This project began as a geek project in my kitchen. I spent a lot of time rebooting computers, swapping video cards, etc. Initially I thought of it all as a Big Dance, but as the network gradually stiffened, we realized that the dance had spawned a system upon which we all depended. Now we continue to improve it so we can share it with our tribes.
To maintain for ourselves and our tribe a secure, stable server on a fast internet connection at a decent cost. With it we can also host our save-the-world projects.
Computing: This is a rather ordinary i386 FreeBSD network. In general, it is the home to a number of computer projects, such as Firsttracks.net and Pley.net.
Co-Location: We colocate our machines at the Layer42 datacenter in Santa Clara. In two words: Bad Ass.
We're making a lot of changes to our financial system right now. Full use is $15/mo and we're hoping to continue lowering this cost. Partial use is partial cost.
Profit: We are now in the black, on the books. We have paid off our initial equipment costs and are planning some hardware improvements. Note that we use 'profit' to pay for maintenance; there is never money amassed or distributed to members.
Originally I had planned to have the original "funders" of the project ride for free, but nobody is jumping on it currently. With our contributions we push the project forward. Besides, hardware breaks and in that case, it will be good to have a surplus.
Sharing: We would love to bring on some new people. We've agreed to give our close loved ones free email.
Overdue Accounts: If an account grows more than one season (3 months) overdue we will complain to the person that they have not paid their bills. If an account is more than 2 seasons (6 months) overdue, the account is subject to termination. We'll help you migrate.
We try our best, but occasionally the system is unavailable.
This is not a good place to run a traffic site like porno or pirated data. We do have ethical, legal and bandwidth limitations.