Greetings and Happy New Year to all, As most of you know this list has been funded by the generous contributions of our listmembers for the past two years. Oddly(?) enough, I find that many of our most helpful listmembers, are also the ones I can count on for monetary contributions as well. I guess some folks are just born "givers". I'll not mention names, but you guys (and gals!) know who you are, and on behalf of myself and other list members, we truly thank you.
For our new list members, here's a little history. The PCWorks Mailing list has been in existence since the middle of 1997. I began this list running it from a mailing list management program which used my computer to send every email out to each list member. I was using an OLD computer at that time (133mhz as I recall), and then graduated to my snappy 233mhz laptop a bit later on. As the list grew in size (at one time we had over 2500 members & currently have about 850) we moved to a mailing list host. We've had many ups and downs, and even shut down completely for a month or so while we found a list hosting service. We have gone on moderated status a number of times when inappropriate discussions started (To the newbies: moderated status means that I must read and approve each message, before modifying and sending it thru to the list.) I have made lot's of "net friends thru the years, and unfortunately a few enemies, who just did not like the way I run this list. They mistakenly thought that this forum provided free speech for all, which of course is NOT the case ;-). The purpose of this list has always been to help others learn about computers and the internet. I only became acquainted with computers myself in late 1995, so I devoured any and all information gathered from lists and the net. When joining my first mailing list, I must have had to send in four or five subscribe requests, which hopefully I am not alone in having to do so. But after subscribing, I was totally amazed at the help one could get with almost any problem or question in general. I did *ALL* of the internet stuff at that time, communication programs (ICQ), played at designing websites, internet telephones..(have they gotten any better?) Anyway, now I just mostly WORK on computers. My job now requires me to sit in front of a computer for 8hrs a day and I *repair/format/troubleshoot* for friends and family, and once in a while even get a paying gig! To sum this all up, EVERYTHING comes due in February; Web Hosting, DNS registration, and List hosting services. To pay for DNS Registration (for 5 years @ 19.00/year), web hosting @ $96.00/yr @ list hosting @ 84.00/yr, we are looking at big bucks this year, roughly $275.00. In past years, most donations have been around $25.00 . This means I would need at least eleven members to donate 25.00 each in order to keep the list active, though we usually don't get that much in donations At this point I simply cannot afford to keep the list going without the contributions, so if you think you gain from this list, please consider a donation. Otherwise, I am afraid that PCWorks will go the way of many other mailing lists. I know that some of you will come up with "free mailing list", but I have tried them, and do not like them at all. So anyway here's how YOU can donate. Go to http://www.paypal.com and send funds to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or you may contact me personally at that email address if you prefer to send a check or money order. Thanks for you help, Marlene ============= PCWorks Mailing List ================= Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines & make sure you've followed proper posting procedures, http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com =====================================================
