weary
Part of the e-furniture
Posts: 290
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Post by weary on Dec 10, 2017 16:26:36 GMT
In one of the threads ('Brexit') it was stated that the owners and administrators of this board appear to have abandoned it.
But, surely someone, somewhere, ('Tel' in Australia??) is paying something to keep the board going? Supposing this to be the case; what happens when whoever is making the payments stops doing so? Will the whole board and everything it contains 'disappear'?
Do we, or someone invested in the site, need to try and contact the owner(s) and try and make provision(s) for the future? Or should the site just potentially be left to 'die' (suddenly?) sometime in the future? Would the board need to move to some kind of donation/subscription model if it is to continue. And is this last option sustainable given that there are many 'free' boards and that superficially, it appears to me that there are relatively few active posters on this board.
Just thoughts provoked by the comments referred to in 'Brexit' thread.
Regards,
Phil
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Post by springcrocus on Dec 10, 2017 17:03:13 GMT
Phil, like you I wonder about the long-term future of the forum but I have no idea how to find out more information. Two of the founder members, GeorgeRay and jackrae, still looks in regularly and maybe they could throw some light on matters. I'm not sure if the forum is financed by advertising and is a "free" forum but Tel has posted in the past about paying for extra storage for photos.
Regards, Steve
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Post by silverfox on Dec 10, 2017 17:04:15 GMT
Well for one i would throw in a few pennies to keep it going
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pault
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,496
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Post by pault on Dec 10, 2017 17:36:18 GMT
Alan Stepney was the original creator of this forum and he has saddly passed on. I haven't seen Tel post for a very long time now. I think that part of the problem is that only Alan had the authority to make significant changes to anything. It would be a huge shame if this forum were to disappear. Maybe we need to migrate to a new platform before something bad happens?
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Lisa
Statesman
Posts: 806 
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Post by Lisa on Dec 10, 2017 18:47:42 GMT
Proboards is a free service, you only pay if you want extras, such as no ad's, or more image hosting space.
If the existing admins don't have access to all the forum controls (i.e. one of them isn't "the owner"), then it is possible for one of them to gain 'owner' status by, in this case, providing proboards support with proof of the original owner's passing (a photo of a newspaper obituary, for example).
The above is the only way that proboards will transfer ownership of a forum without the current owner's permission; people have tried with other forums, some of which have been abandoned for over a decade. Proboards just won't do it.
If someone does have full control ('owner' status), or gains it via the above method, then they could assign new moderators/admins to look after the place, or arrange for transfer of ownership via proboards support.
If no one has full control of the forum, and the existing admins aren't interested in getting it, then a long-term member could try to gain control with the above method; it's a long-shot though.
If none of the above are possible, then the options are basically:
1. Keep going as we are, and hope the place doesn't get flooded with spam bots.
2. Start a new forum, either on proboards, or elsewhere.
For 1 above, proboards support will sometimes help by deleting members/posts that are clearly spam(mers).
For 2 above, I've run forums in the past and would be happy to set up a new one for us all to move to, if you would like.
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Post by GeorgeRay on Dec 10, 2017 18:55:39 GMT
This board was originally set up by Andy Clarke it was originally part of the Model Engineering Cleafing house web site if I remember correctly. On the forum I run on pro boards the Admin has full powers to create other Admins or Moderators. I have already contacted the Admins to see what they suggest. :-)
George Ray
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Post by dhamblin on Dec 10, 2017 20:48:30 GMT
It would be preferential to keep this forum going and not lose all the history - for newer members to the hobby it is an invaluable resource, even accounting for the Photobucket neutering of old images.
A fall back option might be to use the RMWeb forum where Engineering in Miniature magazine have a dedicated section (all owned by the same publisher). I've been using RMWeb for model railway stuff for years and one useful feature is the free image hosting, something that I've used to post images here.
Regards,
Dan
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Post by joanlluch on Dec 10, 2017 21:16:46 GMT
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Post by racinjason on Dec 11, 2017 6:42:28 GMT
Tel lives not that far from me I'll ask around, he hasn't been on the other forum for months either.
Maybe we can get him to pass control over.
Cheers Jason
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Post by joanlluch on Dec 11, 2017 7:31:40 GMT
Tel lives not that far from me I'll ask around, he hasn't been on the other forum for months either. Maybe we can get him to pass control over. Cheers Jason That would be excel·lent. He just needs to upgrade another user rights to admin role. It’s not a matter of passing control over to someone else or loosing his current role, just add another administrator. Recall that Lisa has already offered to create and run another forum so maybe she will be happy to take admin role on this forum instead. |
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Post by Jo on Dec 11, 2017 7:56:45 GMT
Thanks Jason, Tel has not been on the MEM forum since July either  Jo |
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Post by racinjason on Dec 11, 2017 8:33:10 GMT
I've just had a conversation with Tel he is working on it.
Cheers Jason
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