The Contingency Plan/Exit Strategy

Trollheart · 07-14-2022, 06:10 PM

If you want to volunteer, and there can be two admins (not sure if there can, but you would know better than I) then sure.

Guybrush · 07-15-2022, 01:08 AM

TH, I appreciate the offer. However, when I check freeforums.net, I get the impression TheCraic and other freeforums can't be exported. It's a feature of the paid service that they also serve on forums.net, but not part of the free package.

I realize it's a boring issue to have to deal with when you've already been working on it, but I do feel like for yourself and for the community, the best solution is probably to get a webhost and domain, have a couple of us who can log into that and then set up a forum on that site with forum software that we ourselves can host.

It'll cost a bit of money, but not that much and I don't mind helping out financially and otherwise. Others will probably also want to chip in. It'll be exportable so that the whole forum can be shared among us and set up in new locations.

I have done this on several occasions, so I have the know-how. However, I don't wanna take over your forum plans. I may be better as a consultant. Can I persuade you (and everyone else) to consider something like the following?

Ask / poll the community here what they might want a new site to be (domain name like busicmanter.com or musicquips.com or whatever)
Register that domain on a webhost like one.com or hostgator
Install a webpage on the webhost / domain and then a forum at forum.ourdomain.com (I can help with this)
Set up a suggestion for rules that include stuff like:
- what and how decisions should be put to a poll
- Moderators today will be mods on the new site
- Backups should f.ex. be made available after new years every year and anyways before dissolution.
- Because there might also be some funding involved, lets also have a policy of transparency and reporting back to the community about running costs and incomes if we use a patreon or set up an MB paypal or something.
- How admins and moderators should be chosen / elected
- This may be just me, but I think we should also set up some community sanctioned goals for what we want MB to be to guide moderation and further development
With the whole solution in place, ask the MB community for input for eventual tweaks
When it's good enough, ask the community go through with a move and possibly set a date for the occasion

If we want everyone on board, then it's important that everyone gets a say in it and we need some structures in place to ensure fairness, accountability, etc.

Trollheart · 07-15-2022, 06:17 AM

I wouldn't be averse, but I seriously doubt you're going to find many people here who will put their hand in their pocket, and depending on how much "not a lot" is (less than 100 Euro? Less than 50?) and what we're talking (one-off/annual/monthly payment?) possibly not even me. My family has a very ancient motto which we live by: Sic gratis es mea, roughly translated as "if it's for free, it's for me". I would be frankly amazed if you would get two or more people who would be prepared to pay for something which right now, all the comments and issues notwithstanding, we get for nothing.

For now, I'll continue updating my own new forum and see how people consider your idea, but I would be surprised if it would fly. For me to set up a new, free forum they can come to or migrate to, no problem. They don't have to do anything and leave all the work to me, like preparing to move but someone else getting your house ready. Ask them to start paying and thinking about what they want and I expect large yawns and many tumbleweed.

Guybrush · 07-15-2022, 10:45 AM

It's probably like 40-50 bucks a year. 10-20 for domain fee and the rest for webhosting.

So divided between just 8-10 people, that's about 5 bucks each. I know that's still asking an awful for having your favourite forum running for a whole year.

rubber soul · 07-15-2022, 10:49 AM

You'd still need to hire a tech to iron out any programming issues. I know my old forum tries to raise about $150 a month to cover expenses. Where all that money goes, exactly, I don't know.

Trollheart · 07-15-2022, 11:57 AM

I suppose the thing to do is start a poll to ask who'd be interested.

Oh, look! I did.

Guybrush · 07-16-2022, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rubber soul

You'd still need to hire a tech to iron out any programming issues. I know my old forum tries to raise about $150 a month to cover expenses. Where all that money goes, exactly, I don't know.

I think I could do tech and I'd assume we also have others here who know their way around web applications and the like?

How huge is your old forum?

Trollheart · 07-16-2022, 06:19 AM

Perhaps your best bet would be to look into the actual figures and see what it would cost. There's not a lot of point saying it would be say 10/20 dollars a month and then realising it's twice that; that's a sure way to get people looking down and shuffling their feet and hoping you don't see them moving away.

A full proposal, as such, laying out what we get and how much it costs, with, insasmuch as possible, all contingencies covered, might change people's minds or at least spur some to action ( or inaction). Also, I would suggest an actual forum hosting we could use, not some vague example. So you have "look guys: we can get Honest John's Friendly Forums Which Is Definitely Not A Scam for x amount today and we get this. Plus he'll throw in a free piece of jewellery for everyone, a 9.99 value."

rubber soul · 07-16-2022, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guybrush

I think I could do tech and I'd assume we also have others here who know their way around web applications and the like?

How huge is your old forum?

Fairly big. A lot bigger than this one obviously. I think it may still be the largest writing forum on the internet but they do have competition.

Guybrush · 07-16-2022, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Perhaps your best bet would be to look into the actual figures and see what it would cost. There's not a lot of point saying it would be say 10/20 dollars a month and then realising it's twice that; that's a sure way to get people looking down and shuffling their feet and hoping you don't see them moving away.

A full proposal, as such, laying out what we get and how much it costs, with, insasmuch as possible, all contingencies covered, might change people's minds or at least spur some to action ( or inaction). Also, I would suggest an actual forum hosting we could use, not some vague example. So you have "look guys: we can get Honest John's Friendly Forums Which Is Definitely Not A Scam for x amount today and we get this. Plus he'll throw in a free piece of jewellery for everyone, a 9.99 value."

Eliteweb.co is supposed to have fast servers.

Price for a dot com domain: Get a .com for just $9.99/yr

Price for their most basic hosting plan:

cPanel Hosting that’s easy, reliable and lightning-fast.

$1.49/mo

Includes:
1 website
30 GB storage
10 email accounts
Unmetered bandwidth*

Price for Phpbb (forum software): 0 (it's free)

Maybe we'll use another forum, but phpbb is popular and loaded with features and themes, etc. so it seems like a valid option

9,99 + (1,49 × 12) = 27.87

So there you have it. However, it's not uncommon that there's a hidden fee or special pricing for the first one or two years. Anyways, you get an idea.

07-14-2022, 06:10 PM	#81 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	If you want to volunteer, and there can be two admins (not sure if there can, but you would know better than I) then sure. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

07-15-2022, 01:08 AM	#82 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	TH, I appreciate the offer. However, when I check freeforums.net, I get the impression TheCraic and other freeforums can't be exported. It's a feature of the paid service that they also serve on forums.net, but not part of the free package. I realize it's a boring issue to have to deal with when you've already been working on it, but I do feel like for yourself and for the community, the best solution is probably to get a webhost and domain, have a couple of us who can log into that and then set up a forum on that site with forum software that we ourselves can host. It'll cost a bit of money, but not that much and I don't mind helping out financially and otherwise. Others will probably also want to chip in. It'll be exportable so that the whole forum can be shared among us and set up in new locations. I have done this on several occasions, so I have the know-how. However, I don't wanna take over your forum plans. I may be better as a consultant. Can I persuade you (and everyone else) to consider something like the following? Ask / poll the community here what they might want a new site to be (domain name like busicmanter.com or musicquips.com or whatever) Register that domain on a webhost like one.com or hostgator Install a webpage on the webhost / domain and then a forum at forum.ourdomain.com (I can help with this) Set up a suggestion for rules that include stuff like: what and how decisions should be put to a poll Moderators today will be mods on the new site Backups should f.ex. be made available after new years every year and anyways before dissolution. Because there might also be some funding involved, lets also have a policy of transparency and reporting back to the community about running costs and incomes if we use a patreon or set up an MB paypal or something. How admins and moderators should be chosen / elected This may be just me, but I think we should also set up some community sanctioned goals for what we want MB to be to guide moderation and further development With the whole solution in place, ask the MB community for input for eventual tweaks When it's good enough, ask the community go through with a move and possibly set a date for the occasion If we want everyone on board, then it's important that everyone gets a say in it and we need some structures in place to ensure fairness, accountability, etc. __________________ Something Completely Different Last edited by Guybrush; 07-15-2022 at 01:14 AM.

07-15-2022, 06:17 AM	#83 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	I wouldn't be averse, but I seriously doubt you're going to find many people here who will put their hand in their pocket, and depending on how much "not a lot" is (less than 100 Euro? Less than 50?) and what we're talking (one-off/annual/monthly payment?) possibly not even me. My family has a very ancient motto which we live by: Sic gratis es mea, roughly translated as "if it's for free, it's for me". I would be frankly amazed if you would get two or more people who would be prepared to pay for something which right now, all the comments and issues notwithstanding, we get for nothing. For now, I'll continue updating my own new forum and see how people consider your idea, but I would be surprised if it would fly. For me to set up a new, free forum they can come to or migrate to, no problem. They don't have to do anything and leave all the work to me, like preparing to move but someone else getting your house ready. Ask them to start paying and thinking about what they want and I expect large yawns and many tumbleweed. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

07-15-2022, 10:45 AM	#84 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	It's probably like 40-50 bucks a year. 10-20 for domain fee and the rest for webhosting. So divided between just 8-10 people, that's about 5 bucks each. I know that's still asking an awful for having your favourite forum running for a whole year. __________________ Something Completely Different

07-15-2022, 11:57 AM	#86 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	I suppose the thing to do is start a poll to ask who'd be interested. Oh, look! I did. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

07-16-2022, 06:19 AM	#88 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,994	Perhaps your best bet would be to look into the actual figures and see what it would cost. There's not a lot of point saying it would be say 10/20 dollars a month and then realising it's twice that; that's a sure way to get people looking down and shuffling their feet and hoping you don't see them moving away. A full proposal, as such, laying out what we get and how much it costs, with, insasmuch as possible, all contingencies covered, might change people's minds or at least spur some to action ( or inaction). Also, I would suggest an actual forum hosting we could use, not some vague example. So you have "look guys: we can get Honest John's Friendly Forums Which Is Definitely Not A Scam for x amount today and we get this. Plus he'll throw in a free piece of jewellery for everyone, a 9.99 value." __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018