As indicated on the
TAFL index page,
September 25th is TAFL's 1st birthday!! (We survived!)
I'd first like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for a year (and more!) of support, patronage and just being so gosh-darned friendly. Quite a few TFL staffers have remarked upon what a pleasant place our boards are (and the network in general, too), and the blame sits squarely on you, our pleasant visitors! Together, we have made this network a great place to list fanlistings, and a great place to make friends. Thank you.
By year five, as we witnessed recently @ TFL, I fully intend to make the birthday celebration stretch out for a month, and have all the fantabulous graphics and goodies they did, but since this is just our first (and since I didn't have nearly enough time to prepare!), I hope a couple of cake pictures will do. ^^ The first is on the index page, of course, and another is coming....
You'll just have to wait a while to see what it is! :hyper: Also, you might notice one of our "board members" is having a birthday today... :hyper: (Also,
happy birthday MaroonCaludin!
)
I'd also like to bring up a need we have, while everyone is celebrating (please don't leave the thread!) As some of you know, TAFL is hosted by
DreamHost, and we recommend them highly. (I also host almost all of my personal sites through them, on a larger plan, and have nothing but high praises to sing.) As any DreamHoster knows, every time someone refers you when they sign up for paid services, DreamHost gives a
$97 referral bonus. To TAFL,
one referral is almost TEN MONTHS of hosting! When donations and referrals are slim, all expenses for TAFL (three domain registrations, hosting, etc) are 100% out of pocket for myself and the Senior Staff, so I can't tell you how great it is that we've received a couple of referrals so far, which covered us until now. (The referral bonus was smaller prior to March.)
Currently, we have received one additional referral since March and our hosting expenses are paid for the next year, assuming nothing changes. HOWEVER: TAFL does have a need, as I mentioned.
Our message board runs on Invision Board, and at the time this site was set up (April 2004), you could download a demo version and patches for free. Invision changed their site last November-ish, and since then, we have been unable to log in at ALL without paying a yearly or lifetime licensing fee. What I'm talking here, of course, is security patches, bug fixes etc. A lifetime license costs
$185, but would be well worth it since the boards are so highly-trafficked, and have served our purposes perfectly over the 16 months we've had it installed. Now, while raising $200 is a pretty steep goal, considering everyone here is a poor anime fan (myself included!), since DreamHost also allows you to cash out referral bonuses (for a very small fee),
two paid referrals will buy us this lifetime board license. Let me repeat that: ALL WE NEED is two, just TWO of you, to sign up for hosting through DreamHost, refer TAFL, and we will be able to upgrade our message board... now and FOREVERMORE! Since these boards are, well, a second home to some of you, this isn't much to ask. (DH plans start at just $9.95 per month!) If you would like to help out TAFL, either
click here to sign up, or simply fill in the "Referred by?" blank when signing up with our DH username,
animefanlistings. (If you do not see a blank like this, either you clicked on the link above, or you clicked on someone else's link, and the referral ID has already been inputted for you.)
Thanks so much for a year of good times, great fanlistings and general A/M love, and I wish you all the best!
Sincerely,
Danielle (aka teh D-mama)
TAFL Network Owner ^^
