Ship of Fools: WTF!? Let's not do the Time Warp again

Thread: WTF!? Let's not do the Time Warp again Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=030851

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

Clicking the Purgatory link on the main discussion board page takes me back to April

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

The Lasr Post takes me to the last post, but I cannot reach any other current post in Purg.
And the main page reflects April in its most recent posts.

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

Community page Purg link seems fine now, front page current links isn't.

Posted by W Hyatt (# 14250) on :

I remember seeing that behavior once a long time ago, but at the moment it is working fine for me.

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

Yeah, all back to "normal" for me as well.

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :

Looks like the software had another hiccup. Does anyone have a glass of water handy?

We all know that we need new software, but unfortunately new software costs money, something of which we do not have a great deal. The faster the Floating Fund grows, the sooner we'll be in a position to seriously consider the options.

Posted by Stercus Tauri (# 16668) on :

Is there a bug in the PM system too? I was sent one a few days ago that has never shown up here, and the automatic notification sent to my e-mail address was sent to spam by Gmail - I only caught it by chance yesterday.

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

Are you certain it was a PM? People can send emails via the Ship as well, and they look very similar to the PM notification.

Not that something screwed up in the PM system isn't also possible.

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
Looks like the software had another hiccup. Does anyone have a glass of water handy?

We all know that we need new software, but unfortunately new software costs money, something of which we do not have a great deal. The faster the Floating Fund grows, the sooner we'll be in a position to seriously consider the options.

Every glitch is followed by a similar statement. Hmmmm...
🤔

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :

quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Every glitch is followed by a similar statement.

Yep. Because it's true. We're sitting here with horribly obsolete and unsupported software, and will be until we can afford to pay for a more modern alternative.

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

It's a joke, son, a joke I say. Implying that the glitches are intentional to raise money.

Posted by Stercus Tauri (# 16668) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Alan Cresswell:
Are you certain it was a PM? People can send emails via the Ship as well, and they look very similar to the PM notification.

Not that something screwed up in the PM system isn't also possible.

If it was rocket science I'd probably understand it, but it isn't and I don't... but I think you are right. The message arrived with the sender's e-mail address, so that would be it - thanks!

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
It's a joke, son, a joke I say. Implying that the glitches are intentional to raise money.

Congratulations! You have busted the myth on which so much public spending is founded!

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :

Seriously though, how much is a suitable replacement going to cost?

Posted by passer (# 13329) on :

An often-asked but never-answered question.

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

quote:
Originally posted by passer:
An often-asked but never-answered question.

That is because the code is a lie! There is no problem with the software, the crew are living large on the donations!

I'm going to guess that the donations received are barely enough to pay to maintain what we have. No need to discuss costs of software which are nowhere near in reach.

Posted by passer (# 13329) on :

No intention of suggesting that donation money was piling up anywhere. I was merely pointing out that this often-asked question has never been answered.

My understanding, from the myriad previous iterations of this discussion, is that nobody has ever done any analysis of what the actual cost of upgrading/updating the platform might be, because nobody has the authority so to do. The platform owner is aware of and has occasionally contributed to the message-board, but his primary focus appears to be on the larger site, which is fair enough.

To the best of my knowledge there has never been a coordinated exercise to gather funds to formulate a project plan. Many people have offered to donate IT skills and expertise, but I've not seen any indication that any of these offers have ever been taken up.

From my forty-odd years of experience in the IT world, what typically happens in these situations is that one day, the camel's-back-breaking software straw manifests, and it falls over and dies, with not so much as a whispered farewell.

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
Seriously though, how much is a suitable replacement going to cost?

The real question is "which replacement can we afford?" There are options that only cost a few dozen pounds per month, and others that cost hundreds per month. Matching what we want to what we can afford isn't easy.

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

quote:
Originally posted by passer:
Many people have offered to donate IT skills and expertise, but I've not seen any indication that any of these offers have ever been taken up.

Were I Simon, I would not touch those offers with a hundred metre pole. I say this with much experience in volunteering and dealing with volunteers.
Volunteers staff booths, professionals build them.

[ 27. November 2016, 16:19: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]

Posted by Goldfish Stew (# 5512) on :

Probably in the same category, but right now the most recent post on the circus page (and main page circus subsection) is
2017 Celebrity Death... (Spike) 30 December, 2016 10:31

Which I already noted on
30 December, 2016 17:43 by Goldfish Stew

(NZ time)...

Now I'm wondering how to exploit this time variance for comic amusement in the future

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:

quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Every glitch is followed by a similar statement.
Yep. Because it's true. We're sitting here with horribly obsolete and unsupported software, and will be until we can afford to pay for a more modern alternative.

I suspect that the affording it isn't the issue: there's no proposal out for donating to a project to upgrade, there's no info that there's any plan at all. (This thread was bumped by a more recent post, and I saw this.)

I think the SOF suffers from nostalgia. Harkening after the golden days of yore, fear or worry about change. Worry about traditions, the cachet of a low member number, historical structures, other forms of inertia. That sort of thing. Having asked such questions before. Setting that aside:

There are several models of "software replacement". One is to keep running what you have until it completely craps out. So long as it works nearly all of the time, there's no need to do too much, except maintenance. Perhaps this is partly the SOF model if nostalgia isn't the sole reason.

If replacement is desired, buying software and then paying again for maintenance of it is the oldest model, but not the only nor necessarily the best. Using open source and paying for maintenance only is cheaper. You have to have someone who is good with the software package you deploy. https://www.phpbb.com/ is the one I see in nearly all of the forums I frequent except this one. Free as in beer. Most university students in 1st or 2nd year would be quite able to manage it. Or people without any training at all; I was an admin on a forum for 6 years with only the training offered us within. Maintenance costs; good hired maintainers train others to do the basics and this saves lots.

FWIW. The last time I saw this discussed it went no where.

Posted by Goldfish Stew (# 5512) on :

Thinking about this No Prophet, and hear what you're saying. I'm not an expert in this software by any means, but I do recall about 10 years ago or so when phpbb was used by church of fools (offshoot from the ship, now St Pixels) we moved off from that software due to security concerns about the general PHP platform, and the software itself. At the time the Church of Fools experiment was effectively painting a big bullseye on the arse of SOF/COF and there was actually at least one trolling/hacking site actively targeting the COF. This may be less of a concern now, and PHPBB may be better secured.

Any migration would definitely cost in terms of nostalgia (I'm back here after nearly a decade, and it was comforting to see the old UBB layout.)

I don't know what the UBB upgrade pathway is like here (a quick google shows it's an option in general). That could be wrapped up with a hosting package and so there may not be a simple upgrade pathway. And I assume Simon still owns the site and therefore has ultimate discretion on whether it's worth pursuing.

Posted by Tubbs (# 440) on :

Simon is still the site owner and any decisions about any upgrades ultimately rest with him. Speaking entirely personally, I think the reason this is taking a while is nothing to do with nostalgia etc, but simply the desire to get things right for both the boards and the main site coupled with a lack of time to dedicate to actually doing it.

You can’t fund-raise for something without a proposal. Once there is one, then there will be fund raising.

Tubbs

[ 09. January 2017, 11:31: Message edited by: Tubbs ]

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