The Chametown List was started on 8 December 2002 with the intention of providing a service that is not encumbered with advertising and the other constraints of systems such as Yahoo.

The previous server hardware was 7 years old and the chances of failure were increasing. In order to ensure a reliable service for the future we needed to purchase a new server that will meet the list's requirements for at least the next five years. The cost of a server that we considered would give us the most economical and value-for-money solution was around �400.

We therefore launched an appeal to members for contributions towards the costs involved. Thanks to the generosity of the Chametown list members and the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature, which also has the ICZN and ZooBank lists on the server, we will now easily meet the target amount. This will leave us with a surplus which we will deposit in a savings account for future contingencies.

Gareth, our computer expert, was over from Italy for a few days. While he was here he bought the components for the new server and then spent the next few days building the server, installing the software, transferring the data and testing everything to make sure that it was working properly. The new server is now up and running and working perfectly.

On removing the old server it became apparent that we had been very lucky that it had kept running for as long as it did. He found that some components had already failed and that it was likely that a total failure could have happened at any time.

I would like to acknowledge the help of my three sons in running the website and lists. Gareth looks after the mail server, keeping the software up to date and ensuring that there are regular back ups of the data. Rowan set up the basic website design structure and looks after the forums while Darrell pays for the professional web-hosting of the Afriherp website and provided the main network hardware. I look after the day to day administration of the lists, deleting numerous spam messages and dealing with queries. I also pay the annual domain registration fees and the various monthly charges (ISP, line rental, power, etc).

As you can see this is a real team effort so please make use of what we have available. We are happy to add links to other websites and to add pages covering projects or any other relevant items. Please get in touch if you have any ideas for improving or adding to what we do.