How about this idea, a 'friends of HN server' ?
bumblebird: You can get a VPS for $19.95 a month now, with pro-rata billing. Set one up for a couple of days, see what happens, if it fails, cancel it and get most of the $19.95 back.I don't think server cost is an issue to most people these days. Not until you start to scale, and then it's all good news.