Project overview

[zipperer]

This project is about graceandtruth.net and truth247.net.

Problems

This project aims to solve these problems:

• The PayPal button on graceandtruth.net does not always work
• Hosting graceandtruth.net costs more than we believe it should

Situation

Currently, graceandtruth.net uses:

• Joomla to make the site
• Digital Ocean to host the site

Donations on https://www.truth247.net/ work.

Alternative paths to solving problems

Alternative 1: redirect traffic from graceandtruth.net to truth247.net

Alternative 1a: redirect traffic via domain name service (DNS) registrar

My background model:

• in order for a web browser to get to graceandtruth.net, Grace and Truth Ministries must pay a subscription to a DNS registrar
• the subscription pays for the DNS registrar to keep an entry
  graceandtruth.net -> IP-ADDRESS-FOR-SERVER-FOR-GRACE-AND-TRUTH-DOT-NET in the DNS system

Given this background model, we could ask the DNS registrar to change the entry to
graceandtruth.net -> IP-ADDRESS-FOR-SERVER-FOR-TRUTH247-DOT-NET

After this change, users who try to get to graceandtruth.net will instead reach truth247.net.
This solves the PayPal/donation problem because donations work on the site the user reaches.

Assumption of this approach: after the registrar changes the DNS entry, we could stop hosting graceandtruth.net on Digital Ocean. We could either:

• stop hosting it or
• host it via another hosting service or
• host it from our own server

If we can do one of these ^ and it is cheaper than paying Digital Ocean, then this approach solves both problems of the project.

Questions:

• Who is the DNS registrar for graceandtruth.net?
• Is Digital Ocean the DNS registrar for graceandtruth.net?
  • If so, can we change the subscription
    • to Digital Ocean from a hosting plan to just a DNS registration and thereby reduce the cost?
    • from Digital Ocean to an alternative DNS registrar? and stop the subscription to Digital Ocean?
• Do we need the site at graceandtruth.net to stay as it is (except for the PayPal button) rather than redirect to truth247.net?

Alternative 2: fix the PayPal button and host the site elsewhere

Fix the PayPal button

What is wrong with the PayPal button?
Can we reproduce the problem?
Can we update the button in place by asking PayPal for a new button and putting it in the page?
How would we know whether it is fixed?

Can we replace the PayPal button with a link to https://www.truth247.net/donate?

Host the site elsewhere

Note: Hosting the site elsewhere does not solve the problem that the PayPal button does not always work.

Host the site via another hosting service

Which hosting services are we considering?
Are the hosting service alternatives to Digital Ocean cheaper?

Host the site on our own server

... see email for more details