Welcome back UU

Ryan

I have no interest in a live chat group. I’m here specifically for this forum.

A forum can be a relaxing place to check in and follow topic, threads, posters we’ve come to know. Live chat is a completely different concept. I feels completely different. It’s not moving to a better structure. It’s like closing a neighborhood hamburger stand and opening a art gallery for hamburger paintings.

Being retired I can’t afford anything more than a token sign up fee.

Perhaps uke related businesses can become sponsors although this may be a very tough time to ask them to step up. What is happening to a store like Uke Republic based in a mall must be frightening. I hope places like HMS or Mims can do well based on the need for a stress reducing hobby of playing and buying ukuleles but for many here now is not the time to buy.

With the current crisis situation I feel now is a terrible time to bring this up. I don’t really know what the behind the scenes is like for you. I do appreciate, very much, that this forum is here and that based on your posts it must be time consuming and possibly very annoying to keep it here.

Being brought up at this time makes it seem that there must be an emergency threat to its existence. Is that the case?

Cutting off a dynamic group experience in this time of social distancing, job loss, recreational loss, gathering loss, uncertainty, would be a real blow to active members be they readers or posters.

The large data base seems to be the most discussed aspect. Can that be managed to be less of a problem?
Possibly split off and archive posts and threads that are old to be maintained as a seperate entity? Are there other things to be tried? I don’t even know if this is a silly idea.

Again, thanks to all who have worked to maintain this safe and very usable space. I really appreciate it.

It's not like I caused the outage. Like I said, its not a new situation, its been challenging for years. We need more mods, and new software that is secure. The mods are working so hard as it is and its frustrating for them to mod because this software is so outdated.
 
Like others here, I am grateful for the work you've done to provide this forum. The knowledge that has been captured here is a tremendous resource for the global ukulele community. It would be a shame to lose it.

Am I correct that there are several different issues here? From reading this thread it seems like these are the problems. Please correct me if I'm wrong, since I am only writing this to seek clarification:

1. It costs too much money to provide server space to host the UU content archive.

2. The current bulletin board platform is outdated and cumbersome to maintain; you want to migrate to software that's easier to work with.

3. You don't have enough qualified people who volunteer to be forum moderators.

These are all fixable problems but it would be difficult to tackle them all at once. What is the one most pressing immediate problem, and how can we help to fix it? You are not alone here.

If we could find a new forum software with better security, it. could potentially solve some of the issues for the mods as well. I sent an email to vbulletin to see if they would help me move this forum to their hosted solution with their new software.

If that issue is taken care of and we can find new mods and a way to pay for the additional hosting charges that that will bring, this forum can go on as is.
 
If we could find a new forum software with better security, it. could potentially solve some of the issues for the mods as well. I sent an email to vbulletin to see if they would help me move this forum to their hosted solution with their new software.

If that issue is taken care of and we can find new mods and a way to pay for the additional hosting charges that that will bring, this forum can go on as is.

I'm 100% behind this idea. I don't know what being a Mod requires, but I feel confident you have no problem finding folks willing to help. Maybe draft up what it is you need help with, and let us know ~
 
Xenforo is an actual forum software option, but you would likely need to run your own servers. I don't know the average number of concurrent users here, but the size of the forum db is only part of the issue, as I'm sure you know. I don't know enough of the administrative details for this forum to know whether Xenforo would make things better, and it is entirely possible overall costs could be higher than running UU on this vBulletin software.

Whatever you do, DO NOT go to Tapatalk. They will steal your intellectual property, and then eventually convert access to pay only.
 
Can someone on the UU Discord post another invite link? The one rayan posted in the forum news thread is now expired.
 
I'm also one of the derelicts who probably wouldn't use a chat application; I remember using PLayNet for Commodore computers back before AOL existed, and then went to Compuserve when I got my first MS-DOS machine...

Right now, the only social media I use is UU and Ravelry, a fiber network (knitting, spinning, weaving, crocheting, etc.). I've made many friends in both who have become friends in person.

If UU decides to go Patreon, I'll sign up. I already support many endeavors there (at least one I do both Patreon AND an annual membership fee)

I haven't seen calls for mods, or what it entails, but I might be able to help out... please let me know.

-Kurt​
 
I pay the annual fee ... but I could pay the Patreon instead.
 
If the forum doesn't pay for itself, why don't you ask us to pay? I pay monthly fees to ukulele players I enjoy on Patreon, I would gladly pay for this forum as well. I can only speak for myself but I would without hesitation do my part to support this forum.
 
What about Tapatalk? How does it compare on pricing?

Xenforo is an actual forum software option, but you would likely need to run your own servers. I don't know the average number of concurrent users here, but the size of the forum db is only part of the issue, as I'm sure you know. I don't know enough of the administrative details for this forum to know whether Xenforo would make things better, and it is entirely possible overall costs could be higher than running UU on this vBulletin software.

Whatever you do, DO NOT go to Tapatalk. They will steal your intellectual property, and then eventually convert access to pay only.
Quoting myself to say whatever you do, don't go with Tapatalk.
 
I just looked at how few people actually are VIP members. All I can say is shame on all the folks that use this forum regularly and are not willing to pay the paltry $45 annual membership donation fee. UU should have started charging for membership long ago, this is a business that provides a great service to the Ukulele community yet some folks think it should be free???

This is the third such forum that I’ve belonged to that has had to close or start charging, the one that now requires a fee is flourishing, it’s not the end unless we the members make it so, send in $45.00 for goodness sake.

Brian
 
I just looked at how few people actually are VIP members. All I can say is shame on all the folks that use this forum regularly and are not willing to pay the paltry $45 annual membership donation fee. UU should have started charging for membership long ago, this is a business that provides a great service to the Ukulele community yet some folks think it should be free??? This is the third such forum that I’ve belonged to that has had to close or start charging, the one that now requires a fee is flourishing, it’s not the end unless we the members make it so, send in $45.00 for goodness sake. - Brian

I absolutely agree. As I said above, the day I joined UU, I paid the VIP fee.
 
Here are the main issues to keeping the forum up. ... 2. The software that is running the forum is end of life and no longer is receiving software updates. ... ...
As stated before, I will donate to cover the cost of upgrading to the latest version (version 5) of vBulletin. However, I fully recognize that there is a lot more (time-wise and cost-wise) to running a forum than merely the software.

... ...Years ago https://www.fleamarketmusic.com/bulletin/default.asp used to have lots of activity, but these days it seems pretty quiet over there. It was a great resource, but as UU gained popularity it is likely many moved over. It may become more lively again if this is shut down. ... ...
That forum looks promising, and it does have some recent posts re ukuleles. 793 pages of ukulele posts. 4 ukulele posts so far in March 2020 -- doesn't hold a candle to UU but, as EDW said, it may become more lively if UU turns into a chat room.

I pay the annual fee ... but I could pay the Patreon instead.
"Patreon" is explained YONDER.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have not been a UU VIP. The thought never occurred to me. Shame on me! I just this minute remedied that oversight by signing up (via Paypal) for the annual amount. I would also be happy to be a Patreon if the Mods decide to include that option.

@Rayan -- I see no reason why VIP members should be exempt from seeing the advertisements. I like to patronize advertisers when I need something they sell. Also, the little "Support the Forum" link at page top is too discreet. I never before noticed it. I suggest you make it a LOT more obvious.
 
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If money is the issue ...........and Ryan keeping repeating that it is then charge EVERYBODY a user fee. Simple, easy peasy like most everything else in life if you want to have it and use it then you pay for it. No pay no access!!!!! That is why I signed up as a VIP member years ago to contribute financially.
 
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Hi Ryan, I can only echo what so many have said here, and thank you for your time, effort, sweat, and devotion to this place, and the efforts of all the mods too. And I fully understand if the current platform is too cumbersome/outdated/hard to maintain. Yes, it's time to do something about it. And if that takes money, then a simple monthly payment is the way to go, whether it is the current VIP scheme, or Patreon, or something similar. Whatever the route, the payment has to be simple, and people have to be able to cancel it easily if they no longer want to be a part of it, or they may not pay in the first place.
From my own point of view, the area I use far more than anything is the Seasons Of The Ukulele, and at the moment I can't see Discord replacing that, unless you created a new channel for each week (we are currently up to Season 424). Can the channel list be organised into folders? If not, it's going to get a bit long!
I can see that Discord has its place in the world, but I would much prefer an upgraded forum.
 
I'm utterly grateful for all this forum has offered to the international ukulele community over the past decade.

A realtime live chat platform can never replace a forum that continues to be a base of knowledge over time, where everybody can easily find what has been discussed by whom in which manner at which point. It's an invaluable reverence of historical proportions. Whereas a chat platform is quite the opposite, exclusive and quickly outlived. What is even worse, the realtime chat will make it impossible for us international users to join any discussion from time zones on the other side of the planet.

If UU moves over to Discord, I will be permanently out. Not because I couldn't handle that kind of technology, but because I despise it (just like Facebook and Twitter). And because of the above reasons: I'm looking for knowledge and in-depth discussions with experienced folks from all over the globe, not the ubiquitous exchange of LOL's and OMG's.

I have to admit that the reason why I have never upgraded to UU VIP and paying an annual fee is precisely because I was afraid that any day, the forum might shut down. The problems of maintaining such a forum have always been obvious to me. The more I'm grateful that UU has managed to keep running for so long - and hope that it will keep on running.

If server space is an issue, perhaps delete all uploaded pictures that are older than a year?

As for the financial hardship: perhaps you could get Warren Buffett to sponsor the forum? He's quite fond of the ukulele, and a sponsorship would earn him gratitude of the ukulele community worldwide for all eternity.

Good luck to UU, and to all forum members. Love you all.
 
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