I am not even sure it was a GoDaddy holding page to be honest, it didn't have any markings whatsoever. Isn't this forum hosted on one of Ichi's servers? Perhaps he forgot to pay his bill. Edit: Ignore, I just googled the error and one result did throw up a result that looked like the page we had this morning so perhaps GoDaddy don't put anything on the holding page.
I'm kind of surprised that we are still up at all. The sysadmin only logs in once every few month. Do we have a backup plan if the site shuts down for good?
I think Cmdr has access to the backend? He should probably set up a mySQL backup to run every now and then somewhere he has access to, that way if the site does go down at least he has the DB and it can be restored on a different server. No idea how much of the backend controls Cmdr has access to but if he has enough it might even be worth taking a copy of the VM so that it can be started easily without having to reinstall all of the forum software. Then just dump the new DB backup on top.
I don't have access to the backend. Ichi just gave me access to the folder with the forum stuff in it. That's it. That was two years ago, and I guess he thought he'd be around more to run the site. Ichi hasn't even logged in since some time last year. This place is basically on autopilot with no one at the stick. He should probably give someone like bfun or Grim who really knows what they're doing full control.
He said he was going to be more active this year and he even raised the issue of a main site again but he seems to have disappeared off of the radar again. Anyone actually got an Email address for him even?
I'm mostly concerned about the server itself. I think its being run on his company's equipment. Someday they may decide to pull the plug especially if ichi disappears for good.
Just did a quick search and it seems to be hosted by eukhost.com so it should at least be backed up. If Ichi is paying them £x each month for hosting he isn't going to want to give others general access as he will have his own stuff on there. This forum could even be hosted on a server he is using for something else in which case he defiantly wouldn't want people poking around. I think until Ichi appears it might be worth one of the admins (possibly Monkey) keeping a record with an email contact for the regulars, then if the worst did happen we could set up an IRC chat with anyone who wants to get involved and discuss options. This forum is open source code so it wouldn't be end of the world to get it back up and running again even if we didn't have the DB, at worst we would lose the posts. Just need a linux host and install the software again. I know there are not many of us but it is nice having a closed community sometimes as you know the people and you don't end up with too many loonies. If more people come along one day then fair enough (we must appear on Google searches more and more these days) but if not so be it.
I suppose a big issue is how we'd contact each if something happens. I guess our steam/psn friend lists would help. The only ones I don't think that would cover is phisix, alterego, ichi, pdraggy and perky. And stebe, of course. Think khaid and superSONIC are on bfun's steam list but not sure. Anyone else?
Twitter is a thing. It's free and even I can work it. I don't spend a huge amount of time on the ps3 anymore and when I do I'm usually offline.
I don't see the point of Twitter, I'm out. I literally don't need to know every time Arma is having a shit.
We're too old for twitter I reckon; it's a young man's game. I bet arma does some good tweets too, mainly about Americans and their stupid ways. Keep sticking it to the bastards, I say. They make me literally sick to my stomach.
If you want to get a centralized communication hub for us, it's going to be on a social media site, whether it be facebook, twitter, etc. Not everyone here has a PS3 or Steam.
The problem with that is we'd risk revealing our true IDs and, let's face it, we're only a whisker away from being stalked and murdered by fellow forumites. Just imagine if superSONIC wants some forbidden meat or arma encounters an Americanism too far.
Just because I have been talking to some of you for 10 years doesn't mean I trust you enough to see my Facebook page! We British are naturally secretive, it's why we make such good spies. Didn't you find it odd when none of us posted pictures in the 'what do you look like' thread that popped up when the old forum died. You Americans were on it like a flash, while we just printed your pictures off and filed them away for future use! Chi was silly enough to leave images and/or videos of himself where they could be easy to find. Monsly has his spies watching him from an adjacent tower block as we speak!
I need to back up my forum files. If my PC dies then all my stalking goes to waste, like tit milk down a drain.
I wouldn't think twitter would be anything to see a person's true identity. Facebook maybe, but i'd just make some scummy throwaway account for that and have email notifications on for it. Truthfully, Steam would be the easiest thing for this since all of us already have a computer, hell, there's even an ios and android app for it. And there's already a PVC community created which allows comments and discussions.
I have had a steam account since HL2 was released, I haven't logged onto it for 6+ years but I assume it still exists. Fake twitter would probably be easier for convenience but it would mean learning what a hash tag is.
What about constant updates about his thoughts about religion? You should set it up so every time a new comment is posted, it alerts you on your cell phone.
You don't have to follow people on twitter to receive messages from them. And I've seriously toned down the number of anti religious tweets I make these days. Every now and then I retweet someone else's comical thoughts on religion. You don't even need to know what a hashtag does either. If you want to send a private message you just type the recipient's name in and hit send message. If you want to send messages to multiple people you just type their names in, then the message. Your tweet will then show up in the timeline of whoever is "following" you. I guess you only need to put their name if you want them to get a notification. If we all create forum only accounts and only follow each other our feeds will only contain messages from forum users. You are limited to 140 characters per message but posting multiple messages isn't a problem, especially if all we see is each others tweets. It would do as a temporary measure at least.