Should We Move? - Forum Transfer Discussion

[Chip]

I'm in agreement that we should move (not that it matters -- as Chip said, He, Craig, and ED already made the decision). While I'm disappointed that we don't have DB access, there are other ways of archiving websites. I've built a site crawler or two in the past, and would be willing to dedicate some time in the next week or two to scripting something that could archive much of the content here. It won't be pretty, and it won't be cross-linked (i.e. you can't click on someone's user name and see a list of their posts), but we can at least save the bulk of the content off into static pages for perusal later.
We've already made the decision to try to move everybody. We can't force people to move. If everyone keeps posting here instead of there, then that is the community's decision. At least when this board finally does bite the bullet, the new board will be ready.

I've been trying to find a crawler that would do exactly what you're suggesting to archive the information here. At the very least it needs to be serchable and individual posts need to be direct-linkable. Beyond that, any functionality you could carry over would be a bonus. I'm the first to admit that there is a wealth of info here that needs to be preserved somehow.

 

[TrevorBradley]

The new system should be maintainable/accessible by multiple sources. Is it possible to have mirror servers in multiple locations? i.e. ED hosts the main server, but Craig also has a mirror server that replicates the data. So if ED or craig fall off the turnip truck a backup is available. Or even if one server is attacked and goes down the other server jump in until the main server comes back.

A second active mirror probably isn't necessary (I'm happy with a 24h outage as long as a good sysadmin is on the case), but it would be best if the website didn't have a "bus number" of 1.

 

[PoisonedV]

i recommend to use black widow for site ripping.

 

[Chip]

The new system should be maintainable/accessible by multiple sources.
A second active mirror probably isn't necessary (I'm happy with a 24h outage as long as a good sysadmin is on the case), but it would be best if the website didn't have a "bus number" of 1. ED is good about keeping frequent off-site server backups. He has to - it's the same server that runs his online shop.

At the very least, Craig also has admin access (to the openpandora.org section for sure, I assume it's server wide) to the server itself so he can do necessary maintenance if ED is unavailable.

 

[lulzfish]

Ah, I''''''''''''''''
....
''m gonna miss this forum.

edit: I've been too lazy to read all these posts, but I like the RSS feed idea. Much easier than looking through all the forums and coming all the way over here to read Off-Topic.

 

[dflemstr]

If we're going to move this forum, then please consider to use a reliable CMS this time!
I highly recommend the Simple Machines Forum CMS. It's currently the forum software with the most features out-of-the-box (RSS, infinite-depth forums, a very good rights and roles system etc) and the most stable I've seen so far (it doesn't rely on JS to work, for example). I have used it on three sites already and have never had a problem. It also has add-on support of course, with a huge database of them too.

(sorry if this has been mentioned already, I just skipped through the previous pages swiftly)

 

[PSyMastR]

Im currently in the process of archiving the entire site. Hope it goes well.

 

[dflemstr]

Im currently in the process of archiving the entire site. Hope it goes well.

Doesn't anyone even have read-only access to the backend MySQL DB (or whatever this thing runs on)?
And if you really manage to copy ALL of the information in this forum with a spider or something, then please save it in a parsable format; the new forum software will probably have different BBCode etc and be difficult to adapt the current content to.

 

[Chip]

I highly recommend the Simple Machines Forum CMS.
The forum is already set up and running phpBB. phpBB is free and open source, and it is infinitely customizable. we will be adding a lot of functionality to the site in the coming days.

As I've said, it is temoprarily available here:
CODE
http://forum.openpandora.org

 

[dflemstr]

Is it advisable to register on the new forum now and make posts, or would that mess up any conversion scripts?

(again, sorry if this has been asked; if this is the case ignore me, since I'm currently reading through the posts)

 

[skeezix]

1) Someone set up a script to post to the front page and forums here, every day, 'we have moved' so that people may catch on. A shame the long long repuation of gp32x will go to not

2) Spidering and importing can't be that hard..............

3) Can the forum not be forum.openhandhelds.org and not forum.openpandora.org? At minimum a CNAME on openhandhelds.org would be trivial so they could be synonymous. I really hate when a forum is on a different domain (seems cheesy and suspicious), and it also hurts things by making it sound like its a shill for pandora, not a new community open platform. (ie: It has to outlive the pandora, and it has to not be pandora oriented, even if its pandora dominated )

jeff

 

[PoisonedV]

Will it have a front pages(s)/portal like the main page of gp32x, dcemu ngemu and the like

 

[Chip]

Is it advisable to register on the new forum now and make posts, or would that mess up any conversion scripts?
You can (and should) register and post now. As I understand thing, there is not much in the way of "conversion" necessary to switch to the new domain. The DB that contains the posts and user info stays the same, it's just the scripts that generate the pages and links that changes.

1) Someone set up a script to post to the front page and forums here, every day, 'we have moved' so that people may catch on. A shame the long long repuation of gp32x will go to not

2) Spidering and importing can't be that hard..............

3) Can the forum not be forum.openhandhelds.org and not forum.openpandora.org?

1. I'll make the necessary announcements when the move is "final"

2. Spidering is easy. Keeping the gathered data in a useful, searchable, linkable format is harder. Importing the gathered data from this board into the new board's DB as actual posts is borderline impossible. I have no expectation that it will happen.

3. It will be. Once the new front page is ready ED will switch it over.

 

[Vimacs]

you dont stand a chance trying to replace gp32x, old habbits hardly change.

 

[skeezix]

(and for instance, get rid of the Pandora logo as the icon for every forum.. something smaller is better for those using resolution challenged machines at work, and to get rid of the Pandora bias.)

(But I know, the openhandhelds.org forum is only hours old, in that context

jeff

 

[borgqueenx]

i agree. get rid of this load of crap filled with bugs. if you cant get rid of bugs in your house, you search a other place or accept it. its just desame here.

I hope the forum topics and posts can be moved as well. then it would be ok to move. else i DONT want to move.

 

[Chip]

I hope the forum topics and posts can be moved as well. then it would be ok to move. else i DONT want to move.
They can't be. If we had access to the GP32X forum database then it could be done, but we do not. The best we can hope for is an archive of the information here.

 

[dflemstr]

They can't be. If we had access to the GP32X forum database then it could be done, but we do not. The best we can hope for is an archive of the information here.


It could actually be done (I migrated from phpBB to SMF a while ago); you'll just have to go down to the smallest common denominator between the forum post data formats (in this case it would probably be Users: username - MSN/ICQ etc adresses - post count - Posts: post contents - post titles - time stamps)

But this is an issue for later; the gp32 forums remain and if someone spiders the forums the information will be there to be added at a later time.

 

[gp2.eXe]

I hope the forum topics and posts can be moved as well. then it would be ok to move. else i DONT want to move.
They can't be. If we had access to the GP32X forum database then it could be done, but we do not. The best we can hope for is an archive of the information here.

Maybe you could get someone to manually copy-paste every single post in every single thread up to date...

You know, there's one thing i'm starting to like about the other forums: No Search Flood Control... How do I hate that thing! Anyway... i'll still miss this forums.

 

[Alex.]

Besides the usual nostalgia (that unfortunately started to die in recent times), the only drawback I see to the new forums is the overwhelming number of platforms the forum will cover. GP32, GP2X, Wiz, and Pandora were a given, and perhaps A320 too, but now you also have IPhone, Android, PSP, DS, GBA, Nokia, and UMPC sections!...

The forums will lose their focus, this will no longer be a tight community which was what made it such a nice place. There are plenty of already established DS, PSP, and I bet even IPhone forums, why make another one? I thought this was a community for fully open handhelds, why should this change?

I`m sympathetic to the idea of starting a new clean forum with a clearer future, but the things I mentioned above could change it for the worse.