Chris Campbell Posted October 3, 2021 Share Posted October 3, 2021 Annie & Jamie, In regards to the original AFCA forums will the content migrate to this new website and remain searchable? There is a vast amount of info there contributed by many members over the years and curious if and how it will be preserved? Please provide insight in this regards. Thx, Chris 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tristan Crider Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 I was wondering the same.. It would be a real bummer if all that information is lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Andersen Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 I believe they have said the old site will eventually be put into archive status where it will exist but cannot receive new posts. So the old forum will remain searchable but is essentially sealed off to itself. The integration of all the old with the new site is the major reason the site update was taking so long and would have been prohibitively expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Britt Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 In my opinion, saving everything from the old site is the most important thing in the transition between sites. Not only the posts, but also all the members only info. Hopefully the old fan galleries will be saved as well, because no matter how outdated those are, they have helped me out many times. There are also fans in there that are so rare they may never be added to any new galleries. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Hill Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 HI.. Trevor speaks the truth... The old site (forum) is definitely the most valued part of the club.. and to migrate or bring over the old and mix with the new would be a HUGE undertaking if not most likely impossible...ANd very expensive... But, at some point in the near future, giving all the notice possible, the old forum will shut down to posting. It is my understanding that is will remain searchable ... and you may have noticed on the new home page, a fan wiki or fan pedia link... that will eventually be a searchable area for I great fan info similar to wikiapedia... When we moved to a new server awhile back , one of the reasons it did take a bit of time, was because the data contained in the forum was ginormous .. and we wanted to be extra careful that we didn't lose anything.... While it would be fantastic if everything was perfect and ready right out of the gate...it just isn't possible... We did not hire a webdesigner, Jamie did all of the coding and program himself.. He isn't even a board member, but did step up to be webmaster when our last webmaster after 12 long years wanted to step back and focus on life and fans... Who can blame him, right? These are all very good questions and most should be answered in the Oct. Fan Magazine.... Thanks to all of you who have signed up on the new forum and are testing it in real time so we can work on what works , what doesn't and what we can hopefully make better.... Annie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Hill Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 OH, I forgot... yes, the galleries are definitely our next upgrade. And if what we have planned comes too fruition.. they will blow your head off your shoulders...🤩 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hicks Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 I'll tell ya, There's a lot of posts in the old forum that should be retained, but, there is ALSO a lot of stuff that should go away to make the database smaller. Smaller database = less $$$ over the long term. I believe it should be left up permanently, however. Especially the valuable posts from members who have gone on before us. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Andersen Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 People can also remake much of their old information here if they want. There are threads I go back to a lot for wiring info etc. I imagine though that many of the bigger encyclopedic posts will become duplicated here as part of the wiki which really helps with finding knowledge you need faster. In my old saltwater fish keeping forum we switched to a forum similar to this and all those old landmark posts about how much alkaline to add for X days to get a proper PH for X corals etc all ended up in a wiki format. It is particularly helpful for newer people that don't have as good of an idea what terms they even need to search for. Having a umbrella topic with expanding topics below eliminates the sole need to rely on boolean searches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 (edited) Two questions. Do we have the ability to mark certain posts on the new forum as sticky? Maybe even create a separate forum folder called sticky posts. There have been many tech articles through the years that get requested ALL THE TIME , like my post about how to convert the Levolier on an Emerson 24” to a toggle. But it gets buried in the mass of posts. secondly, could we create a way in the old forum for members to somehow “mark” valuable posts for sticky status. Then moderators could periodically review the old posts nominated for sticky and selectively add them to the new forum. That would be amazing! Edited October 6, 2021 by Lane Shirey 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Horner Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 Hi Lane (and everyone), we can certainly create new forum sections/folders. I'm not sure about a sticky status at this time, although I think it might be a possibility. Also, I'm not sure that we'll ever add old forum posts to the new forum. The plan is to eventually create a searchable database of knowledge in our Fanpedia (wiki) section of the website, but being able to mark things that need transferred would be great. I will have to look into that. But now I need to get to work. 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Britt Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 (edited) There are 1250 pages of topics on the old forum. Each page contains 40 topics. Do the math and you have 50,000 topics on the old forums. There is no way a few of us (or a lot of us) can go through 50,000 topics labeling the important topics as "sticky". If it is the case that a few members go spend a few hours labeling a few of the most important posts sticky, we may end up with 50 good posts that we keep. I'd venture to say that 70, 80, or maybe even 90% of the threads on the old forum have useful to very useful information that (if we keep) will continue to help all of us as we continue to explore, restore, and conserve antique fans. Our old site has 16 years of enormously useful information that we cannot afford to lose. The old site alone contains almost all the information that has ever been collected about antique fans since the hobby started. To get rid of all the posts on the old site that are not "sticky" would be to delete most of the information out there about antique fans. No matter how insignificant a thread may be thought now, most likely, it will help someone out in the future, whether it be now or 20 years from now. Like Chris Campbell said, what may not be relevant to one person could be the key to another. Even if a thread only contains a photo; it could be the key for someone, as has been the case for me on multiple occasions. There needs to be some way we can keep all the threads and posts from the old forum. We cannot simply erase the immense knowledge of such a major part of American history. I thought I heard somewhere the plan was to keep the old site like it is and leave it searchable, except disable posting abilities? Edited October 6, 2021 by Noah Britt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Horner Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 No plans whatsoever to delete the old forum and all the knowledge it contains. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Britt Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 That's fantastic! Thanks for clarifying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Daugird Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 I am with Noah and Chris on this one. When I first joined, I actually went back as far as the forum goes and looked at every page(but of course didn't open every thread). I am relieved all the info will remain, as it is an invaluable resource of information on these old relics we all love so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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