Hi everyone,
It's come to my/ATAG's attention that false and malicious accusations have been made on Facebook regarding the handling of the ATAG donations. This is unfortunate, since ATAG's continuing operation is non-profit and has depended on the generous support within this community. We keep this forum and our server running 24/7 free of charge to everyone. The donations we receive are all greatly appreciated and goes towards the ongoing operational expenses.
Yes, costs borne directly by ATAG have decreased with the recent acquisition of ATAG assets (and liabilities) by Team Fusion Simulations. I intervened directly when the November goal was set much too high; the smaller goal amount for December reflects this adjustment to bring ATAG to a break-even status by year end, rather than run a surplus. For 2019 I will review the annual operational costs with TFS to set the monthly donation goals accordingly. If anyone has a problem with how the donations are handled, I'm your guy. It's on me.
Personally, I found the Facebook attacks disappointing. We're just a bunch of guys with a keen interest in aviation in general - and Cliffs of Dover in particular. It takes a lot of work and time to keep the forum and server running, which we do gladly because, quite honestly, we get to interact with sterling chaps like yourselves. Why anyone would wish to see that end is beyond me. But there it is.
I discussed the above with TFS, who provided me with the additional info below to share with you.
Sincerely,
Snapper
- Team Fusion has purchased the ATAG 2 Server and the ATAG Website and now pays those costs outright... the only element remaining in ATAG control now is the ATAG 1 server.... which ATAG still raises donations for, therefore the costs are less and the ceiling is less.
- In the past there were other costs besides those of the servers and website... the bandwidth costs for hosting the TF patches sometimes ran to multiple thousands of dollars a month... several hundreds of thousands of users downloaded these patches and hugely increased the bandwidth usage... which therefore resulted in additional charges from the provider. Bliss incurred quite large debts on behalf of ATAG which actually have never been completely repaid even when the targets for donations were exceeded. Now that the download hosting is no longer needed, (the game and patches are on Steam) the overall costs are stable... no need to allow for overages in the donation target
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