I would like to thank everyone for the generous contributions made to support the Washington Fly Fishers List! This was truly a surprise! When Sean told me about his request - and the wonderful response of the membership - I was very moved by the thoughtfulness and generosity. I was also relieved, because frankly, we were facing some serious issues about the future of the list.
When the list was first started, just over five years ago, the requirements for maintaining it were modest and it was easy to roll the small additional cost associated with the list into my basic internet service provider's fee. Over time, as list membership and postings grew, the costs grew as well, slowly but inexorably, primarily to cover the growing size of the list archives. I felt this was justified because the archives were a tremendous resource and worth the additional costs; but still, every year, they grew. With the addition of the web site last spring (thanks to Kent and Sean), the demand for services increased again - this time substantially. Fortunately, the website service provider, ISWNet (through their friendship with Kent) continued to donate the service for free. However, the recent sale of ISWNet, along with the continued uncertainty over the viability of list server site, Eskimo North, had put a very real and very big cloud on the horizon. Now, thanks to your generous contributions, we can look seriously at moving the entire operation to a single new site that offers both full email list services and robust website and website application services. Sean has - as usual - done a yeoman's job of identifying the requirements and surveying the market to find the best deals available. We hope to make our final decision on where the site will be hosted soon and begin installing and testing the software and services over the next few weeks. When this is done, and we have a cutover date set, we will let you know. We will also probably set up automatic forwarding from the old addresses for a couple of months (forwarding posts accidentally made to the old site to the new) to smooth the transition as much as possible. Don't worry - aside from a new list posting address - everything should pretty much look and feel the same. Most importantly, we feel that the new list location will give us an opportunity to generate the small - but necessary - revenue stream required to keep the list solvent in the future. This might be done by offering things like personalized Waflyfishers email addresses for a small fee or even providing the opportunity to have your own Waflyfishers sub-domain (where you could host your own website, run your own list, etc.) for a much smaller fee than you'd pay at other sites. So, your kind gifts will help do great things - for all the list members. But I think that more important than the money itself, is how your kind gifts show just how much the list means to you. I can't tell you how important - to all of those who contribute, in whatever way to the list - that is. It affirms, in the most persuasive way, that the efforts of all involved are appreciated and worth continuing. I would also like to thank those who offered to contribute in kind - assisting in website development, programming, helping to manage and maintain the list or website, or in other ways. As the list continues to grow and offer more, your help will be invaluable. Above all I would like to thank Sean and Kent. Both have contributed, and continue to contribute, so much. Both are top-notch professionals in their fields (Kent is owner of L2D Design and Sean is a programmer for Amazon.com) and both have donated untold hours of free services to create and maintain the list and website. The value - both in terms of personal commitment and in dollars - of their contributions to date, is staggering. Frankly, these are the guys who keep the list going! Again, on behalf of myself and Sean and Kent - and on behalf of all the members of the Waflyfishers Email List: Thank you! Thank you for caring. And thank you for helping the Washington Flyfishers Email List continue to thrive and grow! -Wes Wes Neuenschwander Seattle, WA USA
