I've tried to raise money here before to cover the operating costs and a little of my behind the scenes time, and it has not been fruitful... but given the hacking episodes, I think it's time to get "real," at least with our software. smallstreams has been running on free software for as long as it has been forums. That software has evolved, but not as fast as the hackers...

The heart of smallstreams are the forums. That is what I really want to develop and make much more robust - new SQL server iteration (the database behind all of this) and new, "real" software.

vBulletin is the quality standard for online forums and what I would like to upgrade this forum to. It costs $195. That's just the software, not any of my time to get it in and converted. There is a version of vBulletin that is a full CMS that supports member blogs, a full content management system and the like, and it runs $285. Bottom line is we need a minimum of $195 to move forward.

So here is the challenge. If you wish to contribute to the purchase of the vBulletin software for smallstreams.com, please let me know, and send a donation to smallstreams via paypal.

Click here to donate.

One thing to note - If we do not reach the amount to at least get the basic forum package in, say, 30 days, I will refund all of the donations and we will live with what we have.

All the best,

-Gus