1 of 1- RadioActive
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The Future Of The SOWNY Board
I just read Lorne's surprising announcement about his Oldies Board, wihch is also a Boardhost site. It's somewhat alarming because what he says there will affect this one, too.
In essence, his message is that the people at Boardhost have informed him that they aren't making enough money by giving away their hosting for free, and as of later this summer, will be charging those who run these online forums a yearly fee to keep them up. I already support Boardhost with a bi-yearly contribution, and I have yet to get an email from them about any charge for maintaining the SOWNY Board.
It is worrisome, but for the moment, I'm seriously thinking of paying the fee so that this place continues to be here, right where you're used to it. A change to another source would mean re-registering and essentially starting from scratch, throwing the almost 111,000 posts here into - as radio's Kim Komando always liked to say - the intergalatic bit bucket.
I don't want that to happen.
So have no fear, SOWNY's still here. And hopefully will be for the foreseeable future. But if you haven't signed up for Lorne's new forum and you're interested in discussing The Greatest Hits online, you can register for his new forum for free here. I always find it a fun place to hang out. Hopefully, you'll keep visiting both!
- Lorne
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
The Boardhost email stated that "Our Premium Forum Service is available for $15.99 per month, or you can also save 10% by purchasing 180 days at a time." So what I did was reduce the $15.99 by 10% and then multiplied it by 12 to get an annual rate, which I then converted to Canadian dollars to give people an idea of what it would cost for me to continue using Boardhost. If the oldies board were getting anywhere near the traffic that this site does, I'd be willing to pay the roughly $240 Canadian per year that it would cost me. But since the oldies board can go entire days without any posts, and this would happen a lot more often if I didn't try to come up with something to post on days when I don't see any posts from others, I figured I'd rather switch to another hosting service that's still free and take the opportunity to rebrand the board to see if I can eventually attract more members. So RA, the fact that you're already making a bi-yearly payment hopefully means that everything will stay the same for this site. We just have a better and more generous moderator here than my site does. 
Last edited by Lorne (June 15, 2026 7:28 pm)
- Paul Jeffries
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
I think there's many members here that would be more than willing to pay a small nominal fee to keep it going, if it ever came to that.
Have you ever considered posting a link to PayPal or Buy Me a Coffee (or something along those lines) so others can pitch in and help you with the annual fee from time to time if they choose to, RA? Truth be it told, I sometimes feel a little guilty that you have to pay that amount entirely out of your pocket.
PJ
ClassicHitsOnline.com...The place where all the cool tunes hang out!
- RadioActive
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
Thanks to both of you. I truly appreciate your sentiments and your comments.
My plan is to keep the board free for as long as I run it. There is something about charging people for what is, in essence, a kind of hobby and just for fun, that just does not sit right with me. Fortunately, I'm financially able to absorb the cost, so thanks for the idea, but free is the price I like best! I think we can all say that!
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Thread Starter- UnSub
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
Not sure about anyone else but I'd happily throw in a few bucks each year to keep it going.
- splunge
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
darcyh wrote:
I'll throw in a few bucks if necessary.
yep. me too
- RadioActive
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
I'm really touched by the offers, but for now, I'm going to keep the board free for all, so no one feels obligated to contribute to it. Life's expensive enough already! But thanks for your support. It's worth more to me than money!
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
Maybe I should get Frank Leo and Spence Diamonds to sponsor the board. They're mentioned here often enough! (Although usually not in a good way!)
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Thread Starter- mace
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
I have learned so much from this site over the last 10ish years that I have been a member. RA: You mention that currently you are financially able to incur all the required costs. However, down the road your situation may change. I like all the above members would be more than happy to toss in a few bucks to keep this site running. Where else will I find the amount of media knowledge and information located in one place. SOWNY is it.
- newsguy1
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
I'd pitch in a few bucks too.
You could also hit up Magic Windows which runs its "Life's full of noises" ads that run 10 thousand times a day.
- Dani Elwell
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
For all of the years of enjoyment and screaming at the page and keeping up on what's going on....
I'd chip in!
- torontostan
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
What are we going to call the paid version?
"SOWNY+"
"Grave"
"Prime(time)"
- Paul Jeffries
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Re: The Future Of The SOWNY Board
I think there's many members here that would be more than willing to pay a small nominal fee to keep it going, if it ever came to that.
PJ
See? Told you so.
PJ
ClassicHitsOnline.com...The place where all the cool tunes hang out!