$125,000 to buy everything? I can see why he'd ask for that, seeing as it's popular, has a growing user base, includes everything you need to continue operating.
$125,000+ to hire him or somebody else to build something similar? That's what seems slightly absurd to me.
I've been using Inspircd (http://inspircd.github.com) for quite a while, so I'd recommend checking that project out. As far as authentication goes, there's the Atheme (http://www.atheme.net) project that integrates nicely with Inspircd. If you haven't used it or heard of it, it allows you to register channels/rooms, establish a hierarchy of operators and admins, and give users the ability to login and secure their username.
Neither are the friendliest in terms of setting up and configuring, but it's really not too bad. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a message on IRC (irc.flux.cd #flux) or Twitter (@Lyetz) and I could help you out.
I really attribute the existence of IRC to what I've been able to achieve in the past few years. Since starting my own network back in 2006 when I was in sixth grade, I've met numerous users who I've been in communication with for years, learned how to setup and manage a Unix server, how to deal with the occasional trolls and denial of service attacks. It even lead to me learning how to code, as I hung out with quite a few devs. In fact, my first online business was a result of some brainstorming on IRC.
Fortunately, for me, most of my friends that I met through IRC are my age (+/- a year or two), which I always found to be pretty neat. The conversation is always active for the most part, and most of the guys are in the US and UK, so it's usually active all day. Over the years, we merged/linked with other networks, welcomed new people, hosted channels for various open-source projects, but just as the article states, usage has definitely declined. I can recall back in 2009-2010 when we had servers in three continents to reduce potential lag when things were really going well. Now, the IRCd hub and services run comfortably on a Linode 512 without links.
Part of the reason I think we're still alive and well is because of the admins (NetAdmins, IRCops, etc). You'll notice that on most networks, admins are arrogant and very strict when it comes to messages per second, or banned words/topics. As long as nothing illegal was being discussed nor transmitted, we don't do anything. In all honestly, I can't recall the last time I used any commands to ban, Gline, Kline, and so on. This is what contributes to a network's longevity.
It's comforting that IRCd(s) are still being actively developed, but I would really love to see its popularity pick back up again. It's really an amazing tool for communication, whether it's used for collaborating with coworkers, discussing open source projects, or even for a casual chat.
If you find yourself looking to connect and need a client, you might want to download Textual (for OS X only, available through the Mac App Store or Github).
I've heard of instances where companies selling land require that property be developed within x-amount of years. I completely understand and respect different use cases for domains, but more often than not, it seems that most domain squatters aren't using their portfolio of domains for email, DNS, etc.
The sketches and cleaner wireframes have already been created. In fact, the developer has them and is already implementing them. But like you said, I think networking will likely be my next step. Thanks for the advice
Thanks for the suggestions. The landing page, mockups, and demo are already a work-in-progress, although I'll begin taking the others into consideration and building a more productive plan for the next few months.
I wouldn't quite consider social networks and VPS hosts to be just as saturated as one another. Building a social network from the ground up requires time, some creativity, the ability to bring something unique to the table, and forming a team that's just as passionate towards an idea as you are. Running a VPS company, on the other hand, requires an install of a hypervisor and a ticket/billing system. I'd prefer to contribute something that requires a bit more thought and energy. First, I'd like to weigh my options for this particular project, rather than jumping ship this early and heading down another path.
That's exactly how I see this project - a niche social network. It's definitely not the end-all social network. I have been doing some work on the side and can continue to sustain the project at a slow and steady pace, however, I'm just starting to think long-term.
As far as a co-founder goes, there's not many people around my area that have any interest in development and/or being involved with a startup. I'd love to spend some time up north and make some connections, although I'm not quite sure how I should go about getting my foot in the door. Definitely need to look into that though
I suppose I looked at Facebook's suffering stock situation a bit more optimistically (at least in the eyes of potential competitors), as I figured it would've opened new doors for competition.
In regards to the hosting business, I was a freshman at the time and didn't have the same opportunity I now have to be an early graduate. If it had been up to me, I definitely would've kept it going, but at this point, that market is far too saturated.
$125,000+ to hire him or somebody else to build something similar? That's what seems slightly absurd to me.