Touhou-Project.com

Funding the Matrix

Added 2022-09-02 00:00:50 +0000 UTC

Hey all, it’s been a few months since I started trialing and then deployed our very own Matrix homeserver. Despite a few small lingering issues, it’s been a pretty successful process. Many of you have since joined our space to come chat and it's a nice space to be in. And if you haven't checked it out yet, joining is as easy as using the provided web client.

I’ve paid for the new server from up money that had been previously saved up and set aside from this campaign. I haven't, until now, included its cost in the goals for this Patreon campaign. Since it looks like the homeserver is here to stay, I’ve decided to raise the amount for each campaign goal to reflect the recurring costs. Thanks to you efforts and contributions, we’re well covered for the foreseeable future.

That said, in the spirit of full disclosure, the $25 increase also takes into account increased server costs for THP itself. I have always set a small extra margin in each tier to account for the cut taken by the various processors as well as any price changes in hosting solutions.

In the past, to keep costs down, I’ve done various things to try to make us get as much bang for our buck as possible—more than once I switched hosts and did things like prepaying several months (or in the case of domain names, years) in advance to save. Still, hosting rates have gone up and I recently got an email from our current host that they would slightly increase costs for most plans. That means that the small margin I’ve kept in reserve has finally been eroded, hence the slight readjustment.

I foresee costs to remain at the new standard and be covered with what I’ve listed for some time. That said if something unexpected happens—like the Matrix server drawing in scores of new users and there being a lot of images posted—I may adjust the various goals upwards again to account for the extra storage or computing power that we may need. I’ll be sure to communicate things clearly and explain why I’m doing what I’m doing should it come to that.

I want to thank all current and any potential new Patrons for their generosity and help in running THP and its community: you guys are awesome!

Until next time, take it easy!