KD8TUT
02-23-2022, 12:11 PM
Hey Islanders,
Well there's been some things going on in the background over the last year. And some changes are being made.
First off, we need to thank the overall membership, mod staff, and Luke for propping up the site with donations over the years and keeping us running.
You may not realize it, but the mods, especially ad4mg have been making up the shortfall of funds when needed to keep the site running. Due to life factors, those involved with that are having to withdraw their long term financial support.
Hence someone was needed to take over the site and the domain names as the owner of the assets. I have been asked to do so. After some consideration I have reluctantly accepted financial responsibility.
Some questions you may have:
1. So what does this mean?
Not much actually....The moderator staff will be remaining the same (I am not a moderator!). I will continue with the behind the scenes running of the server. And you will continue to do what you do on the site.
2. Are there changes coming?
Yes. When I inherited the technical side of the site it was a mess. The database is especially confused due to past live experimentation with various code mods. Also, our current Linux distribution is close to entering "end of life status".
In short... the site needs an enema. Probably a high colonic with some form of Arabian coffee. The changes that will be made in the coming months may be gradual or shockingly fast depending on the amount of time I can commit to rebuilding things.
3. What kind of changes can we anticipate.
Well, I'll be exploring alternative platforms for forums service. We don't generate enough donations to fully commit to a commercial forums solution. So the platform *may* change. Also the state of the database may be unrecoverable for the purposes of migrating the current data to a new system.
A migration to a new OS on the server will require actual downtime- so be prepared to lose a weekend on the site.
4. Can we donate?
Yes... but hold off for now.
Thanks for you time reading this. I wanted to get this out for the full membership of the site so everyone is informed.
At this point I need to go back into a server closet and enjoy the ritual of yet another technical interpretive dance session.
May God protect us all...
Well there's been some things going on in the background over the last year. And some changes are being made.
First off, we need to thank the overall membership, mod staff, and Luke for propping up the site with donations over the years and keeping us running.
You may not realize it, but the mods, especially ad4mg have been making up the shortfall of funds when needed to keep the site running. Due to life factors, those involved with that are having to withdraw their long term financial support.
Hence someone was needed to take over the site and the domain names as the owner of the assets. I have been asked to do so. After some consideration I have reluctantly accepted financial responsibility.
Some questions you may have:
1. So what does this mean?
Not much actually....The moderator staff will be remaining the same (I am not a moderator!). I will continue with the behind the scenes running of the server. And you will continue to do what you do on the site.
2. Are there changes coming?
Yes. When I inherited the technical side of the site it was a mess. The database is especially confused due to past live experimentation with various code mods. Also, our current Linux distribution is close to entering "end of life status".
In short... the site needs an enema. Probably a high colonic with some form of Arabian coffee. The changes that will be made in the coming months may be gradual or shockingly fast depending on the amount of time I can commit to rebuilding things.
3. What kind of changes can we anticipate.
Well, I'll be exploring alternative platforms for forums service. We don't generate enough donations to fully commit to a commercial forums solution. So the platform *may* change. Also the state of the database may be unrecoverable for the purposes of migrating the current data to a new system.
A migration to a new OS on the server will require actual downtime- so be prepared to lose a weekend on the site.
4. Can we donate?
Yes... but hold off for now.
Thanks for you time reading this. I wanted to get this out for the full membership of the site so everyone is informed.
At this point I need to go back into a server closet and enjoy the ritual of yet another technical interpretive dance session.
May God protect us all...