Frank Hagan

Looks like we are nearing the 3,000th member of the community:

 nearing-3000.png   2.43KB   4 downloads

I usually prune the member list every year or so, so that represents members who have been here, even if they don't post, at least once in the past 12  months or so.

For some reason, our event calendar disappeared at some time in the past. It is now back, along with the chat function.

I have also added a CDN feature. CDN stands for "Content Delivery System" that caches images and other content and serves it from the server nearest to you. If you had slow loading pages on the site, it should be a bit faster now (especially for our members from Australia, New Zealand and the EU).

I have moved the forums to a new server in preparation for restarting my hosting company.

Let me know if you notice any difference, good or bad, in the forum performance.

You may have to log in again, as the cookies that allow you to auto-login sometimes change in a server move.

Now that I'm no longer required to divest myself of other businesses, I am considering re-starting my web hosting business. However, it will be a premium service with a minimum $10 per month fee, focused primarily on small business and hobbyist sites.

If you hosted with me before, and feel that $10 a month is worth the level of service I provided, please let me know. I have two commitments already, so I only need a few more.

I will be very selective about the type of sites hosted on the server. Wordpress sites will be allowed, but other "content management systems" may not be allowed, as they pose a security risk if not frequently updated. As before, only "family friendly", non-controversial sites will be allowed, with no adult content, political debate, or otherwise controversial content. Even legal "debate" sites tend to attract hackers who try to compromise the server.

I will continue to provide free hosting to the existing non-profit sites (such as http://byyb.org).

Payment will be by credit card or Paypal payments. Semi-annual and annual payments by personal check will be considered for businesses, and if I had success with you in th past using this method.

Most of you know I started Acumen Consulting LLC in 2012 after being laid off in 2011 and found myself unemployed for 8 months. I have done well with small business consulting for IT / web development, bookkeeping and financial management, and it has allowed me to keep messing-about.com open and free. It was touch and go there for a while, but I have been able to consolidate things and keep everything going.

My tax preparation business, Acumen Tax Service was formed to expand my reach to local individuals for financial services. After tax season, I will resume pursuit of the financial adviser license to continue my "second life career".

Acumen is now sponsoring messing-about. There's a link to my website and the Facebook page for Acumen Tax Service at the top right to make if official. If you are so inclined, please take a moment to click through and help me build some "organic incoming hits" to both pages. "Like" my Facebook page so I can get better statistical information from Facebook. That will help me a lot!

Here are the links:

Acumen Tax Service Link

Acumen Tax Service Facebook Page