Russ Huber Posted June 22 Share Posted June 22 14 hours ago, Mark Olson said: Hi Jamie, I have enough space. One problem I am having is that wget does not seem to work with java script. Since I am not versed in JS, I may have to concede and accept defeat. This concept of grabbing and moving the old website as a whole in its format is the salvation of the old website content realistically. How it is done and what is being stated above by Mark is a foreign language to me. At the minimum you could salvage all the old galleries, catalogues, info., restoration and repair, etc. I go back to the old posts by memory and refresh and use images for specific topic. At present, I don't even need to back to the old website all the time, I use key words in the internet search engine and go to images that I recognize from past. Moving all of those posts ONE by ONE is a nonrealistic feat. The ability to move it as a whole to a safe place in cyber space and to be able to access topic posts through key words once again would be the goal. If this is not possible, then what is...is what is. I am not being a pessimist or negative, I am being realistic. The key people in the management of this website have made a gallant effort to persevere and keep the torch burning. But many of us are falling victim to things like the aging process and the distinct possibility of not waking up tomorrow. 🙂 It is called life. All I have to say is those that are computer skilled do what you can do if you can do it before you can't do it. Once that documentation, book links, and images on the old forum are gone, my personal abilities as a historian member to rifle post information and images on the present forum will be lacking quality for sure. I still retain much to memory of fan motor history, but unlike members like per say Mike Kearns, I don't have extensive image files. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted June 22 Share Posted June 22 17 hours ago, Jamie Horner said: Attached is the list of Fan Manufacturers I got from the old site.Fan Manufacturers.pdf Jamie, stay tuned, and please be available to assist. We’re currently assembling a team of volunteers to tackle this massive project. More to come in the next magazine. Members…we will need volunteers to make this happen. To address Russ’s comment, it’s not realistic to move it as-is. Posts will need to be edited with only the most relevant images and useful information moved forward. “Happy Birthday” posts and the like, will likely not be moved from the old data. It will be a bit subjective, but it does not seem practical to move it intact. I have been assured that the data is safe, so that’s good at least. I’ve been asked to take the lead on this project, and I’ll do my best to assemble a group of members to make this happen. I guess that’s what I get for opening my big mouth. If you have ideas on how this should be structured (Russ) please volunteer as your constructive input is important, computer knowledge isn’t required. Guidance and input will be needed too from our club’s other historians and mentors. We want to do the best we can to offer a solution that preserves the information in a format that works for the majority of members. So if you have an opinion of what you’d like to see, please volunteer. We all have day jobs too, so I promise you, if you volunteer, it won’t overburden you. If you don’t volunteer and offer your feedback, then you have no right to complain later. I volunteered to be the lightning rod to get this project started, so please PM me if you’re interested in helping. We will discuss what you’d like to contribute. Thanks in advance ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Horner Posted June 26 Share Posted June 26 As Lane has stated, this will be a nothing less than monumental task, and volunteers are needed. As Russ has stated (and as I have stated), we need to not only pull all the information from the old forum, but we also need to organize it and put it somewhere where it would be easy to search (searching does not seem to be the current forum’s strong point - so this somewhere would not be in the new forum). Hence I have suggested the free wiki software that we have installed. It is the same software currently used by Wikipedia. I have previewed it in some screenshots in previous posts, but only Annie and myself currently have access to our new wiki. If we can start acquiring the info from the old forum, at least it has somewhere to go that will be easily searchable by all members. As far as the formatting of the information, I have presently been doing that the hard way, but will be experimenting with some plugins so anyone that chooses to add to the wiki in the future will not have to know all the technical crap, hopefully. We won’t ever lose any of the info from the old forum as it is stored on our hosting servers, but at some point, because of degradation of code, we will lose the ability to access it like we do now, and it will take much more knowledge and time just to get to it. So it is in our best interest to bite the bullet and to get it all moved over to our new wiki ASAP. 🙄 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 (edited) Well, it’s been almost a week and not a single soul has volunteered to help with this venture. Edited June 27 by Lane Shirey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Olson Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 Hi Lane, I am still trying to grab the "meat and potatoes" from the server. While I have had some success, I am not satisfied, yet. There are rather large 'gaps' in what I have and what is on the server. The really old part that has not been "messed" with is easy, but the forums themselves have been moved around and that complicates things for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophie Braswell Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 (edited) For what it is worth, maybe this will be helpful. If you can get to ALL the various pages on the discussion forum on the old site, you can click the 3 dots in the upper right corner, pick "more tools" and then pick "save page as". Save this someplace on your computer and you can view that page offline. I tried it and it works. However, it seems like this would have to be done with each and EVERY page within the forum. The page I did this with was the one that the link that Frank McCormack shared on June 20 took me to. I can't figure out how to look at any other pages within the forum. Edited June 27 by Sophie Braswell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Olson Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 Hi Sophie, yes, that can work. I personally do not have the time or intestinal fortitude to undertake the task in such a fashion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Olson Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 Another point to be considered, if or when a team of volunteers is assembled to gather the substance of the old site, how will it be disseminated? By that I mean, who will decide what is worthy of keeping and what is not? So far, the suggestion of "happy birthday so and so" doesn't make the cut. I want to save it all so that it can be dissected and sorted at leisure. Is it possible for the server sys-admin to make the data available for download without jumping through hoops? Put it in the "cloud"? I'm just throwing stuff up against the wall to see if anything sticks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophie Braswell Posted June 28 Share Posted June 28 So just to see how this would work, I just spent the better part of my lunch hour saving all the pages in the "Other Collectibles (Members Only)" section of the old discussion forums to a flash drive. I will take it home with me tonight and see if I can access it on a different computer. Don't see why I wouldn't be able to, but you never know. FYI, there were 67 pages in the section. I started with this one since it has the least amount of posts as you can see below. The pre-1950 section will take MUCH longer. Oddly enough, someone posted in the Post-1950 section on June 1. I tried to respond and tell him about the new site, but it told me I didn't have permission to do this because I had to be a paying member. Whaaaattttt?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted June 28 Share Posted June 28 This is exactly what we’re trying to avoid. Many people doing their own thing for their own private use, rather than volunteering in a way that benefits all of the members in a permanent way. . As Jamie said the content has been backed up. We need volunteers to be willing to help grind through the sorting. If you didn’t like my comment about sorting, then volunteer and offer your input when the time is right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophie Braswell Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 I wasn't doing my own thing for my private use. I was doing this to see if it was or was not successful looking at it on another computer. I was going to offer to save all of this onto flash drives and then offer it up for whatever needed to follow. My apologies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 (edited) Right now we’re just looking to put together a group of volunteers, then meet with Jamie and others. There needs to be a tie to the board, as they must approve/ be advised of changes to the forum. I just wouldn’t want people wasting their time copying data into a format that may not be useful. as I understand, the data is already extracted and saved. We need volunteers to go through it and sort it. There will be guidelines as to what is saved/omitted. It will be up to the person sorting to make that decision. There’s no automatic way to do it and it can’t all be transferred. The group that we assemble and the board will decide what types of posts survive. In essence what will happen, is that there is a Wikipedia area that has been created on the forum by brand. The old posts will need to be sorted into the various “folders” for each brand. Jamie and others will help us with the process. We just need to get a list of willing volunteers. So far there have been none! So therefore the project is at a standstill. I’m giving it another month or so to gather volunteers. If no one else is willing to assist, then I guess the information will not be saved. I can’t do it by myself. It’ll be sad to see it disappear when the code becomes too obsolete to be functional. But that’s where we’re at. Can I sign both of you up to be on the team of volunteers? . Edited June 29 by Lane Shirey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 If you’re following this post, please read my post in the “General” column. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophie Braswell Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 I will volunteer and do what I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Dobbins Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 Hi Lane I'm familar with the old board but could never pull out the information that some seemed to be able. However, I'm willing to dedicate some time if I can help. If you and Jamie are at Fan Fair, maybe the method can be settled and we can begin if more volunteers surface. I'm surprised that none of the heavy users of the old board have volunteered. It might be helpful if they would let you know, even if privately, as to why not. There are many dedicated members in this group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Olson Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 9 hours ago, Lane Shirey said: Can I sign both of you up to be on the team of volunteers? . Hi Lane, was part of this question directed at me? Sure, sign me up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted June 29 Share Posted June 29 Thanks Les, and thanks to all who have signed up just today, so far 6 on the list. We need a lot more, so as soon as we have the group in place, I’ll be in touch with each of you with next steps. When you contact me to sign up, please provide your email so we can create a group message trail once we start. I won’t be able to PM everybody with each development. Thanks! All I ask is that there are no sidebars until we get the group formed. I cannot attend Fanfair, and it will take a little longer to figure some things out and get the team organized. Annie will be updating the board during their meetings at FF. We still need a lot more help, so please give a little of your time. Especially if you use the resources of the old forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Huber Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 The old website forum/BST access appears to be down again. The same server error. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Huber Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 On 7/22/2023 at 10:36 AM, Russ Huber said: The old website forum/BST access appears to be down again. The same server error. It's back up. Thanks. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Huber Posted August 19 Share Posted August 19 The old website forum is once again down with the 503 error code. At least for me it is. If something can be done to gain access again, great. If not, it is what it is. Thanks. I wish I had the computer knowledge to somehow preserve it as it is active on the web as an archive. When it is active the individual posts come up on google and images based on key words I enter. I can retrieve needed images and refresher information in but a few minutes. Such a shame. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Huber Posted August 26 Share Posted August 26 Is there any way to open access again to the old forum? The post titles appear when googled, but if you click on the post link this what you get. Server Error 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave McManaman Posted September 4 Share Posted September 4 Any word on propping up the old site again. I keep going to it for information not available on the new site, to search the old forum discussions for all that valuable info. No luck for weeks now. Is it down for the count? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted September 4 Share Posted September 4 (edited) Work on that project will begin in Fall. Too much going on with the volunteers during summer months. The project is not to prop it up but rather move relevant posts to the new site in a Wikipedia like area. The old site will be discontinued. Edited September 4 by Lane Shirey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave McManaman Posted September 4 Share Posted September 4 3 hours ago, Lane Shirey said: Work on that project will begin in Fall. Too much going on with the volunteers during summer months. The project is not to prop it up but rather move relevant posts to the new site in a Wikipedia like area. The old site will be discontinued. Thanks Lane. I probably used the wrong word. I’m aware and appreciative of the volunteer work to begin this fall and the fact that the old site will be discontinued What I meant is, up until three weeks ago, the old site would be down off and on but, eventually, it’d come back up so you could perform a search. Unstable, sporadic, but I wasn’t getting a permanent server error. Do we we know if the server error we see is permanent now? Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Huber Posted September 8 Share Posted September 8 On 9/4/2023 at 8:43 AM, Dave McManaman said: Do we know if the server error we see is permanent now? Thanks again. It don't look good, Dave. The posts will pull up as in past on the internet when I use key words. If I click on the post link, the server error pops up. The best I can do is click on images and I may be able to snatch an image or two that are useful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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