Hey guys, sorry, I am not going to be able to participate a lot and that will make it challenging to answer questions here.

Database is in MySQL in Latin character encoding.

Technical candidates should work with the remainder of the community to form a solution, they should definitely not contact me. I won't be able to spend any decent time with them.

This community needs to gather together, without my assistance, and come up with a plan that everyone largely agrees on. I wish I could participate, but I am seriously slammed right now.

OK, here's what I can offer:
I have permanent hosting available since my employer is part owner in an ISP.
He's already given me the green light to be involved in this on company time to make it happen.
I'm versed in MySQL well enough to manage assisting in porting the database to forum software.
I have worked on MySQL before so my learning curve would be minimal to get familiar with it again in it's current form, as well as any forum SW package.
I would need someone to assist in the normal regular software back-end work since I do actually 'work at work' on occasion.

There are more than enough forum packages to choose from with very basic functions on the low end to very powerful on the high end.
Low end would probably be free with banner ads.
To make it worthwhile (since even free hosting does eat bandwidth) we'd place, & offer for sale, ads embedded in the pages (similar to what's here now).

On the high end, most SW packages let you choose features 'a la cart'.
This would also allow users to choose (for example) a basic read-only function for free, to extensive features for a subscription.
Deciding how this would be laid out would be based on user feedback.

There would still be a need for moderators & admins, I would imagine the same ones we have now.
Most modern forum software allows for various levels of control for moderators & admins.
This would be unpaid of course but likely given the 'Bucks Deluxe' user package in exchange for their help.

I'm willing to get on this right now.
I'd hate to see the forum evaporate for a simple lack of a decision.

- Jeff

BubbaKahuna wrote:
I'm willing to get on this right now.
I'd hate to see the forum evaporate for a simple lack of a decision.

- Jeff

This sounds exactly like what the forum needs. I too was wondering (concerned) how much time it would take to get a group of tech guys gathered together and beginning working out a solution.

Thanks for stepping up, Jeff

txulrich wrote:
Horsehammerr wrote:
smokescreens wrote:
I myself dont have the education to help keep this going but i can toss a few dollars at it to help keep it going. I hope we have that group of people here that can step up and run the clinic as well as you have gram. Thank you for at least considering options to keep us going and all the years and effort you put into this place. I tip my hat to you.Thank You Gram , I'm with Smokescreens on this !

What they said!

Thanks Gram. I'm with you fellas.

I just started a separate thread for open technical discussion titled "How many experienced web techs are willing?"

Please keep that thread tech-only for the sake of focus.
The survival of this place might depend on it.

I'm not taking ownership of anything, but I am giving it a kick in the .......

From what I've read about migrating away from Fireboard the database isn't the only issue. It's the platform. The RSC is currently uses Fireboard which is a forum software for Joomla. I'm not sure what version number of Fireboard, but our Joomla is 1.0.x.

The migration path for updating Fireboard is Kunena. Along the way of updating Fireboard to its incremental versions and then to Kunena, you'd also have to get to the correct versions of Joomla. Eventually getting to the current versions of both. I'm not even sure that you can still get the versions of Fireboard after 1.0.x.

The migration may be possible, but with the amount of customization that Gram has done over the years I'm not sure it could be done without his help, which he doesn't have time for. And if anything had to drop along the way because of customizations that we couldn't unravel or versions that we couldn't deal with, then we might be forced to lose the things that we're trying to maintain in the first place.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm all for the path of least resistance. It's easy to get fired up now that the hammer is coming down. But I think that energy is going to drop off quickly. To survive that drop I think it will take multiple people that can commit the expertise and energy that Gram has provided for so long.

We'd have to deal with the server, its security and updates, Jooma, and Kunena. If anyone has system level expertise for all of that and is willing to volunteer their time for free then I'm on my way to but a lottery ticket.

IMHO it would be easier to get the community to raise funds to pay for a managed platform. Advertising could help. Hell, maybe we could have an commerce store selling branded stuff like shirts, patches, stickers, etc. With the amount of money we raised for the Eagles a couple of years ago we should be able to do something for ourselves.

As I stated in the other thread my choice would be to re-launch the RSC onto a new platform that is hosted and managed. That will cost money, but it will also be very hands off, allowing us to focus on branding, content, and the community. We should be able to move the old RSC to a server and let it rest their for archive purposes only. We should be able to put notifications and such on the archive that encourage people to go to the new and improved RSC.

While we're at the new version why not expand our audience to all Yamaha Cruisers? We're Roadstar focused but I know there's a lot of knowledge around VStars, Liners, Raiders, Royals, and maybe soon the Venture. Can't we all get along?

Yes, I don't think people realize how many options have been looked at already.

It's not a matter of a few bucks, some tech skills, time or space,
but a unique combination of many things.

And the end result would be a site devoted to one model of bike, that is not made any more and does not have any new buyers,
and then competing with Facebook and the Facebook generation of new owners of the used bikes.

(Plus the holes in the site from the people that deleted their photos to teach PhotoBucket a lesson)


It's a changing world, you can tell by looking at the Oldsmobile dealer down the street...


I still think the best exit plan for Gram would be to come up with a DVD archive of the site.
Hit us up $50 for the information and the memories.

MidwestMike wrote:
Yes, I don't think people realize how many options have been looked at already.

It's not a matter of a few bucks, some tech skills, time or space,
but a unique combination of many things.

And the end result would be a site devoted to one model of bike, that is not made any more and does not have any new buyers,
and then competing with Facebook and the Facebook generation of new owners of the used bikes.

(Plus the holes in the site from the people that deleted their photos to teach PhotoBucket a lesson)


It's a changing world, you can tell by looking at the Oldsmobile dealer down the street...


I still think the best exit plan for Gram would be to come up with a DVD archive of the site.
Hit us up $50 for the information and the memories.DEAL !!!

From what I can see, the easiest (not that it's easy) way to keep everything & move it to a new forum is to completely bypass the whole front end.
The database itself is where the threads are & it's a MySQL DB in Latin encoding. That's where I see the single biggest issue.

Most servers in the USA are setup with Western encoding & I'm not aware of any Q&D conversion tool.
I'll have to wait until Monday to check with my host to see if they have or can set up a Latin encoded host solution.
There are countless ways to port a database to a website, but without the correct encoding it'll display as an unreadable mess.

I did find this:
https://www.whitesmith.co/blog/latin1-to-utf8/

Thoughts?

MidwestMike wrote:
Yes, I don't think people realize how many options have been looked at already.

It's not a matter of a few bucks, some tech skills, time or space,
but a unique combination of many things.

And the end result would be a site devoted to one model of bike, that is not made any more and does not have any new buyers,
and then competing with Facebook and the Facebook generation of new owners of the used bikes.

(Plus the holes in the site from the people that deleted their photos to teach PhotoBucket a lesson)


It's a changing world, you can tell by looking at the Oldsmobile dealer down the street...


I still think the best exit plan for Gram would be to come up with a DVD archive of the site.
Hit us up $50 for the information and the memories.

I'm in for a copy.