BUR.ST UPDATE
As you may recall from previous news emails, Bur.st Networking Inc. no longer receives sufficient donations to offer its services. Members of the committee have spent over $3000 of their own money since August 2011 to keep the service running, which is not sustainable. As a direct result of this, the West Australian Internet Association (WAIA) kindly offered to take over providing Bur.st’s services, and is already hosting our servers at no cost while we work to make this happen. WAIA was founded in 1995, operates the West Australian Internet Exchange and has full-time technical staff. Some existing Bur.st volunteers are also going to stick around and give WAIA a hand keeping things running.
After a transition period which will end on 30th June, WAIA will be requiring users to become members of WAIA in order to continue to use the Bur.st services. WAIA is committed to educating the public on the Internet and offers many services to the Internet community. Your membership means WAIA initiatives such as free member public meetings, conferences, arbitration, and increased member services can continue (such as the new offering of Bur.st-like services to members, but it needs your support if the services are to be viable!)Individual people may obtain WAIA Professional membership, which costs $50 per year. For further details on how to sign up to WAIA please visit
https://www.waia.asn.au/membershipA big advantage of WAIA’s taking over is continuity - you won’t need to set up your website or email address anywhere else, @bur.st email addresses will continue to work, etc. If there is sufficient demand for Bur.st / WAIA hosting in the future, WAIA expects to overhaul the service a bit, particularly to make it easier to manage. However, we expect the functionality that most Bur.st users are using to remain intact. (One significant exception: we do not expect WAIA to continue to provide shell access.)
NOTICE OF SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING
A Special General Meeting of Bur.st Networking Inc. will be held on 5:30pm Wednesday 6 June 2012 at 43 Below Restaurant Lounge Bar, 43 Barrack St (cnr Hay St), Perth, WA
The following special resolution will be proposed: That Bur.st Networking Inc be voluntarily wound up as an incorporated association (under the Associations Incorporation Act 1987).
Voting is open to members of the voting membership class of Bur.st Networking Inc. Voting members who are unable to attend may nominate the secretary to cast a proxy vote on their behalf.
Emails have been sent to all registered voting members - if you believe you should have received one, and have not, please contact secretary@bur.st as soon as possible.
FINAL SIGN OFF
Further updates will be communicated from WAIA in the future. As always, we thank you for your support, albeit small or large, over the many years of Bur.st’s existence. And to all those people who have assisted in some way (you know who you are!) – our hats off to you for your dedication to a great not-for-profit organisation.
Bur.st Executive Committee & Staff
Stay tuned for more developments.