Who actually runs the forum these days?

[namida]

Clam?

[ccexplore]

Adam's supposed to be the uber-admin on this forum but he has not been around for months I think.  I believe Proxima and Clam has moderator status on some of the boards, and maybe Simon and geoo had also been granted some role here that's beyond your mere regular user.  But for the "big things" privileges I think Adam is still the only one?

So probably no one is actually "running" the site actively at the moment.  To be fair, you don't really need anyone to "run" the site on a daily basis when things are going okay.  It's only when problems like spam attacks or downed servers that you truly need the admin. 

Actually, thinking about it is making me a little nervous.  Maybe someone should start looking into having a temporary backup forum site available in case this one went down with no one around to fix it. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/scared.gif" alt=":scared:" title="Scared" class="smiley" /> Maybe we can hijack Insane Steve's puzzles contests forum if this ever happens. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/winktounge.gif" alt=";P" title="Wink-Tongue" class="smiley" />

[Clam]

As I understand it these are the LF "staff":

Admins: Adam and Mr K. Can do pretty much anything to the forum. Adam is in charge of hosting (i.e. paying the bills to keep this place up).
Global moderators: me and geoo. Can edit topics and posts, and ban people.
Sectional moderators: Proxima (challenges board), Simon (Lix board). geoo is also sectional mod for Lix board, seems redundant now doesn't it? http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" />. Same as moderator status but only within the specified boards.

I'm able to squish the spammers when they show up. If the forum goes down though - I'm as stuffed as the rest of you http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/undecided.gif" alt=":-\" title="Undecided" class="smiley" />


We did have a temporary backup forum at one point; I remember using it when the old forum went down. IIRC Mindless hosted it.
There's also the Lix IRC channel of course (irc.quakenet.org/#lix)

[Akseli]

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?action=profile;u=455" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">Liam has also the status of an administrator.

I remember asking Mr.K if he could upload DoveLems pictures to the Lemmings Forums resources last Winter, here's what he said:

Well, uh... slight problem.  I'm kinda the sub-admin compared to Adam, who pays to keep this place up.  Anyway, at some point (probably during a drive failure) I failed to copy across the document where I had the FTP password stored, so only Adam has it right now and I can't upload anything... otherwise I'd be on it.  Same reason I can't update the forum software either. It's... a bit embarrassing that I've ended up so neglectful.  I'll try to correct this though.

Currently the http://www.lemmingsforums.com/resources/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">resources are inaccessible and Mr.K didn't know how to fix that thing... :I I mailed Adam about this (and also about the discontinuity of the Level Jam), but he didn't response. However, I see that Adam has at least uploaded some videos in his http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAdamskiiii" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">YouTube channel during last months, but I didn't get a response even when I messaged him there. :/

[geoo]

Adam gave me access data to the ftp (and thus the resources folder) in March, and back then when I tried I was able to upload stuff there. I retried now and I can't anymore, I assume this is related to http://www.lemmingsforums.com/resources/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.lemmingsforums.com/resources/ being inaccessible (and the server move?).

Yeah, I haven't been overly active in the last few months, but I'm around checking the forums a couple of times a week to see what's going on, I'm just not posting much.

On a different note, I wonder whether we can still get the data from the previous incarnation of the forums (henriwatson I think). 4 years ago Mr K said he had a backup of the raw data somewhere...

[namida]

It's always a bad sign when you can't get hold of your admin... Do we have a backup available these days?

I guess as a first resort, we can always head over to the Lemmings Heaven forums if this one goes down, but that's... well, no offence to the guy, but the forum is really crappy. :/

[Akseli]

On a different note, I wonder whether we can still get the data from the previous incarnation of the forums (henriwatson I think). 4 years ago Mr K said he had a backup of the raw data somewhere...

Do you mean http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=589.msg12458#msg12458" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">this discussion? http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" /> I actually asked Mr. K also about that backup last Summer, here's his answer:

I know it's somewhere, but of course I haven't found it :/  But even if I find it I can't just post it direct because it contains sensitive information (password hashes, private messages, etc) so I would have to locate and clean out that data and then put it back up.  And even then it's just a raw SQL database.

I have to say that I'm as well really interested to see backups of previous forum incarnations.

Likewise I'd like to see the old posts from Lemmings Heaven forums again, I don't know if LoftyD or someone else has a backup for those.

[Mr. K]

Well guys, it bugs me too that I feel like I'm only sorta in control.  I know Adam has had health problems on and off, so when I don't hear from him for a long time I start to get worried (both for him, and also that this place may blank out at some point when the bills end up not being paid).

I DO have the capability to make database backups, although I admit I don't know the actual database login information.  So if the forum were to fail and need reinstalled on the same server, we'd be hosed.  The good news though is since I can get the backup SQL file through the forum, I could theoretically export it to another server and set it right back up.  Not that I have a reliable server to work with (except for a home-run server that would probably melt/get me banned from my ISP due to the traffic), although I can probably afford it now because I am FINALLY not just a student and am employed on the side.

Also, I did actually re-obtain FTP login information http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" />  I just haven't done anything with it... because of the biggest problem:  I am horribly distracted and admittedly don't have a lot of community connection any more.  I float in and out and forget things easily about this place.  I am simply not a very good admin when it comes to getting things done in a timely manner (or hell, even participating).  And bad communication is not good for a forum admin.  When I was younger, I was more invested and possibly even took over the place because of teenage ego reasons.  Nowadays I don't even know if I'm the right guy for the job because of how neglectful I tend to be, but I did what had to be done to keep the place at least existing.

Point is, I know I'm an awful admin and I feel pretty guilty about it.  I can try my best to improve, or if I talk to Adam again maybe we should consider passing it on to new management.  For now, I need you guys' help: Keep in touch with me outside of the forum and give me a laundry list of stuff that needs maintained.  I am having a brutal semester, but after the first week of December I should be reasonably free enough to start looking at issues.

My deepest apologies.

[mobius]

Mr K; one easy thing to do that you can do is update the banner on the main page. It could advertize level contests, new games that have been released, the lix IRC, or people's new levels they made and such.

and maybe look into the spoiler tags. Though this is not a high priority.

[namida]

If there's money problems, there's nothing wrong with at least asking the community to make donations if they can. I'm sure I could spare a little bit towards it, and I'm fairly sure I can't be the only one who's able to.

[Clam]

I see that Adam has at least uploaded some videos in his http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAdamskiiii" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">YouTube channel during last months, but I didn't get a response even when I messaged him there. :/

I just found his Twitter page - via his forum profile, funnily enough. Last update: 5 hours ago.

Our admin is alive and well http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" />

[ccexplore]

So I guess he's just completely dropped out of this Lemmings community then. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/XD.gif" alt=":XD:" title="XD" class="smiley" /> http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/embarrassed.gif" alt=":-[" title="Embarrassed" class="smiley" />

Well, I suppose we now at least know where to go to yell at him on the day something catastrophic happen to the site. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" />

[namida]

If the site does go down and no one else is able to pay for hosting a replacement, someone contact me and I'll do it. I'm not exactly very well off, but I'm sure for a site with relatively light traffic like this I can manage.

[ccexplore]

I'd say the recent multi-day outage of this forum is a rude (yet predictable) wake-up call to this problematic situation.  To be fair I don't know if Adam might've done something to get the forum back up without bothering to say anything here, but even in that unlikely possibility it's hardly reassuring.

[namida]

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

Regardless, perhaps we should arrange now for someone to take over the site in the event it goes down, and make sure everyone has a way of contacting that person (we can also use Lemmings Heaven forums as a backup if need be, though it's kinda shabby...). I guess the first people to ask would be the other admins and mods, and I'm definitely willing to run a new forum if need be. If anyone has the know how but needs an affordable host, I'd reccomend Nearly Free Speech - incredibly cheap and never had any problems.

(And, to Adam if he's reading this - if you're not wanting to continue hosting the site but don't want to just cut us off - it's fine, say something! As has been proven time and time again, there's always someone in the community willing to take over, and if you think you've done your share, I'm sure no one will complain - plus, that way you can help ensure a smooth transition.)