Hi Lee,
On the Prize Draw, I confess I stopped following this regularly when it went from monthly to quarterly. It’s gob-smackingly nice to win something but really it’s just the icing on the cake. I’d say do it just for Christmas. As for the prizes themselves, maybe go a little cheaper?
On Keith Saunders, I have run mail and web services on a rack of ThinkPads in the corner of my living room so I know how much work it entails – way more than anyone understands. On top of that is the pressure of something that runs in public, not to mention the electric bills. There also comes a point when techie enthusiasm gets ground down by the sheer weight of bad actors on the Internet. I gave up in the end and put it all on Google Workspace, got my life back, and never regretted it for a second.
On membership in general and Gold in particular, I joined up when I was building my collection and needed the advice and manuals. These days, not so much but I figure it’s like an insurance policy – if something breaks down I’m not left high and dry. I won’t be leaving the site and I might even weather a small price increase.
Steve
