Let's do a quick tour of the situation:
I enjoyed a lot working on loudtwitter and the challenges it represents. I had fun times but also horrible time dealing with bugs (my bad), support (some nice people out there, and also some jerks) and technical issues.
Financially, loudtwitter operates at loss. Some nice people donated money (up to $50 for one donation!), some didn't (and that's ok, too). The donations totaled $336 over two years, but the operation expense (not counting my time ;) is $575 a year (hosting + domain name).
If I get back my Hard Disk (odds aren't looking good), then I'll probably renew LT domain and continue monitoring it and making sure it works. If I don't... restarting will be too much work for me, it would mean:
- Reinstall the operating system
- Reinstall the code and all software moving parts (Perlbal, Gearman etc...)
- Since I won't have the exact software version I was running, I will spend a lot of times to make it run the way it was previously running (I'm thinking about OpenId here and some other software: Catalyst)
- Reconfigure mysql in active-active replication on the same box (tricky)
- Reconfigure the backup system
- Restore the backups (I don't know how old, yet)
- Making sure it runs correctly
So, we'll see, but I hope you understand my current thinking.
*DNR: Do Not Resuscitate
Who are you using for hosting that it's over $500/year?
Check out Dreamhost..I host with them for $10/month and the domain is $10/year. If you pay up front, it goes as low as $5/month. They have unlimited bandwidth and storage.
Might be something to consider.
Also, I miss my tweets going to my LJ ;)
Posted by: Rebecca | July 01, 2009 at 11:08 AM
33 euros per month + $20 per year for the domain for dedicated hardware. The hosting provider is dedibox
Posted by: Yann | July 01, 2009 at 11:52 AM
Lots and lots of people are using this service. I'm sure if you said that you needed x amount to be able to continue the service, word would spread and you would get the money.
Posted by: Cloudscudding | July 01, 2009 at 12:07 PM
If you can't get Loudtwitter back, feel free to post a script on your blog. I really love auto-blogging my twitter posts, and I will feel very sad to see it go. Loudtwitter helped me stay on Twitter. :(
Posted by: Joey | July 01, 2009 at 01:51 PM
I would suggest you decide what you'd need to continue the service, post a donation request for that amount, and publicly track as you approach your goal. I would certainly donate to keep the service running.
Alternatively, please consider open-sourcing your code.
Posted by: Fan | July 01, 2009 at 09:14 PM
I would pay for it. Maybe a yearly fee. $5 from everyone. I'm sure there's more than 100 people that use it. You could make a bit of cash of this!!!
Posted by: Shannon | July 02, 2009 at 05:33 AM
I'm honestly surprised that Twitter itself doesn't offer a feature like Loudtwitter provided. To be honest, my relationship with Twitter will change drastically if Loudtwitter doesn't come back, because I always used it specifically knowing I'd be exporting everything to my blog.
Whatever happens, I've really enjoyed it, and thank you for the previous use.
Posted by: christopher575 | July 02, 2009 at 08:24 AM
I would have no problem paying a small fee to have it backing up my tweets to my LJ, maybe $1-2/mo.
You can definitely get cheaper hosting. Start here (yeah, it's a cheesy spam-like site, but the hosting is real): http://www.10besthosting2009.com/
Another option might be to rig it up to use the Google app engine instead of whatever you're doing. I'd love to get in on the project if needed, I've been meaning to practice my Python skills and play with these distributed databases.
Along with the others, I'd LOVE to see you go open source with this. If you think the code or architecture is crap then don't worry about it, the community loves this product so much that it will get cleaned up in no time.
Posted by: xero | July 02, 2009 at 09:11 AM
I'd donate, if donations were opened up again with a target number, or pay a small fee for yearly ($10 or under). I'm really sad to see it go, and if there's any way to convince you to bring it back, I'd help!
Posted by: Carmen | July 02, 2009 at 01:11 PM
I too always use Twitter specifically knowing I'd be exporting everything to my blog. I will be sad to see it go and will be happy to contribute to help it stay.
Posted by: Karen | July 02, 2009 at 03:21 PM
Why can't you set it up so that you have some form of advertising? You could have an option to pay a small fee to remove it. I'm sure most people who use Loudtwitter would be happy to pay around $12 or so a year for the service.
Posted by: Heth | July 04, 2009 at 03:55 AM
I only recently joined Twitter, but the next stop was to join LoudTwitter so my tweets would go to LJ. I would be more than happy to pay for this service and/or make a one-time donation for the cause.
Posted by: random00b | July 04, 2009 at 08:50 PM
I use LunarPages for my webhosting and they are phenomenal. Please charge a fee and bring back LT. Or make it open source, for us DIYers. Thank you for your service. I will donate as soon as I get paid again.
Posted by: Vanesa Littlecrow W. | July 08, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Heck, if you bring it back, have HelloTxt and Identica support. I would pay extra for those features as well.
Posted by: Vanesa Littlecrow W. | July 08, 2009 at 12:56 PM