[dcurtis]

As I mentioned elsewhere, there are certain things that can be done to keep the service running for at least your lifetime--I'm working on a trust that will be created in the event of my death (or the company's death) that can keep the servers running for a very long time to come, even with no paying customers. We will make that public when it's finished.

[DanBC]

I feel sorry for you whenever you post. I was an asshole about your forks post, (and I'm sorry for that, (EDIT: I should have apologised before now)), and people are kind of being assholes now.

I mean, here you're saying "I'm thinking of the users in case I FREAKING DIE" and even that isn't good enough for some people.

[camillomiller]

Are you kidding us? We all need to feel a bit better by criticizing everyone as long as they're actually doing something. Next time they'll think twice before making us feel bad for not really being able to be proactive and tackle even the smaller projects.

[michael_nielsen]

Great idea! Could the trust somehow have an arrangement with the Internet Archive to ensure all content is archived? It'd act almost as a last will and testament for a company.

[sbierwagen]

  We will make that public when it's finished.

Well, why did you announce now, rather than when you actually had the legal agreements lined up that could lend real weight to a promise to keep the site up forever?

[dcurtis]

Because it's going to take months to work out the specifics and I wanted to make the promise now.

[ryanmickle]

Love this way of thinking. Why not charge something, anything, like even $1 a year to cover server costs? While it may not seem worthwhile perhaps it would protect this promise by ensuring that the service at least pays for itself.

[supster]

Wow that is some incredible commitment. Mad respect.

[shocks]

Cool idea! Looking forward to your post.

[jrochkind1]

I would have found it more meaningful if you had waited until you had those things in place to make the announcement of the promise.

Or at least mention you're working on them in the promise.