Future of the forum - please voice your opinion!

[Kat8mouse]

I really don't come here much anymore; it got to be very clickish and then everyone left. I lurk now and again just to see what's happening. Will probably delete my account today. Just want to wish everyone Happy New Year and Good Luck MTC.

 

[jan]

The good news is that I followed entirely on both posts. So now I guess we just wait to progress further on this and discuss everything. I also hear the current owner is inconsistent at best when it comes to replying. Also no word on whether he's hosting it himself or if a 3rd party is.

thank you so much for offering to help

 

[Metallica]

thank you so much for offering to help

The forum more than deserves it for giving so much to everyone. I love this forum and everyone on it. If I'm able to help the forum continue to give, I will.

 

[kryss]

Hello folks,

As seen in the previous post, I have the hardware and the willingness to handle the server for this forum. I'm jumping ahead of Kryss by making the post, but I believe that if the responsibility is handed to me, I need the trust and approval of everyone else. Which is where you come in.

Before all of that, let me make straight the things I could and could not do with the server.

I CAN:

• Keep it up. Pretty simple huh? I have multiple servers and a few uninterruptable power supplies. Redundancy isn't a problem. I should probably explain why I have this gear, yes? I design networks for my company. This includes drafting designs, virtualizing devices to show how or why they belong in the network, and implementing them. I also host a few things for the company.
• From what I've been told, the Xenforo software is very plug and play and doesn't require too much technical know-how. I'm sure I could keep it updated.
• Pay the bills for however much power this would consume.

I CAN'T:

• Code. I work 60 hours a week and balance everything else around it. Aside from Python, I do not currently have the time.. or willingness, to learn another language. Someone else is needed for that stuff. I host the server, they implement changes or fix stuff that breaks. There's one person I know of that could probably handle this with ease, but he has to handle MTS and Turkernator and I doubt he wants to get involved with something like this.

There's so many things that could go wrong leading up to a transfer and whatever else. For all I know, something else happens and I won't be needed to host it. I'm not going to sit here and assume I'm already babying the forum. YOU and the staff has to be behind how this all goes down, because handling the server for this place could be easy to abuse. I or someone else could just pull the plug and its gone.

So voice your thoughts, opinions, suggestions, whatever here. What do you think of this? Anything you do not agree with? Let's hear it. Just keep in mind that I do not have anything to do with the forum right now. Nothing has been transferred to me. Other decisions have to be made first.

Also note that Kryss has only messaged me once, giving me the low-down on the situation. We haven't went in depth on it yet. But from what I can gather, the forum is in a tough place right now. They need someone to host the server or else the forum is pretty much gone.

I apologize, I've had strep and been down for a few days.


We do have some money available to pay for server costs. We've done decent on donations up until the last 6 months or so. I'm not sure on the exact amount we have available, @Jaded would have to fill us in on that. I don't foresee an issue on letting everyone know exactly where we stand monetary wise.

• What we can do for hosting. We can sign up for a DO account and pay that way via donations. (I believe we have the funds if this is a reasonable cost)
• We can pay you a monthly fee to host it as you're suggesting. I do not have a preference either way. Whichever is easier for you. If anyone objects to this, now would be the time to share your thoughts.

The biggest thing is that we need someone to help transfer the forum from the current server to a new server. This would normally be pretty straightforward but the guy who has been running it made some customizations that may complicate things. I haven't seen it so I don't know the details -- it may still be pretty easy. Honestly, if you have the knowledge to help with that @Metallica I don't think additional coding knowledge will be necessary.

^

That is currently our biggest hurdle. (I think) I'm not sure how complicated this would be. Or if it's just as easy as creating a backup and transferring? I think our next step would be inviting you and whoever else was interested in helping with this into our staff slack and setting up a conversation with the server guy to try and hash out how we can get this accomplished.


Also, if there's anyone else interested in lending a hand, please don't be afraid to say something in this thread.



@ChrisTurk, thank you for all the info!

 

[Jaded]

I'm not sure on the exact amount we have available, @Jaded would have to fill us in on that.

If, for whatever reason, we received no more donations we would have enough to last through to May/June

 

[Metallica]

I apologize, I've had strep and been down for a few days.


We do have some money available to pay for server costs. We've done decent on donations up until the last 6 months or so. I'm not sure on the exact amount we have available, @Jaded would have to fill us in on that. I don't foresee an issue on letting everyone know exactly where we stand monetary wise.

• What we can do for hosting. We can sign up for a DO account and pay that way via donations. (I believe we have the funds if this is a reasonable cost)
• We can pay you a monthly fee to host it as you're suggesting. I do not have a preference either way. Whichever is easier for you. If anyone objects to this, now would be the time to share your thoughts.

^

That is currently our biggest hurdle. (I think) I'm not sure how complicated this would be. Or if it's just as easy as creating a backup and transferring? I think our next step would be inviting you and whoever else was interested in helping with this into our staff slack and setting up a conversation with the server guy to try and hash out how we can get this accomplished.


Also, if there's anyone else interested in lending a hand, please don't be afraid to say something in this thread.



@ChrisTurk, thank you for all the info!

I think for now the best idea for me (or, us) would be to get in contact with the guy so I can get a copy of the install files and mess around with the information that @ChrisTurk gave us. As an aside I just want to say that its really nice that he shared that, because I'm sure we've all witnessed some turkers being not so nice to others when they need help with something.

There is no way I would be able to do the migration stuff during a week, it would have to be weekend only.

Also I'm curious to know how many resources hosting a forum takes up. I've yet to host one. I can't imagine it would be intensive.

Whenever everyone is ready, I'm willing to hit that guy up for the install files. I'd have to make it clear that it's all I want at that moment, since I'm not about to attempt to move it without being familiar with the software lol. Is he responsive enough for us to be able to set up 2 different times with him? One for the install files, and another for the actual movement?