planthelper Posted September 25, 2013 (edited) hi! I believe the sab forum, will never die. to make it immortal, what do we have to do? tort said, maybe he would sell at one stage sab including the forum. a new owner might, bring on changes, which is ok, but again how can we keep things as they are, for as long as possible? I would like for example have a back up copy of the whole forum, in case I am entitled do to so. how could this technicly achived? in short, I would welcome a discussion how we can make sab inmortal. we have lost two forums already, people did put in thousands of hours of work and research and now it's all been wasted... if sab shut's down, I might die, it's that bad, hehehe. Edited September 25, 2013 by planthelper 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
obtuse Posted September 25, 2013 Community Funded? perhaps. Problem is that the financial input needs to be consistent... , i just wonder if, and for how long it would work. I have had to think about this in terms of AE, and i still havent answered my own thoughts. (I still have all of AE, so dont worry people) But SAB is of infinitely more value, Problem is demographics change, people come and people go, so how does that consistentcy remain. Maybe maintained by the ethnobotanical society, w/- committee etc. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Xenodimensional Posted September 25, 2013 Turn it into photons and beam it into space? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naja naja Posted September 25, 2013 Erowid maybe? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TommyChesnutt Posted September 25, 2013 Well, we could try a satanic ritual of goats blood and orgy sex. Also, it might work with that immortal thing. I mean but whatever you guys decide is fine, I'm pretty down. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theuserformallyknownasd00d Posted September 25, 2013 Isn't their software etc available to download complete websites etc? Might be worth a look, although you might need Linux Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bigred Posted September 25, 2013 S.A.B for life ( does signal with his hands to resemble sab ) 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrpants Posted September 26, 2013 From a technical point of view, it would be difficult to backup a site like the SAB forums without the co-operation of whoever has admin rights on the server that hosts the forum. You could certainly write a script (robots!) to navigate each forum thread and save it out to a static HTML document, but you'd lose all the forum functions in the process (like, making new posts, or viewing a members profile, or changing your name etc). That would be great as a static archive like the Way Back Machine but not so great to keep the forum 'alive'. *If* you had the co-operation of the server admin - moving the forum, or creating a copy / backup, would be relatively simple. I guess the question is: who would pay the bill for the new hosting, who would do the tech support and who would compensate Torsten for the years of work and resources he's poured in to this place? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
planthelper Posted September 26, 2013 1, this thread, hopefully will get torts attention, and he could than inform us of, all the copyright issues, the admin right and so on. 2, my aim is not to create a mirror site, or to work on taking over the forum. 3, I know we are in good hands with tort, and his aim is to keep it going, and I remember how he proudly mentioned once, "sab is the second oldest ethno site on the web". 4, all I want to save guard for is, if new owners of sab, would give up on the forum (tort would never give up the forum me thinks)that we can keep it still running. 5, I don't know about the financial cost of the forum, but I am confident, this money could be raised. all I say is, I can't imagen life without sab, and I have seen two forum die already. handing on the knowledge is paramount in our aim. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
whitewind Posted September 26, 2013 I'm pretty sure T has mentioned that he has plans in place in case things go shits up, friends who have admin access if something happens to him, backups regularly and he could move ownership to another state if the fascists here decide to take it down. Just PM him planthelper if you're worried. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThunderIdeal Posted September 26, 2013 in my imagination, if T decides to sell SAB it would be to a buyer who can carry his business forward, and generally people only buy businesses if they believe they can maintain or improve on the success of that business. T is a dedicated admin IMHO, big shoes for a future owner to fill, but i believe with a half-decent owner this forum could remain strong, the members and moderators make this community really special. i think dying is a bit extreme but i'd be super unhappy if the corroboree went to shit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted September 26, 2013 I doubt I ever said I'd sell the forums. The business itself is a different story, but I've never really considered that either. The nursery is run by staff and as long as the business pays their wages it will remain. I've never been fussed about it making money as I have other businesses, but it does at least have to pay for itself. As for the forums, I do have contingencies in place. There are also enough techies here to help it move if it needed to, although as long as the bills are paid I presume there would be no hurry. The hosting bills are paid via paypal and I've posted in a previous thread how to make sure to keep things going. Altough that was a few years ago so might be time to look at this again [eg 4 of my servers are paid from the same paypal account, so all of them would need to be paid to guarantee the forums stay up, and that is not ideal]. The time I get to spend on the forums varies, but I am definitely making sure they keep going even if I am distracted temporarily. We have an excellent moderator team that has far more influence on the running of this place than I do these days. I am really not needed - and that is by design. I've seen too many forums fail because the owner lost interest, got arrested or sold the domain. That's bad karma. 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TommyChesnutt Posted September 26, 2013 Would this be a thread to ask about what happened with the Australian Ethnobotany forum? I heard a prominent member died, but was that the main reason? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bigred Posted September 26, 2013 Would this be a thread to ask about what happened with the Australian Ethnobotany forum? I heard a prominent member died, but was that the main reason? someone told me it got taken down because it was " tumble weed city" 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TommyChesnutt Posted September 26, 2013 someone told me it got taken down because it was " tumble weed city" It did seem a little empty at the end there... Cheers for that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
obtuse Posted September 27, 2013 someone told me it got taken down because it was " tumble weed city" Exactly this ... after a while I got to the point where i started wondering, why should i keep it going? and in discussion with other AE mods we decided to temporarily take it down. If people kicked and screamed about the loss then we could reinvoke it ... but that never happened. Id like to point out that it wasnt because i personally lost interest, it just felt to me like everybody else did. Most of the mod team, all heavy contributors, fell silent, and this appeared to spread to the remaining members ala " tumble weed city". I do feel bad about stopping the site it as i feel like i am letting down both Gomaos and Wandjina, both of whom were very passionate about the forum. Additionally it was costing me money, and while finances arent a problem, when i began wondering about the long term future i really began to wonder about the feasability. I decided in the end that perhaps i should let it disappear , i would rather be responsible for its demise than handing it to someone-else or a managed group who perhaps doesnt feel the way i do, only for it to disappear and then me get pissed off about it. I loved Naja's query about Erowid with regard to SAB. Anice thought. Any comments are welcome, i have happy to take some criticism, but prefer suggestions. Id love to see AE start up again and be a thriving community again... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bert&Ernie Posted September 27, 2013 I totally want a sab tattoo now. we could getsomeone to do a cool drawing that represents sab and whoever wants to should get it as a tat. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TommyChesnutt Posted September 27, 2013 Any comments are welcome, i have happy to take some criticism, but prefer suggestions. Id love to see AE start up again and be a thriving community again... Yeah, i would just like to say that early on AE was a very influencing factor toward all my ethnobotanical interests, there was also alot of research being done there in regards to certain plant constituents, growth habits and temporal effect, that contributed a pretty wealthy mass of info for anyone seeking to grow these plants... In my subjective opinion maybe let sleeping dogs lie (is that the saying?) as i believe SAB is now the dominating forum in terms of ethno interest in australia. I am perhaps saddened knowing that some specific individuals may not visit here and be a part of the community due to certain conflicts, but such is life. I had no idea you were the admin at AE Obtuse, that's awesome you can spread your knowledge of another forum here kudos, condolences, and congrats. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yeti101 Posted September 28, 2013 1, sab is the second oldest ethno site on the web"Well, since edit bit the dust I think that makes us the oldest remaining entheo site eh? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Torsten Posted September 28, 2013 Well, since edit bit the dust I think that makes us the oldest remaining entheo site eh? yep, edot was just a few months older than us. as so many sites it was the admin that fucked it. Things are pretty messed up if you need to fake your own death just to pretend to everyone that you're not the admin anymore, LOL. What I don't get is why admins who want to move on don't have the decency to pass the database onto someone who is willing to keep things going. In the case of edot it revolved around the monetary value of the site and the domain, which makes even less sense to me. If I ever really lost interest in ethnobotany or the forums I'd make sure they go to someone who can keep them going. Maybe even a group. Not that I anticipate that happening anytime soon. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Halif Posted October 29, 2013 Planthelper: I don't think you need worry about an untimely expiration due to the closing of SAB. It has too many actively involved members and people with real passion and knowledge on the topics the site covers. Props to Torsten for keeping it going at a pretty consistently high quality. And for the record, I think Planthelper would make an awesome site - be it his own or if he took over SAB Share this post Link to post Share on other sites