HOLD THE BALLOTS!!!

I have just received an offer from a BB to host a php bored on a domain that he owns, so we now have an option to own our own bored with the same functionality as the Juch & Toutant boreds.

If this appeals to you please let me know, either by voting or changing your vote.

Given the technical difficulties with Safari, it ;ooks ;ike The number bored may be withdrawing. If this is true, let me know and those who support this version please let me know.

saveourbored@gmail.com

eyégor wrote:I have just received an offer from a BB to host a php bored on a domain that he owns, so we now have an option to own our own bored with the same functionality as the Juch & Toutant boreds.

If this appeals to you please let me know, either by voting or changing your vote.

Given the technical difficulties with Safari, it ;ooks ;ike The number bored may be withdrawing. If this is true, let me know and those who support this version please let me know.

saveourbored@gmail.com

Is that Jeff (who has been talking to me about that) or another BB?

Here are my thoughts, in no particular order.

I think any phpBB board is far superior to what we used in the past. Sure, we've heard a few gripes from people who hate change (and I hate change as much as anyone), but after we get used to a new board and its many cool and useful functions, we'll wonder how we ever did without them. If we had been using one of these boards for years and then had to switch to the quirky ABC.go format, there would be rioting in the streets!

PhpBB is a wise move because it's essentially what everyone in the world is using these days. There's a nearly infinite amount of information about it on the web and thousands of smart people around the world who are constantly working on improvements. This board format is not going to go away.

The phpBB software is free (open source) and readily available. The Grand Slam board currently uses version phpBB2, whereas the megabb.com board uses the newer phpBB3, which generally offers more function.

The particular version of phpBB3 that is offered by Bob's megabb.com host unfortunately does not have a fully functional search option. This is just a quirk of the bastard version of phpBB3 that this host offers. As far as I can tell, it's a take it or leave it situation, and we can't change or fix their standard software offering.

People have more control of board functions and less worry about the future of their message board if they host it themselves, rather than rely on the benevolence of the many free hosting sites that are available. If someone we know and trust knows how to do that and is willing to do that, it sounds like a good option.

I agree with Marley that it would be best if our board had its own address and was not just a squatter at Grand Slam or some other landlord site.

Regardless of who "owns" the board and who hosts it, we should not allow its survival to depend on the ongoing health, interest, or goodwill of any one individual. If Bob gets hit by a bus, or if I get sent to prison, or if Jeff decides he doesn't like us anymore, we should have sufficient redundancies and backups in place to assure that the board lives on. We don't want one person to have the power to pull the plug on everyone else, intentionally or not.

The discussions and trials we have done up to now have been helpful in determining what we like and don't like in a message board, and what is possible and desirable. Bob has been responsive to feedback and I think most people like the unified format he is now using. I've made a few enhancements to the Grand Slam board, such as enabling avatars. So I think we've made progress in the past week and we are close to the goal line.

If these concerns can be addressed on a dedicated domain that we control, that sounds good to me. If appropriate, I can withdraw the Grand Slam site as a viable option. If we move to Jeff's site (or whoever has offered to host), I'd be glad to be one of the Administrators or Moderators. I would expect to take a hands off approach. Or I could just go back to my cave and post occasionally, like in the good old days.

Just let us know where we be in the end. I enjoy all the fun stuff on these boards. I don't care about search function. The different subjects don't bother me, because we had to adapt to the weird thread/jeemieing/previous/next stuff on the last board, so big whoop.
Will there be a FINAL BOREDING CALL thread when decisions are made?

It wasn't me that made the offer to Eyegor, but I have been discussing this possibility with Bob Juch.

I've done some research today and found out I can install phpBB at my host - it's a feature. Their standard setup script is for v2.0.22, but I can install the most recent version - v3 rc5, because the php version running on my host's servers is high enough.

The advantage to me hosting it at wwtbam.biz is that we would have control over the feature set of the board. Also, I would make the MySQL database holding the board data available to administrators so that someone can hold a backup. I would want multiple board administrators anyway - obviously Bob Juch and Ed Toutant would be excellent candidates.

The potential downsides to me are as follows:

1. Bandwidth / storage: My hosting package currently has lots of unused storage space and bandwidth available, so given the size of our community I don't think this is going to be too big a problem. If I have to bump up the size of my package, I'm willing to cross that bridge when we come to it.

2. Legal: I would just want to make sure I'm protected legally against anything that goes on on the board. I'm sure our vast repository of knowledge here could help me create rules for board usage that would protect me. I'm anti-censorship by nature, but I'm also anti-getting sued.

So overall, I'm up for doing this. If the community wants me to host the board, I would suggest we settle on a temporary home either at here at MegaBB or at Grand Slam, and then migrate over in an organized way.

-- Jeff (15qa)

One of the best part of these boards compared to the go bored is that the posts are always listed in sequence of being posted as opposed to being posted under the message replied to. Used to drive me nuts, especially in those extra long threads.

Every time we propose something new, we risk leaving somebody behind. We were given five widely publicized options to consider, and we considered them. The new option is so subtle in its difference as to be nonexistent for somebody as technically impaired as I am. I recognize that the level of technical savviness is so high in some of the folkses here that the difference is not nonexistent for them.

It doesn't change my vote. I still like it here, and I still vote for here.

eyégor wrote:I have just received an offer from a BB to host a php bored on a domain that he owns, so we now have an option to own our own bored with the same functionality as the Juch & Toutant boreds.

Who is this mystery BB? Jeff says the original offer wasn't from him, but now he's also made the same offer.

Accepting an offer from an individual web site owner may not be ideal, but that's probably easier than trying to set up a formal organization to own another site.