Iceberg Ahead....

Barbablanca

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Hi all,

have we reached a definitive decision about alternative hosting for when the Forum hits the predicted iceberg?

Many of us have tried the two proposed alternatives, Reddit and the Other one... But no-one seemed very enthusiastic about either of them. And they both lack certain facilities we are used to here.

I sussed out that the nearest we could get to the set up here is probably using the phpbb a free Forum Hosting site

The only problem with that is that it has to be set up on someone's existing website. I used to have a couple but they went under when the companies hosting them folded.

Has anyone got spare room on their website to give phpbb a trial run?

We should really be doing something about our oncoming date with the iceberg... which unlike in the case of Titanic, we have been warned about already for some time.
 
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Interesting, Berni! (Although, since I have recently become a VIP supporter, all threats of an approaching iceberg will, of course, have been allayed ... or, at the very least, delayed.) I wish I had space on my website, but my Internet service is such that I haven't got space for anything!
 
Interesting, Berni! (Although, since I have recently become a VIP supporter, all threats of an approaching iceberg will, of course, have been allayed ... or, at the very least, delayed.) I wish I had space on my website, but my Internet service is such that I haven't got space for anything!

Hi Val,

I've been a VIP for years as have a few other Seasonistas. I got the impression though that the Forum is going to disappear one day not just because the owners feel it is not self-financing, but also because of other issues such as bandwidth, the sheer space it takes up, the fact that it looks "clunky" and not "modern" enough for those who have to keep on top of the wave (easier to do in Hawaii than on the Mediterranean :rolleyes:) ) etc.

Personally, I think it would be a tragedy if this site were to disappear. It has been the foundation of one of the most supportive and friendly communities on the net (and I have been on quite a few). So anything anyone could do to provide a lifeboat to keep the community afloat would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Dear Berni,
thank you for this thread!
I never knew anything about forum hosting sites.
It is great to know that there is a free one called phpBB.
It looks like we have a way to let the Seasons go on then, if the folks here decide to close this forum.

I went to have a quick look at phpBB and it looks pretty simple to figure things out. ( hope I'm right)

I have a blog, not a website.
But I am guessing that this is not a problem, if I do let this forum be set upon my blog.
I am willing to try it, but I am not sure what you mean by SPACE?
I never knew that there is a LIMIT to space in a website or blog.
I thought you just upload or post stuff there and don't have to worry about having no room for new posts and stuff?

See, for me, I have my my domain name, www.siajoohiang.com.
which I purchased from some domain company years ago.
I use Blogger to host my blog...and Blogger is free.
So I never thought about space....
Let me do a bit of research and make sure that there really is unlimited space on my blog.

I do find the layout of the forum a little cluttered looking...
Let me do some research and will get back to you.
 
It's quite a lot of work to host a forum. The "free" ones quickly make you realise why they are free, and if you leave it spammers take over. I used to go on a forum which was fine, and then when you came back to it the next day was covered in the most disgusting p*** you've ever seen. It's a full time job to stay on top of the spammer registration.

There are lots of you paying for UU VIP. Why not club that money together and start your own? If the work is shared, it would be manageable.
 
It's quite a lot of work to host a forum. The "free" ones quickly make you realise why they are free, and if you leave it spammers take over. I used to go on a forum which was fine, and then when you came back to it the next day was covered in the most disgusting p*** you've ever seen. It's a full time job to stay on top of the spammer registration.

There are lots of you paying for UU VIP. Why not club that money together and start your own? If the work is shared, it would be manageable.

Never thought of that spam angle, Chris. Using phpbb there may be a privacy setting, which would stop just anyone posting. Though it would mean fewer new people finding us. But perhaps we could have an open invitation on the old site which simply links to the new site. There we could have moderators in various time zones vetting possible new members.

That is a good idea about pooling resources. I would certainly be willing to start co-funding the new site at a similar level to what I pay for my VIP membership here.
Do you know of any reasonably cheap forum providers you could recommend?
 
For forum I love XenForo. $140 to start license, renewal is optional but a fraction of that price (per year).

The *big* problem is hosting. Someone has to pay that bill, and it has to cover both the size of the database and the number of active users. Hopefully migration won't be hard - XenForo was started by former lead developers of vBulletin, so everything tends to import well. But hosting...
 
Just to be clear - phpbb isn't a free forum hosting site. It is software which needs to be installed on a website, allowing a forum to be added to that website. And it takes space, which costs money. Having said that, it won't be a huge amount, and I would imagine that if only 50% of the regular Seasonistas went to a new place, a small contribution of a a few dollars/pounds each year would pay for it.

BUT...running a forum is a headache, from the security side, plus the occasional sorting out of arguments/abuse. Personally, I wouldn't want to take it on unless I felt there was no alternative. Vetting new members is essential, through security questions, or however else it can be done. And throwing them off, if they then decide to advertise their p*** sites, has to be done quickly.

Has anybody asked the UU team what the plans are? After the initial appeal for everyone to go to Discord, it seems to have gone very quiet. The last time I looked at the long thread which appeared, they seemed to be OK about looking into new/upgraded forum software, but that was weeks ago.

I can see the need to know how the lifeboats work, but if the captain has already set course away from the iceberg, we don't need to launch one.
 
right now: all sails ahead cap'n and fair weather.
having moderated here for several years, i know the admins/mods will give us all warning if and when the time comes.
not panic time yet.
 
If the idea is to monetarily support a new site, why not do so with UU, cost was a problem Rayan mentioned. I firmly believe in paying my way for something I find very useful. I've been a Gold member here since the day I signed on 7 years ago, as I've been for Talk Bass and Nikon forums. It is worth every penny. I've never had a problem with the function of UU, it's certainly better than Discord, Cosmos and Facebook (which has two uke groups, Facebook Ukulele Group and Ubass Freaks) and I'm a graphic designer and computer user since 1986.

Hosting services provide storage space/use based on how much you want to spend. I know a service out of Canada, DotEasy.com, that charges $197 US a year to have unlimited storage, transfer and email service. Apart from that, as Steve said, someone has to have hands on controlling the forum using an app.


This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly Grove near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 4 acoustic bass ukes, 12 solid body bass ukes, 14 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 39)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers
 
I agree, Mike ... it makes much more sense if we can support a site which is already up and running successfully, rather than having to start again from scratch. Is anyone actually in a position to approach the powers-that-be and find out just what is required to make sure this site remains viable?
 
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Hey, friends ~ Been following these discussions about the future of the UU Forum and SOTU and just want to share my two cents:

1) I think that your idea, Berni, sounds awesome with free forum software. If we could find a host web site — that would be wonderful. I don’t have a web site, myself, otherwise, I’d offer. Maybe Andrew Hardel (same handle on UU, I believe) of Rock Class 101 might be willing? I could try to reach out to him to see.

2) If supporting the UU Forum financially is the solution to keeping the forum afloat, I am willing to help in that capacity as well. I guess my only concern with this is that I’ve also read that finances, alone, are not the issue with keeping the forum going. Having said that, it would probably still be a good idea to have a back-up plan in place. Which leads me to #3, per below...

3) I remember coming across the Guitar Forum (GF) years ago and that its interface is almost identical to ours, here, on UU. On the GF, there is a thread/subject titled “Other Stringed Instruments’ — I wonder if the ‘powers-that-be’ on GF might be willing to let us start something over there...just a thought. Here’s a link to their ‘Other Stringed Instruments’ — I could see a ‘SOTU’ thread in that area, or perhaps they also have a ‘Contests’ section under which we could find a home as well.

https://www.guitarforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40

Just some thoughts — I would be so sad to see what we’ve got going here go by the wayside. I think that the UU Forum and the SOTU provides so many of us with community, friendship, respite from all of ‘said scary things’ in life. I am confident with so many resourceful, passionate people here — we’ll make something happen, if and when it comes down to it. Cheers, friends. :)
 
...
3) I remember coming across the Guitar Forum (GF) years ago and that its interface is almost identical to ours, here, on UU. On the GF, there is a thread/subject titled “Other Stringed Instruments’ — I wonder if the ‘powers-that-be’ on GF might be willing to let us start something over there...just a thought. Here’s a link to their ‘Other Stringed Instruments’ — I could see a ‘SOTU’ thread in that area, or perhaps they also have a ‘Contests’ section under which we could find a home as well.

https://www.guitarforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40

The guitar forum idea is a good one - everything already in place and a reasonable amount of uke interest in that section too! Nice bit of lateral thinking there! :)
 
I remember coming across the Guitar Forum (GF) years ago and that its interface is almost identical to ours, here, on UU. On the GF, there is a thread/subject titled “Other Stringed Instruments’ — I wonder if the ‘powers-that-be’ on GF might be willing to let us start something over there...just a thought. Here’s a link to their ‘Other Stringed Instruments’ — I could see a ‘SOTU’ thread in that area, or perhaps they also have a ‘Contests’ section under which we could find a home as well.

https://www.guitarforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=40

The guitar forum idea is a good one - everything already in place and a reasonable amount of uke interest in that section too! Nice bit of lateral thinking there! :)

I just looked the link and decided to sign up when I saw that there's a bass forum. Obviously if they have a dedicated bass forum, they can have a dedicated ukulele forum. The interface is not as good as UU, but it's at least a possible alternative.
 
Dear Berni,
thank you for this thread!
I never knew anything about forum hosting sites.
It is great to know that there is a free one called phpBB.
It looks like we have a way to let the Seasons go on then, if the folks here decide to close this forum.

I went to have a quick look at phpBB and it looks pretty simple to figure things out. ( hope I'm right)

I have a blog, not a website.
But I am guessing that this is not a problem, if I do let this forum be set upon my blog.
I am willing to try it, but I am not sure what you mean by SPACE?
I never knew that there is a LIMIT to space in a website or blog.
I thought you just upload or post stuff there and don't have to worry about having no room for new posts and stuff?

See, for me, I have my my domain name, www.siajoohiang.com.
which I purchased from some domain company years ago.
I use Blogger to host my blog...and Blogger is free.
So I never thought about space....
Let me do a bit of research and make sure that there really is unlimited space on my blog.

I do find the layout of the forum a little cluttered looking...
Let me do some research and will get back to you.

Hi again Berni,
I have checked and found out that phpBB is not compatible with Wix, Weebly and Blogger.
So I can't help if we do use phpBB.
I am with chris667,
these free forum sites might just end up wanting so much of your time!
Reading through everyone's suggestions...
I will reply to this thread again.
 
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