Home Forums Discussions General Discussion ACUF Contributions

OK, so this WILL be the official thread for the annual ACUF webathon. I want to give some back story to this site and lend some transparency to the donations.

When Harris first bought AC, a group of us (the moderators and some others) began talking about the possibility of starting a board in case AC was shut down quickly. This was in no way a reflection on Harris. We just knew little about them and it happened suddenly. We knew that if AC was shut down, we would all be have difficulty. But, if we could "go down together," it would be easier to deal with. Time went by, and the thought died out and no other site was started.

Then, I believe some time in late June 2019, Harris announced it was closing the board effective "very quickly." The moderators and I talked and rather than make it a group effort at the time, I just started putting things in motion. There just wasn't enough time.

I hosted an encrypted site on Bluehost.com, obtained a domain name, and then went about hiring (OK begging to work for free) Ruben. Ruben was one of the moderators and top poster at UBB Central. UBB Central hosted the original ACUB only the host admin for AC wasn't quite the same as Ruben. Whenever I needed help with the ACUB, I would go over and post a question there and many users with help just like on this board. Ruben was usually the one who answered. While I do most of the day to day stuff with the board, Ruben does all of the behind the scenes work. There is a rather complex control panel and the need to work with code that I can't do. Basically, I did the grunt work. Ruben set up the site. And, while I can't give out any information, we have Ruben to thank for preserving the old posts. You will also notice that the site just looks cleaner, is compatible with smartphones and just magically seems to have the right version. AC generally didn't fall behind more than two or three upgrades.

Somewhere in July 2019, the board became a reality and the first new post was made. It has been a smooth ride since that time.

So for the transparency: Bluehost charges $311 a year for hosting the site. That is with all the security one would want, i.e. https:// etc. I send a little (I mean little) something Ruben's way. This idea for contributions was recent and it was more to allow those who wanted to contribute up to $20 more than the site would go under unless all of us pitched in. I feel like it will be more like our board this way. So, my idea is run an ACUF webathon every July. So, far we have five contributions for $100. Any amount over $300 will go to thanking Ruben. The names will stay anonymous. Ruben and I have toyed around with a few ideas.

So, bottom line is I started and underwrote the forum, Ruben develped and made the forum and continues to be its only support staff, and all the AC users have, as usual, breathed life into the board. Sharing knowledge, ideas, thoughts on medicine and life in general and just being around for all of us. I would recommend you go back in the July 2019 posts both before and after the transition. It's like going from the last episode of M.A.S.H. to the new episodes of Scrubs. Well time for me to start and thread and either vent, complain or bitch about something. I hope the word bitch makes it through. Ruben has censored a lot of words that I use everyday.

So, more about the July board-a-thon drive. I thought about this a long time. I went back and forth. After all, the annual site subscription isn't too terribly much. So, I didn't really want to offset a few bucks when I could just keep money out of it.

But, then the big issue hit me. Ruben. And, I am sure he will probably get upset with me for even saying this. Sure, I am the face of the board. I would run it for years without one dime. I love AC and I love all the users. Misery loves company at times, and there can be a lot of company. But, for the most part, AC is a great EMR. Compare it with any of the documentation for compensation "big boys" whose progress note for an ear infection is six pages long. But, I digress. Here is the deal. I could pass the reins of Admin to Wendell or Eugene or JBS without skipping a beat. But, you can't have a forum without technical support and someone maintaining it. This is why it is so dependable and smooth and just taken for granted. Everything about the forum is the way most people at UBB Central would design and run it.

Having Ruben, is kinda like having Tom Brady on your little league football team. In the days when he did this for a living, his reimbursement would come in the way of a bill each month. Here. Well, he does it for nothing. Insomuch, that he has never asked for money.

So, while some of the donations or contributions go toward the $300 fee for the forum, the rest goes to Ruben. Up to a point. I really feel that $300 would be the least we could do. And, Ruben doesn't really want any more than that anyway.

We had five contributions within two days. Let's see if we can keep it going.

Bert,

Just donated. I would have increased amount, but I could only figure out how to donate $20. Thanks!

David Lee, MD
IM
Dallas, TX

Thanks David. No we went with a limit, because someone, somewhere would have sent $250. We didn't want that. Thanks again.

As a small perk. Those that donate can edit their profile and add Group Images To Display for donations if you wish.
It will display in your profile when posting.
If you do not wish to be recognized then do not enable the image..

It is July 22nd. Nine more days on the Forum-athon. Or nine more days on the Rub-athon. I don't want to bed. I am all set with hosting the board and the cost. It is my pleasure, and it helps me tremendously. However, Ruben does a ton of work behind the scenes, and without it the forum would be impossible. In fact, just starting it would have been impossible. I send him a small amount each year (well two times), but I think he deserves more.

The donation is $20. I find the PayPal interface to be confusing. Maybe it is something on my side. But, PP, Visa and MC are all accepted. I am sure the nine people who have donated could say better.

This is mainly a fun idea with the added benefit of allowing some to contributed and helping to defray the cost for the support for the board. We did not have "a Ruben" on the AC board. So, we were three upgrades behind. The board has three major crashes. There was a major "bug" where posts could not be saved or copied on the board. The was a huge hack with over 60% of passwords hacked. There was no way to ask the IT admin with questions or ideas.

If you use the forum, I think $20 is a small sum to contribute.

Bert, Can you send a notification, email maybe, to recent users? I bet that many folks don't know about the fund raiser.

Not a bad idea. Hmm.. Ruben?

Well we did install php list with all registered users at that time.
Or do it directly from UBB
But beware the host has throttle emails enabled and you run the risk of getting your mail email blacklisted if it goes to ,to many bad email accounts.
But it can be done. with risks, Just like we did when the site was re-created.

I think, unfortunately, it would be too much like soliciting. Some will contribute, others will not. We'll just let it play out.

I created a member list for people that logged in after 01/01/2020 in the cp.
You could send a email from that.
It is not that large
Just one page
Just select the saved search login after 01/01/2020 scroll to the bottom select email for action.
Then all from search.
On the next screen add your content and send
There is also a test email in that page where you can send just one email to yourself for a test.
I am trying to remember the limit from the host but I am thinking 30 per hour so You need to keep your browser on that page for the duration.
You can still open another browser window to visit the site.

Well this is kind of awkward because if you send out a bulk email, it may look like Ruben (and Bert) are looking for a hand-out... but who cares. DO IT!

This is no different than Wikipedia or any other legit organization asking for funds to support a service from which we all benefit.

Donna is right... many people come here relatively rarely, but still very much value the board.

If you guys don't feel comfortable writing an email and pushing the button to send it, then one of us will be happy to do so....

(Of course that "throttled" business doesn't sound good. No one wants to be throttled. Well there are some strange people out there, so I guess there may be a site for those that do....).

Throttle is a term used by hosting companies.
It limits the number of emails sent by site for a specified time, usually per hour..
This is just a security measure that the site is not spamming causing undue harm to other customers that may slow down the server. they are using.
Since this is a shared hosting plan there are many users using the same ip per server as us.
Because email is blacklisted by IP.
Then one customer could cause all other users on the same server to be banned or blacklisted.

I think my original goal was $300. Then I upped it to $500. I am sure we will meet our goal. There are 6 1/2 days remaining. I am really against doing a mass email. I know it's fair, but I don't want the look. There have been new users who have donated. One without posts. I remember doing my best not to email support, et al. but we did. For me, it would be a bad look to have Chris get an email asking for a donation.

I would guess that in the days where if one went one day without being on the board, they missed 50 posts, we would be well over $1,000. Traffic, although good traffic, is down quite a bit now. I am rather happy at the response.

I just found out about this -- sent my donation by PayPal.
I can't believe you are really doing this for no compensation -- that is positively un-American
There are so many reasons that AC is the best EMR for small practices, and the UserBoard is near the top of the list. So many problems that I have had resolved by help from here!
Thanks to all posters, and especially to Bert and Ruben

Thanks Tom. It's worth it just to be the only one to know your middle initial.

Ruben, thanks for the explanation of throttling... I was actually joking.
(Maybe Bert can explain my sense of humor to you at some point). Sorry for the confusion.

LOL, I was about to email you. I can wait now.

I got your joke, Jon. I thought it was hilarious!

There are a few people in the world who get my jokes. I know I can count on you, Donna.

Wow, that ACUF donor thing is cool. Where do I get one. Jon.

ACUsersForum.com Absolutely the best bargain on the internet

What is an identicon. That contribution thing with the hand is super cool.

It's easy, Bert. It all starts with clicking the yellow "donate" button on the top right of the page.
I don't normally like to advertise when I donate, but I figure the badge is a reminder to donate to all those who have not.

Yes, but I think it is illegal or a HIPAA violation for me to donate to myself. Some type of inside trading. Or insider donating.

Yeah, I figured that on the latter.

I tried Jon. I can't send to myself. I am just the money launderer. Users PP to me I PP to Ruben. (which he deserves)

So, we raised $320 for the ACUF.