Who actually runs the forum these days?

[Mr. K]

I've also been trying to get a hold of him but have not succeeded.  I wanted to make some changes to the forum but some of the forum scripts are messed up from some half-finished modification attempt and need manual editing.  But my FTP access is completely cut off--  it appears that the server decided to expire my login credentials.  This is really troublesome.

If needed, I can host this on my personal server temporarily, although it is running off a box in my basement on residential internet (transfer rates are pretty good actually).  Not exactly the best choice, but it's something.  I'm regularly grabbing database backups in case things go south.  Should the worst happen, contact me via email or whatever else and I'll do what I can to help us transition.

[ccexplore]

I wouldn't rule it out. Clearly, he's still paying to keep the site up.

Sure, but it is still problematic.  For all I know that could be an autopay setup that he has since forgotten about (and could easily expire in the future if it's tied to an expirable instrument of payment like credit card, and it is possible that Adam may not even be notified of that if, for example, his contact information such as email address has changed, but he has forgotten to update that information for the party he is paying to keep the site up).  Or, he may have other forums and stuff hosted on the same server, in which case he could be responding incidentally as a result, just not to us.  While the latter is at least better than complete abandonment, it still means that 1) we would be unable to receive administrative actions from him for issues specific to our forum and not the whole server; 2) we would not be notified of any significant breaking changes (eg. server move and the current forum URL no longer works).

[ccexplore]

I'm so glad the recent forum database outage has been fixed now, I was so dreaded that no one would be around to fix that and it would finally be The End. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/scared.gif" alt=":scared:" title="Scared" class="smiley" />

More importantly, after the forums are up again, I actually saw a sighting of Adam being active today on the forum.  Even if he didn't actually post anything here, I'm going to take all this as a sign that the forum is still getting maintained, and more importantly, in the (hopefully never) event that stops happening for good, we will hopefully be alerted here beforehand so someone else can pick up the pieces and set up a new forum somewhere.

[Prob Lem]

I'm so glad the recent forum database outage has been fixed now, I was so dreaded that no one would be around to fix that and it would finally be The End. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/scared.gif" alt=":scared:" title="Scared" class="smiley" />

You aren't the only one! http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/scared.gif" alt=":scared:" title="Scared" class="smiley" />

I'm just thankful that the only thing amiss now is that some of the forum sections are out of order. I can more than live with that. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/thumbsup.gif" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up" class="smiley" />

[mobius]

I'm glad it's back too... but are we really not going to get any explanation?  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/undecided.gif" alt=":-\" title="Undecided" class="smiley" /> C'mon Anything, no matter how simple would be nice.

[Mr. K]

If it's any consolation (as in that at least somebody is TRYING to do something), I haven't heard anything from him either despite having tried to reach out.  Database error, no idea what caused it, no idea whether he fixed it or whether it fixed itself.  I also just tried to fix how the Challenges board is stuck at the top and as far as the administration interface is concerned it isn't there.  If I move it around in the hierarchy nothing happens to how it actually appears, so... I think things are kind of breaking down, which is worrying me.

[namida]

Do you think we should start setting up a new location...? Better to do it now while we can still let everyone else know...

[Mr. K]

Good question. I don't want to throw all this away if we don't have to, but it's hard to be sure what's going on.

I have a domain I can set us up with as a subdomain, so there's that. Not sure if my home-based server could take it though or if my ISP would eventually crack down due to what would likely be a huge bandwidth spike.

[Prob Lem]

Might something like the service offered by, say, ProBoards, paired with a domain/subdomain be a safer bet in such a situation?

I stop by and read a couple of forums hosted there, and they never seem to have much, if any, downtime (when there is to be some, it's almost always noted in advance). They'd definitely be able to handle the sort of traffic generated by our little lot. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/winktounge.gif" alt=";P" title="Wink-Tongue" class="smiley" />

[ccexplore]

One thing worth mentioning is that the https://archive.org/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">Wayback Machine does have archives of forum posts here.  Since it can only crawl on stuff accessible without logins, only the text of the posts can be archived (ie. no attachments), but at least it's a sort of poor man's backup for the worst case.

I think we can definitely start setting up a new location.  We don't have to open the new location for general posting or even logins/user registrations at this time, but at least having a known location to look for information would be helpful whenever the "real" forum goes down.

I stop by and read a couple of forums hosted there, and they never seem to have much, if any, downtime (when there is to be some, it's almost always noted in advance). They'd definitely be able to handle the sort of traffic generated by our little lot. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/winktounge.gif" alt=";P" title="Wink-Tongue" class="smiley" />

I think Mr. K is more referring to that if the forum is hosted in his home-based server, the resulting traffic to his home internet connection would likely be too high compare to normal personal residential usage and would lead to issues with his ISP.  I am guessing that Mr. K does not have access to this forum's traffic data/statistics to get actual concrete numbers on what kind of traffic he could be expecting in that case.

[Prob Lem]

I think we can definitely start setting up a new location.  We don't have to open the new location for general posting or even logins/user registrations at this time, but at least having a known location to look for information would be helpful whenever the "real" forum goes down.

I deeply hate saying this, but this sounds like a sensible course of action, now.

I think Mr. K is more referring to that if the forum is hosted in his home-based server, the resulting traffic to his home internet connection would likely be too high compare to normal personal residential usage and would lead to issues with his ISP.  I am guessing that Mr. K does not have access to this forum's traffic data/statistics to get actual concrete numbers on what kind of traffic he could be expecting in that case.

Yeah, I know. That's why I figured that a service hosted elsewhere might be a possible option. (It could perhaps also somewhat circumvent administration issues regarding the forum software, since that's all handled by them, rather than the founders or any other users.)

Not that I suspect we all generate a huge amount of traffic at this time, mind you... Was just a thought, at any rate. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/thumbsup.gif" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up" class="smiley" />

[namida]

Let's not rely on a server hosted on someone's PC here... Proboards might be a good option of last resort, but do we really want ads all over our boards? (or do we already have them? Wouldn't know, I use AdBlock...)

I probably already mentioned this, but NearlyFreeSpeech is a great low-cost host. I used to have several sites with them, with varying levels of activity, and I don't think it ever cost me more than $2-$3 per month (not including domain registration, but they have better-than-usual prices for that too). Though it has been a long time since I used them. They work on a "pay for what you use" basis rather than the usual package deals "X amount of storage space, Y amount of bandwidth per month, for fixed rate $Z" - and almost always work out cheaper.

[Simon]

Migrate to something stable, without ads, and good customization (missing spoiler tags here, etc.) Ad-free is huge, you want to operate the forum yourself.

If someone is going to register new webspace/domains, I'll pitch in a one-time 10 euros for hosting costs. :-)

And give at least 3 people maximum rights for the board -- one will be AWOL and one will lose the password. >_>;;

-- Simon

[ccexplore]

(or do we already have them? Wouldn't know, I use AdBlock...)

Thank god no, the current forum is ad-free, and I think we can all agree that it should stay that way in all future incarnations of the forum.

[Prob Lem]

Thank god no, the current forum is ad-free, and I think we can all agree that it should stay that way in all future incarnations of the forum.

Absolutely agreed, though I think it's nice to know that a stable backup option exists, even if it does have ads... http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/winktounge.gif" alt=";P" title="Wink-Tongue" class="smiley" />