those wonderful people -- thank ye kindly! We're off to a rip-roarin' start! As fer th' books, here's the cornball system we came up with: We stuck an identifier next to each book: T1 to T51. When you send in your donation, send a list of the books you want the most. Something like "T14 T22 T12 T02 T40 T39". We only get one copy of some books, so the longer list you make, the better the chances are that you will get a book you want. When we have collected enough money to purchase the new server ($4,653.30), we'll start handing out the books - starting with most generous folks!
Folks that donate $35 to $64, we will set up with one book.
And now the books: Prentice Hall will donate ten copies of each of these books:
Pragmatic Bookshelf will donate 10 copies (+DRM free PDF!) of each of these books:
McGraw-Hill will donate 75(!!!) books - your choice from this list:
Wiley will donate 1 each of the following books:
Manning will donate 2 each of the following books, plus ten e-book coupons:
Apress will donate 20 books chosen from the following list:
So what are ya waitin' fer? Get yer mouse pointed over in this here direction and cough up a little cash fer JavaRanch - you'll be glad ya did, that's fer sure!
|