I appreciate it, thanks Sheer and all the others considering helping me out.
I took on administrating and paying for the server because I didn't want it to die. I have been lucky enough to have a source of income to allow me to pay for the server and there is no danger of it going away any time soon. I'd much rather have the server around than not around and the price is worth it for the fun I get out of it so I'm not being completely selfless here. Just don't feel pressured or believe that if people don't donate the server will be going away, because it won't be. If that ever is the case I'll make it clear.
For the sake of transparency and for the curious, here is the cost breakdown (irrespective of hours spent working on stuff relating to the servers):
I've been paying the $10 monthy cost for the Chicago Galaxy, originally NY Galaxy, since January 2010. It is hosted by Ultimate Game Server and runs on a Windows Server 2003 machine. Combine this with the initial $50 cost and you get a total of $410.
The backup is running on a virtual server hosted by Linode (who I highly recommend for a VPS) which is $20 a month. I've been paying for that for not as long - the cost only comes out to $140. The extra $20 a month charge is mainly the reason I have been accepting donations as I originally planned only to keep one server, but having both seems to work for now.
If anyone is interested in donating and wants to make sure I'm actually paying for this stuff, let me know and I'll provide some more details.
I have had a little bit of help along the way, Surri-Sama donated a while back, and Komotonoto sent me a donation a few days ago, but it has mostly been from me, but I don't mind paying for it. Having people to help take the time and code stuff would actually benefit me and the community more than a monetary donation but not everyone is into that sort of thing.
I'm not sure what to do for donors other than elevated status on Galaxy and a thanks message upon login that I will put soon. If anyone has ideas let me know.
