The future...

[KD8TUT]

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...

[PA5COR]

Good luck with the changes, if need be checkbook is ready for a contribution...

[NQ6U]

The future, it scares me. Can’t we just go back to the 1950s the way the GOP wants us to?

[VE7DCW]

Resistance is Futile ..... yeah I'll help out as well with contributions but beware the Phredco Phenomena Mike

[W3WN]

The future, it scares me. Can’t we just go back to the 1950s the way the GOP wants us to?

Oh, the heyday of the John Birch Society? Nah.

[WZ7U]

Thanks Michael. I'll do what I can to help.

SO, should I be screen shotting any gold on here before it vaporizes?

[KD8TUT]

Thanks Michael. I'll do what I can to help.

SO, should I be screen shotting any gold on here before it vaporizes?

I do not believe that will be an issue...

[KC9ECI]

The future, it scares me. Can’t we just go back to the 1950s the way the GOP wants us to?

You misspelled that, you meant 1850s right?

[KG4CGC]

Will not posting help?
I noticed people are not posting.
I'm sure they need this practice clarified one way or another.

[ad4mg]

Will not posting help?
I noticed people are not posting.
I'm sure they need this practice clarified one way or another.

There's no need to change any use of the forums... the change really doesn't affect the forums at all. Michael is simply going to assume the monthly server bill, as I felt that after so many years, I was tiring of shouldering the majority of the financial burden. Don't misread that... donations, when they came in, were very helpful and much appreciated. Considering that my objective was/is and has always been laser focused on keeping the forums online, and my feeling some burnout lately, I felt it may be a good time to see who else was interested in assuming the lead. Michael had some thoughts about utilizing the server for other sites or whatnot, so he was the obvious choice for the lead. Plus, he is the savior who brought us back from a pile of ashes after Jeff passed.

There are no plans to shut the forums down, and I plan to remain, but in a reduced capacity... mainly 'vetting' new members as they sign up so we can keep the toilet ticks out. I'll still carry the 'Administrator' tag.

I remain committed to keeping us online, so unless I kick the bucket, I'll be here to catch us if we fall. I've done it twice now, so it's becoming routine. I have a great deal of faith that Michael will keep us running at 99.999% efficiency, and will make some changes (such as OS and software upgrades) as his time permits.

So, just look at this as business as usual. I've always been honest with everyone, so this should be no different.

As an added note... I am trying to refrain from posting in the political arena very frequently because I'm not capable of controlling myself. Politics piss me off so bad these days that I wonder why I even care.

Carry on! <--- Lots of mileage to be had with that in the word association thread... think Hawkeye Pierce.