The Katahdin Commons is a public forum for its membership, most of whom live or have their roots in the Katahdin region of Maine, including the towns of Millinocket, East Millinocket, Medway, Stacyville, Sherman, Patten, Mount Chase, and the rest of the area surrounding Baxter State Park and Mount Katahdin, Maine's largest mountain.

There is no charge for membership, and we have opted against annoying our members or guests with advertisements or affiliate links, as do many other discussion forums.

However, there are bills to pay. While the SMF forum software itself is free, we have had to pay for tech support, for some of our peripheral software, and domain registration. Primarily, each month our hosting bill comes due.

Quite frankly, we can't do it without you. Just as we need your written contributions within the forum itself, we also need your help in paying the bills. Whatever amount you can afford, applied toward our hosting fees, or through the wise purchase of goods and services from our online store, will help keep the Katahdin Commons online, without membership fees, subscriptions, or advertising.

Hosting Costs

Since 2002, my wife and I have been paying the server costs, for the Magic City Morning Star, and for the forum. Now that the Katahdin Commons has broken away from the Magic City Morning Star, it is our hope that our membership will absorb the hosting expenses.

The Katahdin Commons is not tax-supported. We do not receive grants or gifts from large foundations. The Katahdin Commons is run on faith, and sustained through private contributions and the hard work of a few, who can and do make a difference. Throughout its history, the Katahdin Commons and its predecessor, the Katahdin Area Community (BBS) Forum, has been financed through the financial benefaction of its members and management.

Contributions made toward our hosting costs are used for that alone, minus 5% plus 30-cents to the hosting company for their handling. The balance is credited to our hosting fund, and can be used only to pay current or future hosting costs.

Dreamhost, the company that provides our server space, handles your contributions, not us, on a secure server, where you can use a credit card, debit card, or PayPal.

We are sent a notice that includes the email address of anyone who contributes to our hosting costs, as well as the amount applied to our account, but we do not view any of your financial information.

Future Plans

Although we are quite pleased with the Simple Machines Forum software that we're currently using for the Katahdin Commons, at some point in the future we might like to upgrade to a professional forum software, but one that will be able to import our data files, ensuring that past and current conversations are not lost.

There are a couple of them that we're looking at, but we need to know that we can afford to pay for it.

If the membership will commit to paying our hosting costs, if necessary my wife and I will buy the new forum upgrade as we are able to afford it.

With available funds, we may also want to add some other features to the Katahdin Commons, perhaps including online games, a chat area integrated with the forum itself, or maybe some other things that can be discussed among the membership.

To contribute to our hosting costs, you can do so using a credit card, debit card, or PayPal, by clicking the button below.

Shop

Membership in the Katahdin Commons is free, and we would like to keep it as free of annoying advertisements as possible.

However, there are costs involved in maintaining this site, including domain registration, server costs, tech support, and other things that come up from time to time.

In order to help defray our actual costs, and to save up for future upgrades to the Katahdin Commons, we have put together a shopping site, where you can shop an impressive selection of products, shop online, and enjoying good prices, while we receive a small commission on any sales generated.

To access our shopping site, please use the SHOP menu item above, or below.

Donate Now

To contribute, click on the button below. Your browser will be taken to a secure payment site on Dreamhost, where your donation - of any amount - can be made via credit card, debit card, or PayPal.