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Posted By: TPJ
Posted On: 24 August 2010 - 09:08 PM

Happy 10th Anniversary, Basin!

Even though our actual 10th anniversary date has recently come and gone, I figured we still needed to make a note of the occasion here on the boards. The Amazon Basin's actual tenth anniversary (August 11) was celebrated in style during ABCon X in New Orleans with some great Basin folks at the Red Fish Grill right on Bourbon Street. The following day, a nice chunk of us set sail from the port of New Orleans for Cozumel. Again, we had a great time. The whole Con this year was decidedly smaller in numbers, but no less fun than any other.

Still, TEN FREAKING YEARS! That's like, a scrillion online years, isn't it? The Basin is still going strong. We've still got some great people helping run this ship and countless others having fun along the way. Case in point - the net result of our last fund drive is that we are now paid in full at our server host for the next two full years and still have some cabbage in the bank for incidentals. As usual, some Basin old-timers stepped up with huge donations and lots of new faces contributed to make this fund drive a monumental success.

Another extremely cool Basin event happened while in New Orleans that I'm happy to report: two Basin members who met through this community got engaged! That makes two engagements this year between Basin members! I think Basin Nation is taking on a whole new meaning, don't you?

Happy 10th anniversary everyone, and thank you.

Teep

Comments: 16 :: View Comments

Posted By: nlx3647
Posted On: 23 August 2010 - 11:14 PM

August 23rd Server move

The server team will be moving all the Basin forums and data from our current server to a new one. Some downtime is expected, but a webpage will remain up to inform users of the status.

Thank you for your understanding and patience,

NLX3647

Comments: 18 :: View Comments

Posted By: TPJ
Posted On: 20 July 2010 - 02:53 PM

July 2010 Basin Fund Drive

It's been 14 months since The Amazon Basin's last fund drive. Since anything over a year's worth of funds is considered a pretty big success, I'd say you folks did a pretty damn good job last time. For that, I thank each and every one of you. You keep this place running. You keep it ad-free. You keep it open.

But, we are running out of cash. We have enough to pay our server payment on July 25th, but not enough for the August payment. I hate bugging people about this type of stuff, but it's the nature of how we run things here. We've always been ad-free. Most everyone agrees that they'd rather put in a few dollars here and there than have to plaster advertisements in our home. I feel that decision has been the right one as it's kept us apart from the masses of other sites out there. We're unique in that respect, and proudly so.

Plenty of people aren't in any sort of financial shape to be sending off donations right now. I completely understand that. If you're one of those folks, I'm not asking you for help. I'm asking the person next to you that can afford to help a little. If you can't, you can't. But if you can, please help us keep this place afloat by heading over to our donation page and using the PayPal link. If you don't have a PayPal account or are an anti-online payment person, my address is on the same page. You can definitely snail mail me a check or whatever. Either way, you'll be helping The Basin out.

As always, Amazon.com purchases though our Amazon.com Associate Program link will help as well. A percentage of everything you buy after following that link to Amazon.com will end up in our bank account on a quarterly basis. It really does help over the course of a year.

And again, I thank you folks for making this place what it is.

Comments: 32 :: View Comments

Posted By: TPJ
Posted On: 01 February 2010 - 04:27 PM

Server Upgrade Complete

With much thanks to NLX, our server is now sporting a sweet oil change (using a synthetic blend), the worn timing belt has been replaced, the burnt out tail light was fixed, and a fresh coat of paint has been put down. All in all, it's better than new!

As part of the process, our set of forums will all undergo a revamping of their own. We've skipped the last few updates, even letting a major upgrade slip by. The boards will go from 2.3.5 to 3.0.5. The changes are not just cosmetic. Much of the underlying code and functionality has been completely rewritten and greatly improved.

The Main Boards have been upgraded and the new skin has been applied. There are some tweaks to be made to the skin, but it is functional. I'll be fixing the missing color components as I can.

NLX will continue to upgrade each forum as his time allows. When the boards are down for upgrade, visitors will see a message indicating they are being upgraded. Each upgrade shouldn't take longer than a day, with many taking only a couple of hours. Please bear with us as we bring our forum software up to date.

Thanks everyone.

Comments: 7 :: View Comments

Posted By: TPJ
Posted On: 22 January 2010 - 03:32 AM

Basin server going down soon

Marty will be taking the Basin server down in the next day or so. The outage may last 2 or more days. The planned outage is to do a pretty large amount of updates on both Linux and the forum software.

Please pass the word so we can avoid panic when folks are unable to reach the boards.

Comments: 27 :: View Comments

Posted By: TPJ
Posted On: 30 June 2009 - 09:31 PM

Follow The Basin on Twitter

Those of you on Twitter can now follow The Amazon Basin. (@theamazonbasin) What currently is a singular voice for The Basin will hopefully turn into a central repository for gaming news as well as information from each of our guilds.

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Posted By: TPJ
Posted On: 27 May 2009 - 04:41 PM

Basin Fund Drive 2009

Basin folk -

I come to you, defenses down, with the trust of a child.

The donations received from our fund drive in October of 2007 have all been spent. Unfortunately, The Basin is pretty much running on fumes. If any of you are in a position to lend a financial hand, I'm hoping you will help. It would be nice to receive enough to keep us up for another year as well as ensure a hassle-free ABCon.

The best way to help is by making a donation to The Basin by way of PayPal. You can do that on our Donation page. There are also links to subscription-type donations that are taken care of through PayPal.

Most of you know the drill by now, but if you don't, here's the skinny: The Basin operates solely on donations from people like you. We do not throw banner ads all over the place, nor are we part of Google's AdWords system. This place is run as it always has - advertising free. Your donations keep it that way. Our operating budget is used for things like our server at GoDaddy, the checking account, software, business filings, and taxes/fees. All said and done, we probably average about $160 a month in expenses. This fund drive is the primary way we generate funds to sustain ourselves here. But keep in mind, no one is required to donate. If you don't have the money, don't beat yourself up about it. No worries. We know that not everyone is in a financial position to offer help. But - there are those who can help. Those are the people we hope to reach with this message.

Thanks all.

Oh, and pass the word, will ya?

Comments: 34 :: View Comments

Posted By: TPJ
Posted On: 06 March 2009 - 03:20 PM

Main Board Warning System Now Live

The Amazon Basin's Main Boards today enabled a forum-wide Warning System to help track reported posts and problematic users. The system was discussed at length by members, officers, admins, and moderators to ensure everyone posting on our boards - regardless of stature or rank - would be judged evenly and fairly and by the same set of guidelines.

It is our hope that this new system will prompt more users to renew their faith in the 'Report This Post' links, knowing they will be looked at more carefully and may result in administrative action. If everyone participates correctly in the new Warning System, The Basin administration is sure the signal to noise ratio on our Main Boards will improve quickly.

Everyone is urged to read the details and to ask any questions they may have.

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Posted By: TPJ
Posted On: 11 December 2008 - 07:36 PM

BasinWear Store Closure

I am extremely sad to report that what I figured would be a great way to generate some additional revenue for The Amazon Basin has become more of a burden than a profit center. With my career change last year (from a salaried employee working for a Fortune 100 company to being a self-employed photographer), the amount of time I have to devote to running the BasinWear store has been reduced to about zero. As such, I have closed down the online store.

There are a few outstanding orders to be filled. I will be doing my best to get them done as soon as possible and shipped out. After which, there will still be a few items left in the store's inventory. Those items will be sold on a case-by-case basis as time allows and through a different method. Remaining items will also continue to be made available at Cons as permissible.

I genuinely appreciate the support I've received from this community by way of BasinWear sales. Your purchases have helped keep this place running. I am humbled.

Comments: 17 :: View Comments

Posted By: Sailboat
Posted On: 11 August 2008 - 11:52 PM

Infinity upended! 8 years of Amazon Basinry!

The Amazon Basin turns 8 today. Still free*, still friendly!

*Server fees are paid by fund drives -- help out if you can!

We're about to outlast every modern U.S. Presidential administration!

Thanks are due to everyone who's helped out and anyone who's played with us.

If you'd like to know more about our antediluvian past, consult the Book of Armaments!

Sailboat

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