Future of the forum

I must say after my initial misgivings about the new format that Rich implemented, I was very quickly won over with the ease that Rich managed to tailor it to the users wishes, fantastic.

I belong to a huge amount of different forums as I have quite an extensive base of different hobbies and interests and this format far exceeds all the others I visit by a wide margin. I would be sad to see it superseded by something lesser.

Graeme
 
Rich, I remember when you set up this site where it is now, even for a dumbo like me it didn't take long to get used to, and I think it has worked, and still works, very well. Forum problems and downtimes have been very few indeed.

I'm definitely of the opinion that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it..."
This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Maybe for people watching but not yet sticking their oar in, it might be useful to mention a guesstimate on the hours per week required to administer the site? Ignoring for now the skills required to do it, even though one is clearly related to the other. I expect it’s harder to answer than ask!!
 
Maybe for people watching but not yet sticking their oar in, it might be useful to mention a guesstimate on the hours per week required to administer the site? Ignoring for now the skills required to do it, even though one is clearly related to the other. I expect it’s harder to answer than ask!!

Usually about 10 minutes a day to Add new users, and have a quick check of recent threads.

Once a month or so I'll back everything up and run updates which can take an hour or two.

It isn't a huge overhead. Really the only reason I want to pass it on at all is because I no longer have a car and I feel like it's rubbing my nose in it when I can't physically drive or maintain a P6. I also want it to keep the really nice atmosphere it has, and to not go backwards. Otherwise it will probably die out like so many other forums.
 
Yes, but one can’t go AWOL for days and let it fall into disrepute / disrepair so it’s quite a task you have taken on for the benefit of others. I am sure nobody will argue with that or the reasons for passing it on.
 
Hi,

A little update on this. Mr Falkor is very keen to try and install a copy of xenforo and use a copy of the forum database to create a test site to see if he could support and work with xenforo.

Before we do that we need the forum members to agree that they are happy with this.

Thoughts please!
 
Hi,

A little update on this. Mr Falkor is very keen to try and install a copy of xenforo and use a copy of the forum database to create a test site to see if he could support and work with xenforo.

Before we do that we need the forum members to agree that they are happy with this.

Thoughts please!

I assume you'll back up the existing db and allow him to restore it?

Why not provide him with a backup of data older than 12 months, for him to work with?

What are the GDPR consequences of this? We've handed personal information - name, email address - across to you as the site admin. Can you hand it over to someone new, even for a test site, without sanitizing it?
 
What are the GDPR consequences of this? We've handed personal information - name, email address - across to you as the site admin. Can you hand it over to someone new, even for a test site, without sanitizing it?

I would think it's a "legitimate interest" under GDPR & as long as the database remains secure there shouldn't be any issues.
 
thank you Phil and back on page 1 of this thread I made this proposal
I am a phpBB admin of old, here are a couple of old phpBB forums I did Windsor Safari Park - Index page UFO FORUMS - Index page they are basically dead and dusty now but show phpBB basically in comparison to XenForo which is this site.

My idea (which probably wont be popular :p ) is to get a copy of this site's XenForo's database , doing that will not change anything on here at all, operations on here continue as normal, meantime the copy is used to create a phpBB version of these forums at another domain e.g classicroverforum.co.uk (or similar) , so now you have 2 sites with very similar content , "where are you going with this?" I here you ask, well the point is that no damage has been done to this site, all members can look at the new "copy site" and see if they are content for that to "take over" , if not, no harm done . if members want this option I will handle all costs involved and set this up within 1 month but lets see what other options we get first, early days.

I have to say if members don't want this , then fine, there are already plenty more options listed above :p Rich I note you say It's unfair on you to keep on doing it when it's a reminder of what you cant do at least for a year or two. so I hope fingers crossed in a year or so you'll be recovered and have a P6 back !! gotta keep positive and we are all feeling for you
so Rockdemon and several others were not too keen on the phpBB component of that proposal, fair enough
my new proposal is simply the same again, just with Xen instead of phpBB, apart from that, same plan
 
@chrisw I'd expect informing all email logins to the forum with a couple of weeks notice would give people time to login and change them. Gdpr wasn't a thing when I took over but data protection was. The rules are similar just enforced.
 
Hi,

A little update on this. Mr Falkor is very keen to try and install a copy of xenforo and use a copy of the forum database to create a test site to see if he could support and work with xenforo.

Before we do that we need the forum members to agree that they are happy with this.

Thoughts please!

Cautiously optimistic.
 
A little update on this. Mr Falkor is very keen to try and install a copy of xenforo and use a copy of the forum database to create a test site to see if he could support and work with xenforo.

Before we do that we need the forum members to agree that they are happy with this.
I'm happy with this.
 
I would be happy to take it over, fund it, and run it exactly as it is. I am not sure what Xen or phpBB is, but can it just be taken over as is, and just run in its current format?

Richard

PS - Tradition dictates that the forum needs to be run by someone called Richard :cool::p
 
Hi all.

Over the last month or 2 i've listened to a great number of opinions about what we should do and the right way to handle this. I'm aware that we have all put a lot of our lives into the forum, so I've been thinking quite hard about what we should do.

I'm of the opinion that the best way to handle this is to let it go to a long standing member of the forum, if possible someone who has been around since before I took over, for 2 reasons:

i) I dont want someone to take it over and 6 months later get bored and move one,
ii) It has to be someone who wants to maintain the spirit of the forum as is, yet is open to the right people helping whenever that is necessary.
iii) if it cant be maintained or there is a problem they come back to me as i would do my best to solve any issue.

For this reason I'm going to take quattro up on his offer.

I'd like to thank everyone that has contributed to this thread with offers of support. My hope is that some of you can be included in mod roles or vetting new users and the like going forward.

This forum has such a good atmosphere that i can count on my hands the number of times I've had to intervene on threads, and even then they were sometimes grey areas.

Sorry to falkor, and i hope this is acceptable to you, but i think it's what most people who have spoken to me are happiest with.

Rich.
 
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